Nick Redfern August 1, 2021

There’s no doubt that the Roswell “UFO crash” of July 1947 is the most visible and talked about incident of its type. It’s a case that is noted for two important things that are relevant to today’s article. Number One: the U.S. government has changed its views time and time again on what happened outside of the city of Roswell all those years ago. Number Two: numerous civilians caught up in the maelstrom were “treated” to death-threats. The story was that a “Flying Disk” had come down. There was, however, a sudden retraction: it was all a big mistake. Nothing but a weather-balloon hit the ground on the Foster Ranch in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Sorry! Screw-Up! That explanation stayed firmly in place until the early 1990s. That’s when the U.S. Air Force changed its story. Apparently, the weather-balloon was not a weather-balloon, after all. It was a huge “Mogul” balloon designed to monitor for detonations of early atomic weapons of the Soviet Union. The Air Force, also in the 1990s, made it clear that because Mogul balloons didn’t carry people, there couldn’t have been any bodies (alien or human) at the crash-site. Ready for another explanation? Yeah, there is one. In 1997, the Air Force said there were bodies (of a sort, at least), after all. They were, the Air Force said, crash-test dummies. That’s a hell of a lot of different explanations for one, solitary case. No wonder the Roswell affair causes more than a few people to go “Hmm.” Even the U.S. media went “Hmm” when the government’s crash-test dummies report was reeled out for one and all to see. Particularly so, because it was quickly shown by journalists that the dummy tests didn’t even begin until the early 1950s, never mind what was going on in 1947. I think that deserves a third “Hmm.”

At the Roswell Crash Site (Nick Redfern)

Now, let’s take a look at another angle of the Roswell mystery: the threats that were made to people involved in the immediate wake of the event. It’s a fact there are literally dozens of people who, back in 1947 – when everything went crazy for a few days and nights – were told not to talk about what they had seen. As in: ever. Fucking ever. We’re talking about debris, strange foil-like materials, and even small bodies scattered around and clearly damaged to a degree. There are claims that people had their lives threatened. Stay silent or else. And, we all know what “or else” means, right? Reportedly, those threats didn’t end when the materials and the bodies were scooped up. Some people were threatened for years. Decades, actually. There are reports of people in the Roswell area having had their phones “tapped” for ages. Right up until the 1990s, when they passed away, some of the key, military figures in the story – such as Sheridan Cavitt and Lewis Rickett were extremely careful about what they said to UFO researchers. And what they didn’t say. Cavitt, particularly, was very concerned about being tied to the the matter of those bodies, whatever they may have been. And, we’re talking about decades after the whole thing was all over. Yet, even in the nineties, Cavitt and Rickett were still almost shitting bricks when the Roswell affair – and particularly word of the bodies – popped up. But, is it all over? That’s where we get to the crux of today’s article.

If the government had the whole Roswell story carefully wrapped up (in a secure “Hangar 18”-type scenario), and there was not a single bit of solid evidence hidden away by people in the area, there would have been no need, at all, for the death-threats. There would have been no need for endless phone surveillance. Why? Because the locals, the witnesses, and the rancher, W.W. “Mac” Brazel, would have had no evidence to make a case that something strange really happened. And the government would have been safe, knowing that everything was in a never-ending state of total lock-down. But, just maybe, the government isn’t safe. Not a bit. Consider this: both the government and the Air Force, of today, may not have a collective handle on what happened back in 1947. Maybe, more than a bit of debris still resides in the homes of the relatives of the original witnesses. And, sitting there until someone decides to come forward and hand it over to the media. Perhaps, there’s much more than a bit of debris hidden away in some of the old ranches of Lincoln County. Pieces of advanced technology, too, whether ours or “theirs.” Consider the following as a working scenario: that with all of the chaotic activity going on at the Foster Ranch (and its immediate surroundings) far more than what we know could have been quickly scooped up by local folk. Indeed, there is evidence that much was seen, touched and quickly stuffed in pockets before the military even had the chance to reach the ranch. Never mind close it down for a week or so.

Where “something” was found on the ranch (Nick Redfern)

There’s also the fascinating story of the late “Dee” Proctor. In later years, and when his mother was elderly and in extremely ill-health, Proctor – who had seen just about everything there was to see on the legendary day something strange came down – chose to drive her to a part of the ranch about two miles from the primary site. When they arrived, Dee told his mom they were now at another site on the ranch where what was termed “something else” was found by rancher Brazel and Proctor himself. The inference was that a body (or more than one body) was stumbled upon at that location. And it was found before the military had the chance to get there first. In light of that, who really knows what went on in that period of chaos? There’s also the matter of a significant number of files from the Roswell base – dating from the 1940s to the 1950s – that cannot be found. Anywhere. Even the Government Accountability Office admitted that when they went looking after the truth of Roswell, the files were nowhere in sight. Maybe, some element of the government still has those voluminous files – hidden away, somewhere. What if, though, an Edward Snowden-type character carefully, and secretly, was able to get his or her hands on all of those potentially crucial 1940s-1950s-era Roswell files? And, in the process, handed them over to someone who, one day, just might choose to come forward with the answers to the mystery? Possibly, that’s exactly what has happened. We’re just waiting – patiently or not – for that person to reveal themself. But, we, the media, the Air Force and the government, just don’t know it. But, the government prays it never happens.

What all of this just might mean is that – in a situation that most people haven’t thought of – the government totally failed to secure all of the material and evidence found at the crash-site. The result? Crucial data was circulating all around the place. And the military – racing around like headless chickens – were trying to get the whole thing wrapped up; but, in the process, failing miserably. In a strange situation, kids at the time in the area, like Dee Proctor, probably knew way more back then than any of us do now. Even more than a lot of the military guys ordered to cordon the place, and begin the threats, knew less than Dee ever did. Many people might consider the finding of whatever-it-was that came down on the Foster Ranch as something amazing. But, with huge amounts of missing files, and debris quickly picked up and hidden by the ranchers and locals who were way ahead of the military, you can easily see how and why – for the Air Force – Roswell might become the U.S. government’s biggest nightmare. I can easily see a scenario in which those in government, today, who are still tasked with keeping the truth about Roswell hidden, are terrified not by what is hidden by them, but by what just might be held in someone’s old attic. Possibly, something in an old, rusty container buried two-feet-down on the fringes of the old ranch and that, one day, might come to the surface. Or, something amazing under someone’s floorboards. Something that might come tumbling out in a way that the government will be completely unable to foresee, control or confiscate. And, solely, because of one reason: the government wasn’t right on top of things when it happened.

MU*

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