The past century has been rich in visiting aliens. But none of them influenced human minds more than the Roswell incident. The alleged UFO crash near the American city of Roswell has turned into one of the greatest mysteries of American history, and also spawned a whole …
Find
The city of Roswell in the state of New Mexico is a typical backwater, whose population even in the 2000s was just over 45 thousand people. In the courtyard, July 4, 1947 is US Independence Day. A local farmer, William Braisel, heard something at night that resembled a strong cotton or explosion, accompanied by a violent flash of light. This was not surprising - on the eve of the Independence Day there was a strong thunderstorm. In the morning, Brazel went to look for his sheep, which were not there, most likely, they were frightened by a thunderstorm and fled. But the wasteland seven miles from the pasture was literally littered with debris of unknown origin. Mr. Braisel assumed that some kind of aircraft fell, but not a weather balloon. Sometimes they were brought to the farm from the local test sites, so the man knew what they looked like. The wreckage found looked different. Among other things, Braisel found some parts from an extremely lightweight material. According to him, they did not burn and did not give in to any influence at all. The material found resembled foil with the only difference that it could not be torn, and it had the property of taking on its original appearance. But one of the strangest finds - glass balls, inside which one could distinguish something like human figures. An important point: on some of the details were strange symbols that resembled either Chinese characters or Indian writing.and it had the ability to take its original form. But one of the strangest finds - glass balls, inside which one could distinguish something like human figures. An important point: on some of the details were strange symbols that resembled either Chinese characters or Indian writing.and it had the ability to take its original form. But one of the strangest finds - glass balls, inside which one could distinguish something like human figures. An important point: on some of the details were strange symbols that resembled either Chinese characters or Indian writing.
On the advice of his prudent neighbors, Brazel decided to turn over the finds to the local sheriff. He, in turn, quickly realizing what was what, turned to the military. But Brazel himself did not sit idle. Soon he told about everything on the air of the local radio station.
Air Force Colonel William Blanchard, who arrived at the scene, after analyzing the situation, ordered the publication of the statement of the Armed Forces in local newspapers. It makes sense to quote it in full: Roswell Army Air Base, New Mexico, July 8, 1947, morning. Numerous rumors about flying discs were confirmed yesterday when the Eighth Air Army's reconnaissance division of the 509th Bomber Regiment, assisted by a local farmer and county sheriff, managed to get hold of one of these discs. A flying disc was discovered near a ranch near Roswell last week. Due to the lack of a telephone, only a few days later the farmer was able to notify the sheriff, who, in turn, notified the chief of the reconnaissance department of the 509th air regiment, Major Jesse A. Marcel. Measures were taken immediately, the disc from the ranch was delivered to Roswell AFB,where he underwent a preliminary examination, after which he was taken to the headquarters by Major Marcellus."
Strange to say the least, isn't it? After all, the authors of the statement are military. They should have identified one of their lost vehicles in the wreckage of the "flying disc".
It was not difficult to predict the reaction to such a message. On July 8, many American newspapers were full of sensational headlines about the discovery of an alien spacecraft. The European press did not lose either. But soon the military, represented by General Roger Mason Raimi, disowned their words. As early as July 9, the Roswell Daily Record newspaper completely denied the message published the day before. What was it
Promotional video:
A planned rally for Independence Day, elementary negligence or a clumsy attempt by the authorities to hide some secret?
General Reimi's explanation sounded pretty convincing. According to him, near the city of Roswell, a weather balloon crashed. After that, all talk about the crash of the alien ship died down for a long time. William Brazel himself, after communicating with the military, refused to give any information.
It will be appropriate to highlight one important point here. You need to understand that the events took place not in our time, but in the distant 1940s. Relations between society and the authorities in those days were at a fundamentally different level. When the authorities said: "Relax, guys, this is just a weather balloon", most of the population switched to another channel.
Pointer at the site of the alleged UFO crash.
General Reimi presented the wreckage to reporters to prove his point. The military was allowed to carefully examine, photograph and even touch the details of the aircraft. There was nothing mysterious about them. These were the most common parts from familiar materials. But experienced journalists, suspecting a catch (the debris could have been replaced), wished to personally meet with Colonel Blanchard, who was responsible for publishing the first statement about the flying disc. They failed to do this. At the entrance to the Roswell airbase, the journalists were told that the commander had gone on vacation.
One of the most famous documents supporting the UFO version of the Roswell incident is the report of FBI officer John Hottel. With reference to an Air Force informant, Hottel describes a story very similar to that of Walter Hout. The report appeared on the FBI website in 2011 and quickly became one of the most popular FBI documents. It is believed that deception is at the heart of this report.
Chasing a sensation
It seems that this whole story would have been safely buried and would never have come back to life if not for one episode. In the late 1970s, an interview was published with the head of the reconnaissance department of the 509th Air Regiment, Major Jesse A. Marcel. Its content immediately became a sensation. According to Major Marcel, the official version is nothing more than an ordinary falsification. All photographs showing the wreckage of the aircraft are fake. But in fact, what Marcel saw as two drops of water coincided with the story of the farmer William Brazel: non-creasing foil, unknown symbols, elastic heavy-duty bars made of lightweight, but at the same time incredibly durable material. Marcel noted that although he had previously seen weather balloons on several occasions, there was nothing in the wreckage found that even remotely resembled the details of it.
However, Marcel and Brazel are far from the only witnesses to the disaster. But most of this evidence is well-grounded in skepticism. Numerous eyewitnesses did not find anything at the crash site. If you take their words on faith, then at the crash site you could see not only the wreckage of the aircraft, but also the aliens themselves. According to some reports, the crashed ship was not seriously damaged. At least in its outline it was easy to guess a UFO. To be more precise, a flying saucer, well known to the people of the United States from science fiction films about aliens. Another thing is unclear. Major Marcel's many years of silence about what he saw can be explained by the fact that at the time of the incident he was a military man, and his duty forced him to keep his mouth shut. But what forced the silence of mere mortals?
A fragment of a diorama at the Roswell International UFO Museum.
After the interview with Marcel, the flywheel of sensations was already launched. To attract attention, it was enough to say: "I saw it with my own eyes." Many residents of the city of Roswell did just that. As a result, the truth was buried under a multi-ton layer of falsifications. We can say that the scammers have achieved their goal. The small town of Roswell has quickly become a Mecca for flying saucers from all over the world. Now the entire local economy is supported by a multi-million army of tourists. The interest in the event more than half a century ago is unabated. And if it begins to decline, then there is little doubt that new eyewitness accounts will soon appear. True, not so much the eyewitnesses themselves, as their children or grandchildren.
Will
Be that as it may, it makes sense to share another important piece of evidence. On December 15, 2005, at the age of 84, a certain Walter Hout died. In 1947, Lieutenant Hout served at Roswell Air Base and was in charge of public relations. It was he, on the orders of Colonel William Blanchard, who drew up the text of a statement about the discovery of the wreckage of an unidentified flying object. The text of the will (drawn up back in 2002), made public after the death of Walter Hout, read: “Before I left the base, Colonel Blanchard personally took me to building No. 84 (hangar P-3) … Still on the way I saw that it is heavily guarded from the outside and from the inside. Inside, I was allowed to look from a safe distance at an object just picked up north of the city. It was about 3.5 - 4.5 meters long, not very wide, about 1 height8 meters and had a more or less ovoid shape. The lighting was poor, but its surface appeared to be metallic. I saw no windows, portholes, wings, tail or landing gear. Also from some distance I saw a couple of corpses under a tarp. Only their heads protruded from under it, and I could not distinguish the features of their faces. The heads were larger than those of an ordinary person, and the contours of the bodies under the tarp were the size of 10-year-olds. Later, Blanchard in his office raised his hand about 1.2 meters above the floor, showing their height. "than the average person, and the contours of the bodies under the tarp are the size of 10-year-olds. Later, Blanchard in his office raised his hand about 1.2 meters above the floor, showing their height. "than the average person, and the contours of the bodies under the tarp are the size of 10-year-olds. Later, Blanchard in his office raised his hand about 1.2 meters above the floor, showing their height."
But why is Walter Hout's testimony so different from that of Farmer Braisel and Air Force Major Jesse Marcel? The answer to this question is given by Hout himself. According to him, there were several disaster sites. On one of them, an accumulation of aircraft wreckage was discovered (they were found by Brazel). But the ship itself and its dead crew were in another place, nearby. The ship was found by the military, and none of the civilians had access to it. Interestingly, until his death, Walter Hout answered questions about the Roswell incident very succinctly: "Everything I know about it can be reduced to one word: nothing."
Alien footage taken in Roswell in 1947.
Yet it is extremely difficult to regard Walter Hout's will as a serious evidence base. It should not be forgotten that Mr. Hout passed away at a very old age, when his reason and memory, at least partially, could change him. Even the fact that the will was drawn up several years earlier does not fundamentally change anything. There is one more, perhaps even more important reason not to trust the words of the former lieutenant too much. Walter Hout's daughter, Julia Schuster, headed the Roswell UFO Museum in 2005. Given the endless flow of tourists, this business has definitely paid dividends for her.
Project "Mogul"
In February 1994, at the request of Congressman Stephen Schiff, the General Audit Office of the US Congress began an investigation into the Roswell incident. During the investigation, nothing was found that would at least somehow prove that aliens had visited Earth. No secret papers were found, nor any evidence of anything strange. However, this does not mean at all that no documents existed before. Yes, and the 1994 report itself may turn out to be an ordinary falsification.
But what is really of interest is the declassified data on the program for tracking atomic weapons tests in the USSR. In the 1940s, this project was named Mogul. Its most important component was the design, consisting of weather balloons and sound wave tracking equipment. It was this design, according to the report, that some witnesses could mistake for the wreckage of a flying saucer. It is noteworthy that the mysterious symbols (as we remember, the farmer Brazel spoke about them) could be traces of the adhesive tape used by the military. One of the toy factories was engaged in its manufacture. All kinds of designs and patterns could be easily distinguished on the adhesive tape.
Major Jess Marcel examines the finds from the Roswell incident.
The report says that the Mogul program was assigned a security level of “A3”, that is, the highest for those times. This explains why the authorities were confused in their testimony and wanted to forget about the incident as soon as possible. There is nothing surprising in this - history knows many examples of how the special services, trying to "hush up" their own negligence, found themselves in the center of grandiose scandals. After all, a lie is like a razor - a two-edged weapon.
The well-known ufologist Boris Shurinov disagrees with the version set out in the 1994 report. In his book The Roswell Mystery, he tries to debunk the official interpretation of events. Much attention has been paid to the Mogul project. It is pointed out that, contrary to the conclusion made in the report, there is no real evidence of the secrecy of the project. In the Air Force documents, the level of secrecy was not "A 3", but "A 1", which did not imply super secrecy. Moreover, according to the author, the level of secrecy was so low that no one even tracked the devices after launch.
Exhibit at the Roswell International UFO Museum.
The 1994 report has another important flaw. Despite the innovative method of detecting sound waves, the components of the "Mogul" structure could hardly surprise with their appearance. Especially a person who had previously dealt with similar devices. But, as we have already said, William Brazel, as well as Jesse Marcel, repeatedly saw the wreckage of meteorological probes.
Alien autopsy
In 1995, London-based film music journalist Ray Santilli added fuel to the fire. He released the documentary "Alien Autopsy - Fact or Fiction?" The world saw footage of the autopsy of an alien who died in the Roswell disaster. The film immediately caused a storm of emotions. Mostly negative. Even a person with only secondary medical education could clearly distinguish falsification. According to experts, the film is replete with a huge number of all kinds of "blunders". The actions of the pathologist who performed the autopsy of the alien are more like the work of a poorly trained surgeon. In such circumstances, such negligence is absolutely unthinkable. The very same body of the alien, according to experts, is nothing more than a dummy.
Alien autopsy footage.
This point of view is shared by the famous biologist Yulia Shepeleva: “The analysis of the recording of the film dedicated to the autopsy of the alien, which was made in 1947, was carried out. This recording is clearly used by non-professionals, people do not work with the tools that are used in pathological practice … It is forbidden, for example, to touch the organs with their hands, but here they directly take them with their hands, which is completely unacceptable! The movie is probably fake.”
What's the bottom line?
To a person who first encounters this topic, it may seem that there is simply no secret. After all, there is a completely plausible official interpretation of events, and it clarifies a lot. But upon closer examination, the truth seems less obvious. You begin to understand only one thing: something doesn't fit. Why did the military themselves initially mistook the wreckage of the balloon for a UFO? Why did these very debris cause so many conflicting emotions among eyewitnesses? Why did the authorities re-investigate in 1994? After all, if the Mogul project was just a bunch of meteorological balloons, this incident could hardly have left behind so many unsolved mysteries.
But the point of view of many ufologists about the fall of the alien ship is not credible. Mainly, due to the lack of any solid evidence of their correctness. Is it possible to be one hundred percent confident in the words of several eyewitnesses? It is also interesting that the incident took place on the eve of one of the main American holidays - Independence Day. On the other hand, the case itself can hardly be considered a simple rally. He made too much noise, and real interest in the topic did not show itself many decades later.
Composition at the Roswell International UFO Museum.
What do we end up with? Absolutely nothing that could fully and completely confirm or, conversely, refute one of the put forward versions. We can only give our readers the right, on the basis of the available facts, to determine for themselves the version that they consider the most plausible.