Releases / 3 / FBI-UAP-D011

D/FBI Correspondence Referral, 1949

File

FBI-UAP-D011

Type

Document, 4 pages

Agency

FBI

Date

1949

Released

Release 3, June 12, 2026

Open the original on war.gov

The government's description

This collection of documents contains correspondence between the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover, and Rev. Charles Barnes concerning Barnes’ account of an incident potentially involving unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). Rev. Barnes described observing four beams of light “converging in the Cascade Mountains,” at an altitude of approximately 10,000 feet, with a “great explosion” visible at the convergence point of those beams for at least ten minutes. Director Hoover replied to Rev. Barnes thanking him for his letter and informing him that he had forwarded it to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Director Hoover conveyed to the AEC that Rev. Barnes believed that the event may relate to a military or scientific experiment within the commission’s purview.

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REV. CHARLES C. BARNES, PASTOR
Box 391
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January 31, 1949

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Mre J. Edgar Hoover
Washington D.C .

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Dear Mr. Hoover:
Here is a bit of information which may be of great signi­
ficance, or may be merely an observation of a sientific experi­
ment. It may be known by military authorities and the AoEoC. or
only a few may have seen it and none reported it to the right
place. Here it is. Can you pass it to the rig~t persons?
Last May one afternoon I saw four beam~ in the sky passing
from the northwest to the southeast and converging in the
Cascade mountains. In those four narrow beams small slou.d§ vvere
forming. And where the beams met apparently against the mountains
a great explosion effect was to be seen. I wou~d say that· they
were visible for at least 10 minutes or longer.
D

The sight brought to mind an article read before the war
about experiments carried on in Europe with various types of
radio beams to effect rainfall. I would guess that I had seen
the article. in the Science Digest.

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The Columbia River flood of last summer and the unusual
precipitation this winter have forced me to_feel that this
observation of mine should be sent somewhere in the interest
of national security.
I have one son in the Air Cor~and anothercwbtkg with the
A.E.C. at Hanford which causes me to ptay for peace,· as weli
as the fact that as a minister I deplore.the waste and tragedy,
of war. That is one reason that I have fefrained from passing
on information and id~as that might incite warlike attitudes.
May I add these words to paragraph two. The explosion effect
seemed to rise to a height of about ten thousand feet.
Sincerely,

_,,.

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