On July 8, 1947, a Roswell, New Mexico newspaper published an article about the US military asserting that debris from a crashed “flying disk” had been located in the vicinity a few weeks prior.
The following day, a statement from the US Air Force claimed the wreckage, made up of metallic items like rubber strips, tinfoil, and sticks, was from a weather balloon, yet the events had attracted worldwide attention.
Roger Launius, former chief historian for NASA, told 9News that the military’s “flying saucer” announcement was made for practical reasons.
“From the Air Force’s viewpoint, it was better to claim there was a crashed ‘alien’ craft than to reveal the truth,” he stated.
“This led to a media storm … officials in Roswell were overwhelmed by journalists.”
The misleading information was a strategy to draw the public’s attention away from the US military’s classified Project Mogul, which involved high-altitude surveillance balloons.
These Mogul balloons were significantly larger than a standard weather balloon, reaching twice the height of the Statue of Liberty.
Developed by the US to monitor the Soviet Union’s nuclear program, they became a point of contention.
“Admitting to a flying saucer was less complicated than discussing Project Mogul,” Launius remarked.
During the nascent Cold War of 1947, transparency was not a priority for the US government, he noted.
However, if the military thought declaring a balloon crash would quell interest in Roswell, the speculation flared up again decades later.
“By the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a notable increase in interest in extraterrestrials, seen in movies, books, and more,” Launius added.
Among the most outrageous assertions was a 1995 film that allegedly depicted autopsies on alien corpses retrieved in Roswell and taken to the highly classified Area 51 in Nevada.
It was later exposed as a fabrication.
In a statement two years later, Walter Haut, a former Army public affairs officer, remarked about the Roswell incident from 1947: “We had possession of a flying saucer.”
Launius notes that such assertions have led to the Roswell Incident becoming “enhanced over time”.
This has also inspired a plethora of books, films, and television series, including The X-Files.
In an effort to quench the excitement, the US Air Force published a detailed report in 1994 titled The Roswell Report, Case Closed.
However, even with the report providing multiple explanations for UFO conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the supposed bodies were actually crash dummies used in balloon tests, suspicions of a cover-up have persisted.
Meanwhile, the city of Roswell has profited from its notoriety.
It now features a UFO Museum and serves as a significant spot for alien enthusiasts seeking further proof of their theories.
Experts like Launius argue that UFO sightings can only be assessed based on available evidence.
“They are merely unidentified objects observed in the sky. Most of us have likely seen them,” he remarked.
“And, with enough observation, you’ll probably identify what you’re seeing. It’s not extraterrestrial life.”
Nevertheless, he admits that public fascination with Roswell is unlikely to dissipate anytime soon.
“In 25 years, we’ll still be discussing this.”
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