Roswell - What we think we know.

One evening in mid-June 1947 on his ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, William “Mack” Brazel heard a massive BOOM outside his ranch house. The following morning he decided to check his property for a cause of the sound and found some interesting and unusual, metallic-looking debris1. He gathered some of the larger pieces and took them to his friend and fellow rancher, Loretta Proctor. Upon seeing the materials, she said that she thought there could be a reward for whatever it was he had found - so Brazel decided to take the pieces to the nearest town - Corona, New Mexico. There he handed them over to Chaves County Sheriff, George Wilcox, who found the material so interesting2 and anomalous that he then decided to contact the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF), and Colonel William H. Blanchard. Blanchard sent Major Jesse Marcel - the RAAF base intelligence officer - to investigate the debris3, along with two Counter Intelligence Corps agents. The three of them visited the ranch, collected more of the materials, and brought it back to the Roswell Army Air Field. 

On the evening of July 8, 1947, the public information officer at the RAAF, Lieutenant Walter Haut, issued a press release to local newspapers stating that the military had recovered a flying saucer from a ranch near Roswell4. (He actually used the term “flying saucer.”) The press release described the recovered object as a "hexagonal" disc, stating that it had been found by a rancher, Mack Brazel, and turned over to the military. 

...and so begins our conspiracy...

Left : Roswell Daily Record. July 8, 1947. RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region. Original Source : Roswell Daily Record 

Right : Major Jesse Marcel holding debris Courtesy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Photograph Collection, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Library, Arlington, Texas. Original Source : About the Roswell Photo Collection(5)

By the very next morning, on July 9, 1947, that statement was revised - now asserting that the recovered object was simply the remnants of a weather balloon, and completely typical in every way6. The correction to the weather balloon explanation was a crucial development in the Roswell UFO incident. It aimed to retract the initial statement that a "flying saucer" had been recovered - replacing it with an explanation involving a weather balloon. (If our government tried to use this same tactic today - the people of America would riot! Come back for the conspiracy post where I will dive further into this thought.) 

Following the end of the Cold War, in 1995 the Air Force released The Roswell Report: Fact Versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert7 - giving yet another explanation for the craft seen almost 50 years prior. In this 900-page report, the authors blame the entirety of the incident on Project Mogul - a project so highly classified that the Roswell Army Air Field did not have the necessary clearance for the knowledge of it at the time. 

Image of Project Weather Balloon United States Air Force - Weaver, Richard; McAndrew, James (1995). The Roswell Report: Fact Versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (PDF). Attachment 25, page 975. United States Air Force. ISBN 978-1428994928. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 16, 2013.

Project Mogul8 is said to be a classified and top-secret project conducted by the United States in the late 1940s. The project's primary purpose9 was to develop a system for detecting sound waves generated by Soviet nuclear explosions and to monitor Soviet nuclear tests. They used high-altitude balloons equipped with special listening devices to detect sound waves from potential nuclear explosions to carry out this mission. These balloons were made of neoprene rubber and carried a string of aluminum-coated paper discs. The nature of the materials used to produce these balloons made them reflect radar signals - making them useful for the project's monitoring purposes. The revised statement10 attributed to Colonel Blanchard explained that the recovered debris was part of one of these weather balloons - and represented a shift from the initial acknowledgment of a "flying saucer" recovery to an alternative explanation involving a weather balloon. 

Original Source : Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. ca. 1974-5/15/1984

This change in the official explanation aimed to downplay concerns about extraterrestrial involvement and reassure the public that the recovered materials were completely mundane, and associated with a known military project. However, this correction and revised explanation did not do much to sway the public interest and speculation. Some individuals have remained skeptical of the military's statements, especially after Major Jesse Marcel discussed his involvement in the cover-up years later in a book11 written by his wife and son - in which they tell Marcel’s side of the story of that night, and the repercussions of it through each of their lives. While most civilians involved have always stayed true to the stories they told of this event, the government and military officials remain all over the place. 

The circle of lies - for the first time - was coming unwound in this incident. 

Critics of the official account pointed to the abrupt change in the military's statement as evidence of a cover-up. The events surrounding the correction have contributed to the enduring controversy and mystery of the Roswell incident. Over the years, this event has become a focal point for UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists, with differing interpretations of the events and skepticism about the official explanations.  Arguably, the result of these inconsistencies is a lack of trust between members of the public and government officials. As a result, the Roswell Incident continues to be a topic of discussion and inquiry even now, more than 75 years later.

It is interesting to note that, in the Roswell Incident, we notice the same pattern of reaction and response by our government mentioned in the last post. An event occurs, and the Government says something along the lines of …nothing to see here… - and then they immediately begin a new secret black project. In the case of Roswell, there were two that began immediately following - Project Sign and the Majestic 12. Come back next two Mondays to see what these projects entail - and the following week where I will analyze what makes each of these events and projects feel like a conspiracy. The first Monday of March we will dive into all of the weirdness that still remains around each of these events, and the questions that remain unanswered - specifically a couple of deathbed confessions from people involved that will blow your mind. 

Until then, keep your eyes to the skies. 👽

Information from this post can be found in the following links : 

(4) Alexander, Kathy. “Roswell Incident, New Mexico.” Legends of America, Mar. 2023, www.legendsofamerica.com/nm-roswellufo/. 

(9) Department of Defense, and US Air Force. “Project Mogul : United States. Department of Defense. Department of the Air Force. Office of the Secretary. Office of the Administrative Assistant. Office of the Deputy for Security and Special Investigative Programs. Research Declassification Team. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, 1 Jan. 1947, archive.org/details/341-roswell-2. 

Gentile, AJ. “The Truth about Roswell: Decoding Decades of Deception.” YouTube, The Why Files, 23 June 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rih9-80p0Ec. 

(3) Long, Trish. “Rancher Surprised at Excitement over His Debris Discovery near Roswell.” El Paso Times, El Paso Times, 28 June 2017,www.elpasotimes.com/story/life/2017/06/28/rancher-surprised-excitement-over-his-debris-discovery-near-roswell/434250001/. 

(11) Marcel, Jesse, and Linda Marcel. The Roswell Legacy: The Untold Story of the First Military Officer at the 1947 Crash Site. Career Press, Inc., 2009. 

(8) McANDREW, JAMES. “Report on Project Mogul - Synopsis of Balloon Research Findings.” Project Mogul, 2023, muller.lbl.gov/teaching/physics10/Roswell/USMogulReport.html. 

National Archives. “Project Blue Book - Unidentified Flying Objects.” National Archives and Records Administration, Military Records, 2020, www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos. 

(10) The Roswell Files. “Colonel Blanchard.” The Roswell UFO Incident - Col Blanchard, 2023, www.roswellfiles.com/Witnesses/Blanchard.htm. 

(1) Rothman, Lily. “UFOs and Aliens in Roswell, New Mexico: Read the Original Report.” Time, Time, 7 July 2015, time.com/3916193/roswell-history/. 

UNIDENTIFIED. “The Roswell Coverup 75 Years Later (Full Documentary).” YouTube, YouTube, 27 Apr. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?si=kMHagwC46WZ_Jg49&v=Es4AGX8Y_sw&feature=youtu.be. 

(2) Unsolved Mysteries. “Roswell.” Unsolved Mysteries Gallery, 2017, unsolved.com/gallery/roswell/. 

(6) US Air Force. “Air Force News Special Report The Roswell Report: Case Closed.” The Roswell Report, Defense Media Activity, 1994, www.af.mil/The-Roswell-Report/. 

(7) US Air Force, Headquarters. “The Roswell Report Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert.” Defense Media Activity, 1995, media.defense.gov/2010/Dec/01/2001329893/-1/-1/0/roswell-2.pdf. 

US Air Force, and Department of Defense. “Project Blue Book.” Executive Services Directorate, White House Military Office, 1 Feb. 1966, www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/UFOsandUAPs/proj_b1.pdf?ver=2017-05-22-113513-837. 

US Air Force. “Unidentified Flying objects and Air Force Project Blue Book.” Air Force, Defense Media Activity, 2023, www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104590/unidentified-flying-objects-and-air-force-project-blue-book/. 

(5) UTA Libraries. “About the Roswell Photo Collection.” Roswell UFO Incident TEST, University of Texas at Arlington, 2017, libraries.uta.edu/roswell/images.