roswell

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2. Roswell

The most famous UFO encounter took place in Roswell, New Mexico. It has made the town a tourist destination, though the alleged encounters took place in nearby Corona, inspired numerous accounts and adaptations (including a TV series), and been referred to by nearly every UFO book since the 1970s. That something crashed near the Roswell Airforce Base in July of 1947 seems certain; that extra-terrestrials were involved is a little less clear.

In July 1947, something reportedly crashed at the Foster Ranch near Corona, New Mexico (Corona, and not Roswell, is in fact the town closest to the alleged crash site). Ranch foreman MacBrazel called the sheriff of Chaves County to report the debris of the crash of a "flying disk." "Flying saucers" were in the news at the time; air force pilot Kenneth Arnold had recently reported a sighting of flying triangles which skipped along "like saucers" on water, and the term "flying saucer" was erroneously born. By July 8, 1947, newspapers were reporting that just such a saucer had crashed near Corona. By this point, Major Jesse A. Marcel, of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office, stationed at the Army Airfield near Roswell, had arranged for the collection of the debris. Investigators under General Roger Ramey of the 8th Army Airforce, Fort Worth, Texas, identified the debris as the remnants of a weather balloon with a radar reflector, and the public lost interest. Contrary to popular belief, there really was no Roswell lore until 1978.

In that year, Major Marcel contacted UFOlogist Stanton Friedman, and told him he had handled parts of a UFO.

Several books followed, all proporting to tell the truth about the events. They presented a wide assortment of witnesses; some these accounts appear authentic; other alleged witnesses have been caught fabricated details. Some reported witnesses could not be located by subsequent reseachers, and (unless we buy into an extreme version of the UFO cover-up) we must assume they and their accounts were fabricated by sensationalizing writers eager to cash in on a popular tale.

A Dr. W. Curry Holden, professor of history and anthropology from Texas Tech, Lubbock, reportedly had been searching for archeological and paleantological sites in the area when he saw a flaming crash. He claims to have seen the wreckage and bodies, though he provided little description. Another problem with his story: no corroborative evidence exists he was in the area at the time.

Major Edwin Easley, stationed at the Roswell base, has been quoted as saying the crashed craft was "of extraterrestrial origin," and reportedly told family members he had seen the bodies of "creatures."

Much later, descriptions emerge of small, gray-skinned aliens with large heads and eyes, but the specific witnesses who provided these descriptions have never been identified.

In 1989, Glenn Dennis came forward with the claim that alien bodies were recovered at Roswell, a claim he allegedly heard from a nurse named "Naomi Self." Self had supposedly worked with the bodies of three aliens. He describes classic alien "Grays"-- about five feet high, with bald heads, large eyes, and slit noses. One interesting detail he (or the elusive Miss Self) add is long, thin arms and hands with no thumbs, but sucker-tipped fingers. Several people have pointed out the resemblance between such appendages and those of the aliens designed for the 1953 film adaptation of The War of the World.

Dennis claims both he and the nurse were separately threatened not to say anything, and that he only revealed the story after Miss Self died in an accident, years later. Researchers, however, find no record of a Naomi Self working at the base, nor any account of the accident in which she and four other nurses were supposedly killed. Later, the editor of Omni magazine tracked down the names and the location of the single surviving Roswell base nurse, and found evidence of.... absolutely nothing. One of Dennis's relatives has come forward since his death and claimed the man is a pathological liar.

The waters were further muddied by the 1990's broadcast of an "Alien Autopsy," supposedly performed at the New Mexico base. That the document is a hoax seems without quesion. By 1947, military autopsies were already being filmed by ceiling-mounted cameras on color film. The base at Roswell was equipped for such filming. The "Alien Autopsy" film is filmed on black and white film by a hand-held camera. The doctors hold the surgical implements incorrectly. In addition, the alleged discoverer of the film has told conflicting accounts of its origin.

A crash occurred in 1947. However, we now know the Roswell base tested experimental aircraft for the U.S. military, and there is little reason to doubt the original identification of the debris as belonging to a weather balloon. Without further evidence, we have to conclude that the Roswell Incident likely does not involve extra-terrestrials.

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