APRO

The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) was a civilian UFO research organization founded in January 1952 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, by Jim and Coral Lorenzen. Operating as a centralized clearinghouse for UFO reports, personal accounts, and military research evidence, APRO grew into a respected organization with 1,500 members at its peak in 1967 and multiple state branches. Distinguished from contemporaries like NICAP by its interest in humanoid creature sightings and skepticism toward government cover-up theories, APRO published the APRO Bulletin and maintained extensive case file archives. The organization declined following the 1969 Condon Report and a major schism that led to the formation of the Mutual UFO Network. APRO disbanded in the late 1980s after Jim Lorenzen's death in 1986 and Coral's in 1988. Its archives are now housed at the National UFO Historical Records Center in New Mexico.