1947 was only a few years after world war 2. The early stages of the cold war were beginning to form with the Soviet Union taking some of the European countries. This era is when the concept of ufos and extraterrestrials became mainstream in modern United States history. One of the most famous ufo sightings in ufo folklore is the Roswell incident of 1947.
Encounter
Rancher W. W “Mac” Brazel was driving with his son, so it seemed like it was going to be a normal day. As the rancher drove, he caught the glimpse of light gleaming from pieces of metal. Shocked at the sighting, the rancher got out of the car to investigate what appeared to be the wreckage of some form of aircraft. He encountered brilliant, lightweight metal that was scattered across the ground. The rancher didn’t know how to get the wreckage off of his property, nor did he know what the craft was. The rancher and his son delivered the metal pieces of the wreck to Sheriff Wilcox. An investigation was officially launched.
Results
The investigation was thorough because of the possibility of the aircraft being of Soviet Union origin. When the investigation was officially over, they concluded that the wreckage was identified as a weather balloon. Even though this was the official conclusion, many believe that this was a cover up to hide that the craft was of extraterrestrial origin. Some may ask why would they feel the need to cover up the existence of extraterrestrials? There are multiple answers to this question. The most common one is that if the public discovered that extraterrestrials were real, then there would be mass panic because of the possibility of invasion, and there are plenty of other answers to the question. It is realistic in the scenario for the government to cover it up. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for the government to lie to the public at this time considering this was the age of nuclear weapons, and other military technology being developed.
Controversy
Even in this decade there are still people that believe that the crashed aircraft was of extraterrestrial origin. There have been dozens of documentaries, books, and articles written on this topic. Unfortunately, it is currently not known where the original pieces of the craft are stored. There are still newspapers that are available from that time period about the incident, however, there are very few documents that can be found by the government from that time. The general accounting office conducted an investigation on any remaining government documents from the 1947 encounter. Even though it is now required for the army to keep permanent records of aircraft crashes, this law didn’t apply in 1947. Most of the records were destroyed, and it is not known who made the decision to destroy the documents. Theorists believed the documents were destroyed to prevent the information from leaking into the knowledge of the public. Critics claim that the documents could have been destroyed to make room for new documents.
The Roswell incident is often used as the mark of modern ufo folklore. Even with all the documentaries and articles written, there are still many unanswered questions about this topic. Do you believe the aircraft was of extraterrestrial origin? Do you believe it was a weather balloon?
Webster, Donovan. “In 1947, A High-Altitude Balloon Crash Landed in Roswell. The Aliens Never Left.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 5 July 2017, www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/in-1947-high-altitude-balloon-crash-landed-roswell-aliens-never-left-180963917/.
“UFO Story.” UFO Story | Roswell, NM, roswell-nm.gov/692/UFO-Story.
“General Accounting Office.” GAO Report on Roswell, NM UFO Crash, fas.org/sgp/othergov/roswell.html.