Did the Pentagon spread false UFO stories? We’re skeptical.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that the Pentagon itself fueled much of the “mythology” surrounding UFOs. Citing current and former government sources, reporters Joel Schectman and Aruna Viswanatha write that a decades-long hazing ritual left “hundreds and hundreds” of Air Force personnel convinced that the Pentagon harbored a “secret alien project.”

The report also alleges that an Air Force colonel intentionally stoked UFO speculation at a Nevada bar in the 1980s as cover for the development of the first stealth fighter. Similarly, their sources claim that there is a “terrestrial explanation” for a prominent incident involving UFOs and nuclear weapons.