ROSWELL

A Crashed Flying Saucer? An Alien Base at Area 51? The story of the Roswell Incident has it all- UFOs, the Majestic-12 government conspiracy, alien bodies, cover-ups, a missing nurse... the stuff of legends. But like all popular legends, there are as many versions as there are Storytellers.

In 1978, UFO researchers re-discovered the details of The Roswell Incident when Jesse Marcel first told his story to Stanton Friedman. Since then, the Roswell Incident has become the most researched UFO event in history. The Storytellers.
Soon after Jesse Marcel told his story to Stan Friedman and Bill Moore, The Witnesses (one researcher claims over 600!) began to step forward.
What does The Government know... and when did they know it? Conspiracy advocates have long maintained that the government is hiding artifacts, technology and aliens recovered from the crashed spaceships.
Yet, despite the confusion, there are many who believe that what Mac Brazel found was proof positive that we are being visited by beings from another world. Spurred by numerous books, the popular press and television, the hard-core faithful and curiosity seekers alike have made the once sleepy town of Roswell, New Mexico the Mecca of UFO-ology.
What really did happen back in 1947?
The best evidence available is always the data collected soonest after the occurrence.
Papers obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that date from this time period are consistent with the explanation that a Mogul Balloon with a radar reflector was what Mac Brazel found. Yet... It is the stories that surfaced some 30 to 40 years later, conflicting though they are, that have riveted the attention of the public. These tales have been buttressed by accusations of a massive Government Conspiracy to account for contradictions with the initial reports.
Like all good UFO stories, there is always the event that triggered the imagination.  The Roswell story is no exception. Below is a brief synopsis of what took place back in 1947.
It all started on June 25^th, 1947 when a pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing several objects while flying near Mt Rainier, Washington. His descriptions of the objects that flew like "geese" and moving "like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water" became the term "Flying Saucers", and thus the age of the UFO was born.
Many newspapers in the country picked up the story from the wire services, and the publicity gave birth to a rash of Sightings that kept the papers and the public fascinated throughout that summer... and indeed, to this day. One of those Sightings happened on a ranch outside Corona, New Mexico.
Early in July, 1947, after hearing about Arnold's "flying saucers", ranch foreman Mac Brazel told the Sheriff of Chaves County about some strange material he had found on the Foster Ranch, and that he was sure it was the remains of a "flying disk". Sheriff Wilcox passed this information on to the Roswell Army Air Force base and the base intelligence officer, Major Jessie Marcel, was immediately detailed to look into the matter.
On July 8^th, the local newspaper printed a story that the Roswell AAF had released the news of the "capture of a flying saucer". This story was quickly put on the news-wires.No copy of the original press release exists today, but the following is generally thought to be the closest to the original,
"The many rumors regarding the flying disk became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eight Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the co-operation of one of the local ranchers and the Sheriff's Office of Chaves county.

"The flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Not having phone facilities, the rancher stored the disc until such time as he was able to contact the Sheriff's office, who in turn notified Major Jesse A. Marcel, of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence office.