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The following suggestions are from Jan Aldrich, coordinator of the Project 1947 research effort to document historical events from archives and publications. Please contact him if you are interested in helping.
PROJECT 1947, a 2 year research effort into the beginning of the UFO era, continues to receive large number of newspaper clippings from all over the country. In Connecticut luckily Mr. Gary S. Mangiacopra of Milford checked the "Hartford Courant" from 1946 to 1980. He came up with a huge amount of clippings and some leads for research in other areas.
Here are some research ideas:
Check the southern Connecticut newspapers after 10 August 1952. The Ground Observer Corps (GOC) and local observers were reporting UFOs that so interested the Air Force that they sent out special investigators. The Air Force Filter Center was located in New Haven. The New Haven newspapers are probably ones to check.
In 1952 the state Civil Defense personnel acted as UFO investigators. They either relayed reports to the New Haven Filter Center or investigated the sightings and sent their reports to the Filter Center. The Osborne Prison Farm sighting in September 1952 was investigated and reported in this manner. The Osborne sighting does not appear in the Project Blue Book files. If we could locate the Civil Defense files for the early 1950s they might contain interesting information on the role of state Civil Defense in the UFO problem.
In August 1956 there was a minor flap in Connecticut. Not very many newspapers have been checked for this period. So far only the "Hartford Courant", the "Hartford Times" and "Waterbury Republican" have been checked.
At the same time that the Exeter, New Hampshire sightings occurred (September 1965) there were also sightings in Connecticut. We should check for these reports.
The State Police were involved in some UFO sightings. We should make a list of these sightings, and then try to get the police reports.
Many Connecticut newspapers have clipping files as do many town libraries. We should try to locate these and copy the UFO, meteor, and astronomy files. This is already completed for the "Norwich Bulletin", the "Willimantic Chronicle", and the "New London Day".
Connecticut Master UFO collection. We should combine copies of whatever clippings each Connecticut MUFON member has into a master file. Then, the results could be computerized and we could look for patterns. We could also try to find Connecticut reports in UFO books and newsletters. The best of the resulting reports would be added to the MUFON CT website for access by researchers world-wide.
Haughton Barlow, II, was a Waterbury resident who edited a small UFO/Fortean newsletter in the mid 1950s. Barlow apparently had a lot of contacts and a worldwide UFO newspaper clipping service. The Air Force thought so much of his newsletter that excerpts can be found in the Blue Book files. We should try to find his heirs and see if his files still exist.
Research should be done into newspaper during the flap periods. Most dailies and many weeklies have been checked for 1947. The Air Force had a clipping service from April to September 1952, however Connecticut coverage was poor. They missed a lot of Connecticut stories. Dr. Leon Davidson had a clipping service off and on from 1954 to 1962 with some Connecticut clippings. In addition these newspapers have been checked: "Willimantic Chronicle" Oct 1908 to Mar 1910, 1950, 1952, Putman newspapers 1909-Jan 1910, "Hartford Courant" Nov-Dec 1909, Oct 1944-Aug 1945, the "Norwich Bulletin" 1799-1812, Mar-Apr 1950, the Waterbury, Naugatuck, and New Haven newspapers for Nov 1957, and the "New London Day" Oct 1944-Aug 1945.
This site is an archive of the content of the MUFON CT website from the late 1990s. The current MUFON CT organization should be contacted through the MUFON web site.