In 1947, the US claimed to have found a flying saucer near Roswell, New

Mexico. Later that same day, they denied it. Was this the start of the UFO

cover-up?

The headlines were spectacular. It was July 8th, 1947, and Lieutenant 

Walter Haut of the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF), had just issued the most

important and controversial press release of the century. They had found a 

UFO.

The timing of the story was crucial. It was released at noon, New Mexico 

time, but because of the time differences in the US, it was too late for the

morning papers, although it did make some evening editions. The initial

press was expanded upon by the base, and the sheriff's office and local 

papers were inundated with questions. Then suddenly, amid all the excitement,

the Army Air Force changed its story. It was not a UFO after all, it was

just a weather balloon.

The interest disappeared and the story would have remained untouched had it

not been for a chance meeting. A nuclear physicist, Stanton Friedman, met

a TV station manager. While waiting to be interviewed about his UFO work, he

started talking to the manager, who told him he should go and see a man 

named Jesse Marcel.

Jesse had been the Intellegence Officer at the RAAF when the flying saucer

was supposed to have crashed. He was to take the wreckage to Wright Field in

Ohio where the army stockpiled captured enemy equipment. As he was taking

the debris, the story was released, later that day it was decided to cover

up the true events and a second press statement was issued: it was just a

weather balloon.

While most UFO researchers have rejected clais that it was in fact a weather

balloon that fell from the sky, they have not totally agreed on what did.

Ideas include:

    carrying explosives. But if one crashed in Roswell (more acurately, 

    Corona), where had it been in the two years since the war ended.

    testing a captured unguided missile. This may have fooled the person who

    found it, a sheep rancher Mac Brazel, but surely the army would recognise

    a missile. And why the big secret?

    the "alien bodies" were just rhesus monkeys being used as part of a 

    military space-travel experiment.

So, weather balloon, UFO, or test rocket. Whatever is being kept in the

bunker at Roswell, is certainly well hidden. Whether you believe it or not, 

is a matter of opinion.