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STANDARD FORK NO. 64 a Office Memorandum - 7 av4 al > DIRECTOR FBI 4 oo : SRO KNOXVILLE 7 -sdbeecr: "SpLyTNG SAUCERS" OBSERVED OVER La | OAK RIDGE AREA INTERNAL SECURITY -X ; ie ued Ua p' tau erry f There are being submitted herewith two photographs of repu saucers’ which were seen at Oak Ridge, Tennesseo, sometime during July! or All of the information contained in this letter was received from Mr. RATHMAN, Chief Investigator, Security Division, Atomic Energy Commission, and Colonel C. D. GASSER, Resident Engineer, Air Material Command, United States Army, who is the principal army technician at the Nuclear Energy for the Pro- pulsion of Aircraft Research Center at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. yl Mr. RATHMAN advised that the attached photographs were taken by W. R. PRESLEY in July of 1947. He stated that interview with PRESLEY revealed that he had been snapping photographs of his family in front of his residence at 218 Illinois Avenue, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, late in the afternoon, when he looked into the sky and observed the vapor trail as exhibited by the photograph numbered "1." PRESLEY stated that he took a snap of this trail, was winding the film to ) the next number, when he looked into the sky and" observed the ball of fire as “| hyShown in photograph 2. Upon observing the unusual phenomena, he used his last 2 film in taking photograph #2. PRESLEY made these photographs available to re- V porters of the Knoxville News-Sentinel and a story concerning them was run in yy iid that paper; however, as shown by the photostatic copy of the newspaper clipping, "J" which is also being submitted herewith to the Bureau, the print was very indis- tinct; the news story did not contain any factual information; and it was regarded generally by the public at the time as a »ossiole trick. Tater, it was learned by Mr. RATHM./ and Colonel GASSER that PRESLEY had made several copies of this photograph and had distributed them among his , acquaintances at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Upon Colonel GASSER's finding that the a etd photographs had received some distribution, he requested Mr. RATHMAN as Head of ~— a. the Compliance and Investigations Division, to recover as many as possible of LS _/the photographs, advise the persons in whose possession they were found to say nothing to anyone concerning them, and to return the said photographs to him — a for transmission to the United States Air Force Intelligence Servicé.~ Mr. RATHMAN | i ‘advises that he succeeded in romding up twenty-four copies of these photographs, and that, according to the statements of PRESLEY, no more copies were made or distributed. RATHMAN further stated that GASSER had appeared extremely concerned over the matter and seemed to be quite emphatic that the matter should be given no more publicity than was absolutely necessary. RATHMAN also advised that he studied the negatives from which the reproductions were made, and they appeared RECORDED - 12h JNDEXED.- 121