I went to Roswell, New Mexico earlier this month looking for answers. Answers about the UFO (or was it a weather ballon?) that crash landed on the Brazel Ranch just outside of town almost 60 years ago. Answers about the ensuing United States government cover-up to hide secret military operations in the desert east of Albuquerque or perhaps the fact that some sort of craft wasn't all that was recovered in July of 1947. And maybe, just maybe, some answers or at least some clues as to whether we as humans are really alone in the universe or if there's some other sort of sentient life out there. Sounds like a tall order, right? For sure, it was.
Now, before I get too deep into this post, let me state for the record that I am a believer in aliens. I was before I set foot in Roswell and I still am now. This makes me sound like I am some kind of crazy, I know. I have no evidence to prove my case and nothing tangible to show to demonstrate that which I believe is rooted in something concrete.
But I have two things I will offer here if you haven't already hit the close button on your web browser. First, I find the idea that the only intelligent life in the entire universe can be found here on our little planet to be against the odds and a little arrogant; there must be something else out there. Second, I am convinced that one night when I was a kid, I saw a light take off from the woods behind our house in Connecticut where I grew up. I'm totally not kidding; that is not a joke. Call me a fool if you will but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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| Do aliens eat Beef 'n Cheddar? I guess only Arby's knows. |
Here's what I knew about what happened near Roswell in the late 1940s before I landed at Albuquerque airport on March 7 of this year.
Sometime in the late spring or early summer of 1947, something crashed on a ranch owned by William Brazel about 75 miles outside the town of Roswell. Sometime after the crash, Brazel found the wreckage and on July 6 took it into town to show to Roswell Sheriff George Wilcox. Wilcox called the Army over at the nearby Roswell Army Air Field and they sent the base intelligence officer, Major Jesse Marcel, out to take a look at what Brazel had found.
After inspecting the wreckage, Marcel took it back to the Air Field. On July 8, the base public relations department issued a press release that was published in local newspapers stating that the Army had recovered an unidentified flying object. A few hours after the publishing of that press release, General Roger Ramey, who at that time was in charge of the Eighth Army Air Force District, gave an interview to a local radio station where he stated the debris that had been found was not an unidentified flying object but actually the remains of a weather balloon.
Case closed, right? Well, maybe not so much. While it appears Ramey's statement about the weather balloon quelled any sort of immediate panic about aliens landing in the New Mexico desert, it failed to kill all speculation. Over the years, there have been questions and rumors and wonderings about what really happened near Roswell and if there was some sort of government cover up to silence any sort of hint that the United States Army was at one time in the late '40s in possession of extraterrestrial bodies from a crashed interstellar craft.
Sometime in the late spring or early summer of 1947, something crashed on a ranch owned by William Brazel about 75 miles outside the town of Roswell. Sometime after the crash, Brazel found the wreckage and on July 6 took it into town to show to Roswell Sheriff George Wilcox. Wilcox called the Army over at the nearby Roswell Army Air Field and they sent the base intelligence officer, Major Jesse Marcel, out to take a look at what Brazel had found.
After inspecting the wreckage, Marcel took it back to the Air Field. On July 8, the base public relations department issued a press release that was published in local newspapers stating that the Army had recovered an unidentified flying object. A few hours after the publishing of that press release, General Roger Ramey, who at that time was in charge of the Eighth Army Air Force District, gave an interview to a local radio station where he stated the debris that had been found was not an unidentified flying object but actually the remains of a weather balloon.
Case closed, right? Well, maybe not so much. While it appears Ramey's statement about the weather balloon quelled any sort of immediate panic about aliens landing in the New Mexico desert, it failed to kill all speculation. Over the years, there have been questions and rumors and wonderings about what really happened near Roswell and if there was some sort of government cover up to silence any sort of hint that the United States Army was at one time in the late '40s in possession of extraterrestrial bodies from a crashed interstellar craft.
Roswell isn't the only city or town in the United States or the world where reports of unidentified craft have been reported. But it is perhaps the only spot where an official government press release reporting the existence of an unidentified flying object was issued. And so even today, Roswell serves as a destination for folks who want to know more. This year, that included me.
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| Roswell's UFO Museum. At $5 per person worth an hour or so learning about what might have happened. |
If you go (and I suggest you do), be prepared for a lot of reading, but there's enough on the walls of the place to educate you in a serious way about the events of late June / early July of 1947. There's also some general information about UFO terminology. Based on my visit to the Museum I now know that what I saw from my bedroom as a youth is called a "nocturnal light" and it is the most common kind of UFO sighting. I can also articulate the difference between close encounters of the first, second and third kinds. And hey, that might come in useful someday.
After the must-see UFO Museum, you might find a thing or two of interest to take home at the Alien Invasion store across the street (I picked up some little green men). For those wanting something a little more interactive, you might want to stop into the Alien Zone just up the street from the Museum and take a gander at their Area 51 exhibit. There you will find life size dioramas of aliens in spaceships or on operating tables or even tending bar. This won't be educational in any way but you might find it fun, if you can get over the dilapidated quality of the place and the irony of Area 51 being nowhere near Roswell (it's in Nevada).
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| Kicking back with an imaginary beer and my alien bartender at Alien Zone's Area 51 exhibit. |
Enter to our story Dennis Balthaser, a retired civil engineer who moved up to Roswell from the El Paso, Texas area in 1996. Dennis is a noted ufologist (yes, that's a real term) and speaker on extraterrestrial sightings. He offers tours of the Roswell area twice daily to spread his knowledge of what he knows about what happened in the '40s. This seemed like a great way to fill in our knowledge of what might have really happened in a very informed and interactive way. Way better than simply reading everything hanging on the walls of the UFO Museum.
We found Dennis on the internet, which is sometimes not the healthiest way to meet folks, but he checked out on TripAdvisor and other sites so we figured why not. If you are at all concerned about getting into a car in Roswell with some stranger or are just willing to dismiss Dennis as some sort of local crackpot, let me tell you he is the nicest person and both extremely knowledgeable and entertaining. Dennis made our day in Roswell in ways we (and he, I'm sure) couldn't have imagined. He also rates five out of five on 181 of 190 reviews on TripAdvisor, for what that's worth.
We paid our money online and got some instructions back: on the day of your tour meet Dennis at the southwest corner of the Roswell Convention and Civic Center parking lot near the corner of Richardson and 9th. I can't think of any better way to start a tour like this than with some sort of sketchy, cloak and dagger type meet up directions. It was a perfect way to start learning the truth about alien encounters and the secret government coverup in Roswell. And make no mistake, you WILL learn about that with Dennis. He's a believer for sure.
Here's the story of the 1947 incident as I now understand it after spending a little more than two hours touring around town in Dennis' white SUV.
Sometime in early July of 1947, something crashed on a ranch owned by William Brazel about 75 miles outside of Roswell. A day or so after the crash, Brazel found the wreckage and on July 6 took it into town to show Roswell Sheriff George Wilcox. Wilcox called the Army over at the nearby Roswell Army Air Field and they sent the base intelligence officer, Major Jesse Marcel, out to take a look at what Brazel had found. To this point, things are substantially similar to what I understood before I rolled into town earlier this month.
Now, because it was so far from Roswell to the Brazel ranch (this was 1947 and automobile travel wasn't as swift as it is today), William Brazel stayed in town overnight and the next morning gave an interview to one of the local radio stations describing what he had found. In the meantime, Major Marcel took the wreckage back to the Air Field but made a stop at home first where he showed it to his wife and 11 year old son, whom Dennis would become acquainted with later in life. According to Marcel's son, some of the material his dad showed him was not of this world and couldn't be cut or dented in any way. Other pieces could be crumpled into a ball and would recover their shape in about 15 seconds. Intriguing stuff. Now we are getting the straight scoop.
The radio interview given by Brazel was never aired. That's because it was taped for later broadcast and between the time it was recorded and was scheduled to air, the Army got a look at the wreckage and found out about the interview and made their way to the radio station. Some threats of loss of license from the military as well as the arrest of George Brazel squashed any notion that the tape would ever see the light of day.
On July 8, the Roswell Army Air Field public relations department issued a press release that was published in local newspapers stating that the Army had recovered an unidentified flying object. That press release was written by Walter Haut, who later on would co-found the UFO Museum in town. That same day or the day before (there's a lot to digest on Dennis' tour and you should take it in first hand for all the details), Major Marcel had wrapped some of Brazel's wreckage in brown paper and had met with General Roger Ramey who later on July 8 would make a statement that what had been recovered on the Brazel ranch was a crashed weather balloon.
Case closed, right? Move along, nothing more to see? End of tour? Umm...no. Not so much. Turns out there's lots more.
After driving through some of Roswell's neighborhoods and making a few stops, we headed out to the old Roswell Army Air Field, which is now a junk yard of sorts for commercial airplanes (it's actually an incredible sight but that's a different story for another time, or you could just go there yourself). Along the way the big question on our minds was of course "What about the aliens?" Turns out there's plenty of that in the story.
According to Dennis, William Brazel saw the bodies of extraterrestrials on his property before he took his trip to town on July 6 but just didn't tell the sheriff. Brazel ended up in jail for five days at the Army Air Field so presumably he told them about finding the bodies at that time. In addition to talking with Marcel's son, Dennis also talked with Brazel's kids who told him that their dad claimed if they ever found any similar wreckage on their property they were to bury it and tell nobody. Too much trouble to talk about it.
So what the heck did they look like? Well, Dennis served on the board of the UFO Museum for two years when he first got to Roswell and got a chance to talk a lot with both Walter Haut and another of the museum's co-founders Glenn Dennis, who was the town mortician in the 1940s. Both allegedly laid eyes on the bodies in 1947. Both men seem to have related similar stories: gray skin, 3-1/2 to 4 feet tall, unusually large heads for the body size, no visible ears, a slot-like mouth and four fingers per hand (no thumbs). Dennis has a drawing, recreated by Glenn Dennis from a sketch shown to him by a nurse friend out at the Air Field.
Not little green men? Apparently not, even though most alien souvenirs in town are just that. According to legend, rumor or whatever you like, Willam Brazel after his release from jail was back at the radio station and someone gave him a hard time about talking about little green men. His response? "They were not green." Strange stuff indeed.
There are lots more details, but at the risk of making this blog post too long and spoiling Dennis' complete story, let me just say there are plenty of strange coincidences and "OMG, really?" moments involving coffin requests, embalming advice, crash test dummies and many more oddities that were related to us from the time we got into Dennis' car and the time we arrived at Hangar 84, one of the last stops on the tour where the alien bodies were allegedly held for a while. If there's a spot that makes you believe something was going on, it's at this hangar where we were definitely watched from the other side of the fence, even though the place is no longer a military installation and is completely open to the public. I wouldn't have been surprised if we'd have been picked up by someone in a camouflage jeep or something like that. We weren't, for the record. We got back to the parking lot of the Roswell Convention and Civic Center safe and sound.
I went to Roswell, New Mexico earlier this month looking for answers. What I expected to find was a town clinging to a myth about some aliens that they used to dupe tourists like me into driving three hours from Albuquerque across the desert to take some of their money. I expected to leave Roswell still a believer in aliens but not convinced that anything other than a weather balloon ever crashed near that town. I was wrong, which is precisely the reason we need to travel to these places.
What I found in Roswell was the best day of our five full days in New Mexico, and the other four were incredible. Everyone we met there was welcoming and Dennis Balthaser (who expected when he started these tours that he'd do two or three a month and is now booked twice a day each weekday) is the greatest ambassador for the town we could have hoped to meet. He made me believe that something happened in 1947 that we are not being told the truth about. He also pointed us in the direction of a couple of other spots in town that made our stay more worthwhile than just alien hunting; he showed us the everyday side of Roswell that makes the town about more than just attracting tourists.
I don't know anyone else who's been to Roswell. It's in the middle of nowhere and not quick to get to. But I'd encourage anyone to make their way there and to find out what's there for themselves. If you go looking for aliens, I'm not sure anyone knows exactly what happened in 1947 in the desert outside of town. And if they do, I'm convinced they aren't saying. But I feel closer to it for my time there. The truth is out there. Somewhere.
We found Dennis on the internet, which is sometimes not the healthiest way to meet folks, but he checked out on TripAdvisor and other sites so we figured why not. If you are at all concerned about getting into a car in Roswell with some stranger or are just willing to dismiss Dennis as some sort of local crackpot, let me tell you he is the nicest person and both extremely knowledgeable and entertaining. Dennis made our day in Roswell in ways we (and he, I'm sure) couldn't have imagined. He also rates five out of five on 181 of 190 reviews on TripAdvisor, for what that's worth.
We paid our money online and got some instructions back: on the day of your tour meet Dennis at the southwest corner of the Roswell Convention and Civic Center parking lot near the corner of Richardson and 9th. I can't think of any better way to start a tour like this than with some sort of sketchy, cloak and dagger type meet up directions. It was a perfect way to start learning the truth about alien encounters and the secret government coverup in Roswell. And make no mistake, you WILL learn about that with Dennis. He's a believer for sure.
 |
| Waiting for Dennis at the corner of Richardson and 9th as directed. |
Sometime in early July of 1947, something crashed on a ranch owned by William Brazel about 75 miles outside of Roswell. A day or so after the crash, Brazel found the wreckage and on July 6 took it into town to show Roswell Sheriff George Wilcox. Wilcox called the Army over at the nearby Roswell Army Air Field and they sent the base intelligence officer, Major Jesse Marcel, out to take a look at what Brazel had found. To this point, things are substantially similar to what I understood before I rolled into town earlier this month.
Now, because it was so far from Roswell to the Brazel ranch (this was 1947 and automobile travel wasn't as swift as it is today), William Brazel stayed in town overnight and the next morning gave an interview to one of the local radio stations describing what he had found. In the meantime, Major Marcel took the wreckage back to the Air Field but made a stop at home first where he showed it to his wife and 11 year old son, whom Dennis would become acquainted with later in life. According to Marcel's son, some of the material his dad showed him was not of this world and couldn't be cut or dented in any way. Other pieces could be crumpled into a ball and would recover their shape in about 15 seconds. Intriguing stuff. Now we are getting the straight scoop.
The radio interview given by Brazel was never aired. That's because it was taped for later broadcast and between the time it was recorded and was scheduled to air, the Army got a look at the wreckage and found out about the interview and made their way to the radio station. Some threats of loss of license from the military as well as the arrest of George Brazel squashed any notion that the tape would ever see the light of day.
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| Major Jesse Marcel's house where the wreckage made a pitstop on the way to the Army Air Field. |
Case closed, right? Move along, nothing more to see? End of tour? Umm...no. Not so much. Turns out there's lots more.
After driving through some of Roswell's neighborhoods and making a few stops, we headed out to the old Roswell Army Air Field, which is now a junk yard of sorts for commercial airplanes (it's actually an incredible sight but that's a different story for another time, or you could just go there yourself). Along the way the big question on our minds was of course "What about the aliens?" Turns out there's plenty of that in the story.
 |
| Alien landing diorama at the UFO Museum. No way do all these aliens fit in that tiny spacecraft. |
So what the heck did they look like? Well, Dennis served on the board of the UFO Museum for two years when he first got to Roswell and got a chance to talk a lot with both Walter Haut and another of the museum's co-founders Glenn Dennis, who was the town mortician in the 1940s. Both allegedly laid eyes on the bodies in 1947. Both men seem to have related similar stories: gray skin, 3-1/2 to 4 feet tall, unusually large heads for the body size, no visible ears, a slot-like mouth and four fingers per hand (no thumbs). Dennis has a drawing, recreated by Glenn Dennis from a sketch shown to him by a nurse friend out at the Air Field.
Not little green men? Apparently not, even though most alien souvenirs in town are just that. According to legend, rumor or whatever you like, Willam Brazel after his release from jail was back at the radio station and someone gave him a hard time about talking about little green men. His response? "They were not green." Strange stuff indeed.
 |
| Hangar 84 on the old Roswell Army Air Field. Where Glenn Dennis saw the bodies. |
I went to Roswell, New Mexico earlier this month looking for answers. What I expected to find was a town clinging to a myth about some aliens that they used to dupe tourists like me into driving three hours from Albuquerque across the desert to take some of their money. I expected to leave Roswell still a believer in aliens but not convinced that anything other than a weather balloon ever crashed near that town. I was wrong, which is precisely the reason we need to travel to these places.
What I found in Roswell was the best day of our five full days in New Mexico, and the other four were incredible. Everyone we met there was welcoming and Dennis Balthaser (who expected when he started these tours that he'd do two or three a month and is now booked twice a day each weekday) is the greatest ambassador for the town we could have hoped to meet. He made me believe that something happened in 1947 that we are not being told the truth about. He also pointed us in the direction of a couple of other spots in town that made our stay more worthwhile than just alien hunting; he showed us the everyday side of Roswell that makes the town about more than just attracting tourists.
I don't know anyone else who's been to Roswell. It's in the middle of nowhere and not quick to get to. But I'd encourage anyone to make their way there and to find out what's there for themselves. If you go looking for aliens, I'm not sure anyone knows exactly what happened in 1947 in the desert outside of town. And if they do, I'm convinced they aren't saying. But I feel closer to it for my time there. The truth is out there. Somewhere.
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| Selfie with an alien at the Roswell Visitors' Center. He's made of plastic. Or is he? |
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