Yahoo Lifestyle Nickels, Pop Songs, Psychic Powers — And 6 Other Completely Bizarre Cases The FBI Has Investigated
1."Majestic 12":
In 1987, it was reported that British ufologist Timothy Good possessed classified American documents from the 1950s. The documents were said to be a briefing for the then-newly elected President Eisenhower on a secret organization formed by President Truman after the 1947 Roswell incident, known as "Majestic 12." This organization supposedly consisted of high-ranking military officials, scientists, and government leaders whose sole purpose was to investigate and recover alien aircraft.
A few weeks later, a man named Richard Doty, who claimed to be connected to the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations, told filmmaker Linda Moulton Howe that the stories of MJ-12 (Majestic 12) were true and that he had documents that proved the existence of small, grey humanoid figures from the Zeta Reculi star system. Doty also promised Howe footage of UFOs and an interview with one of these alien beings. However, no footage ever surfaced.
Another ufologist, Philip J. Klass, was suspicious of these "classified" documents and began conducting his own research on their authenticity.
Klass discovered that Robert Cutler, the "author" of the briefing, was actually out of the country on the date he was said to have written to the President. Klass's investigation also revealed that Truman's signature was copied and pasted onto the bottom of the document from a memo he wrote to Vannevar Bush in October 1947.
The FBI also investigated the documents and determined them to be unequivocally false. The United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations stated that no such committee or intergalactic investigations ever occurred, and the MJ-12 documents were marked as (in a totally '80s turn of events) "completely bogus."
2.A '60s pop song:
Everyone knows "Louie, Louie" by The Kingsmen, whether you've listened to it intentionally or not. The iconic '60s hit is used in everything from films to commercials, but at one point, it was the subject of an FBI investigation.
The song's lyrics were notoriously difficult to decipher, and this was not helped by the fact that lead singer Jack Ely's braces had just been tightened, and he was positioned too far away from the microphone. So, what did the kids of the '60s do without the ability to Google the lyrics? They invented their own, often dirty lyrics. This, of course, led to parents becoming concerned that mainstream pop was filling their offspring's heads with obscene material.
Eric Predoehl, who has researched the FBI's investigation into the song, told NPR in 2015, "Kids would, would hear these versions of the song, and they would pass around these written notes of what they thought were the lyrics. And parents were concerned, and they figured 'my gosh, this sounds like a dirty song, I don't understand it — maybe we should have an investigation of this sort of thing.'"
Parents even went so far as to write to government officials. One parent wrote to then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, “Who do you turn to when your teen age daughter buys and brings home pornographic or obscene materials being sold…in every City, Village, and Record shop in this Nation?”
Band member Dick Peterson recalled, "We were on the front page of every newspaper saying that we were corrupting the moral fiber of the youth of America. And J. Edgar Hoover launched an investigation — they woke us up in the middle of the night pounding on the door: 'FBI, FBI!'"
Over the next 31 months, the FBI conducted research on the song. The Bureau gathered multiple versions of lyrics, played the record at different speeds, and interviewed the songwriter and record label officials, only to ultimately determine that the song was "Unintelligible at any speed.”
Peterson revealed that the controversy only increased the song's popularity with teens, "The kids thought we got away with murder. And from then on we were able to go on television shows – we went on Shindig! five times, Hullabaloo, American Bandstand. We just went around the country playing concerts and playing to huge crowds."
3.The existence of Bigfoot:
In 1976, Peter Byrne, then-director of the Bigfoot Information Center and Exhibition, was intent on proving the existence of his beloved cryptid after what he deemed a "credible sighting."
Two biologists, also employees of the U.S. Forest Service, spotted an unidentified creature stalking through a pair of trees. This sighting immediately piqued Byrne's interest, so he investigated the scene.
Upon arrival, the prominent Bigfoot researcher noted that the trees between which the creature was spotted walking were far too narrow for something that large to pass through comfortably. Further inspection showed a tuft of hair and skin snagged on the tree's bark.
Byrne bagged the sample and sent it to the FBI, asking the agency to “arrange for a comparative analysis of some hairs that we have here which we are unable to identify.” He continued to write letters, pleading the case's urgency: “Please understand that our research here is serious. That this is a serious question that needs answering.”
However, he did not receive any acknowledgement from the agency for 43 years. On June 5, 2019, the official FBI X account simply tweeted "Bigfoot" and dropped 22 pages of previously classified documents relating to Byrne's inquiry.
It was revealed that agent Jay Cochran Jr., then-assistant director of the FBI's scientific and technical services division, agreed to test the sample of "Bigfoot" hair and skin. In a December 1976 letter that was never delivered to Byrne, Cochran wrote, “Occasionally, on a case-by-case basis, in the interest of research and scientific inquiry, we make exceptions to this general policy. With this understanding, we will examine the hairs and tissue mentioned in your letter.”
In February 1977, Cochran wrote yet another undelivered letter stating that the FBI had examined the sample “by transmitted and incident light microscopy,” including “a study of morphological characteristics such as root structure, medullary structure and cuticle thickness in addition to scale casts.” However, “It was concluded as a result of these examinations that the hairs are of deer family origin.”
In 2019, Byrne, who has since passed away, told the Washington Post, “We’re just finding this out. It’s disappointing.”
4.The Guy Hottel file:
Although released in the 1970s, the Guy Hottel took the internet by storm in the early 2010s when people claimed that it proved the existence of extraterrestrial activity in Roswell, New Mexico. The memo, authored by Guy Hottel, then-director of the Washington D.C. field office, and dated March 22, 1950, is only one page long but has been viewed millions of times online, even though the FBI never followed up on the case.
The briefing, addressed to J. Edgar Hoover, revealed that a third party described a mysterious sighting that an Air Force investigator witnessed. The source's name was redacted. It detailed the sighting, “An investigator for the Air Force stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture. Each body was bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed fliers and test pilots."
An informant also claimed the saucers were discovered because the government's “high-powered radar” had disrupted “the controlling mechanism of the saucers.” Despite these reports, the memo simply states, “[n]o further evaluation was attempted” by the FBI agent.
5.The Ricky McCormick code:
On June 30, 1999, the partially decomposed body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick was discovered in a field in St. Charles County, Missouri. The case got stranger when two hand-written notes containing only jumbles of random letters and numbers or "secret codes" were found in McCormick's pockets. The FBI's Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU) and the American Cryptogram Association's attempts at deciphering the code were unsuccessful. Dan Olson, chief of the CRRU, stated, "Breaking the code could reveal the victim's whereabouts before his death and could lead to the solution of a homicide."
On March 29, 2011, the FBI appealed to the public for help with decoding the bizarre notes. Several days later, the agency's site noted that due to an "outpouring of responses," they created a separate website for those who wished to comment or offer theories on the cryptic notes.
The McCormick family was interviewed in 2012 by The Riverfront Times and contradicted the FBI's previous statements, revealing that "they never knew of Ricky to write in code. They say they only told investigators that he sometimes jotted down nonsense he called writing, and they seriously question McCormick's ability to craft the notes found in his pockets."
His mother, Frankie Sparks recalled, "The only thing he could write was his name. He didn't write in no code." McCormick's cousin, Charles, added that Ricky "couldn't spell anything, just scribble."
However, Olson refuted these claims: "I have every confidence that Ricky wrote the notes. They are done in more of a format of something written to oneself than something written to someone else."
The family also revealed that the agency had not informed them of the notes until 2011. McCormick's mother claimed, "They told us the only thing in his pockets was the emergency-room ticket [On June 22 and June 25, 1999, McCormick had visited two separate emergency rooms due to chest pains and shortness of breath]. Now, twelve years later, they come back with this chicken-scratch shit."
As of 2024, the case is still unsolved.
6.Extrasensory perception:
In July 1957, Wiliam Foos, a railway worker from Richmond, Virginia, was the subject of an FBI inquiry for his so-called "extrasensory perception" (aka ESP).
Beginning in 1955, Foos stated that he could read through walls and "teach" blind individuals to see by projecting images in their minds. The FBI memo on Foos stated, “Should his claims be well-founded, there is no limit to the value which could accrue to the FBI—complete and undetectable access to mail, the diplomatic pouch; visual access to buildings—the possibilities are unlimited insofar as law enforcement and counterintelligence are concerned… It is difficult to see how the bureau can afford to not inquire into this matter more fully. Bureau interest can be completely discreet and controlled and no embarrassment would result.”
However, after Foos demonstrated his so-called "powers" for rather unimpressed members of the CIA, Veterans Administration, and Army Intelligence, the subject of ESP (at least in relation to Foos' case) was dropped.
7.The Hollow Nickel:
On June 22, 1953, Jimmy Bozart, a teenage paperboy who was collecting for the Brooklyn Eagle at the time, received a very unusual nickel as payment. The nickel felt oddly light, and when dropped on the ground, the coin popped open, revealing microfilm that contained a series of numbers inside. Thus, a game of telephone began. Bozart relayed the story to the daughter of an NYPD officer, who, in turn, told a detective, who reported the curious nickel to an FBI agent.
FBI agent Louis Hahn obtained the nickel and the microfilm it contained, and the agency immediately began attempting to decipher the coin. The obverse and reverse of the nickel were made from two entirely separate years, and the microfilm listed five digits together in each number, 21 sets of five in seven columns and 20 more sets in three columns, adding up to a total of 207 sets of five-digit numbers. Despite four years of investigation, the FBI was at a total loss regarding the origin of the nickel or the code contained within the microfilm.
It wasn't until May 1957, when KGB agent Reino Häyhänen wished to defect from Paris that the FBI could link the nickel to KGB agents. Häyhänen presented the agency with the information needed to crack the microfilm's cipher, as well as the identity of two of his cohorts, Mikhail Nikolaevich Svirin and William August Fisher, and a nearly identical Finnish coin. With Häyhänen's help, the microfilm's message was finally decoded and revealed to be a welcoming message with instructions for Häyhänen to set up in America.
8.It's a Wonderful Life:
Now considered a holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life was once the subject of a not-so-wonderful FBI investigation. Released during J. Edgar Hoover's crackdown on Communist influences in the media, an unnamed FBI agent was sent to watch the film on opening day. The agent wrote that the film was “very entertaining," but scholar John Noakes later noted the agent “also identified what they considered a malignant undercurrent in the film.”
After this report, the movie underwent probing that revealed “those responsible for making It’s a Wonderful Life had employed two common tricks used by Communists to inject propaganda into the film.” The Los Angeles branch identified these "tricks" as “values or institutions judged to be particularly anti-American or pro-Communist.”
The opinion was that the film's protagonist George Bailey's existential crisis represented a “subtle attempt to magnify the problems of the so-called ‘common man’ in society.” The agency gave the case to the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), which played a major part in Joseph McCarty's witchhunt against anything deemed "Communist" in Hollywood.
However, HUAC decided not to call in the movie's writers or the director, Frank Capra. Therefore, It's a Wonderful Life was allowed to continue its run in theaters without any impediment.
9.Dorothy's stolen slippers:
In August 2005, an authentic pair of ruby slippers, known as the "Traveling Pair," worn in the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The Grand Rapids police took on the mysterious case, conducting numerous interviews, investigating theories, and even searching abandoned iron ore pits. However, no arrests were made, and the slippers were never discovered.
Twelve years later, the Grand Rapids Police Department requested the FBI's assistance with the search, as the case had remained a top priority. The slippers were eventually found in July 2018 as part of a sting operation.
One of the men who stole the iconic shoes, Terry Jon Martin, now 76 years old, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to the theft of a major artwork. Martin confessed that he used a hammer to smash the museum door and the slipper's display case to gain access.
At his October 2023 hearing, he revealed the reason behind his theft was that he believed the slippers contained real rubies and that he intended to remove them and sell them. However, when Martin attempted to sell the stolen shoes, he was informed that the rubies were, indeed, not real, so he simply got rid of the slippers. Due to terminal illness, Martin was sentenced to time served.
His accomplice, Jerry Hal Saliterman, was also charged with a felony count of theft of a major artwork.
In March 2024, the FBI returned the ruby slippers to their owner, Michael Shaw, in a private ceremony. Because as the movie says, "There's no place like home."
Which one of these investigations shocked you the most? Can you think of any other bizarre FBI investigations? Let us know in the comments!
