Roswell - UFO cover-up?

The US government's official version of the Roswell find is simple and unequivocal. A weather balloon crashed in the desert and was recovered by military personal after a local rancher reported a wreckage on his land.
Press officer Walter Haut's statement on July 8 that a flying disc had been recovered on the Foster ranch north of Roswell was quickly dismissed by General Roger Ramey, who held a press conference the next day to put forward the weather balloon explanation. Parts of the balloon were even paraded in front of an expectant collection of reporters.
Major Jesse Marcel, who was in charge of security for the military's nuclear test sites across the US and the Pacific, backed up this theory at the time due to the sensitive nature of his position within the armed forces.
Both Marcel and Haut would later claim that the recovered object was an alien spaceship, and that the weather balloon had been substituted for the craft after it was taken to Fort Worth for further testing.
In the early 1990s, when interest in the Roswell incident was at its peak, the air force revealed that it had been carrying out tests in 1947 on a high-altitude balloon as part of Project Mogul, in an attempt to detect Russian nuclear tests.

UFO watchers believe that the US military discovered an alien craft and extraterrestrial bodies, and concealed the find from the American public.
Conspiracy theorists say the spaceship gave priceless intelligence to the US on alien technology, which could have proved vital in the burgeoning Cold War against Russia.
The cover-up also allowed the government to carry out an autopsy on the dead space travellers, and gain an insight into the physiology of these extraterrestrial beings.
The conspiracy theory started when Major Marcel broke his silence after retiring from the armed forces in the late 1970s.
In 1978 he described the bizarre markings, the strange metals and the unusual make-up of the materials he found at the Roswell crash site to UFO investigator Stanton T Friedman. When he repeated his evidence about the strange hieroglyphics and super-strong metallic shell of the craft to the National Enquirer in 1980, the conspiracy theory began to grow.
Dozens of others came forward, including William Haut, the press officer who sparked the initial interest in the story. He revealed that he was asked to take part in a plan to divert attention away from the crash site.
In a sworn affidavit in 2002 he claimed that he was shown the craft recovered from the ranch in a hangar at Roswell Air Base. Haut described the spaceship as a 15-foot-long egg-shaped construction made of a paper-thin, incredibly strong metal with no windows or landing gear. He also claims to have seen two bodies in the hanger with abnormally large heads.
Theorists also point to the evidence of "Mac" Brazel, foreman of the Foster Ranch where the craft was discovered, who gave interviews to the Roswell Daily Record and Associated Press on 8 July 1947, in which he dismissed the military's official story.
Citing several other weather balloons he had recovered on the ranch, he said: "I am sure what I found was not any weather balloon."
A string of ex-army staff from both Fort Worth and Roswell came forward in the 1990s to reveal their own encounters with UFOs and aliens.
Almost to a man, they described small, lightweight metallic crafts, and thin, human-like aliens with enlarged heads and eyes.

- All of those present at the original recovery of the craft, most notably Major Marcel and ranchman Brazel, described a metallic material "not of this earth". Both men were familiar with the design, properties and construction of a weather balloon. Marcel suggested that the metal could not be crumpled up and instantly returned to its original shape. While it was wafer-thin it was also strong and indestructable. This evidence cast serious doubt on the "weather balloon" explanation.

- The hieroglyphics found on the material recovered at Roswell are not consistent with a weather balloon and were not recognised as belonging to any earthly language by any of the men who looked at them.

- It would have been simple for the armed forces to "switch out" the flying saucer for the remnants of a weather balloon before the press conference. If an alien craft really had landed, then a cover-up would clearly have been in the best interests of the US government. The ability to harness alien technology for future wars would be of vital strategic interest, and provided motive for concealing the find from the public.

- The present governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, has said that the results of archeological digs near various "crash sites" around Roswell have proved "intriguing". In 2004, the former democratic Presidential contender wrote: "The mystery surrounding this crash has never been adequately explained--not by independent investigators, and not by the U.S government."

- Stanton T Friedman, who carried out the initial interview with Marcel, claims that leaked documents, known as Majestic 12, reveal the existence of an agency within the government that is actively engaged in suppressing the truth about Roswell and other alien landings.

- Barbara Dugger, granddaughter of Sheriff George Wilcox, said her grandmother told her the Sheriff had gone to the ranch and seen four alien bodies. He was apparently told by military police not to talk to anyone about the corpses.

- An alien account by Barney Barnett, retold to a pair of UFO researchers in 1980, described a flying saucer crash site, and the recovery of alien corpses, 150 miles from the Foster ranch. He and a group of archaeologists claim to have stumbled upon an alien craft, only to be led away by military personnel.

- The description of the materials found by Marcel and the ranch foreman could tally with those from a weather balloon. Though their later statements about the properties of the metal cast doubt on the balloon theory, the government's description of events is plausible, particularly given Roswell's use as a testing site for various new aircraft.

- A large number of UFO sightings around Roswell is perfectly normal, considering the amount of military aircraft being tested at the base near the town.

- Given the remote nature of the ranch and the swift response of the military, no material from the crash survived for testing by independent labs. Therefore the theorists lack scientific evidence to back up the claims of those who believe this was an alien spacecraft.

- Doubt has been cast on the reliability of many of the "witnesses" who came forward after Marcel, as many of them were paid for the information they provided. Haut's 2002 affidavit was actually written by someone else and signed at a later date by the aging ex-military man.

- Sheridan Cavitt, the Counter Intelligence Services officer who visited the site of the crash, claims the material found there was little more than "bamboo sticks, aluminium foil and scotch tape".

- Warrant Officer Irving Newton, weather forecaster at Fort Worth, was shown the material from Roswell as General Ramey sought to identify the craft which had crashed. He swore under oath that the material he was handed was definitely part of a weather balloon. But was this material really from Roswell, or just a dummy weather balloon being used to fool the public?

- Hoax footage from the so-called "alien autopsy" has damaged the reputation of the Roswell truth movement. Though serious and well-respected men have given compelling witness statements, the false accounts of hundreds of others have damaged their credibility by association.

A government cover-up of the discovery of a UFO at Roswell has become one of the most widely believed conspiracy theories in history. However, evidence to support the theory seems shaky. While Marcel seems to be a reasonably reliable witness, he says nothing of alien bodies and his description of the bizarre materials he found at the Foster ranch could be consistent with the remnants of a weather balloon. There are some intriguing questions that remain about Roswell, not least the disparity between the first person accounts of those who recovered the strange metals from the ranch, and the description of the material shown to reporters a day later. A government cover-up would certainly be in the best interests of the US authorities, and who is to say that isn't exactly what happened? If I had to place a bet, I'd say the object discovered on the Foster ranch was probably an experimental military aircraft of some kind. Roswell may not provide the concrete proof UFO watchers are desperate for, but that doesn't mean to say that the truth isn't out there somewhere.....