The truth is out there, but for believers of UFO theories, it may very well be contained within the F.B.I.’s database of public records known as the Vault. Out of the 6,700 documents, one in particular has been viewed nearly a million times since 2011. Known as the “Hottel Memo,” the letter was addressed to then Director Edgar J. Hoover on March 22, 1950 from Guy Hottel, the head of the Bureau’s field office in Washington, D.C. It relayed a conversation held between Hottel and an Air Force investigator about three crashed “flying saucers” that were reportedly recovered from New Mexico.
The portion of the memo which has fanned the fire in the hearts of die-hard believers is the following:
“They [the saucers] were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only three feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots.”
Whether the report was merely hearsay or not, the F.B.I. has included it in the Vault and, thus, released it for public inspection under the Freedom of Information Act. The existence of the document itself is undeniable. However, the Agency went to great lengths to dismiss the memo in a publicly released statement on March 25th after realizing its viral popularity amongst believers. In this note the Agency remarked that the Hottel Memo “does not prove the existence of UFOs; it is simply a second- or third-hand claim that we never investigated.”
Agency representatives also included that the document is not related in any way to the infamous Roswell crash of 1947. Agency representatives explained the lack of an investigation on the Hottel Memo reports was because “our Washington Field Office didn’t think enough of that flying saucer story to look into it.”
Will we ever know the full truth when it comes to extraterrestrial encounters and our government? Probably not, but we can continue to search for the truth, wherever it may be.
