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UFO Event Timeline Processing Tool

Copyrights:

Code:

Data files (in 'bin' directory):

Although the C++ tool itself is open source with a permissive license (Apache 2.0), any commercial use of the copyrighted data in this repository (in any format, textual, JSON, Markdown, HTML, raw binary records, etc.) may require permission from one or more copyright holders:

  • Richard Geldreich, Jr. - Copyright (c) 2023. Commercial usage permitted (for the specific records in maj2.json) as long as attribution is given.
  • George M. Eberhart - Copyright (c) 2022. Efforts to contact have been unsuccessful. This is the original PDF's copyright.
  • LeRoy Pea - Copyright (c) 9/8/1988 (updated 3/17/2005). Permission was explictly given for use by e-mail as long as he is attributed.
  • Dr. Donald A. Johnson - Copyright (c) 2012. Efforts to contact him by email in 2023 have been unsuccessful.
  • Fred Keziah - Copyright (c) 1958. This poster hasn't been updated in 65 years, so it's probably fine for commercial usage.
  • Dr. Jacques F. Vallée - Copyright (c) 1993. This data was published in Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers. This is the book's copyright.
  • NICAP - Unknown copyright status. The organization went defunct in 1980, 43 years ago, so it's very likely this data is in the Public Domain.
  • *U* binary database file U.RND: Copyright 1994-2002 Larry Hatch. According to David Marler, Executive Director of the National UFO Historical Records Center, "The family has verbally given permission for the database to be used. If you need to speak with them, I have their contact info."
  • Jérôme Beau - Copyright © 2000- 2023. French chronology data from rr0.org. See its license here (the GNU Free Documentation License).
  • Godelieve Van Overmeire (1935-2021) - Her French chronology was explictly not copyrighted, as far as I can tell.
  • Richard M. Dolan - Copyright 2009. His compilation of UFO events are from the appendix of the book UFOs and the National Security State: The Cover-Up Exposed, 1973-1991.
  • The Anonymous PDF Markdown file (anon_pdf.md), which originally appeared on the internet here in late July 2023 in Adobe PDF format, is not copyrighted and is in the Public Domain (i.e. it is not Intellectual Property). All ~600 events were explictly and individually marked "PUBLIC DOMAIN" in the original PDF format document. In any jurisdictions outside the US that don't recognize the Public Domain, this Markdown file (and only the specific file anon_pdf.md) uses the Unlicense. Here's an HTML conversion of this Markdown file, using the markdown-styles command line tool (you can also use pandoc -f gfm):
    • generate-md --layout github --input ./anon_pdf.md --output anon_pdf

Instructions

This C++ command line tool reads several source files containing UFO related events, which were compiled from a variety of sources, and converts each of them to JSON. It then sorts all of these events into a single large timeline and outputs them as the Markdown file "timeline.md" and the JSON file "majestic.json". pandoc can then be used to convert this Markdown text file to HTML.

Currently, the tool is Windows only, but it would be trivial to port to Linux/OSX. (I'll do this, eventually.) To run it: compile the .SLN using Visual Studio 2019 or 2022. There are no external 3rd party dependencies. Run it in the BIN directory with the -convert command line option. It'll convert all the source files to JSON then output a file named timeline.md.

Here's an earlier version of its output Markdown file converted to PDF. The latest HTML timeline is published here.

Getting started with the JSON data

Check out Larry Hatch's database of ~18k records converted to utf-8 JSON format, here. The JSON format should be self-explanatory.

Special Thanks

  • Thanks to David Marler, Executive Director of the National UFO Historical Records Center, for assistance in recovering Hatch's DOS-era UFO program.

  • Thanks to Jérôme Beau, creator of the "uDb" project, for releasing his database tool. His output and code was very useful.