◀ Red Thread Files ☰ Case Files ⓘ About SOURCES & METHODS

This project exists to help you weigh the UAP record — not to tell you what to believe. Every claim here is tagged with how directly it is documented, and where a primary source exists, you can open it. Just as important: when something isn't sourced yet, we say so plainly. An admitted gap is more honest than a confident-looking citation that doesn't hold up.

The five source tiers

Official
Government or military primary record or release. Declassified documents, agency reports, the congressional record, court filings, National Archives holdings, official video releases.
Testimony
Sworn or on-the-record testimony. Congressional hearings, depositions, and statements given under oath or formally to investigators.
Documented
Reputable journalism or a named author with citations. Reporting and books that name their sources and can be checked — strong, but a step removed from the primary record.
Claim
A named individual's assertion, not independently verified. First-person accounts and whistleblower statements. Worth recording and attributing — but resting on one person's word.
Unsourced
No source on file yet. Shown openly, never hidden. These are invitations for further research, not settled facts.

How connections are graded

In the Case Files, every connection between two people, orgs, or events is also marked for how the record treats it:

Corroborating — independently supported by more than one account or record.
Referential / neutral — a documented link or mention, without a claim of agreement or dispute.
Disputed & contradictory — accounts conflict, or the claim is contested. Surfaced, not buried — contested files are stamped “Claims Contested.”
The globe adds its own case-level reads — documentation quality, and status such as Explained or Hoax — so a single sighting can be weighed on its own merits, not just by association.

The primary-source corpus

A living list of the primary documents this project draws on. It starts with the most heavily documented anchor cases and grows over time. Each links to the source of record where one is public.

A note on AARO

The Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office is not treated here as a trusted source of record. Its findings remain publicly contested — including by witnesses who testified before Congress — so where AARO is referenced, it is attributed as a party to the story rather than cited as settled fact. Official primary records (DoD releases, the congressional record, ODNI, NASA, the National Archives) carry the evidentiary weight instead.

What isn't here yet

Most connections in the Case Files are drawn from the public record but not yet tied to a specific linkable document — those show a source needed flag, and their dossiers read Unsourced until a primary source is attached. That's deliberate. You can see, at a glance, exactly how far the sourcing reaches — and where the work still is.

The Red Thread Files is an independent research aid. It aggregates and organizes public information; it does not adjudicate what is true. Tiers and grades reflect the strength and directness of available sourcing, not a verdict on the phenomenon. Found an error or a better primary source? That's exactly the kind of correction this is built to absorb.