Essay/Term paper: The roswell ufo crash

Essay, term paper, research paper:  History Essays

The Roswell UFO Crash


John Doe
Teacher
English II CP
December 26, 1996


In 1947 a UFO was seen near the town of Roswell, New Mexico. It was
witnessed by many of the residents and was described as something not of this
planet. The government denies any evidence of this event occurring and has
covered it up for may years. Now that more information has become available to
the public, it is clear that something extraordinary happened.

The town of Roswell, New Mexico was the location of many UFO sightings
in the later 1940's and was supposedly the location of a secret military base.
Most of the local people had a story or two to tell about their experiences with
these sightings, but are now coming forward with stories about how the
government threatened them not to speak of the incidents that occurred. Some
felt as though their life was endangered if they dared to speak of what they saw.


One incident in particular which has sparked a craze in the study of
UFO's is when a flying disk allegedly crashed in the deserts of New Mexico near
Roswell on the night of July 8, 1947. According to Roswell expert Henry Ritson,
many civilians arrived at the crash scene and witnessed the bodies of alien
beings (Roswell Reporter pg. 2). These witnesses report to have seen humanoid
beings with large, pear-shaped heads and bulging black eyes being hauled away by
government and military agents and to have been debriefed of the entire
occurrence by these agents (Roswell Reporter pg. 3). Some witnesses were
threatened not to speak of the incident again. The object in question was later
classified by the government as a weather balloon and discounted all evidence
and eyewitness reports of the UFO scene (pg. 3).

The farmer whose field the UFO crashed in was offered a large sum of
money by a local radio station to tell his story on the air. He spoke of strange
alien materials and a seemingly invincible square of foil which could not be cut
or damaged. He also described the alien beings and the craft in which they
traveled (Roswell: What are We Talking About? pg. 2). He was later arrested by
the military and held at the government base. The first officer to the crash
site, Lt. Jesse Marcel, was told to make a public restatement about the crash
scene and report that he had mistaken a weather balloon for a flying saucer
(Roswell Reporter pg. 2). Pictures were taken of Marcel with the weather balloon
and the story died down. Written Recordings of the official statement quote Lt.
Marcel as saying, "We were so anxious in our investigation that we mistook what
is clearly a weather balloon as some sort of alien space travel device."
(Roswell Reporter pg. 2) After many years of humiliation, Marcel decided to come
forward with his story. He explained that he was forced by the military to
change his entire story and that it was no weather balloon at all. This
statement made national news and started a chain of UFO sightings from excited
UFO enthusiasts (Roswell and Other Government Cover-Ups pg. 4). Most of these
sightings were most likely the wild imaginations of these enthusiasts.

Lt. Marcel had collected many samples from the crashed object on the day
of the crash and shown it to his family. His son was particularly interested in
an object which seemingly contained alien writing. The objects were confiscated
by the government and the life of Marcel's son was threatened. His mother was
told not to speak of these things or suffer the consequences. If there was
nothing but a mere weather balloon involved, the government would have no reason
to make these threats. After several years of denying the events, the government
was demanded by the public to declassify all of the Roswell records. It was to
become public soon after when it was reported that the records had been stolen
and were illegally destroyed. All requests for information concerning the events
which took place near Roswell were returned with a reply stating that no records
exist of the alleged incident. Many requests were made for information
concerning the events which took place by a group of individuals who went on to
write a newsletter called the Roswell Reporter. Project Bluebook, a government
project which contained all UFO reports of that period, contained no records of
this incident, despite the fact that it is the most talked about UFO occurrence
in history (Roswell Reporter pg. 2). This project became declassified and all
records were released to the public (pg. 3). The Roswell incident was not listed
in any of them. There is obviously some reason the government does not want the
public to know the details of the crash. (Roswell: What are We Talking About? pg.
1)

UFO skeptics have alternate theories as to what the crash actually was.
One theory is that these objects we see are actually balls of gas or plasma
caused by tectonic movement within the earth. This would still not explain the
bodies seen by the eyewitnesses. Another theory is that these aliens do not come
from another planet at all. These beings could be from the future or even
another dimension. All of these theories may sound far-fetched, but we have no
way of disproving them. Even the ancient Indians documented flying objects in
scrolls (Ancient Indian Flying Devices pg. 1). They claimed to have built
objects for planetary flight and operated them with the ego and soul (pg. 2).
These stories were never proven or disproven but the fact remains that the
history of flying disks dates back long before the age of modern man (Childress
pg. 1). Childress states that not only was there documentation found on these
ships, but also stories of interplanetary travel (pg. 3).

The government has kept the information about the crash at Roswell, New
Mexico a secret. If so many people witnessed this crash from so far away, it
would be hard to imagine that the object is a weather balloon. It could have
been a secret government experiment gone bad or even a craft from another world.
In any case, the public has the right to know the truth. The proof of other
intelligent life forms existing in the universe would be a great step in human
knowledge. The secrecy surrounding the entire incident makes it seem as if the
government has already learned from these beings. Some UFO enthusiasts also
believe that the government gets information on new technology from the
extraterrestrials. The massive increase in technology in the 1950's and '60's
supports this concept. New military aircrafts have shown signs of advanced
technology and aerodynamics. The stealth bomber is a good example of this new
technology.

The controversy about aliens and the incident at Roswell, New Mexico
will most likely continue until either aliens make contact with humans
publically or until the government admits to the cover-ups in Roswell and other
UFO sightings.

This crash was a very important historical event in the eyes of many,
and the government has done a good job of keeping the details of the event a
secret. No matter what the object was, it certainly opened the eyes of the
public. The people involved in the incident and those who witnessed it are the
only ones who know for sure what really happened on that memorable evening. They
have been silenced by the government, and may never speak of the events that
occurred that night. They are the few who have seen exactly what is out there.
The rest may never know.

Who can the american people trust? If their own government keeps one of
the most important events in human history a secret, there is no telling what
else they know. It is right of the public to know what is history and what is a
misguided weather balloon.