Joe Perry photographs of saucer-like object, Grand Blanc, Michigan
February-May 1960 · Grand Blanc, Michigan
Summary
Joseph Perry, who ran a pizza restaurant in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and described himself as a professional photographer of thirty years, told FBI agents he photographed the moon through a home-made telescope at about 1:00 a.m. on February 21, 1960. An FBI letterhead memo of March 9, 1960 records that one photograph showed what he took to be a flying object, oval, flat on the bottom, with a glow and a vapor trail. He used a 35 mm camera and colour film, with the scope set at an estimated 350 to 400 power, according to the same memo.
Perry called the Flint Resident Agency on March 4, and agents met him on March 5, according to the FBI teletype and the memo. He gave the FBI two slides. The Detroit office passed them to the 25th OSI District at Selfridge Air Force Base and asked that they be returned, per the airtel of March 9. The FBI recorded that it conducted no investigation and did not examine the photographs, as stated in Hoover's letter to the Air Force. A Detroit Times article had said the FBI was probing the picture, and the Detroit office told the paper otherwise, per a bureau note.
In March, Perry wrote to President Eisenhower asking for assurance the slide would be returned, as his letter and the Flint Journal article of March 27 show. The White House referred it to the Justice Department and the FBI, per the referral. Agents told Perry on April 12 that his photographs were with the Air Force, according to the Detroit memo. On April 21 Hoover told him to direct further inquiries to the Air Force, per that letter.
On May 20, a Detroit Times desk reporter relayed a claim by Dave Downey of the Aerial Phenomenon Investigation Society, as recorded by the FBI. Downey said the Air Force returned the slide on May 3 with a letter attributing the object to improper development of the negative. A Detroit Times story of May 25 said the Pentagon letter blamed faulty development, and that Perry thought the image had faded.
What the files say
“He has taken over one thousand pictures of the moon and has never seen anything resembling this object.”
Page 108 →“He estimates that at the time he took the picture showing the flying object, that his scope was set at between 350-400 power.”
Page 109 →“Downey said when the Air Force returned the photograph, they gave Perry a letter explaining that what appears to be a flying object in this slide is actually a part of the negative which was not properly developed.”
Page 166 →“Perry said he did not see the object through the scope.”
Page 125 →“A letter included in the package from the Pentagon said the strange object in the picture was the result of faulty development and nothing more.”
Page 2 →
Explanations in the record
What the documents themselves say the event was, as recorded. Not our assessment.
- The Air Force letter returned with the slide said the apparent object was part of the negative that was not properly developed, as relayed by Dave Downey to the Detroit Times. — FBI UFO case file, section 9 (1947-1968), page 166
- The Detroit Times reported that a letter from the Pentagon said the object in the picture resulted from faulty development. — FBI UFO case file index, 1947-1968 (metadata only), page 2