It was the summer of 1967, and Jacques Vallee was feeling troubled. A young French computer scientist living in America, Vallee had been tasked with one of the most unusual jobs anyone could imagine: assisting astronomer J. Allen Hynek with the review of reports collected by the United States Air Force about unidentified flying objects.

It was also the summer of 1967 that Vallee first uncovered a document that both fascinated, and greatly concerned him "because of the new light it throws on the key period of the Robertson Panel and of the classic Report#14," he would later write. "It is stamped in red ink ‘SECRET – Security Information.’ It is dated 9 January 1953. It is signed by a man I will call Pentacle.”

What this secret memorandum appeared to detail was “the fact that prior to the top-level 1953 Robertson Panel meeting somebody had not only listed but analyzed thousands of UFO cases on behalf of the United States Government.” This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we look at the strange history of this elusive and concerning the document, its eventual release, and the controversy that has surrounded it in the decades since it became publicly available. 

Coronavirus Charities: If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic:

• CDC Foundation Coronavirus Relief
• No Kid Hungry Responds to Coronavirus
• Direct Relief: Coronavirus Pandemic
• American Red Cross: Give Blood
• Doctors Without Borders: COVID 19
• Feeding America
• Meals on Wheels
• Homeless Shelter Directory

Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here. 

Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode:

• Powerful 5.1 magnitude earthquake jolts Charlotte area, strongest in NC in 104 years
• Why are we having so many earthquakes?
• Mysterious 'fast radio burst' detected closer to Earth than ever before
• Mystery ancestor mated with ancient humans. And its 'nested' DNA was just found.
• Why Aren’t More Scientists Studying Unidentified Aerial Phenomena? History Gives Us the Answer.
• The "Pentacle Memorandum", Including Text of Correspondence from Dr. Jacques Vallee
• The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects by Edward J. Ruppelt
• The Wilbert Smith Memorandum
• Bad UFOs: Jacques Vallee, J. Allen Hynek, and the "Pentacle Memorandum"

BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS.

Sign up today and get access to the entire back catalog of The Micah Hanks Program, as well as “classic” episodes of The Gralien Report Podcast, weekly “additional editions” of the subscriber-only X Podcast, the monthly Enigmas specials, and much more.

Like us on Facebook

Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Follow Micah on Instagram

Visit Micah's Website and check out Our Podcast Page