What really happened in Roswell, New Mexico

By OLIVIA HECKER

During the summer of 1947, a severe thunderstorm hit Roswell, New Mexico. Out of this storm, an unexpecting rancher by the name of Mac Brazel recovered unusual objects in the debris. Metal sticks that were held together by tape, pieces of plastic and foil reflectors were amongst the debris Brazel recovered.

Not knowing what to make of the debris, Mac Brazel contacted Roswell Sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office then contacted the Roswell Army Air Force base, who sent out soldiers to sweep the area and collect the unidentified scramble of objects.

Weeks later, public information officer Lt. Walter Haut issued a press release stating that the Roswell Air Force base had a flying saucer in their possession.

Despite this, the next day another press release was issued, claiming that it was just a weather balloon they had recovered from the site. This was the beginning of the conspiracy of a UFO government cover up that became well known as “The Roswell Incident.”

On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Daily Record newspaper released the article “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region.”

Although the Air Force claimed that it was only a weather balloon, the pictures of the recovered debris showed it was clearly no weather balloon. During the time, people grew suspicious and argued that the mysterious debris must have came from another planet.

These skeptics grew even more suspicious during the 1950s when the Air Force began conducting an undisclosed series of “dummy drops” over deserted fields in New Mexico. The Air Force claimed these experiments were to test ways for pilots to survive falls from high altitudes.

The “dummy drops” included dummies with latex skin (looking similar to what people expected space aliens to look like) that would fall from the sky.

The people that were already skeptic became even more suspicious over the dummy drops, many believing the dummies were actually kidnapped space aliens that were being used by the government for science experiments.

These skeptics turned out to be somewhat right with their suspicions. The government did know more about the recovered debris in Roswell than they were letting on.

Apparently, since World War II, a group of scientists specializing in geophysics and oceanography from prestigious universities in the United States such as New York University and Columbia had been working on a top-secret project named Project Mogul.

Project Mogul was a highly confidential atomic espionage task. The scientist involved in Project Mogul thought that by sending microphones into a specific part of the Earth’s atmosphere where sound can travel thousands of miles without intrusion, they would be able to eavesdrop on nuclear tests from countries as far away as the Soviet Union.

Considering how classified Project Mogul was, even the Roswell Army Air Force base wasn’t aware of its existence.

The “weather balloon” story was made up like people had suspected. Many people in Roswell and across the world still believe the government is involved in covering up what really happened in the summer of 1947. The crash site is now a popular tourism site in Roswell, New Mexico.