World UFO Day: Roswell case remains an unfinished mystery to this day
The fall of an object in the city of Roswell, in New Mexico, United States, marks one of the first modern records of ufology. To this day, the case is a mystery. CNN Brasil remembers the story this Thursday (2), World UFO Day.
According to the FBI and other American authorities, the case did not involve UFOs or extraterrestrial beings. However, the subject has become a central topic for UFO investigators and conspiracy theorists. Those who dispute the official conclusion claim that the debris recovered in the city was from a flying saucer.
The Roswell case was as impactful for the American population as the Varginha case, in Minas Gerais, was for Brazilians.
To this day, enthusiasts on the subject still debate the Roswell case, considered one of the most famous in ufology. - Credits: Unsplash
The story of the Roswell UFO
On June 24, 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold flew over the state of Washington in search of an aircraft that had crashed in the region. During the reconnaissance, he spotted nine flying objects in formation, traveling at approximately 1,900 km/h - a speed considered impossible using the technology of the time.
Until then, the crash had not yet occurred, but flying saucers were already making headlines in several newspapers in the United States. In fact, Arnold's report was responsible for popularizing the term "flying saucer", used to this day to describe supposed extraterrestrial ships seen in different parts of the world.
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On July 7, 1947, a Roswell rancher named "Mac" Brazel reported that something had fallen on his ranch and that debris was scattered across the property. Although he only reported what happened on the seventh day, Brazel stated that the crash had happened a few days earlier and took part of the wreckage to the local sheriff.
The sheriff asked the Army for help, who sent intelligence officer Jesse Marcel to investigate Brazel's ranch. A day later, the local newspaper Roswell Daily Record published an article reproducing the government's statement, which claimed to have recovered the wreckage of a "flying saucer". The headline read: "RAAF captures flying saucer on ranch near Roswell."
Preparation of the so-called Planetary Entry Parachute Program aeroshell (free translation) for future launch at Walker Air Force Base, in Roswell, New Mexico, USA. The mission was used to test parachutes for NASA's future Voyager program in the 1960s. The balloon on the right raised the 'aeroshell' to an altitude of 39 kilometers, where atmospheric conditions are more similar to those on Mars. The program in question was later cancelled, but the parachute was used on all future missions. - U.S. Air Force
"The flying object landed on a ranch near Roswell sometime last week. Without access to a telephone, the rancher kept the disc until he was able to contact the sheriff's office, who in turn notified Major Jesse A. Marcel of the 509th Bombardment Group's Intelligence Office. Immediate action was taken, and the disc was recovered from the rancher's home," it was described in the first press release issued by the military.
Just 24 hours later, the Roswell Daily Record published a new report stating that the Army had changed its version of events. This time, they denied that the wreckage belonged to a UFO. The article included a photo of Jesse Marcel and other soldiers holding fragments that resembled aluminum foil. According to the new official explanation, it was a weather balloon.
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Population Belief
A CNN/Time poll conducted in 1997, on the 50th anniversary of the Roswell incident, revealed that 80% of Americans believe the government is hiding knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms.
There are thousands upon thousands of reports of UFO sightings, but in light of the US Navy's recent reconnaissance on UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), here's a look back at some of America's closest encounters of the third kind.
Jesse Marcel poses with debris found in Roswell, New Mexico, believed to be from UFOs, one of the most famous cases of supposed extraterrestrials - Fort Worth Star-Telegram/University of Texas/Arlington Library Photograph Collection
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Roswell UFO crash or balloon?
In 1994, the US government published its first report on the Roswell incident; three years later, in 1997, it released a second report. Both reaffirmed the same conclusion at the time. According to the official statement, the debris belonged to a balloon, but the government later admitted that it was not a weather balloon.
At the conclusion of the case, it was explained that the balloon was part of a secret government project at the time, known as Project Mogul. The objective of the project was to monitor Soviet nuclear activities, which would justify the secrecy and confusion generated at the time.
"The US Army fueled the mystery by initially claiming that the recovered debris was from a 'flying saucer', before announcing that it actually belonged to a weather balloon. In 1994, the balloon was revealed to be part of the top-secret Project Mogul, which aimed to detect Soviet nuclear tests," the encyclopedia Britannica describes.
Source: CNN