<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

In a nutshell, the story of the Roswell incident, perhaps the most famous of UFO cases, reads like this:

The U.S. government says it has recovered a flying saucer. Then it says it hasn’t. People believe the denial. Then they don’t. The government admits there was a cover-up, but says it wasn't a cover-up of an alien spacecraft.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Non-Fiction 2.1 Books 2.2 Television Documentaries 3 Appearances in Fiction 3.1 Books 3.2 Movies 3.3 Television 3.4 Pop Culture References

Overview

On July 8, 1947, The Roswell (New Mexico) Daily Record carried this extraordinary headline: “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region”. The paper was responding to a press release written by Public Information Officer Walter Haut at the order of Colonel William Blanchard of the Roswell Army Air Field.

Some time previously, a local ranch foreman, William “Mac” Brazel, had found strange debris on the Foster Ranch. He took the debris to Chaves County Sheriff George Wilcox. Wilcox had alerted the base.

Major Jesse Marcel and Sheridan Cavitt, intelligence officers from the base, had gone to the debris field, and collected evidence.

The story quickly spread.

General Roger Ramey held a press conference, announcing that what had been recovered was the remains of a weather balloon.

For more than twenty years, it was a dead story. Even UFO books and magazines did not feature it.

In the 1970s, Jesse Marcel came forward with the story that what had been recovered was actually a flying saucer.

Ufologists became interested again. In 1980, The Roswell Incident by Charles Berlitz (who had popularized The Bermuda Triangle) and William Moore was published.

Other books and documentaries followed. Public interest grew. There was disagreement about details, but a complex “crash and recovery” picture emerged. Hundreds of witnesses provided testimony, including reports of alien bodies being recovered.

In 1994, the Air Force announced that there had been a cover-up. What had been recovered was a top secret Project Mogul balloon. The weather balloon story was told to keep the sensitive project (designed to spy on the Soviet Union) under wraps.

In 1997, the Air Force released another report. It included the idea that the “alien bodies” were actually crash dummies.

These official explanations did not satisfy UFO buffs, or many people in the general public. Although 1997 was a peak year for mainstream interest in UFOs (being the 50th anniversary of the coining of the term “flying saucer” and of the Roswell Incident), books, movies, and television programs continue to reference the UFO case.

Science fiction works have used the mythology of the Roswell Incident, both explicitly and as inspiration.

Non-Fiction

Books

The Roswell Incident (book) 1980 Charles Berlitz and William Moore
The first full-length book on the topic.

UFO Crash at Roswell 1991 Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt
This one received a lot of mainstream notice.

The Roswell UFO Crash: What They Don't Want You to Know 1997 Kal K. Korff
Korff presents evidence to refute the extraterrestrial theory

Television Documentaries

• Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction 1995
• The Roswell Incident (Best Evidence episode) 2007

Appearances in Fiction

Books

Chasing the Roswell Alien 2005 Glenn Marcel

Movies

Television

Roswell (tv series) 1999-2001
Based on the book series Roswell High by Melinda Metz.

Pop Culture References

In the 1996 Michael Bay movie, The Rock, FBI Director James Womack refers to the "alien landing at Roswell" as one of the "most intimate secrets from the last half century."