by James Easton © August 1997

Increasingly over recent years, the foundation of the Roswell story has perhaps been buried beneath the various purported truths which have been attached to it. Is there in fact significant evidence that an alien craft crashed in the New Mexico desert, or, is the explanation a Project Mogul balloon train, as evidenced in the US Air Force's July 1994 report, which affirmed the original findings of researcher Robert Todd. The answer might still be found if we strip away the myths and the deceit, for the story which gave birth to an epic tale, is a simple one. The source of the excitement was some anomalous debris which rancher Mac Brazel found on the Foster ranch, south-east of Corona, New Mexico.

The exact date of the discovery is uncertain, however, it was sometime between the middle of June and early July, 1947. Initially, it seems that Brazel didn't consider the debris to be of much consequence. According to his son, Bill Brazel, "At first he didn't recognise the importance of it and it was only after a day or so of thinking on it that he decided he had better go back and take a closer look".

[1] It was the following evening whilst in Corona, as Bill Brazel recalls, when "during a discussion with my uncle, Hollis Wilson and someone that he knew from Alamogordo, that he first heard about the flying saucer reports that were sweeping this area at that time". [2] As they thought Mac Brazel may have found one of those "flying saucers", he was encouraged to tell the authorities. The following day, Brazel travelled to Roswell with an unknown quantity of the debris. "I believe his original intention was to go to Roswell and buy a new Jeep pick-up truck, he certainly wouldn't have made the trip just on account of the stuff he had found", claimed Bill Brazel. [3] "Some of the news reports have it that he went to Roswell to sell wool". "I know he didn't go there to sell wool, it was about trading his pickup that he went". In the story carried by the Roswell Daily Record on 9 July, 1947, it's reported that Brazel described the debris he found as "tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks" and confirmed "at least one paper fin had been glued onto some of the tinfoil". Furthermore, "Considerable scotch tape and some tape with flowers printed upon it had been used in the construction. No string or wire were to be found, but there were some eyelets in the paper to indicate that some sort of attachment may have been used"...

This case has had probably the most attention of any other case in the history of ufology. However, the case remained buried for nearly 30 years before, slowly the code of silence was broken which allowed researchers to start uncovering the truth.

Obviously I can only give a fraction of the account, on this Web Site but I hope it will contain enough info for both the experienced and the beginner. People interested in this case should read some of the many great books, particularly the ones by Kevin Randle.

The data will be presented in timeline form:

Tuesday, July 1st 1947
A strange object is detected on the radar scopes at Roswell, White Sands and Alamogordo. Its tremendous speed and erratic motion indicated that it is neither a plane or a meteorite.

Wednesday, July 2, 1947
An oval object is spotted by Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot as it passes over their house in Roswell.

Thursday, July 3, 1947
Radar operator Steve MacKenzie is sent to White Sands to track the object 24 hours a day.

Friday, July 4, 1947
Warrant Officer Robert Thomas and a team of men arrive from Washington to co-ordinate to operation of tracking and possible retrieval. Mac Brazel as well as others report hearing a tremendous explosion. William Woody and his father observe a flaming object fall to earth north of Roswell. Jim Ragsdale and Trudy Truelove observe a bright light crash near to their campsite. The object which has been tracked on radar for 3 days suddenly disappears. The retrieval team assemble and start heading for the calculated crash site.

Saturday, July 5, 1947
A sheepherder finds the remains of a crashed saucer but does not report this until many years later. A group of Archaeologists also find the crashed object. The phone Sheriff George Wilcox thinking it is some from of crashed aircraft. Wilcox then inform the local fire department who arrive at the scene shortly afterwards. The special retrieval team locates the crashed craft, takes the names of all the civilians on site and the escorts them away. The site is cleaned and secured within 6 hours and 5 bodies are removed. Mac Brazil finds strange debris in his field. The debris consists of strange foil like substance, balsawood like beams and a strange sort of 'string'. None of Brazels sheep will go anywhere near the debris. Lydia Sleppy a reporter for KSWS tries to send the first 'unconfirmed' reports of the crash over the teletype. The message is intercepted by the FBI who order her to cease transmission. Melvin Brown who was one of the guards in the truck transporting the bodies claims that they were small with large heads and that their skin was an orange/yellow colour. Glenn Dennis is called by the Roswell mortuary officer and is asked several questions relating to preserving bodies, making small caskets, and how to treat bodies that had been exposed to the sun. Dennis is later summoned to the base to treat an injured pilot, while he is there is sees several ambulances and some wreckage. Dennis is then threatened by two officers who warn him not to report anything he has witnessed. Mac Brazel returns to the debris site and picks up some the stuff and takes it to his neighbours, Floyd and Loretta Proctor. They suggest that he informs the Sheriff...

In early July 1947 an incident occurred in the desert just outside of Roswell, NM. Many people have heard of the Roswell UFO crash, but very few people know the details of the incident. The following account of the 1947 UFO incident was taken from public records, from information provided by the International UFO Museum and from the press release for UFO Encounter 1997.

On the evening of July 3, 1947 Dan Wilmot, a respected business owner, and his wife were sitting on their front porch when they saw a bright saucer shaped object with glowing lights moving across they sky at 400-500 miles per hour. Dan Wilmot estimated that the unidentified flying object was about 20-25 feet across. The flying object appeared from the Southeast and disappeared to the Northwest. Dan Wilmot reported his unusual sighting to the Roswell Daily Record.