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U.S. Air Force disposed of alien body in 1978, retired major claims in new book

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DAYTON, Ohio — A former United States Air Force intelligence officer recounted in a new book an incident he claims resulted in the killing of an alien being in 1978.

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Retired Air Force Major George Filer III told author John L. Guerra that on a day in January 1978, a 4-foot creature, gray and brown in color with a large head, long arms and a thin body, was shot and killed at Fort Dix in New Jersey, The Asbury Park Press reported.

The book, titled "Strange Craft: The True Story of an Air Force Intelligence Officer's Life with UFOs," claims a military police officer shot and killed the alien with a .45-caliber military issued handgun.

The military first spotted the alien after observing an oval-shaped blue-green craft hovering over a vehicle, the Asbury Park Press reports. The alleged alien died of gunshot wounds on the Air Force side of what is now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, Filer told the author.

After the alien was shot and killed, a cleanup crew from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was flown in to retrieve the body, the Press reported.

When it comes to aliens and unidentified flying objects, Wright-Patt often comes up because of its involvement in an operation called "Project Blue Book," said base spokesman Daryl Mayer.

From 1947 to 1969, the Air Force investigated UFOs as part of the project, which was headquartered at Wright-Patt, according to the Air Force Declassification Office. The project was terminated in December 1969.

At the time the project ended, around 701 of 12,618 sightings remained "unidentified," according to the Air Force. The project concluded that no UFOs showed technology outside the scope of what was within the range of "scientific knowledge" at that time.