Within Hayden Hewes
Can Hewes's UFO Bulletin Be Trusted?
Hewes's bulletin preserved rare Oklahoma witness accounts while openly favouring the idea that UFOs could be interplanetary craft.
On this page
- What the bulletin collected and circulated
- How its interplanetary viewpoint shaped coverage
- Using the publication as history without treating it as proof
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Introduction
Hayden Hewes’s Interplanetary Intelligence Report occupies an unusual place in Oklahoma UFO history. It is both a valuable historical source and a publication that openly promoted a preferred explanation for the phenomenon it covered. For researchers trying to understand Oklahoma’s major sighting years, especially the intense wave of reports during the mid-1960s, the bulletin remains useful because it preserved witness accounts, local investigations, organisational correspondence and press coverage that might otherwise have disappeared. At the same time, readers must recognise that the publication was not a neutral archive. Its editors explicitly framed UFOs as potentially interplanetary craft and saw part of their mission as demonstrating that possibility.[edmondlifeandleisure.com]edmondlifeandleisure.comin '65 Edmond abuzz with UCO sightings11 Sept 2014 — Members of the IIOUFO included scientists, astronomers and others interested in the…
The result is a source that deserves neither automatic dismissal nor automatic trust. Its greatest value lies in showing what people reported, how civilian investigators responded and how UFO claims circulated through Oklahoma and beyond. Its greatest weakness is that the editors often approached those reports with a clear belief about what UFOs might be.
What the Bulletin Collected and Circulated
Published during the mid-1960s by Hewes’s organisation, Interplanetary Intelligence of Unidentified Flying Objects (IIOUFO), the Interplanetary Intelligence Report functioned as an informal information network. Surviving issues show a mixture of witness narratives, local sighting summaries, newspaper extracts, organisational updates and commentary on official investigations.[Scribd]scribd.comInterplanetary Intelligence Report vol 1 no 2USA UFO Files: July 1965 Edition | PDF | Ufology28 Mar 2024 — The Interplanetary Intelligence Report (IIR), is published bi-monthly…
For Oklahoma historians, this role is more important than it may first appear. During the 1960s there was no comprehensive state archive devoted to UFO reports. Newspaper articles were scattered across local publications, witnesses often had no permanent record of their experiences, and police observations could remain buried in departmental files. Hewes gathered these fragments into a single publication that circulated among investigators and enthusiasts.[edmondlifeandleisure.com]edmondlifeandleisure.comin '65 Edmond abuzz with UCO sightings11 Sept 2014 — Members of the IIOUFO included scientists, astronomers and others interested in the…
Several aspects of the bulletin make it historically useful:
- It preserved reports that may not survive elsewhere.
- It documented how witnesses described events before later retellings altered details.
- It recorded the reactions of local investigators during active sighting periods.
- It linked Oklahoma cases to wider national discussions occurring during the 1965–66 UFO wave.
- It provides evidence of how civilian UFO networks operated before the internet era.[edmondlifeandleisure.com]edmondlifeandleisure.comin '65 Edmond abuzz with UCO sightings11 Sept 2014 — Members of the IIOUFO included scientists, astronomers and others interested in the…
Even when individual sightings cannot be verified today, the publication remains evidence that the reports existed and were considered noteworthy at the time.
How the Interplanetary Viewpoint Shaped Coverage
The main limitation of the bulletin is not hidden. It was built into the organisation’s identity.
The very name Interplanetary Intelligence of Unidentified Flying Objects reflected an assumption that UFOs might represent visitors from elsewhere in the solar system or beyond. Surviving descriptions of the bulletin state that one of its purposes was to explore and publicise the possibility that UFOs were interplanetary vehicles.[Scribd]scribd.comInterplanetary Intelligence Report vol 1 no 2USA UFO Files: July 1965 Edition | PDF | Ufology28 Mar 2024 — The Interplanetary Intelligence Report (IIR), is published bi-monthly…
This matters because editorial assumptions influence what gets published and how it is interpreted.
A publication operating from an interplanetary framework is more likely to:
- Highlight reports that appear extraordinary.
- Give greater attention to witnesses who support unusual interpretations.
- Treat unresolved cases as suggestive evidence rather than unanswered questions.
- Emphasise perceived weaknesses in official explanations.
- Present clusters of sightings as part of a larger pattern.[Scribd]scribd.comInterplanetary Intelligence Report vol 1 no 2USA UFO Files: July 1965 Edition | PDF | Ufology28 Mar 2024 — The Interplanetary Intelligence Report (IIR), is published bi-monthly…
That does not mean reports were fabricated. Rather, it means the selection and framing process was not neutral. A witness statement reproduced in the bulletin may accurately reflect what someone claimed to see, while the surrounding commentary may encourage readers toward a particular conclusion.
The distinction is important. Historical researchers often separate the raw testimony from the interpretation attached to it. In Hewes’s publication, those two layers frequently appear together.
Where Bias Becomes Most Visible
The clearest signs of bias appear when the bulletin discussed competing explanations.
During the 1960s, many UFO reports generated disagreements between civilian investigators and official programmes such as the US Air Force’s Project Blue Book. Civilian groups often believed government agencies were too quick to identify sightings as stars, planets, aircraft or atmospheric phenomena. Government investigators, meanwhile, argued that many dramatic reports had ordinary explanations.[Wikipedia]WikipediaProject Blue BookProject Blue Book
Hewes’s publication generally aligned with the civilian side of that debate. The bulletin’s audience expected serious consideration of UFO reports and was often sceptical of official dismissals. As a result, readers can encounter a recurring pattern in which official explanations receive critical treatment while unexplained elements receive greater emphasis.[Scribd]scribd.comInterplanetary Intelligence Report vol 1 no 2USA UFO Files: July 1965 Edition | PDF | Ufology28 Mar 2024 — The Interplanetary Intelligence Report (IIR), is published bi-monthly…
For historians, this does not invalidate the source. It simply means that the publication should be read alongside newspaper accounts, police records, Project Blue Book files and later analyses rather than in isolation.
Using the Publication as History Without Treating It as Proof
The most reliable way to use the Interplanetary Intelligence Report is as a historical document rather than a final authority on what witnesses actually saw.
The bulletin can answer questions such as:
- What reports were circulating in Oklahoma at a particular time?
- Which cases attracted the attention of civilian investigators?
- How did local UFO organisations interpret events?
- What information was available to researchers during the 1960s?
- How did public discussion of UFOs evolve during major sighting waves?[edmondlifeandleisure.com]edmondlifeandleisure.comin '65 Edmond abuzz with UCO sightings11 Sept 2014 — Members of the IIOUFO included scientists, astronomers and others interested in the…
It is much less reliable for answering whether a specific sighting represented an extraordinary object. The publication rarely possessed the tools needed to establish that conclusively. In many cases, later researchers found additional information, alternative explanations or unresolved uncertainties that were not available when the bulletin first appeared.
This distinction mirrors the way historians use newspapers. A newspaper article proves that a story was reported and discussed at a particular moment. It does not automatically prove that every claim within the article was correct. The same principle applies to Hewes’s bulletin.
Why It Still Matters in Oklahoma UFO History
Despite its limitations, the Interplanetary Intelligence Report remains one of the most significant surviving civilian UFO records connected to Oklahoma.
Without it, many local reports would exist only as scattered memories, isolated newspaper clippings or lost correspondence. Hewes helped preserve a body of material that allows later researchers to reconstruct how Oklahoma’s UFO culture developed during one of the most active periods in American UFO history.[edmondlifeandleisure.com]edmondlifeandleisure.comin '65 Edmond abuzz with UCO sightings11 Sept 2014 — Members of the IIOUFO included scientists, astronomers and others interested in the…
Its historical value therefore comes from preservation rather than proof. The bulletin shows what witnesses, investigators and enthusiasts believed, discussed and recorded at the time. Its bias lies in its willingness to view those reports through an interplanetary lens. Understanding both characteristics together allows readers to use the publication effectively: as an important archive of Oklahoma UFO history, but not as independent confirmation that the extraordinary claims it recorded were true.[Scribd]scribd.comInterplanetary Intelligence Report vol 1 no 2USA UFO Files: July 1965 Edition | PDF | Ufology28 Mar 2024 — The Interplanetary Intelligence Report (IIR), is published bi-monthly…
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Endnotes
1.
Source: edmondlifeandleisure.com
Link:https://edmondlifeandleisure.com/edmond-underground-in-edmond-abuzz-with-uco-sightings-p10350-87.htm
Source snippet
in '65 Edmond abuzz with UCO sightings11 Sept 2014 — Members of the IIOUFO included scientists, astronomers and others interested in the...
2.
Source: scribd.com
Title: Interplanetary Intelligence Report vol 1 no 2
Link:https://www.scribd.com/document/718106463/Interplanetary-Intelligence-Report-vol-1-no-2
Source snippet
USA UFO Files: July 1965 Edition | PDF | Ufology28 Mar 2024 — The Interplanetary Intelligence Report (IIR), is published bi-monthly...
Published: July 1965
3.
Source: archive.org
Title: Interplanetary Intelligence Report vol 1 no 2
Link:https://archive.org/details/Interplanetary_Intelligence_Report_vol_1_no_2
Source snippet
Internet ArchiveInterplanetary Intelligence Report vol 1 no 215 Oct 2019 — hayden hewes Collection. This newsletter is from the collectio...
4.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Project Blue Book
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Book
5.
Source: Wikipedia
Title: Robertson Panel
Link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson_Panel
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Source: edmondlifeandleisure.com
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Source: ia600600.us.archive.org
Title: 492780987 The UFO Book Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial PDFDrive
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Source: scribd.com
Link:https://www.scribd.com/document/803216747/Hewes-Hayden-The-Aliens
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Source: scribd.com
Title: Hewes, Hayden
Link:https://www.scribd.com/document/803216642/Hewes-Hayden-The-Intruders
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Source: youtube.com
Title: UFOs in Oklahoma: A History of Sightings and Investigations
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Project Blue Book - The 1965 Oklahoma UFO Wave...
11.
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The Jimmy Carter UFO Sighting and Hayden Hewes...
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Source: azarchivesonline.org
Link:https://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?doc.view=print%3Bchunk.id%3D0&docId=ead%2Fuoa%2FUAMS412.xml
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Additional References
15.
Source: iapsop.com
Link:https://iapsop.com/archive/materials/flying_saucers_palmer/flying_saucers_n48_aug_1960.pdf
Source snippet
FLYING SAUCERSHewes and James W. Maney, we formed the organization known as Inter planetary Intelligence of Unidentified Fly ing Ob...
16.
Source: iapsop.com
Link:https://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/saucer_news_moseley/saucer_news_i59_v12_n01_1965_03.pdf
Source snippet
saucer newscers have been "identified" as highly advanced vehicles; that these vehicles exhibit intelligent guidance and modes of r...
17.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The Forgotten Pioneer of UFO Research: Hayden Hewes & the Rise of the IUFOB
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_f4iM2i_tY
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Oklahoma has decades-long history with Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena sightings[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nExui42by0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nExui42by0) Southwest Le...
18.
Source: koco.com
Link:https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-ufo-history-unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-sightings/45347432
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Oklahoma has decades-long history with UAP sightings1 Oct 2023 — During the Project Blue Book years, an OKC man was on a mission to s...
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Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nExui42by0
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Nearly 50 years later, Kecksburg UFO sighting remains mystery...
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Title: Nearly 50 years later, Kecksburg UFO sighting remains mystery
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM68dQjp4-M
Source snippet
UFO Mania Hits 1960s Britain | Archive Documentary...
22.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The Jimmy Carter UFO Sighting and Hayden Hewes
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Source snippet
The Early Days of Civilian UFO Research - NICAP and APRO...
23.
Source: facebook.com
Link:https://www.facebook.com/groups/ufoupdates/posts/10159104626936790/
24.
Source: internationalufobureau.com
Link:https://www.internationalufobureau.com/pastinvestigations