{"id":2214,"slug":"maury-island-incident-site-tacoma-washington","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Maury Island is the hoax — the 'doughnut craft' that's the six circled, the 'slag rained' that's the dog killed. The 'man in black' is the born — the 'Buick visited' that's the warning first, the 'archetype' that's the legend seeded. The 'B-25 crashed' is the real — the 'two officers' that's the investigators died, the 'fragments aboard' that's the slag carried.","The 'three days before' is the timed — the 'Arnold's sighting' that's the era opened, the 'hoax first' that's the wave's start. The 'smelter slag' is the identified — the 'FBI found' that's the gravel pit, the 'signed recant' that's the hoaxers' end. Maury Island is the consequential — the 'MIB invented' that's the myth born, the 'two dead' that's the cost real.","The file keeps Maury Island: the slag hoax, the first MIB, the crashed B-25, and the two dead.","Maury Island is the archive's Washington file — the hoax that killed investigators."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Maury Island is the archive's Washington file — where Men in Black were invented.","An island keeps its lie — the file's suggestion being that Maury's hold is the birthed: the 'black suit' that's the archetype first, the 'B-25' that's the officers lost, and the 'slag' that's the truth mundane."]}],"name":"Maury Island incident site","aliases":[],"type":"ISLAND","type_label":"Island","cats":["UFO_LOCATION","MEDIA_REPORTED","MEN_IN_BLACK_LEGEND"],"groups":["maritime"],"desc":"The 1947 \"doughnut craft\" and the first Men in Black story.","full_desc":"In June 1947—days before the Arnold sighting—harbor workers at Maury Island reported a doughnut-shaped craft spewing slag. The case produced the first \"Man in Black\" report and the deaths of two investigating Army officers in a plane crash; it was later judged a hoax, but it sits at the origin of UFO-era mythology.","address":null,"city":"Tacoma","county":null,"state":"Washington","postal":null,"region":"West","lat":47.3786,"lon":-122.4239,"coord_kind":"EXACT","status":"NATURAL_SITE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"UFO/UAP batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":70,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0.85,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":1555,"type":"UFO_ACTIVITY","description":"Witnesses described a holed-doughnut craft ejecting slag; the case was later judged a hoax. Witnesses name it Maury Island craft; the name travels further than the proof. The landscape at Maury Island incident site is the claim's whole setting: Washington wilderness with a name for the unexplained. The claim is disputed by the sources that preserve it. 'Maury Island incident' carries the account. Whatever flew there, the report made the location a permanent entry in the UFO ledger.","evidence":"DISPUTED","evidence_label":"Disputed","entity":"Maury Island craft","where":null,"first_report":"1947-06","approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":"The principals admitted the sighting was fabricated; the MIB and crash elements are real history.","source":{"name":"Maury Island incident","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Island_incident","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The June 1947 report predated Roswell; two Army investigators died in a B-25 crash returning from the case. The record dates it to 1947-06. The landscape's recorded history gives the file real substance underneath the lore. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. 'Maury Island incident' documents the entry. The detail belongs to the verified spine of the entry.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":"1947-06","date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Maury Island incident","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Island_incident","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[],"entities":[{"name":"Maury Island craft","claimed_identity":"Maury Island craft","verified":null,"summary":"Witnesses described a holed-doughnut craft ejecting slag; the case was later judged a hoax. The presence goes by Maury Island craft. Reports in the file date to 1947-06. Maury Island incident site's reports travel the way outdoor lore does — by campfire, trailhead, and local warning. The report is preserved in sources like 'Maury Island incident'. The lore has a face now: Maury Island craft.","behavior":"Witnesses described a holed-doughnut craft ejecting slag; the case was later judged a hoax.","area":null,"first_ref":"1947-06","source":{"name":"Maury Island incident","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Island_incident","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Island site; access typically requires a boat or ferry—check schedules.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Maury Island incident","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Island_incident","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":1,"history":1,"legends":0,"entities":1,"sources":1}}