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A UFO crashed near Roswell New Mexico in 1947. The report in the
papers on July 8, 1947 would bring news to the world that aliens were real
(Stacy 36). However, the U.S. government quickly quashed the story before
it was widely spread. A cover story was released by the 8th Air Force; the
wreckage was actually that of a downed weather balloon (Wyly). The press
bought it, and the story has laid cold for 30 years. In the late 70's,
several witnesses, who where tied to the incident, shared their accounts,
and claimed the wreckage was of the unordinary. In the 80's, a string of
books, articles, and TV shows raised the specter of a military cover-up
(Stacy 40). Recently, the government released a new story. I will summarize
the events, then discuss some important evidence connected with them.
On July 2, 1947, during a severe thunderstorm, a saucer flew near
to the ground at a great velocity. It exploded. Its pieces scattered over
an area near Corona, New Mexico. The next day William "Mac" Brazel, foreman
of the Foster Ranch, and his seven-year-old neigrabroador, Dee, found the
remains of the wrecked UFO scattered over a large area. When Brazel drove
Dee back home, he showed some of the material to her parents. They all
agreed the material was unlike anything they had ever seen. On July 6
Brazel drove into town with a few pieces of the wreck. He showed the
material to the Chaves County Sheriff George Wilcox. The sheriff called the
Roswell Army Air Field(AAF) and talked to Major Jesse Marcel, the
intelligence officer. After inspecting Brazel's material, Marcel reported
to his commanding officer Colonel William "Butch" Blanchard, who ordered
Marcel to get someone from the Counter Intelligence Corps and proceed with
Marcel to the ranch and collect as much wreckage as they could load into
their vehicles. Marcel, Sheridan Cavitt, and Brazel arrived at the ranch
that night. The next day was spent collecting debris into Cavitt's vehicle
and Marcel's car. The material they collected was only a small part of the
entire wreckage.
In town, news had spread and a local radio station began
transmitting the UFO information on the teletype machine. The transmission
was interrupted by a message apparently from the FBI, asking for the relay
to cease. Military police picked up the material that Brazel had left at
the sheriRAB office. The pieces were sent to Eighth Air Force headquarters
in Fort Worth, Texas, then to Washington. Marcel and Cavitt didn't return
to the base until early the next morning. That morning, Colonel Blanchard
ordered for a press release to Frank Joyce at radio station KGFL. The
report told that the Army had found the remains of a crashed flying saucer.
General Clemence McMullen, in Washington, called Colonel Thomas DuBose
under Eighth Air Force Commander General Roger Ramey, in Fort Worth. He
ordered for a cover-up of the crashed saucer story and for some of the
crash material to be immediately sent to Washington. Later that day, Marcel
flew to Fort Worth with the crash debris he had collected. Ramey called a
press conference, and declared that what was found near Corona, NM was
actually the wreckage of a weather balloon. At the conference he and Marcel
kneeled in front of what they claimed to be the weather balloon wreckage
taken from the crash site.
A large group of soldiers and MPs were sent to the crash site to
limit access to the area. A few miles from the debris field, the main body
of the saucer was found. A day or so later, four extraterrestrial bodies
were found some distance from the crash site. They were partially decayed
and had been gnawed on by an animal. Three of the bodies were greatly
mangled. The body in the best condition was the size of a small child with
slender long arms, a large head, greyish skin with greyish silk-like
material coveralls. These aliens were kept under a tarp within a tent on
the site. Several high ranking military officials were at the site. The
bodies were eventually placed in dry ice and transported to the Roswell
base, then to Fort Worth (Schmidt).
The material from the crash site was described by many observers.
Three general materials that were reported. There were small beams that
looked like tan or light brown plastic. They were very light-weight, like
balsa wood, but without grain. They reportedly couldn't be cut or burned.
On some of the balsa wood-like material were markings similar to
hieroglyphics. One of the materials looked like tinfoil except it wouldn't
tear. It could be wrinkled but retained its original shape. It was
reportable as thin as the tinfoil in a pack of cigarettes. It was so thin
that it weighed nothing. There was also another tinfoil-like material that
was stiff and couldn't be dented with a 16 pound sledge hammer. However, it
also was very light weight. There was a thread-like material that looked
like silk but was not made up of stranRAB but more like a wire, all in one
piece. It was strong like deep-sea fishing line (Schmidt).
The government had officially reported that the wreck was that of a
weather balloon (Wyly). If that were the case, there wouldn't have been any
need for secrecy. According to testimony, military officials admonished
subordinates and civilians not to talk about what they saw. That includes
the Roswell police and fire departments, local ranchers, a group of
archeologists, and two campers (Rayl 10). If what crashed were a weather
balloon, surely Major Marcel would have recognized it as such before the
AAF released the first report of a saucer. The wreckage described by many
was nothing similar to a weather balloon and too spread out over a large
area. Most of the witnesses who handled the material would have recognized
that it was not that of a weather balloon. Furthermore, there is no reason
the government would transport a wrecked weather balloon from New Mexico to
Fort Worth, Texas (Schmidt).
There was speculation that the wreckage could have been that of a
secret rocket or airplane. Possibly a German V-2 missile gone astray from
U.S. Air Force testing. However, in 1947 the only military testings in New
Mexico were rocket testing in White SanRAB 75 miles away. These rockets were
fitted with self-destructing mechanisms for any errant paths (Thompson 233).
If any of these were the case, the military wouldn't have had to wait,
several days, until a rancher reported the debris, before recovering it. If
it were a secret, the government would have said "This is secret, and no
more questions will be answered, period." Furthermore, any military secret
in 1947 would no longer be a secret today (Schmidt).
Impelled by his New Mexico citizens and his own curiosity,
Representative Steven Schiff began his own research of the mystery four
years ago (Rayl 11). He forced the Air Force to drop the cover story it had
maintained since 1947. Two years ago the Air Force revealed that the crash
in Roswell had been that of "Operation Mogul," an experimental high-
altitude balloon designed to monitor the first tests of Soviet Atomic borabs.
That still leaves many unanswered questions. Schiff and many others have
tried to get several branches of the government to reveal further
information about the Roswell incident (Stacy 40). But, until the
government does so there may be no clear answer. The U.S. government claims
either the information doesn't exist, was destroyed in 1947, or would be a
threat to national security. However, the truth can only be contained for
so long (Sagan and Thorton 115).
Works Cited
Rayl, A.J.S. "Time Out: A Call For Accountability By the U.S. Government"
Omni Oct. 1994: 10-11.
Sagan, Carl, Thornton Page. UFO's - A Scientific Debate. Ithaca: Cornell UP,
1972.
Schmidt, Christopher. Roswell Testimony. Boston: Northeastern University,
1994. Online. Internet UFO Group - Government. Internet. 10 Nov. 1996.
Stacy, Dennis. "Cosmic Conspiracy: Six Decades of Government UFO Cover-
Ups." Omni April 1994: 35+.
Thompson, Richard L. Alien Identities: Ancient Insights into Modern UFO
Phenomena. Alachua: Govardhan Hill, 1995.
Wyly. Flying Disc, Information Concerning Ed. George M. Eberhart, 1991.
Online. Internet UFO Group - Government. Internet. 10 Nov. 1996.
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A UFO crashed near Roswell New Mexico in 1947. The report in the
papers on July 8, 1947 would bring news to the world that aliens were real
(Stacy 36). However, the U.S. government quickly quashed the story before
it was widely spread. A cover story was released by the 8th Air Force; the
wreckage was actually that of a downed weather balloon (Wyly). The press
bought it, and the story has laid cold for 30 years. In the late 70's,
several witnesses, who where tied to the incident, shared their accounts,
and claimed the wreckage was of the unordinary. In the 80's, a string of
books, articles, and TV shows raised the specter of a military cover-up
(Stacy 40). Recently, the government released a new story. I will summarize
the events, then discuss some important evidence connected with them.
On July 2, 1947, during a severe thunderstorm, a saucer flew near
to the ground at a great velocity. It exploded. Its pieces scattered over
an area near Corona, New Mexico. The next day William "Mac" Brazel, foreman
of the Foster Ranch, and his seven-year-old neigrabroador, Dee, found the
remains of the wrecked UFO scattered over a large area. When Brazel drove
Dee back home, he showed some of the material to her parents. They all
agreed the material was unlike anything they had ever seen. On July 6
Brazel drove into town with a few pieces of the wreck. He showed the
material to the Chaves County Sheriff George Wilcox. The sheriff called the
Roswell Army Air Field(AAF) and talked to Major Jesse Marcel, the
intelligence officer. After inspecting Brazel's material, Marcel reported
to his commanding officer Colonel William "Butch" Blanchard, who ordered
Marcel to get someone from the Counter Intelligence Corps and proceed with
Marcel to the ranch and collect as much wreckage as they could load into
their vehicles. Marcel, Sheridan Cavitt, and Brazel arrived at the ranch
that night. The next day was spent collecting debris into Cavitt's vehicle
and Marcel's car. The material they collected was only a small part of the
entire wreckage.
In town, news had spread and a local radio station began
transmitting the UFO information on the teletype machine. The transmission
was interrupted by a message apparently from the FBI, asking for the relay
to cease. Military police picked up the material that Brazel had left at
the sheriRAB office. The pieces were sent to Eighth Air Force headquarters
in Fort Worth, Texas, then to Washington. Marcel and Cavitt didn't return
to the base until early the next morning. That morning, Colonel Blanchard
ordered for a press release to Frank Joyce at radio station KGFL. The
report told that the Army had found the remains of a crashed flying saucer.
General Clemence McMullen, in Washington, called Colonel Thomas DuBose
under Eighth Air Force Commander General Roger Ramey, in Fort Worth. He
ordered for a cover-up of the crashed saucer story and for some of the
crash material to be immediately sent to Washington. Later that day, Marcel
flew to Fort Worth with the crash debris he had collected. Ramey called a
press conference, and declared that what was found near Corona, NM was
actually the wreckage of a weather balloon. At the conference he and Marcel
kneeled in front of what they claimed to be the weather balloon wreckage
taken from the crash site.
A large group of soldiers and MPs were sent to the crash site to
limit access to the area. A few miles from the debris field, the main body
of the saucer was found. A day or so later, four extraterrestrial bodies
were found some distance from the crash site. They were partially decayed
and had been gnawed on by an animal. Three of the bodies were greatly
mangled. The body in the best condition was the size of a small child with
slender long arms, a large head, greyish skin with greyish silk-like
material coveralls. These aliens were kept under a tarp within a tent on
the site. Several high ranking military officials were at the site. The
bodies were eventually placed in dry ice and transported to the Roswell
base, then to Fort Worth (Schmidt).
The material from the crash site was described by many observers.
Three general materials that were reported. There were small beams that
looked like tan or light brown plastic. They were very light-weight, like
balsa wood, but without grain. They reportedly couldn't be cut or burned.
On some of the balsa wood-like material were markings similar to
hieroglyphics. One of the materials looked like tinfoil except it wouldn't
tear. It could be wrinkled but retained its original shape. It was
reportable as thin as the tinfoil in a pack of cigarettes. It was so thin
that it weighed nothing. There was also another tinfoil-like material that
was stiff and couldn't be dented with a 16 pound sledge hammer. However, it
also was very light weight. There was a thread-like material that looked
like silk but was not made up of stranRAB but more like a wire, all in one
piece. It was strong like deep-sea fishing line (Schmidt).
The government had officially reported that the wreck was that of a
weather balloon (Wyly). If that were the case, there wouldn't have been any
need for secrecy. According to testimony, military officials admonished
subordinates and civilians not to talk about what they saw. That includes
the Roswell police and fire departments, local ranchers, a group of
archeologists, and two campers (Rayl 10). If what crashed were a weather
balloon, surely Major Marcel would have recognized it as such before the
AAF released the first report of a saucer. The wreckage described by many
was nothing similar to a weather balloon and too spread out over a large
area. Most of the witnesses who handled the material would have recognized
that it was not that of a weather balloon. Furthermore, there is no reason
the government would transport a wrecked weather balloon from New Mexico to
Fort Worth, Texas (Schmidt).
There was speculation that the wreckage could have been that of a
secret rocket or airplane. Possibly a German V-2 missile gone astray from
U.S. Air Force testing. However, in 1947 the only military testings in New
Mexico were rocket testing in White SanRAB 75 miles away. These rockets were
fitted with self-destructing mechanisms for any errant paths (Thompson 233).
If any of these were the case, the military wouldn't have had to wait,
several days, until a rancher reported the debris, before recovering it. If
it were a secret, the government would have said "This is secret, and no
more questions will be answered, period." Furthermore, any military secret
in 1947 would no longer be a secret today (Schmidt).
Impelled by his New Mexico citizens and his own curiosity,
Representative Steven Schiff began his own research of the mystery four
years ago (Rayl 11). He forced the Air Force to drop the cover story it had
maintained since 1947. Two years ago the Air Force revealed that the crash
in Roswell had been that of "Operation Mogul," an experimental high-
altitude balloon designed to monitor the first tests of Soviet Atomic borabs.
That still leaves many unanswered questions. Schiff and many others have
tried to get several branches of the government to reveal further
information about the Roswell incident (Stacy 40). But, until the
government does so there may be no clear answer. The U.S. government claims
either the information doesn't exist, was destroyed in 1947, or would be a
threat to national security. However, the truth can only be contained for
so long (Sagan and Thorton 115).
Works Cited
Rayl, A.J.S. "Time Out: A Call For Accountability By the U.S. Government"
Omni Oct. 1994: 10-11.
Sagan, Carl, Thornton Page. UFO's - A Scientific Debate. Ithaca: Cornell UP,
1972.
Schmidt, Christopher. Roswell Testimony. Boston: Northeastern University,
1994. Online. Internet UFO Group - Government. Internet. 10 Nov. 1996.
Stacy, Dennis. "Cosmic Conspiracy: Six Decades of Government UFO Cover-
Ups." Omni April 1994: 35+.
Thompson, Richard L. Alien Identities: Ancient Insights into Modern UFO
Phenomena. Alachua: Govardhan Hill, 1995.
Wyly. Flying Disc, Information Concerning Ed. George M. Eberhart, 1991.
Online. Internet UFO Group - Government. Internet. 10 Nov. 1996.
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