graphic by AJ Domagala
The infamous Roswell UFO crash sparked major debate on whether the incident was the biggest cover up or the biggest misunderstanding of all time.
Imagine standing in the middle of a ranch, late one evening, and seeing a massive unidentified flying object (UFO) crash down just a few miles away. In 1947, a local rancher named Mac Brazel found himself in this situation. After a crazy year of over 300 claims of UFO sightings, Brazel was caught in the web of one of the most infamous UFO crashes.
Sometime before June 14th, a crash occurred on Boster Ranch, a few miles northwest of Roswell, New Mexico. According to several US Air Force reports, on July 4th, Mac Brazel visited the crash site to pick up some of the debris. A few days later, Brazel took the debris he collected to local sheriff, George Wilcox. After examining the debris, Wilcox contacted Colonel “Butch” Blanchard at the nearby military base, Roswell Army Airfield, which is known to have deployed atomic bombs near the end of the second World War. Col. Blanchard then contacted General Roger W. Ramey, who ordered intelligence officer Major Jesse Marcel to analyze the crash site and recover any remaining debris.
On July 8th, Col. Blanchard was notified about Maj. Marcel’s assessment of the crash site, and ordered Lieutenant Walter Haut to issue a press release saying that they believe the crash was due to a “flying saucer.” A local news report had an article headlined: “Roswell Army Airfield Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch In Roswell Region.” The officials and the media were convinced this site was extraterrestrial to some extent. Later that day, the Air Force changed their story. Gen. Ramey ordered the crash remains to be taken to him in Fort Worth, Texas, for his own personal inspection. After passing through this extensive list of bureaucracy, the “flying saucer” was identified as a crashed weather balloon. Gen. Ramey issued a press release in order to deny any claims of a UFO.
Many people began to investigate and argue that this was a major cover-up by the government. On July 9th, the same local newspaper released an article titled: “Harassed Rancher [Mac Brazel] Who Located ‘Saucer’ Sorry He Told About It.” Brazel revealed in this article that the wreckage he discovered was merely “rubber strips, tinfoil, and a rather tough paper and sticks.” With Brazel’s testimony alongside Gen. Ramey’s explanation of a weather balloon, the nation promptly discarded the Roswell incident. That is until 1978, when UFO researcher and nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman, interviewed now retired intelligence officer Jesse Marcel.
Marcel brought major attention back to the Roswell incident when he revealed that he still believes the wreckage was not a weather balloon. In the interview with Marcel, he discusses the materials that were discovered in the crash site, particularly a metallic structure that was unlike anything he knew. “It felt like you had nothing in your hands; It wasn’t any thicker than the foil out of a pack of cigarettes. But the thing about it that got me was that you couldn’t even bend it, you couldn’t dent it, even a sledgehammer would bounce off it… I knew that I had never seen anything like that before.” In that same quote, he adds: “It was not anything from this Earth, that I’m quite sure of…” Friedman later interviewed four other witnesses and ultimately concluded there had been a massive cover-up [1947]. According to a video posted by Buzzfeed Unsolved, the cover-up included details about the crash site, unknown materials, a spacecraft, and potential ‘alien bodies’ at the Roswell location.
The debate among Americans has divided into two main theories. The first theory is that the Roswell crash site was reported accurately: a weather balloon crash. If one were to look at the physical evidence available and the reports from the local Air Force, this appears as very plausible. However, in 1994, the Air Force released a statement saying there was, in fact, a cover-up. The report claims that the cover-up was for a top-secret military operation, regarding the type of weather balloon, not suggesting anything extraterrestrial at the site. An audit in 1995 proved the theory of alien bodies at Roswell were dummies attached to the weather balloons for the secret project, known as Project Mogul.
However, the second theory begins with the contradictory discovery that the test dummies were not used in test drops until in 1950, three years after the incident. Another discrepancy appeared when research teams found all records from January to October of 1947 had been destroyed. The theory ascertains that the government aided in a cover-up of their knowledge of alien life. More than 600 witnesses, ranging from civilians to high-level military, have claimed this theory to be true. The official Roswell reports completely contradict all of the eyewitness testimonies. Brazel claimed on a local radio station that the crash site was “other-worldly” and contained “alien bodies.” This recording was never aired to the public because the local government called the radio station and urged them not to. Shortly after, Brazel recanted all of his statements about a UFO, and later went on to purchase a very nice, new truck, and moved away to start a new business. This suggests a bribe issued by the Air Force for Brazel to remain silent. There is also proof that Brazel’s family was detained and possibly threatened by the military. Ultimately, the government issued an information blackout, by whatever means necessary.
The two theories are very plausible, with evidence proving and disproving both ideas. As time went on, the media lost sight of this incredible incident, and many Americans forgot about Roswell altogether. For those who were involved with this massive cover-up, it is still very real. As time goes on, more and more information is slowly uncovered. After all the absurdity, there is still no definite explanation as to what occurred on the evening of June 14th. The only thing that is for sure is that nothing is as it seems.
