The Majestic 12 Papers
A roll of film arrived in the post, showing a top-secret briefing about a committee set up to handle crashed saucers.
What was reported
In December 1984, the television producer Jaime Shandera received an envelope with no return address. Inside was undeveloped film of what claimed to be a 1952 briefing for President-elect Eisenhower about 'Majestic 12', a secret group of scientists and officials formed in 1947 to deal with a crashed craft and alien bodies found near Roswell.
Shandera and the researchers William Moore and Stanton Friedman released the documents in 1987, setting off decades of debate.
Explanations offered
The FBI investigated and concluded the documents were fake. Researchers found problems with dates and formats, and a Truman signature that appears to have been copied from a genuine letter. Friedman went on defending them, but most researchers, including many ufologists, regard them as forgeries. Who made them is unknown.
- When
- December 1984
- Where
- Burbank, California, USA
- Witnesses
- Jaime Shandera, who received the film
- Status
- Hoax
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.