In June of 1947, newspapers across the United States had reported seeing flying saucers over the sky. During the first week of July 1947, a local New Mexico rancher, Mac Brazel, heard what appeared to be the sound of an explosion at night. The next day he discovered a large amount of unusual metal debris scattered over a large area of land that he tended. He took a few pieces of the debris, drove 75 miles, and brought them to the Roswell's Sheriff Department. Sheriff George Wilcox notified authorities at Roswell Army Air Field. Intrigued by the debris, Colonel Blanchard, who was the commanding officer, ordered two intelligence officers, Major Jesse Marcel and Captain Sheridan Cavitt, to investigate. Subsequently, the Army quietly cordoned off the ranch and removed all debris.
The Army command at Roswell issued a press release announcing it had recovered a "flying disk," also known as UFO. The press release was transmitted to major newspapers agencies across the country. Within hours, a second press release was issued and rescinded the first press release, that military personnel mistakenly identified a weather balloon and its radar reflector as the wreckage of a "crashed disk." In 1947, the society in America was much more innocent then now. Public rarely questioned authority so when the government tell you that it was a weather balloon wreckage then there's no reason for you to doubt. Therefore, public interest on this incident died within weeks.
1978, thirty years later, the public's interest was drawn to Roswell when one man reopened the case file. Stanton Friedman, who was a nuclear physicist with an interest in flying saucer. He gave up his job in hte late 60s to dedicated his time in studying extraterrestrial activities on earth. He is also known as the original civilian investigator of the Roswell Incident.
In Friedman's research, he interviewed Major Jesse Marcel, one of the intelligence officers who investigated the crash site. Marcel was a highly regarded individual. He told Friendman that the government was involved in a massive cover up. The debris in the 2nd press release was not the same as what he saw. He describes the material "was not from earth...it was not a weather balloon, nor was it an airplane or a missile. It would not burn..that stuff weights nothing, it's so thin, it isn't any thicker than the tinfoil in a pack of cigarettes. So, I tried to bend the stuff. It wouldn't bend. We even tried making a dent in it with a sixteen-pound sledge hammer. And there was still no dent in it." Friedman summarized in his book, The Roswell Incident Report, that government covered up the crash. As a result, the book stems a worldwide interest in the 1947 Roswell UFO crash. UFOlogist, as well as the US government, have conducted their own research and investigation on this incident.
Since Marcel's testimony, more than 100 other witnesses came forward, after 3 decades, to talk about their accounts on that day.
Glenn Dennis, who was mortician working for the Ballard Funeral Home, which had a contract with Roswell Army Field on providing mortuary and ambulance services. He claims that mortuary officer at the air field had called him a few times and asked about the availability of small, hermetically sealed caskets, and on preservation of dead bodies that have been exposed for several days. Dennis said a nurse, who works at the air field, told him that she was involved in an autopsies on several small nonhuman bodies. This nurse drew a diagram on a napkin showing an outline and anatomy of their features. Dennis learned on the following day that this nurse was transferred to England and she was never seen again.
Jim Ragsdale is the only witness who had came forward to testify that he saw the actual crash took place. He said he saw a flying saucer roared over his head and then crashed into desert. 30 to 60 Army troops responded to the scene and removed dead bodies and debris from the crashed site.
Many witnesses, including Mac Brazel, Glenn Dennis, and the Roswell Sheriff, were physically threatened or intimidated by military. Brazel, was taken by the military for almost a week and sworn secrecy. When returned, he never spoke about the incident again, even to his family. Local radio stations also reported that military personnel ransacked their archives and confiscated pertinent files to the crash.
The U.S. government never issued any explanation or findings until 1994 when the United States Air force presented the evidence that the crash was actually a lost Project Mongol balloon launched in Alamogordo. Project Mogul was a top secret project by the US Army Air Forces whose primary purpose was long-distance detection of sound waves generated by Soviet atomic bomb tests. The object that crashed was a lost balloon that somehow exploded and felt onto the desert.
Our visit to Roswell
Once again, with Brandon's amazing speedy driving style, we got to Roswell from Alamogordo lot faster than I expected. As we are driving along Main Ave to the UFO museum, we saw souvenir shops on both sides of the road. Each shop has its own unique design to attract visitors. The streets of commercial Roswell was full of extraterrestrial creatures.
After browsing through couple of sovenir shops we finally arrived to the famous International UFO Museums. About two-third of the museum was dedicated to research and display relating to the Roswell Incident.
We spent 40 minutes in the museum before hitting the empty streets of Roswell. Locals told us Roswell in October is a ghost town. The busiest season is summer when tourist from all over the world flood the streets. We decided to check out one more souvenir shop. This shop has dark lighting and wall was painted with cult signs and symbols. In the back there was a black door leading to another room. The clerk told us we could check it out for only $2/person. The three of us hesitated but decided to enter this room. The rest is documented.
This post concludes the 3 days in New Mexico. Briefly, we returned to Albuquerque at midnight. Tiring but fun. That's what I have to say about our trip.
WOW ALL THAT IN 3 DAYS?!?! YOU MUST BE A REALLY GREAT PLANNER!
ReplyDeleteInteresting Pictures! It really helps to have all that with all the facts you wrote! Otherwise it would have been very difficult for me to visualize it :) Thanks for sharing! :)
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