𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐲

10| the roswell incident

the roswell incident fascinates me because it's one of the best examples of a ufo. in 1947 a rancher discovered unidentifiable debris in his sheep pasture outside roswell, new mexico. the debris was some metallic sticks held together with tape, chunks of plastic, foil reflectors, and scraps of a heavy, glossy, paper-like material. the rancher called the sheriff, who called officials at the roswell army air force base. they came and took away the strange debris.

the air force said that the debris was a crashed weather balloon - but this explanation wasn't enough for many people who had seen the debris. they didn't think it was like any weather balloon and many believed - and continue to believe - that it was a crashed ufo.

skeptics grew more numerous in the 1950s because of dummy drops. dummy drops were experiments carried out by the air force over new mexico that were meant to test ways pilots could survive high altitude falls. they sent bandaged, featureless dummies with latex "skin" and aluminium "bones" - which looked a lot like what people thought aliens would look like - falling to the ground, which would be picked up by military vehicles. for people who believed the military was covering up roswell this was just as suspicious - they were convinced the dummies were actually aliens.

it turns out the army knew more about the "flying saucer" than they were letting on. since world war 2, geophysicists and oceanographers were working on a top secret project at the alamogordo air field in new mexico called project mogul. the project used high-altitude balloons to carry low-frequency sound sensors into the earth's atmosphere. in this part of the atmosphere sound waves can travel for thousands of miles without interference, so the project was set up to try and eavesdrop on nuclear tests in the soviet union.

according to the us military, the debris that was originally found at roswell belonged to project mogul. it was the remains of a 700 foot long string of balloons radar reflectors and sonic equipment that scientists launched in june and had crashed in july 1947. because the project was classified, no one at the roswell army air field knew it existed and they had no idea what to make of the objects - some officials thought it was a russian spy plane. the weather balloon story was flimsy but the most plausible thing they could make up.

the project mogul team invented a number of high-tech materials for its balloons and other equipment including ultra-lightweight and ultra-strong metals, fibre-optic cables and fireproof fabrics. this is part of the reason why some people who saw the debris thought it came from space - it didn't look or behave like anything they've ever seen.

some people still believe that the government and the military are covering up the truth about alien landings and what really happened at roswell. in 1994, the pentagon declassified its files on the dummy drops and the federal general accounting office wrote a report to debunk the rumours. nevertheless, there are still people who believe the ufo theory and hundreds of thousands of people visit roswell and the crash site every year, hoping to find out the truth for themselves.

information from www.history.com/topics/roswell

what do you think? do you think the roswell incident was a ufo or a weather balloon? i totally believe in aliens but i'm not sure if it was a ufo at roswell - but there could be.

the truth is out there.