The Roswell Incident

The Roswell Incident

Will we ever know the truth?

Roswell, New Mexico, was once your average US town with a population of 22,000 people. However, in the year 1947 all that changed and it become one of the most well known UFO hotspots in the world.  Today it is a mecca for UFO hunters and believers alike, and the once sleepy town has been put firmly on the map.

Kenneth A. Arnold

On the 24^th June 1947 pilot and businessman Kenneth A. Arnold was out flying his CallAir A-2 aircraft to a business meeting. He later reported that the flying conditions had been perfect, the sky was totally clear and there was a mild wind. Whilst flying near  Mt. Rainier, Washington, he claimed to have witnessed nine objects in the sky which, he said,  were shaped "flat like a pie pan" and were "half-moon shaped, oval in front and convex in the rear". He also stated that they were "saucer-like" and the press then wittily penned the term “flying saucer” which has stuck to this very day. Kenneth’s account is believed to have been the first widely reported account of any UFO sighting.  _{Click here to read the sighting in his own words}

Kenneth Arnold’s story was corroborated by Fred Johnson who later stated that he had witnessed six objects in the sky on 24^th June at a similar time to Kenneth. He noted that the objects disrupted his compass and when he viewed them through a telescope he said they appeared "round and tapered sharply to a point in the head and in an oval shape."

The US Air Force formally listed Kenneth Arnold’s case as a mirage. However Fred Johnson’s report was listed as the first unexplained UFO report in Air Force files. Bizarre considering they both seemed to be describing the same event.

The Roswell Incident

A month later in Roswell the owner of Foster Ranch, Mac Brazel, told Sheriff Wilcox of Chaves County that he had found something on his land and that he thought was the remains of a "flying disk".  The Sheriff informed the Roswell Army Air Force and their Head of Intelligence, Major Jessie Marcel, was detailed to investigate the incident.

 

On 8^th July 1947 the following news article appeared in the Roswell Daily Record

Roswell Hardware Man and Wife Report Disk Seen

The intelligence office of the 509th Bombardment group at Roswell Army Air Field announced at noon today, that the field has come into possession of a flying saucer.
According to information released by the department, over authority of Maj. J. A. Marcel, intelligence officer, the disk was recovered on a ranch in the Roswell vicinity, after an unidentified rancher had notified Sheriff Geo. Wilcox here, that he had found the instrument on his premises.
Major Marcel and a detail from his department went to the ranch and recovered the disk, it was stated.
After the intelligence officer here had inspected the instrument it was flown to higher headquarters.
The intelligence office stated that no details of the saucer's construction or its appearance had been revealed.
Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot apparently were the only persons in Roswell who saw what they thought was a flying disk.
They were sitting on their porch at 105 South Penn. last Wednesday night at about ten o'clock when a large glowing object zoomed out of the sky from the southeast, going in a northwesterly direction at a high rate of speed.
Wilmot called Mrs. Wilmot's attention to it and both ran down into the yard to watch. It was in sight less then a minute, perhaps 40 or 50 seconds, Wilmot estimated.
Wilmot said that it appeared to him to be about 1,500 feet high and going fast. He estimated between 400 and 500 miles per hour.
In appearance it looked oval in shape like two inverted saucers, faced mouth to mouth, or like two old type washbowls placed together in the same fashion. The entire body glowed as though light were showing through from inside, though not like it would be if a light were underneath.
From where he stood Wilmot said that the object looked to be about 5 feet in size, and making allowance for the distance it was from town he figured that it must have been 15 to 20 feet in diameter, though this was just a guess.
Wilmot said that he heard no sound but that Mrs. Wilmot said she heard a swishing sound for a very short time.
The object came into view from the southeast and disappeared over the treetops in the general vicinity of six mile hill.
Wilmot, who is one of the most respected and reliable citizens in town, kept the story to himself hoping that someone else would come out and tell about having seen one, but finally today decided that he would go ahead and tell about it. The announcement that the RAAF was in possession of one came only a few minutes after he decided to release the details of what he had seen.

Click here to listen to the original ABC News radio report of the “flying disc” Click here to listen to original ABC News radio report of the "flying disc"

"Higher headquarters" was actually General Roger M. Ramey, who was already debunking UFO sightings well before the Roswell Incident occurred. By 1952 he was known as the Air Force's "saucer man" and was their chief UFO expert. Within an hour of the above press release having gone on the wire, Gen. Roger Ramey began to speak of a ‘weather balloon’ and a few hours later at the Army Air Force base in Fort Worth this photo of himself (left) and his Chief of Staff, Col. Thomas Dubose (right, seated) was taken supposedly with the balloon debris.

Gen. Roger Ramey reiterated the fact that the debris was merely a weather balloon, the aluminium radar kite shown displayed on the general's office floor for the press to see for themselves.  However many conspiracy theorists believe that this was not pieces of the wreckage as they had been whisked away for further examination, what was shown to the awaiting press was in fact particles of a real weather balloon but NOT what had been found on the ranch.

Stories of the recovery of alien bodies also emerged.  It is claimed that bodies were found in a separate location to that of the debris, and there have been numerous eyewitnesses (military personnel) who have said that the bodies were taken to Hangar P-3, today known as Building 84, at the airbase. Glenn Dennis was the local undertaker and he has long claimed that he was asked to provide the base with a number of child sized coffins. He claims that when he arrived at the base he spoke with a nurse (who subsequently mysteriously disappeared..) who informed him that that an alien craft had landed and small extraterrestrial life forms had been discovered.

 Lieutenant Walter Haut was the public relations officer at the base in 1947 and it was he who orchestrated the press releases of the crash. He died in 2006, however he left a sworn affidavit only to be opened after his passing. In this he claimed that the weather balloon story was a total cover-up and that the real object had been recovered and stored in a hanger, he also claimed to have seen alien bodies.  

His affidavit talks about  high level meetings he attended in which pieces of the alien craft was handed round for people to examine and that no one present could identify the light but flexible ‘memory’ material which sprang back into shape once crumpled or folded. He stated that there had been a second crash site, which the public had not been made aware of, where more debris and bodies had been discovered. 

He tells of how Colonel Blanchard took him to "Building 84" to show him an aircraft that had been discovered. He described it as “a metallic egg-shaped object around 3.6m-4.5m in length and around 1.8m wide”.  He saw no windows or any other type of features on the craft.   He also described the bodies as being approx 1.2m tall, with disproportionately large heads. He said there were two bodies on the floor partially covered with tarpaulin.

Walter described the clean up operation as extensive - the military worked for months to ensure no scrap of debris or evidence was left at any site. There are reports from locals that the military even confiscated debris they have kept as keep-sakes which strengthens the conspiracy theorists arguments that this was no weather balloon that crashed. 

The end of Lieutenant Walter Haut affidavit states "I am convinced that what I personally observed was some kind of craft and its crew from outer space"

Many books and articles have been written on this subject, and it is something which continues to fascinate people. I am not convinced we will ever truly know what happened in Roswell in 1947. I personally am pretty sure there was some kind of government cover-up and I do not believe the weather balloon story as given by the military. However, you should make up your own mind. Maybe, somewhere, The Truth Is Out There..

Sources:

http://www.project1947.com/

http://www.roswellfiles.com/Articles/PressReports.htm#SFC

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread59950/pg1

http://www.roswellproof.com/