The Roswell Incident

"Roswell," the very mention of the word brings images of a crashed UFO, aliens, government cover-up, autopsies, hidden debris, guarded charred bodies, and weather balloons. In the history of UFO reports, no case has received the world-wide attention as the Roswell event of 1947. Not only did the alleged crash of a flying saucer create mass coverage at the time of the event, but remains today as an often discussed case by which all other cases are judged.

The case offers everything one could imagine; a crash of some flying craft, direct, hands on testimony of witnesses who handled crash debris, government cover-up and secrecy, and most of all a list of participants which is generally listed at around 500 first and secondhand testimonials.
Ironically, the alleged crash story originally died as quickly as it began. It would be many years before UFO researchers refueled the fire behind it's enormous potential. Most all of us are familiar with the famous Roswell headline stating that the Army had captured a "flying saucer," and then the retraction a few hours later, substituting a balloon for the crashed saucer. At the time of the original event, a sense of naivety and trust gave birth to a rapid, quiet acceptance of the retraction, and there the event died. But, fortunately, it was resurrected in 1976, and has kept pace with all other events of the last 50+ years. It would be January 1976, when ufologists William Moore, and Stanton R. Friedman were mulling over some interview notes from two witnesses whom Friedman had met with. A man and a woman, who both had knowledge of a crashed saucer in July 1947 in Corona, New Mexico were the key witnesses.
A retired Air Force officer, Major Jesse A. Marcel asserted that he had first hand involvement in the crash debris, and the Air Force cover-up. The woman was Lydia Sleppy, who had been employed at an Albuquerque radio station KOAT. She claimed that the military had covered-up the story of a crashed saucer, and the bodies of "little men," who were aboard the craft. She also claimed that the Air Force had literally stopped the sending of a teletype news report of the incident.
The USA Military had announced to the world that it had captured a flying saucer on a remote ranch in Corona, and then about four hours later corrected the story, saying that what was found was just a weather balloon with a radar reflector kite. We have two stories. Which one is the truth? Though subsequent confirmations of the balloon theory continue, as long as we have firsthand witnesses who defy this explanation, the investigation must continue. Of all of the explanations given to Project Bluebook, it is quite strange that the Roswell story was never mentioned. The story that died so quickly was rarely mentioned from the beginning, the only one, to my knowledge, was in a mid-1950's lecture by UFO enthusiast Frank Edward. It seems that from the beginning, a grass roots group of believers would perpetuate this grand story. When we solve the puzzle of the many UFO reports, it will be due to this grass roots movement. The truth is hard to kill.
It would be June 24, 1947, when the term, "flying saucer" was coined by pilot Kenneth Arnold. He used this term to describe UFOs flying over Mr. Ranier, and only a couple of weeks later, the phrase was used by the Air Force to explain what had been found in Corona, New Mexico. The alleged crash debris was flown to Eight Army Air Force Headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas, and somehow between the time that Jesse Marcel Sr. had handled the "other worldly" material and it's arrival in Ft. Worth, the strange material had lost it's luster, and became just a weather balloon. The Air Force had effectively murdered the eye witness accounts, and made fools of all who were involved. Marcel would categorically state that the debris he held in his hands, and showed to his family, was not the same material shown in photos of the "balloon wreckage."
What happened to the saucer debris? An uncertified, but controversial document might provide an answer. Supposedly a brief prepared for then President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower, this document was authored on November 18, 1952. It asserts that on September 24, 1947, President Harry S. Truman ordered the genesis of the highly top-secret "Operation Majestic-12," to study the remains of the Roswell crash. These papers would arrive in a plain manilla envelope, postmarked Albuquerque, in the post of Los Angeles television producer Jaime Shandera in December 1984. In the early part of 1987, another copy was given to Timothy Good, a British ufologist. Good released it to the British press in May. These documents caused quite a stir, but their authenticity cannot be established beyond doubt. The jury is still out on the MJ-12 papers, but many ufologists view it as a hoax. The issue itself is not insurmountable, however, as a huge amount of evidence still remains to establish the Roswell crash as a reality.
The Roswell saga actually began in Silver City, New Mexico on June 25. Dr. R. F. Sensenbaugher, a dentist, reported sighting a saucer-shaped UFO fly over, that was about one-half the size of the full moon. Two days later, in Pope, New Mexico, W. C. Dobbs reported a white, glowing object flying overhead, not too far from the White Sands missile range. On the same day, Captain E. B. Detchmendy reported to his commanding officer that he saw a white, glowing UFO pass over the missile range. Two days later, on June 29, Rocket expert C. J. Zohn and three of his technicians, who were stationed at White Sands, watched a giant silver disc moving northward over the desert. On July 2, a UFO was tracked at three separate installations; Alamogordo, White Sands, and Roswell. In Roswell, on the same day, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot saw a UFO. They report it's appearance as "two inverted saucers faced mouth to mouth," moving at a high rate of speed over their house. Enter rancher Mac Brazel.

Mac Brazel

The events of Roswell began on either July 2 or July 4 (there is some disagreement here). A throwback to western days, William W. "Mac" Brazel, a sheep rancher, would etch his name forever into UFO history, a designation that he neither desired, nor appreciated. A common working man, Brazel was foreman of the Foster Ranch in Lincoln County, near Corona, New Mexico. Brazel was a family man, but his wife and children lived in Tularosa, near Alamogordo.

The reason for this arrangement was so his children could attend better schools than they would at Corona. Brazel stayed in an older house on the ranch, where he tended sheep, and the general chores of the ranch. He was a simple man, content with his job, family, and his life. Mac would be thrust into the limelight for a brief period of time, and ultimately regret ever reporting what he was about to discover on the range of the Foster Ranch. An evening thunderstorm was raging at the close of another workday, The storm was highlighted by numerous bolts of lightning. These summer storms were not uncommon for these parts, but this evening Mac noticed something different.. a sound, like an explosion mingled with the typical sounds of a storm. Two of Mac's children were staying with him that night at his farm house. Mac retired with his two children, and temporarily forgot about the sounds of that night. The next day's sun brought Mac out again to ride the fences, and check on his sheep. He was accompanied that day with a seven-year-old neighbor boy, William D. "Dee" Proctor, who often rode with Mac.
As they rode into the open field, ahead of them they noticed an area about a quarter of a mile long and several hundred feet wide, covered with debris of some type. The debris was composed of small pieces of a shiny, metallic material, a material that Mac had never seen before. The sheep would not cross the fragmented pieces, and they had to be taken the long way around that day. Because of the curious nature of the debris, Mac picked up some of it and carried it back to store in a shed. Little did he know the significance of his find.
One of his children, Bessie Brazel recalled: "There was what appeared to be pieces of heavily waxed paper and a sort of aluminum-like foil. Some of these pieces had something like numbers and lettering on them, but there were no words you were able to make out. Some of the metal-foil pieces had a sort of tape stuck to them, and when these were held to the light they showed what looked like pastel flowers or designs. Even though the stuff looked like tape it could not be peeled off or removed at all."
"[The writing] looked like numbers mostly, at least I assumed them to be numbers. They were written out like you would write numbers in columns to do an addition problem. But they didn't look like the numbers we use at all. What gave me the idea they were numbers, I guess, was the way they were all ranged out in columns."
"No, it was definitely not a balloon. We had seen weather balloons quite a lot, both on the ground and in the air. We had even found a couple of Japanese-style balloons that had come down in the area once. We had also picked up a couple of those thin rubber weather balloons with instrument packages. This was nothing like that. I have never seen anything resembling this sort of thing before,- or since..."
Later that afternoon, Mac took young Dee Proctor back home, a journey of about 10 miles. He took along a piece of the debris that he had found, and showed it to Dee's parents, Floyd, and Loretta. Mac tried to get the Proctors to go back with him, and look at the strange material strewn in the fields.
Floyd Proctor would later state: "[He said] it wasn't paper because he couldn't cut it with his knife, and the metal was different from anything he had ever seen. He said the designs looked like the kind of stuff you would find on firecracker wrappers...some sort of figures all done up in pastels, but not writing like we would do it."
Loretta Proctor remembered: "The piece he brought looked like a kind of tan, light-brown plastic...it was very lightweight, like balsa wood. It wasn't a large piece, maybe about four inches long, maybe just larger than a pencil."
"We cut on it with a knife and would hold a match on it, and it wouldn't burn. We knew it wasn't wood. It was smooth like plastic, it didn't have real sharp corners, kind of like a dowel stick. Kind of dark tan. It didn't have any grain...just smooth."
"We should have gone [to look at the debris field], but gas and tires were expensive then. We had our own chores, and it would have been twenty miles."

Jesse Marcel Sr.

The first hint that the debris could be "not of this world" would come the next night from Mac's uncle, Hollis Wilson. Mac told Hollis about his find, and Hollis urged Mac to report the findings, since there had been reports of "flying saucers" in the area as of late. On July 6, Mac was going to Roswell to strike up a deal for a new pickup truck. He took along some of the debris, and stopped off at the Chaves County Sheriff's Office and spoke to George Wilcox. The story of the find was not significant to Wilcox until he actually handled a piece of the silvery material.

Wilcox telephoned the Roswell Army Air Field, and spoke to one Major Jesse A. Marcel, who was the base intelligence officer. Marcel told the Sheriff he would come into Roswell and talk to Brazel about his find. Word of the goings on began to spread rapidly in the community, and soon Mac was talking to radio station KGFL about the incident. Mac told the station what he knew over the telephone.

Marcel and Brazel met at the Sheriff's office. Mac told Marcel what he knew, and showed him a piece of debris. Marcel reported the results of his interview to Colonel William H. Blanchard back at Roswell Army Base. A decision was made for Brazel to go out to the site, and investigate for himself. Marcel would take his old Buick, and Army Counter Intelligence Corps officer Sheridan Cavitt accompanied him in a Jeep all-terrain vehicle. Following Marcel back to the ranch, it was too late that day to visit the site, so they all three stayed in Mac's ranch house. After a dinner of beans, the three headed to the site the next morning. After a brief look around, Mac left Marcel and Cavitt, returning to his chores.

Radio station KGFL reporter Frank Joyce informed his boss, Walt Whitmore Sr. about the recent developments, and Whitmore drove out and picked up Brazel and took him to his home in Roswell. There an interview took place, all taped into a recorder, but the interview would never be made public. Threats from the military would prevent the transmission of the tape. The next day, Whitmore took Brazel to the radio station, and called the Roswell Army Base. What Whitmore told the Base is not known exactly, but the military came and picked Mac up, and transported him to the base, where he was a "guest" of sorts, for about a week. On July 8, the military returned Mac to the Roswell Daily Record, where a press conference was conducted.
Oddly enough, Mac's story was somewhat different after his "stay" at Roswell Army Base. Mac now said that he and his son had discovered the debris on June 14, but he was so busy, that he didn't pay it any attention. He stated that some weeks later, on July 4th, he, his wife, and two children drove out to the debris field, and collected some samples. Among the collection were gray rubber strips, tinfoil, a type of heavy paper, and small wooden sticks. Mac further asserted that he had found balloons on several occasions, but that this debris was totally different from the other finds. "I am sure what I found was not any weather observation balloon," he said. "But if I find anything else beside a bomb they are going to have a hard time getting me to say anything about it," he said.
Mac's military escort led him out to a car after the conference, and drove him to KGFL. Eye witness accounts say that as Mac left the newspaper office, he kept his head pointed to the ground, and did not speak to any of his friends who were present at the time. Brazel went into the radio station without his escort, and began telling Frank Joyce the same story he had related at the press conference. Joyce was shocked by the sudden change in the story's details, and interrupted Brazel at one point, asking him why he had changed his story. Brazel became upset at the question, and stated, "It'll go hard on me."
After this interview, Mac was taken back to the Army Base. After finally being released from Roswell Base, suddenly Mac didn't want to discuss his find anymore. Those who knew him say that in private, he complained about his harsh treatment by the military. He was not allowed even to call his wife during his stay at the base, and he told his children that he took an oath to never discuss the details of the debris field. Within a year after finding the strange debris, Mac had moved off the ranch he loved so much, into the town of Tularosa, where he opened a small business of his own. He passed away in 1963. All of this for a weather balloon?
Major Jesse A. Marcel was the intelligence officer at Roswell Army Air Force Base, which was home of the only bomb group in existence at the time. It should be noted that all of the personnel at the base had high security clearance. Marcel was a veteran officer, who was trusted fully. He had been a highly skilled cartographer before World War II, and was sent to intelligence training by the Army, because of his impeccable character. He was even an instructor for a time at the training school. He also logged over 450 hours of combat duty as a pilot during the War, and was highly decorated with five air medals for shooting down enemy aircraft. After the War ended, he was chosen as a member of the 509th Bomb Wing, handling security for "Operation Crossroads," which conducted nuclear testing in 1946. After being awarded a commendation for his work on the nuclear project, he was named the intelligence officer for Roswell AAFB.
Marcel was on a lunch break when he received a phone call from Sheriff Wilcox. Wilcox informed him that rancher Mac Brazel had found debris from a crash of some object on a sheep ranch. Marcel went to town, talked to Brazel, and reported his findings to Colonel Blanchard. Marcel was given orders to go to the site, which he did, accompanied by CIC officer Sheridan Cavitt. Arriving too late for ample light for a search, the two soldiers spent the night with Brazel, and then proceeded to the sight the next morning.
Marcell related the events of the search through the debris in his own words: "When we arrived at the crash site, it was amazing to see the vast amount of area it covered."
"...it scattered over an area of about three quarters of a mile long, I would say, and fairly wide, several hundred feet wide. "It was definitely not a weather or tracking device, nor was it any sort of plane or missile."
"I don't know what it was, but it certainly wasn't anything built by us and it most certainly wasn't any weather balloon."
"...small beams about three eighths or a half inch square with some sort of hieroglyphics on them that nobody could decipher. These looked something like balsa wood, and were about the same weight, except that they were not wood at all. They were very hard, although flexible, and would not burn at all. There was a great deal of an unusual parchment-like substance which was brown in color and extremely strong, and great number of small pieces of a metal like tinfoil, except that it wasn't tinfoil. I was interested in electronics and kept looking for something that resembled instruments or electronic equipment, but I didn't find anything.
"...Cavitt, I think, found a black, metallic-looking box several inches square. As there was no apparent way to open this, and since it didn't appear to be an instrument package of any sort, we threw it in with the rest of the stuff." "It had little numbers with symbols that we had to call hieroglyphics because I could not understand them. They were pink and purple. They looked like they were painted on. I even took my cigarette lighter and tried to burn the material we found that resembled parchment and balsa, but it would not burn , wouldn't even smoke," "...the pieces of metal that we brought back were so thin, just like the tinfoil in a pack of cigarettes," "...you could not tear or cut it either. We even tried making a dent in it with a sixteen-pound sledgehammer, and there was still no dent in it." Having rode to the site in two vehicles, Marcel sent Cavitt back to the base with his Jeep full of the material, and Marcel took his Buick, and stopped by his house to show his wife and son his amazing find.

Jesse Marcel Jr.

Dr. Jesse Marcel Jr.(Marcel's son):
"The material was foil-like stuff, very thin, metallic-like but not metal, and very tough. There was also some structural-like material too,- beams and so on. Also a quantity of black plastic material which looked organic in nature." "Imprinted along the edge of some of the beam remnants were hieroglyphic-type characters." When Marcel arrived back at the base, he was instructed by Colonel Blanchard to load the debris on a B-29, and fly with it to Wright Field in Ohio, stopping on the way at Carswell AAFB in Ft. Worth, Texas.

The military was hard at work at Roswell. Colonel Walter Haut was given an order from Col. Blanchard to write a press release stating that the RAAF had in its possession a "crashed saucer." According to Haut, the saucer was transported to the 8th Air Force, to be turned over to General Ramey. Haut discharged his duty, and finished the press release he'd been ordered to write, giving copies of the release to the two radio stations and both of the newspapers. The famous headlines hit the newspapers.

"RAAF CAPTURES FLYING SAUCER ON RANCH IN ROSWELL REGION"

When Marcel arrived at Carswell, Brigadier General Roger Ramey, Commander of the 8th Air Force took full charge of the case. The debris from Brazel's field was taken into Ramey's office, and photographed. The photographer was James Bond Johnson. Marcel was in one photo with the real debris. Ramey took Marcel into another office, and upon their return to Ramey's office, some new and different material was spread on the floor. Marcel, under orders, stated that this debris was from a weather balloon. After more photos were taken, Ramey sent Marcel back to Roswell, along with a stern warning not to disclose anything he had seen at Carswell. It was then reported that General Ramey recognized the remains as part of a weather balloon. Brigadier General Thomas DuBose, the chief of staff of the Eighth Air Force, after many years of silence would state: "[It] was a cover story. The whole balloon part of it. That was the part of the story we were told to give to the public and news and that was it." There can be NO doubt that the orders to cover-up the saucer story came from our Chief Executive.
Marcel was stunned to find upon his return to his home base, that he was made a laughing stock because he ignorantly misidentified the balloon material with that of "something unknown." Some three months later, however, Marcel was promoted to Lt. Colonel, and assigned to a new program. He was in charge of testing atmospheric particles to detect Russian atomic discharges. When he was interviewed in 1978, he maintained that the debris he found on the Foster ranch was definitely NOT a weather balloon. He insisted that it was like nothing he had ever seen...
Through the first part of the Roswell story, we have heard of strange debris, and two different explanations of what that debris was. So what about the alleged alien bodies, an actual saucer on the ground, or an alien autopsy? To accurately continue our quest for all of the facts behind the Roswell case, me move to a new location. The site is San Agustin, near Magdalena, New Mexico. This story is based upon the testimony of Vern and Jean Maltais. The couple states that in February 1950, an engineer friend of theirs, Grady L. "Barney" Barnett told them that while working in the fields near Magdalena, July 3, 1947, he had come upon a crashed disc-shaped object. This flying disc had alien bodies strewn about it. There were aliens inside and outside of the craft. As important as this seems, there is a flaw in his story. It seems that Barnett's wife kept a diary of his comings and goings. His wife stated that his diary did not corroborate the date as July 3, 1947. This may or not mean anything, as surely a mistake could have been made, or a date mixed up, or plans changed after the entry was made.
Barnett's claims were controversial though, until yet another witness would come forward which would shed new light on his claims. After an airing of a "Roswell Crash" segment on the popular "Unsolved Mysteries" show in 1990, Gerald Anderson came forward with some fascinating details. Anderson states that he and his family were hunting rocks on the Plains of San Agustin in early July 1947, when they also came upon a crashed saucer-shaped craft. The craft had four dead aliens inside. Though Gerald was only six years old at the time, the extraordinary sighting was one he would never forget. To take matters a step further, archaeologist, Dr. Buskirk, and five of his students also came upon the crash scene. Anderson's story also has holes in it, however. It seems that Dr. Buskirk was a former teacher of Anderson. Records indicate that the Doctor was in Arizona at the time of the alleged sighting.
There is also a case for a second crash near Roswell. Testimony of mortician Glenn Dennis, along with Captain Oliver Wendell "Pappy" Henderson seem to substantiate this theory. The actions of the military can tell us a lot. Supposedly cordoning off the area, and removing every iota of the debris field does not make sense if all that was there was weather balloon material. Much importance must also be put upon Marcel. His word seems to be above reproach. He states without wavering that the debris was NOT balloon material. He should know. He also states that the debris he brought from Brazel's field was NOT the debris in the newspaper photographs. What about all of the eyewitnesses? In all fairness, it must be said that many of the witnesses are NOT first hand. We know how stories can be changed, or amended by being passed down the line. But there are also many firsthand witnesses. What about their testimony? If their stories are all lies, then a large group of people, some unbeknownst to the others, have perpetuated one of the best organized conspiracies in the last century. Let's examine the testimony of these "first hand" witnesses. Maybe the truth is out there after all. Is there a way to reconcile all of the different theories into one authentic account of the events of Roswell?

What about the alien bodies? There are many rumors about the "little men." Some say there were three, some say four, some even count 5. Let's see if we can find the truth behind the rumors by relying on eye witness testimony.
Ray Danzer, a plumbing contractor, was working on the Roswell Base. He was standing outside of the emergency room, when he saw alien bodies being brought into the base hospital on stretchers. Dumbfounded by the event, he was shaken back to reality by military police who warned him to leave, and forget what he saw.
Steve MacKenzie saw four bodies around the crashed UFO. He said that another one was out of sight.
Major Edwin Easley was commander of the Military Police who cordoned off the crash site. He related to his family that he made a promise to the President that he would never speak of what he saw that day.
Herbert Ellis, a painting contractor at Roswell AAFB, reported that he saw an alien "walking" into the Roswell Army hospital.
Mary Bush, who was secretary to the base hospital administrator, told mortician Glenn Dennis that she saw "a creature from another world." She was called on to assist two doctors in a hospital room where three "alien" bodies were being examined. Though suffocated by an overwhelming odor from the bodies, she clearly recalled that the aliens had four fingers, and no thumbs.
Joseph Montoya, Lt. Governor of New Mexico, told Pete Anaya that he had seen "four little men." One of them was still alive. He states that they had oversized heads, with big eyes. Their mouth was small, like a cut across a piece of wood. "I tell you they're not from this world."
Sergeant Thomas Gonzales, with the 509th, was a guard at the crash site, and saw bodies he called "little men."
A member of the Army COINTEL, Frank Kaufman, saw a "strange looking craft embedded in a cliff." He also states that he saw debris being put into crates which were stored under heavy military guard at Roswell AAFB.
Again, we must ask the question. Are all of these witnesses lying? Are these stories simply fabrications? What are the odds? How far would this kind of testimony go in a court of law? The conclusion to me is obvious. Although every tiny detail can be put under a microscope to find fault and error, it is only a normal human assumption to believe this story. There is just too much evidence to support it. Many researchers have, in my opinion, wasted countless hours trying to find fault in a report by one witness or so. At times, there have been discrepancies found in a date, a name misspelled, a time of day an hour or two off, and these researchers believe that the ability to discredit one witness makes it logical to assume that ALL of the other witnesses who say essentially the same thing are not to be believed. On the contrary, when so many agree on one general concept, even with small errors in detail, all the more reason to believe the consensus of the gist of the whole.
There can be NO doubt that a flying craft of unknown origin crashed into the deserts of New Mexico. At least three dead bodies were found, and examined. It seems that possibly one of the aliens lived through the crash. Many theories abound about the location of these bodies, and the crash debris. I have no answers to that end. There are just too many first-hand witnesses to the events of Roswell not to believe their accounts. The saga of Roswell continues even today.