What The Files Say

Photo credits

Where every image on this site comes from. Nearly all are public-domain U.S. government records and photos, found via Wikimedia Commons.

We only use images that are in the public domain or that we made ourselves. Public-domain status is as stated on each source page (mostly works of the U.S. federal government). Images are cropped and toned for the site design. If you think an image is credited wrongly, tell us and we will fix or remove it.

Declassified CIA MKUltra memo page, typed, with redactions

MKUltra: the CIA's mind-control program
A declassified MKUltra document released by the CIA.
Credit: Central Intelligence Agency (declassified record). License: Public domain. Source file

First page of the 1962 Joint Chiefs of Staff Northwoods memorandum, stamped Top Secret

Operation Northwoods: the fake-attack plan
The Northwoods memorandum, Joint Chiefs of Staff, March 1962.
Credit: U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, via the National Security Archive. License: Public domain. Source file

Typed anonymous letter sent by the FBI in 1964, later released uncensored

COINTELPRO: the FBI's war on activists
The anonymous 1964 letter the FBI mailed to Martin Luther King Jr., a COINTELPRO-era tactic later exposed by the Church Committee.
Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation. License: Public domain. Source file

Grainy 1964 Navy photo of a North Vietnamese torpedo boat under fire on open sea

The Gulf of Tonkin attack that wasn't
A North Vietnamese P-4 torpedo boat under fire from USS Maddox, 2 August 1964 (U.S. Navy).
Credit: U.S. Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. License: Public domain. Source file

Group photo of more than a hundred Paperclip rocket scientists at Fort Bliss, Texas

Operation Paperclip: Nazi scientists in America
The Paperclip rocket team at Fort Bliss, Texas, after World War II.
Credit: NASA. License: Public domain. Source file

U.S. Public Health Service certificate given to study participants for 25 years of participation

The Tuskegee syphilis study
A Public Health Service certificate given to men in the study (National Archives).
Credit: U.S. Public Health Service, via the U.S. National Archives. License: Public domain. Source file

Illustration of a dim 1980s office desk with a pencil landscape sketch, cassette recorder and pinned maps

Stargate: the Pentagon's psychic spies
Illustration (AI-generated, not a real photo): a remote-viewing session as imagined at a 1980s desk.
Credit: AI-generated illustration created for this site. Not a photograph; shows no real person.. License: Original illustration.

CIA Original Headquarters Building in Langley, Virginia, under a blue sky

Operation Mockingbird: the CIA and the press
The CIA's Original Headquarters Building, Langley, Virginia (CIA photo).
Credit: Central Intelligence Agency. License: Public domain. Source file

NASA Landsat satellite view of the dry lake bed and runways at Groom Lake, Nevada

Area 51: what's really at Groom Lake
Groom Lake, Nevada, from NASA Landsat imagery.
Credit: NASA Landsat. License: Public domain. Source file

Black-and-white aerial photograph of the Pentagon and its parking lots

The Pentagon's UFO (UAP) files
The Pentagon from the air.
Credit: District Department of Transportation historic collection. License: Public domain. Source file

Dealey Plaza in Dallas with the red-brick Texas School Book Depository building behind the trees

Who killed JFK? The files on the assassination
Dealey Plaza and the former Texas School Book Depository, Dallas, photographed in 2014 by Carol M. Highsmith (Library of Congress).
Credit: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. License: Public domain. Source file

Roswell Daily Record front page of July 8, 1947: RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region

Roswell: the crash of 1947
Roswell Daily Record, 8 July 1947.
Credit: Roswell Daily Record, 8 July 1947 (copyright not renewed). License: Public domain (not renewed). Source file

Apollo 11 astronaut standing beside the U.S. flag on the gray lunar surface

Was the Moon landing faked?
Apollo 11, July 1969: the flag on the Moon (NASA, via the National Archives).
Credit: NASA, via the U.S. National Archives. License: Public domain. Source file

U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Eldridge underway at sea in 1944

The Philadelphia Experiment
USS Eldridge (DE-173) underway, circa 1944 (U.S. Navy).
Credit: U.S. Navy. License: Public domain. Source file

Page of the Majestic 12 document from the FBI Vault, stamped BOGUS by hand

Majestic 12: the secret UFO committee
A page of the Majestic 12 papers as held in the FBI Vault, marked "BOGUS".
Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI Vault). License: Public domain. Source file

Tall evergreen trees fading into thick fog in Olympic National Forest

The FBI's Bigfoot file
Fog in Olympic National Forest, Washington (U.S. Forest Service).
Credit: U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region. License: Public domain. Source file

Graphics and type

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