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Navy Arctic UFO photos allegedly leaked by anonymous source

Several impressive photos of alleged UFOs over the arctic captured on camera by the Navy in 1971 have been leaked to UFO researchers, and their discovery has been getting worldwide media attention.

UFO researcher Alex Mistretta claims that the images were originally given to him by an anonymous source in Europe. Later, he discovered that they were also published in a French paranormal magazine called Top Secret.

Two of the images from the French magazine Top Secret. The caption reads, "(Top) On this photo, we identify without a doubt a triangular-shaped UFO. It seems to be in trouble. (Bottom) If the order that we have chosen for these pictures is correct, the UFO here seems to now go sideways before plunging into the ocean…" (Credit: Top Secret/TheBlackVault.com)
Two of the images from the French magazine Top Secret. The caption reads: “(Top) On this photo, we identify without a doubt a triangular-shaped UFO. It seems to be in trouble. (Bottom) If the order that we have chosen for these pictures is correct, the UFO here seems to now go sideways before plunging into the ocean…” (Credit: Top Secret/TheBlackVault.com)

To further investigate, Mistretta enlisted the help of John Greenewald, who runs the website TheBlackVault.com. He asked Greenewald to post the pictures in hopes that Greenewald and others may be able to find out more about the images.

After posting the story last week, it began getting international headlines. A Reddit user that goes by the name SqizCat was also able to find higher resolution copies of the images.

The images are fantastic. They seem to be of large objects aloft over the ocean, some, if not all, taken from the periscope of a submarine. The big question is are they real, and if so, what are they?

Alleged UFO photo taken from the USS Trepang in March 1971.
Alleged UFO photo taken from the USS Trepang in March 1971.
Alleged UFO photo taken from the USS Trepang in March 1971.
Alleged UFO photo taken from the USS Trepang in March 1971.
Alleged UFO photo taken from the USS Trepang in March 1971.
Alleged UFO photo taken from the USS Trepang in March 1971.
Alleged UFO photo taken from the USS Trepang in March 1971.
Alleged UFO photo taken from the USS Trepang in March 1971.

Visit TheBlackVault.com to see more of the images.

The Investigation

In his email to The Black Vault, Mistretta listed what his anonymous source told him.

  1. The photos were taken from a United State Navy submarine.
  2. The location was between Iceland and Jan Mayen island in the Atlantic Ocean. (Jan Mayen belongs to Norway, and is only inhabited by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the Norwegian military.)
  3. They were taken in March of 1971.
  4. The Submarine was the Navy’s USS Trepang (SSN 674) and the Admiral on board was Dean Reynolds Sackett. Obviously, the next step is to try and locate this Admiral Dean Reynolds, if he exists.
  5. The Submarine came upon the object by “accident,” as they were in the region on a routine joint military and scientific expedition. Officer John Klika was the one who initially spotted the object with the periscope.

Greenewald looked into these claims and he says that he found that Admiral Sackett was onboard the USS Trepang at the time listed. He also found that Officer Kilka was also aboard. Further, he found that the USS Trepang was in the area the source claimed at the time the pictures were allegedly taken.

Map of the area the photos were alegedly taken. (Credit: google Maps/TheBlackVault.com)
Map of the area the photos were alegedly taken. (Credit: google Maps/TheBlackVault.com)

Mistretta’s next move was to try and contact Sackett and Kilka. He sought the help of Steve Murillo who runs the UFO & Paranormal Research Society (UPARS) in Los Angeles, and is a former Navy pilot. Murillo was able to get in touch with Sackett, and Mistretta says he was able to contact Kilka.

Sackett and Kilka both confirmed that they were on the USS Trepang in March of 1971. However, they say they, nor anyone else, saw anything strange while in the Arctic.

Image of the USS Trepang (Credit: Hullnumber.com)
Image of the USS Trepang (Credit: Hullnumber.com)

Mistretta wrote: “[Kilka] found the investigation interesting reading, and doesn’t know what the pictures represent. I believe them. I feel confident in saying the Trepang was not involved in the taking of the photographs.”

Although Mistretta now believes his source’s information to be inaccurate, Greenewald found clues that indicate the images may still be real, albeit not extraterrestrial.

Greenewald says, “When I first saw these, I noted there was something very Zeppelin-like about some of the photos, but, unlike the actual Zeppelin’s, it did not have a carrier for the occupants.”

By researching the USS Trepang’s whereabouts, he also found this on the site Hullnumber.com: “From 22 February to 22 March [1971], the nuclear attack submarine operated beneath the northern ice cap, conducting extensive tests to provide data for her weapons systems, as well as carrying out scientific experiments concerning the movement, composition, and geological history of the cap itself.”

This lead him to research test balloons. He searched the Library of Congress and found images of test balloons that look very similar to what is in some of the images.

A view of the H.M.S Canning and its observation balloon. - Image discovered by TheBlackVault.com. (Credit: National Geographic.)
A view of the H.M.S Canning and its observation balloon. – Image discovered by TheBlackVault.com. (Credit: National Geographic.)
Image I found on Wikipedia. Captions reads: "Swedish captive balloon carrier in 1907."
Image I found on Wikipedia. Captions reads: “Swedish captive balloon carrier in 1907.”

Greenewald’s discovery makes it possible, if not likely, that the images are from test balloons being fired upon by Navy submarines. The images he found were from the early 1900s, so the question remains as to whether similar balloons were still being used in the 70s, or are the images colorized version of much older pictures. Given the misinformation that accompanied the images in the first place, it is also possible they are Photoshopped hoaxes.

Although the media has picked up on the story, few, if any, have mentioned the investigation work done by Mistretta, Greenewald, and Murillo. By leaving out this part of the story, they leave out the fact that many UFO researchers are more than just wild-eyed believers, as the media often portrays. Some are actually doing all they can to look for the truth.

Murillo’s UPARS organization will be hosting Mistretta to discuss this case on July 21, 2015 in Los Angeles. You can find more information on the UPARS Meetup site.

If you have a different theory as to what is depicted in these images, let us know below.

Alejandro Rojas

Alejandro Rojas is a radio host for Open Minds Radio, editor and contributing writer for Open Minds magazine as well as OpenMinds.tv. For several years Alejandro was the official spokesperson for the Mutual UFO Network as the Director of Public Education. As a UFO/Paranormal researcher and journalist, Alejandro has spent many hours in the field investigating phenomena up close and personal. Alejandro has been interviewed by media organizations around the world, including the largest cable and network news agencies with several appearances on Coast to Coast AM.

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15 Comments

  1. Ridiculous to even consider these genuine. This would have to have been the National Auto Show of UFOs for so many models to show up at once — like floats at the Macy’s Day Parade. Whoever faked them should have just decided on one design.

  2. Yeah, I have a different theory. Some of the pictures look like balloons, admittedly. However, others look like they could be, if not are likely to be, something else. Then again, there didn’t seem to be much discussion of the possibility that those two military men could have been lying…

  3. Yet again more disinformation ??? Why not stop beeting about the bush and just get real proof out there and start real disclosure!!!

  4. Darren Kay – Disclosure of what? There’s nothing to disclose. Something that huge could never be kept from the public for that long. Human beings talk. Unless of course, YOU have some solid proof that we’re being visited? You seem very sure that we are in fact being visited? As I know you’ve heard before, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and to this day there is none. He heard this, she said that, I know someone who knows someone who knows someone whose dad was in the military etc… Same old nonsense

  5. eyesinthesky – This looks to me like one type of object from several different angles.

    As far as the balloon theory, I suppose that’s plausible, but it’s a stretch to say that what’s in those photos look like the balloon photos posted here. Unless he found other balloon types that look closer to the pictures I’m not convinced one way or another.

    I’d like to know more about how these were dated and tied to the USS Trepang. Unless the pictures can verified as actually coming from that sub on the dates stated, anything beyond that is speculation.

  6. Why so many people are reacting so negatively. Can’t you keep your mind openned? For those criticizing, do you a evidence of your assertions?

  7. What bugs me with this article, is how fast you are, Alejandro, to jump to the conclusion that these are test balloons.
    Few elements makes me think this case needs more research;
    1 – we can easily guess that there’s two different sets of photos. some are in Color and some in Black and white. The B&W ones seem to be older the the color ones. SO it would indicate that only part of the bunch is actually from 1971.
    2 – in the color photos, the shape of the object (if it’s the same) suggests that it’s kind of triangular. The focus is on the waves close to the submarine and the object seems pretty far away, at least few hundred meters to 1 kilometer. and if it’s correct, this thing is huge!
    3 – I’ve looked online for target and test balloons, but haven’t been able to find anything that looks like what we have on the color set. And the examples in the article are from 1915 (!).
    4 – Don’t you think that when shown the photos, the admiral Sackett or John Klika wouldn’t have recognized target balloons if they were really what you think they are? instead they just said that they don’t know what’s on the pictures.
    All these elements lead me to think that whatever it is. we can’t seriously draw any conclusion at that point of the investigation.

  8. When I look at these pictures I can’t help but recall a case file on UFO CASEBOOK where a number of sailors on a submarine witnessed a ufo in distress seemingly to pancake and flop repeatedly from the air to the water by no less than three witnesses and all three later being told sternly they saw nothing by the Captain.

  9. WOW. I saw these same things about an hour or two before closing at Ernie’s on Bank street in New London. Real crazy stuff. Different shapes, different colors, different shapes….. only problem was that no one else saw them…???

  10. Someone will jump on the opportunity to prove what the admiral had for lunch on the Trepang submarine on suc7h and such a day, therefore the pictures are of real ET’s.

  11. I say the especies on that ship, have bad luck, this time they were caught and it is not a ballon from the early 20 century, a ballon can not make that splash on the water, they are here all right, at least four different Ets have one agenda to follow, and its us and the planet they want, have we found another planet like this one? This is a gold planet for any especies in the universe, this planet can support lots of different animals and we are the ones (not all) u dont see that richness so we pollute, we fight and we destroy in any name…So I say!

  12. What about following up on the French m,agazine publication, the workers there would be mid-50s minimum today.

  13. Yes they were just tethered LTA helium balloon targets for Norwegian or Swedish Navy. The USN personnel mentioned above from the USS Trepang SSN674 were not lying. They did not experience anything unusual on their tour. Those were not AATIP’s (UFOs). They were just for target practice for some foreign navy in arctic waters. One of those photos shows the He envelope exploding probably from a surface ship deck gun. Also the periscope cross-hairs are all wrong for a USN Sturgeon-class attack submarine. No graticules. And it’s not SOP to take photos through the periscope as it violates USN OPSEC rules. Who would have processed them in 1971? No digital cams back then. And the p-scope internal filmroll is for USN military intel folks to process and analyze later at the Pentagon. Not even the skipper or XO has access to it to leak photos to the news media later. That’s a court martial-able offense.

  14. denials ? LOL as some of fellow said in comments section that balloons never make flash on water that high its make sense also, if we consider that was ballon what about that triangular UFO by observing images look have never seen before, also there we can see some type of propulsion system at its belly and we can see two images sow its tilt on when it change the direction, which type of balloon can do that? its look legitimate and they trying to misguided.

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