Did something crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947?

Exactly what crashed in New Mexico in July of 1947 is hotly debated among UFO believers, scientists and skeptics. What is not in doubt is that something crashed. The U.S. government has never denied this – though they have changed their story several times.

The Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) initially reported that they had recovered a bona fide spacecraft, as boldly proclaimed in the now-famous Roswell Daily Record headline, “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region.” The military quickly backtracked and exclaimed that it was merely a misidentified weather balloon. Fifty years later, the government indicated that the weather-balloon story was actually a cover-up for Project Mogul, a top-secret U.S. Army project to detect sound waves generated by Soviet nuclear bomb tests. UFO enthusiasts see all this as evidence that the United States is hiding the truth from us.

The wild claims, counter-claims and arguments have persisted for many years and will likely continue for many more. One part of this story can, however, definitely be disproven. The crash did not happen in Roswell.

The debris field from the incident was discovered by rancher William (“Mac”) Brazel on his ranch, near the outskirts of Corona, New Mexico. The Roswell name stuck because it was the nearest large town, and because of the involvement of the Roswell military base. The crash site is actually about thirty miles from Roswell. Had it happened a little further north, it might have forever been known as the “Albuquerque Incident.”