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This FBI file, a report from the Seattle field office to the FBI Director dated August 1947, covers the Maury Island flying disc story told by Fred Crisman and Harold Dahl. It says Kenneth Arnold looked into the story for Ray Palmer, and that Army Intelligence officers Davidson and Brown died when their B-25 crashed at Kelso carrying the supposed fragments. The FBI found no sign of sabotage. Crisman and Dahl admitted the material had no connection to discs, and the report names Crisman as the most likely anonymous caller.
“Chicago”12 pages
100 feet in diameter, circular in shape, and it appeared that there was a hole in the center of each as he could see the sky through this hole. He also mentioned that on the inside of the circle or the hole, that portholes were visible. Their speed was negligible as they appeared to hover over a given spot. One of these objects appeared to be in trouble. Another object came over and appeared to make contact. After making this contact for approximately two minutes, it rose to its original position. At this time the object that appeared to be in trouble seemed to throw a lot of debris from one of the portholes. These objects then disappeared from view. Some of this debris that landed broke in the wheelhouse of the boat, the spotlight, and the klaxon. While this debris was falling, my boy and Mr. Knight got off the boat and hid under some logs. This debris that fell killed our dog and a sea gull. I asked Mr. Dahl what was done with the dog. He made the statement they threw the dog into the water. This story was told to Mr. Crismon, who the next day went out to this Island to check on this story. He verified the fact of the damage to the boat, also to the fact that there appeared to be quite a few pieces of either rock or metal on the shore. Mr. Crismon also stated that while he was over there investigating on Maury Island, he also saw a disk. This disk was of the same shape and contour as the objects explained by Mr. Dahl. At this point Mr. Arnold clarified for me as to the reasons he was investigating this story. Mr. Arnold stated that he received a letter from a Mr. Raymond Palmer, supposedly editor of the Venture Press, Evanston, Illinois. The gist of this letter was that Mr. Palmer received a letter from Mr. Dahl and Mr. Crismon, also a package of these fragments that were found on Maury Island. Mr. Palmer also made the statement in the letter that the Chicago University failed to analyze these fragments and that would Mr. Arnold please investigate the story. Mr. Arnold was sent a Western Union check for $200.00 to take care of any expense that he might incur while making this investigation. Mr. Arnold had made a telephone call to Hamilton Field to contact a Captain Davidson and a Lieutenant Brown, who were with A-2 Intelligence at Hamilton Field, asking them would they make a trip to Tacoma to also listen to this story of Dahl and Crismon. When Mr. Arnold acquainted me with the fact that he had made this phone call in front of Mr. Dahl, Mr. Dahl made the statement that he would not tell this story to anybody in Army Intelligence. I made the statement to Mr. Dahl that if he felt this way, that he should not be in the room when these two Intelligence officers arrived. Mr. Dahl thought this was an excellent idea.
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