Are extraterrestrials visiting Earth?
To answer that question one would have to assume that there are intelligent species in the universe aside from humans and that they would be capable of traveling to Earth from whence they came. Despite that, many people around the world believe the answer to that question is a resounding “Yes!”
AlieNation is a new series that will cover some of the most famous and bizarre alleged UFO and extraterrestrial sightings and contacts. We'll start with arguably the most famous story of an alleged UFO crashing to Earth, taking us to the summer of 1947 just outside a little town called Roswell, New Mexico...
Credit: The Roswell Daily Record
What is The Roswell Incident?
Rancher Mac Brazel routinely walked the perimeter of his sheep pasture. One of those morning walks was unlike any other, when he encountered strange looking debris that seemed to have crashed onto his property. He visited his closest neighbors a few miles away, describing to them, and later a local reporter, what he had seen as "a large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, a rather tough paper and sticks..."
The neighbors advised that he should contact the sheriff in nearby Roswell to help investigate. As he didn't have a telephone on his property, Brazel climbed in his truck and drove some 75 miles to do exactly that. The sheriff in turn contacted the nearby Roswell Army Air Field to alert them of the debris and inquiring of any potential operations that would explain such strange debris.
Brazel, the sheriff, and an Air Force detail would leave Roswell headed for the ranch on July 6th, 1947 to recover the debris. No one involved would understand quite yet what gravity this day would hold in the minds of millions of people around the world for decades to come...
Flying Saucer or Weather Balloon?
Credit: The Sacramento Bee
On July 8th, RAAF spokesman Walter Haut issued a press release announcing the recovery of a "flying disc" on a ranch near Roswell. This release was immediately picked up by news outlets around the world...
"The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff's office of Chaves County.
The flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Not having phone facilities, the rancher stored the disc until such time as he was able to contact the sheriff's office, who in turn notified Maj. Jesse A. Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office.
Action was immediately taken and the disc was picked up at the rancher's home. It was inspected at the Roswell Army Air Field and subsequently loaned by Major Marcel to higher headquarters."
Credit: The Roswell Daily Record
The media attention and publicity this whole situation had caused frustrated Brazel so much that he stated had he ever found anything else "short of a bomb", he'd think twice about ever talking about it or bringing it to peoples' attention like he had done here.
The very next day, it was reported that the crashed debris found on the ranch was indeed a weather balloon and its "kite", or radar reflector used to track its movement.
"The balloon which held it up, if that was how it worked, must have been 12 feet long, he felt, measuring the distance by the size of the room in which he sat. The rubber was smoky gray in color and scattered over an area about 200 yards in diameter.
When the debris was gathered up, the tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks made a bundle about three feet long and 7 or 8 inches thick, while the rubber made a bundle about 18 or 20 inches long and about 8 inches thick. In all, he estimated, the entire lot would have weighed maybe five pounds.
There was no sign of any metal in the area which might have been used for an engine, and no sign of any propellers of any kind, although at least one paper fin had been glued onto some of the tinfoil. There were no words to be found anywhere on the instrument, although there were letters on some of the parts.
Considerable Scotch tape and some tape with flowers printed upon it had been used in the construction. No strings or wires were to be found but there were some eyelets in the paper to indicate that some sort of attachment may have been used."
Many people aren't buying it, and believe there was an orchestrated attempt to cover up what actually crashed on William Brazel's ranch that night. Those suspicions were only heightened 50 years later when the Air Force admitted there had been secrets kept about the incident...
Project Mogul
In 1995, United States Air Force released The Roswell Report. It explains the crashed debris recovered in 1947 was indeed a balloon, but that it was originally publicly reported as a weather balloon to hide its true purpose as a classified spy program.
Project MOGUL was a top secret military operation using microphones attached to high-altitude balloons to listen in on potential nuclear testing being conducted by the Soviet Union. Unlike weather balloons, the MOGUL balloons where often made of uncommon materials constructed in uncommon geometric shapes, seemingly explaining the "strange looking debris" found on the ranch outside Roswell.
Roswell Today
Credit: roswell-nm.gov
Despite the assertation that there was no cover up of an alien spacecraft crashing into the New Mexico desert in 1947, the name Roswell has become synonymous with little green men and silvery flying saucers. Even the cities official website cozies up to the idea...
Travel to Roswell today and you'll find an almost never ending list of alien themed attractions like the International UFO Museum & Research Center or the Little Aleinn. There's even an annual UFO Festival that has seen people from all over the world descend upon the small town of Roswell for the past 25 years!
No matter what side of the alien conspiracy the locals stand on, they all realize the economic upside of embracing the culture that's been thrust upon the town.
References:
I have dozens of crazy stories planned for this series!
The Roswell Incident is kind of child's play compared to some of the alleged encounters I plan to cover in this series, but it's one of the most popular stories in the world of UFO's and aliens, and I felt it was a great place to start. While this particular incident is somewhat easily explained away, there are many stories out there that aren't so easy to wrap one's mind around. I hope you'll follow along with this series as I cover some of the craziest UFO and alien sightings and encounters I can find.
Thanks so much for reading!
