July, 1947

Summer day, 1947.

Narrator: Order of events: a phone call from a rancher notating the arrival of an unidentified flying object; disturbing, unusual figures placed in ordinary settings, the investigation, and the questionable explanation. You’ve heard hard-to-believe reports from local residents, but without anything more enlightening beyond these reports. You've heard of trying to find a needle in a haystack? Well, stay with us now and you'll be part of an investigating team whose mission is not to find that proverbial needle. No, their task is even harder. They've got to find the haystack, and in just a moment you'll search with them, because you've just landed in ...the Twilight Zone.

The town of Roswell, New Mexico, was faced with explaining the events of July 7. The next day the town’s newspaper, the Roswell Daily Record, carried this report (photo below): “The Intelligence office of the 509th bombardment group at Roswell Army Air Field announced at noon today that the field had come into possession of a flying saucer.

“According to information released by department, over authority of Maj. J.A. Marcel, intelligence officer, the disk was recovered on a search in the Roswell vicinity, after an unidentified rancher had notified Sheriff Geo. Wilcox, here, that he had found the instrument on his premises.

“Maj. Marcel and a detail from his department went to the ranch and recovered the disk, it was stated.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot apparently were the only persons in Roswell who have seen what they thought was a flying disk.”

In addition to newspaper accounts, Roswell’s UFO Museum presents statements from local residents (below) and military personnel related to the incident, and government cables.

Members of the military report "guarding a spaceship," "guarding bodies" but not being able to see them, "transporting 'bodies' to Fort Worth," and collecting debris. Staff Sgt. Earl Fulford stated: he had "retrieved debris (and) picked up what looked like aluminum foil. ...You could wad it up into a small ball. Then when you let it go, it wold immediately assume its original shape."

An Army Cable dated 8 July 1947 from HQ 8th AAF stated: “FWAAF (Note: I believe this is Fort Worth Army Air Field) acknowledges…at location was a ‘pod’ near operation at the ‘Ranch’ and the victims of the wreck you forwarded to the team at Fort Worth, Tex. …Assure that the CIC/team said this mistaken meaning of story and think later today next sent out PR of weather balloon would fare better if they add land demorawin(?) crews.”

The Museum presents a diorama depicting a "flying saucer" landing near Roswell,

and under University of New Mexico supervision, electromagnetic conductivity and metal detection surveys were conducted that revealed three anomalous conductivity "highs," two of which line up right next to the presumed crash furrow.


But the U.S. Air Force's 1997 publication entitled "The Roswell Report:Case Closed" claims that the people of Roswell were mistaken. The event which the residents claim took place in 1947 actually took place in October of 1957.
In an article two days after the sighting, Brig. Gen. Roger M. Ramey, commander of the Eighth air forces reported that what was seen was a "harmless, high-altitude weather balloon," and in that same edition, there is a story about W.W. Brazel, the rancher who reported the saucer, saying that the publicity which attended his find caused him to add that if he ever found anything else short of a bomb, he sure wasn't going to say anything about it.

NARRATOR: Incident near a small town, to be believed or disbelieved. However, if a short, gray being crosses your path when out for a hike in the desert, you'd better count their fingers—all four of them—or check the number of toes—all three of them. The beings in question might try to pull you into... the Twilight Zone.*

























*With apologies to Rod Serling, the Narrator statements are paraphrases of the introduction and closing comments from an episode of Twilight Zone entitled "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (oocities.org/emruf2/tz/martian).