Project Grudge

Project Grudge was a short-lived project by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to investigate unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Grudge succeeded Project Sign in February, 1949, and was then followed by Project Blue Book. The project formally ended in December 1949, but continued in a minimal capacity until late 1951.

Project Grudge issued its only formal report in August 1949. The report's conclusions included:

A. There is no evidence that objects reported upon are the result of an advanced scientific foreign development; and, therefore they constitute no direct threat to the national security. In view of this, it is recommended that the investigation and study of reports of unidentified flying objects be reduced in scope.

B. All evidence and analyses indicate that reports of unidentified flying objects are the result of:

1. Misinterpretation of various conventional objects.

2. A mild form of mass-hysteria and war nerves.

3. Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or to seek publicity.

4. Psychopathological persons.

In the "Recommendations" section from the Grudge Report prepared by J. Allen Hynek, it was suggested that Air Force personnel receive basic instruction in astronomical phenomena.

An article by Sidney Shallet appeared in two consecutive issues of the Saturday Evening Post (April 30 and May 7, 1949) and supported the claim of Project Grudge that UFO reports could be explained by mundane phenomena, and that hoaxes and crackpots played a prominent role in popularizing UFOs.

Ufologists including Edward J. Ruppelt, Jerome Clark, and Michael D. Swords have criticized Project Grudge for being "an exercise of derision" and "enthusiastically antisaucer" (Swords), and for evaluating evidence "on the premise that UFOs couldn't exist" and for "conducting little or no investigation" (Ruppelt).

Further reading

• Edward J. Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects