mysteries zone

Majestic 12 / MJ-12

Majestic-12 (sometimes written simply as MJ-12 or MJ-XII) is the codename of a secret committee presumed to have been formed in 1947 at the direction of U.S. President Harry S. Truman, in order to investigate UFO activity. This alleged committee is an important part of the UFO conspiracy theory.

The existence of MJ-12 has been denied by the United States government, which insists that documents suggesting its existence are hoaxed. The FBI investigated the documents, and concluded they were forgeries. Opinions among UFO researchers and enthusiasts are divided: Some argue the documents may be genuine, others contend they are phony, due primarily to errors in formatting and chronology.

History

Majestic 12 first entered the public consciousness in 1984 (Susan Wright writes that the documents first surfaced in 1982, but all other sources support a 1984 date). Television producer (and amateur ufologist) Jamie Shandera says he received a roll of film in the mail from an anonymous sender. Once developed, the film was of two documents: The first document was supposedly written by Harry Truman, authorizing the formation of a committee called "MJ 12", charged with evaluating the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.

The second document was supposedly prepared by MJ-12 in 1952, to brief incoming president Dwight Eisenhower on the committee's progress. The documents discuss United States Air Force investigations and concealment of a crashed alien spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico.

All the alleged members of MJ-12 were notable for their military or scientific achievements, and all (except Edward Teller) were deceased when the documents first surfaced.

The alleged members of the Majestic-12 committee were:

  • Rear Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter
  • Dr. Vannevar Bush
  • James Forrestal (replaced after his death by Gen. Walter Bedell Smith)
  • Nathan Twining
  • Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg
  • Dr. Detlev Bronk
  • Dr. Jerome Hunsaker
  • Rear Adm. Sidney Souers
  • Gordon Gray
  • Dr. Donald Menzel
  • Maj. Gen. Robert Montague
  • Dr. Lloyd Berkener

(Four of these men had reliably documented activities related to UFOs: Menzel wrote or co-wrote several debunking books; Hillenkoetter was a member of NICAP; while Twining and Vandenberg oversaw early U.S. Air Force UFO investigations (like Project Sign)).

Shandera first publicly discussed the MJ-12 documents in a 1982 made-for-television documentary, The UFO Experience (Wright, p95-96). MJ-12 remained something of a fringe topic--even in ufology--until a few years later after the publication of Timothy Good's best-selling book, Above Top Secret (1988), which reprinted the MJ-12 documents. Good also reported receiving photos of the MJ-12 documents from an anonymous sender.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation then began its own study of the MJ-12 documents: The MJ-12 documents were supposedly classified as "Top Secret", and the FBI's initial concern was that someone within the U.S. government had illegally leaked secret information.

Other MJ-12 documents have since surfaced, and again, opinions differ as to their authenticity. Susan Wright agrees with the mainstream consensus that the MJ-12 documents are phony, and speculates that they may have been disinformation.

Others have speculated that MJ-12 may have been another name for the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit, an officially recognized military group active from the 1940's through the late 1950s.


Links about Majestic 12 / MJ-12

Majestic Documents.com
Provides downloadable images of leaked highly classified documents; shows pictures and brief biographies of the military leaders then and now that are linked to the super secret MJ-12 program; decodes a variety of classified codeword programs related to the UFO topic; discusses document authentication procedures and how they are applied to the examination of leaked documents.

Majestic 12
The final page of the briefing paper was a memorandum, dated 24th September,1947, from President Harry Truman to his secretary of Defence, James Forrestal. In it, Truman instructs Forrestal to proceed with 'Operation Majestic-12', but gives no hint at what that might be...

MJ12 Documents
One of the most controversial documents to be uncovered in the anals of UFO research is called the MJ Documents. These documents were left under Jaime Shandera home door (as I recall reading) by an unknown source in 1984.

The New Bogus Majestic-12 Documents
"Top Secret" documents which indicated that President Harry Truman had created a super-secret MJ-12 group forty years earlier to deal with extraterrestrial (ET) visitors. Truman's (alleged) action was prompted by an alleged crashed-ET craft that had been covertly recovered near Roswell in mid-1947.

Majestic-12 A secret government and their alien antics
This document has been in circulation for a while, and it's pretty darn interesting. It's authenticity cannot be verified. At worst it is an excellent peice of science fiction.

Majestic 12 and The Secret Government
During the years following World War II the Government of the United States was confronted with a series of events which were to change beyond prediction its future and with it the future of humanity.

The Majestic 12 Documents Secret
Aegis often uncovered evidence that secret organizations, other than The Black Book, were at work within the US government.

The Majestic-12 Papers : An Analysis
The story of how the original MJ-12 papers came to light is an interesting look into the mindset of some of the leading UFO researchers, and an excellent example of the quality of UFO evidence that is acceptable to some people...

MJ-12 The Secret Govenment
The complete Secret Government, Majestic 12 paper by William Cooper with commentary, links and Behold A Pale Horse reviews.

Majestic 12- The Ultimate Secret
The Top Secret Operation Majestic-12 was established by order of President Harry S. Truman in 1947. Operation Majestic-12, was created to take charge of the technical, sociological and other aspects of the crashed UFOs and the small alien occupants, dead or alive, that were recovered.

Operation Majestic-12
The MJ12 (Majestic 12) document is reputed to be a top secret briefing, consisting of eight pages, written for President-elect Eisenhower in 1952. It tells of two saucer crashes in the US (in 1947 and 1950). It even mentions details of the recovery of wreckage and alien bodies near Roswell.