Mariana UFO Incident
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The Mariana UFO Incident occurred over the Summer of 1950 in Great Falls, Montana. The event garnered national media attention, as the concept of UFOs and alien invasion was extremely popular amongst Americans at the time.
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[edit] August 15, 1950
At 11:25AM, Nick Mariana, the general manager of the Great Falls Electrics baseball team, and his nineteen-year old secretary, Virginia Raunig, were inspecting the empty Legion Ball Park field. A bright flash caught Mariana's eye and, according to his reports, he saw two bright silvery objects, rotating while flying over Great Falls at a speed he estimated to be two hundred to four hundred miles per hour. He believed that they were roughly fifty feet wide and one hundred and fifty feet apart.
Mariana ran to his car to retrieve his 16 mm movie camera and filmed the UFOs for sixteen seconds. Raunig also reported seeing the objects and would remain one of his strongest supporters in the years that followed.
[edit] Local Reaction
In the days that followed, Mariana showed his film to several local community groups. The Great Falls Tribune documented his film in several articles which were picked up by various media outlets around the nation. For several weeks, the film was something of a local "phenomenon" to the people of Great Falls, Montana, attracting thrill-seekers and UFO enthusiasts from all parts of the country..
[edit] Military Intervention
After seeing the film, a member of a local community group wrote to the newly-formed Project Blue Book, a government agency which investigated unidentified flying objects. Investigators from the organization interviewed Mariana at nearby Great Falls AFB. Their conclusion was, after viewing the film, that the UFOs were a pair of F-94 Starfires that landed at the air force base only minutes after the sighting. Mariana said that both he and his secretary had seen jets in the sky moments after the UFOs had disappeared.
In late 1952, officials from Blue Book appeared in Great Falls and borrowed the film again. When the film was returned, thirty frames where Mariana claims the UFO distinctly rotated, were missing. The USAF denied removing more than a single frame, which they claim had been damaged. While blame amongst conspiracy theorists has been placed on Captain John P. Brynildsen, aside from personal testimonies, no solid evidence was ever brought forth against the USAF's supposed actions.
In 1953, The Robertson Panel examined the film and accepted that it showed only aircraft.
[edit] Later Studies
The authenticity of the film remained locked in that limbo until the University of Colorado's UFO Project, headed by Dr. Edward U. Condon, was organized in 1966. The film was studied again, Mariana was re-interviewed, and the complete Air Force file was seen. The Condon investigators added a new problem to the case. They were not sure whether the film was actually taken on August 5 or August 15.
Years later, investigator William Hartmann, who analyzed the film for the UFO Project study, added a new side to the ongoing dispute when he claimed it showed the unidentified objects had a constant elliptical shape.
[edit] A Half-Century Later
Over fifty years after it was filmed, what remains of the Mariana UFO film has become a popular piece of study amongst UFO enthusiasts. It is still featured in documentaries, television programs, and shared online.
Although often-disputed, it remains one of the strongest cases supporting the existence of UFOs ever captured on film. Since the "Incident", over 100 other UFO sightings have been made in Great Falls, Montana, making it one of the most active locations for UFO sightings in North America.
