In 1947, a rancher found debris near Roswell, New Mexico. This debris became the basis for UFO conspiracy theories that claim the United States military recovered a crashed spacecraft from another planet. After metallic and rubber pieces were collected by Roswell Army Air Field personnel, the United States Army Air Forces announced they had found a "flying disc." This news became international headlines, but the statement was quickly retracted. The debris was actually from a complex, uncrewed military balloon train made of linked balloons and equipment. This balloon train was operated from Alamogordo Army Air Field as part of Project Mogul, a secret program meant to detect Soviet nuclear tests. To hide the true purpose of the debris, the army said it was from a regular weather balloon.
In 1978, Jesse Marcel, a retired United States Air Force officer, said the weather balloon explanation was false and suggested the debris might be from another planet. This idea was popularized in the 1980 book The Roswell Incident and led to many complicated and conflicting conspiracy theories. These theories later included claims that governments are hiding evidence of alien beings, gray aliens, crashed flying saucers, alien bodies, and autopsies, as well as the use of alien technology. None of these claims have any real proof.
In the 1990s, the Air Force released several reports showing the incident was connected to Project Mogul, not a UFO. Despite these reports and the lack of evidence, some people who believe in UFOs still claim the Roswell debris came from an alien craft and accuse the U.S. government of hiding the truth. The story has become a common theme in science fiction books, movies, and TV shows. The town of Roswell now promotes itself as a place for UFO-related tourism.
1947 military balloon crash
In 1947, the United States sent up many secret balloons as part of Project Mogul. These balloons carried equipment to listen for Soviet nuclear tests. On June 4, scientists at Alamogordo Army Air Field in New Mexico launched a long line of these balloons. They lost contact with the balloons within 17 miles (27 km) of a ranch near Corona, New Mexico, managed by W.W. "Mac" Brazel. Later that month, Brazel found tinfoil, rubber, tape, and thin wooden beams scattered across the ranch.
At the time, Brazel had no phone or radio, so he did not know about the growing public interest in flying saucers. During the early Cold War, newspapers covered reports of flying saucers, which were described as objects that could move in ways no known aircraft could. These reports followed a story by Kenneth Arnold, and over 800 similar sightings were reported. When Brazel visited the ranch on July 5, his uncle suggested the debris might be from a "flying disk." Many people had reported seeing flying objects during the Fourth of July weekend, and newspapers speculated the debris might be from the Soviet Union. A reward of $3,000 (about $43,000 in 2025) was offered for proof.
The next day, Brazel went to Roswell, New Mexico, and told Sheriff George Wilcox about the debris. Wilcox contacted Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF), home to the 509th Bomb Group, the only unit capable of delivering nuclear weapons at the time. RAAF assigned Major Jesse Marcel and Captain Sheridan Cavitt to collect the debris. RAAF’s commander, Colonel William Blanchard, informed the Eighth Air Force’s leader, Roger M. Ramey, about the discovery.
On July 8, RAAF’s public information officer, Walter Haut, announced in a press release that the military had recovered a "flying disc" near Roswell. Robert Porter, an RAAF flight engineer, described the material as lightweight and small enough to fit in a car trunk. After news of the discovery was shared by radio station KSWS and the Associated Press, reporters from around the world contacted the station.
The press release stated:
"Rumors about the flying disc became real when the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, at Roswell Army Air Field, obtained a disc from a local rancher and the sheriff’s office. The object landed near Roswell last week. Without phone access, the rancher kept the disc until he contacted the sheriff, who then informed Major Jesse A. Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office."
—Associated Press (July 8, 1947)
Interest in the story declined after a press conference where General Roger Ramey, his staff, and a weather officer said the debris was from a weather balloon. The officer explained that similar radar targets were used at 80 weather stations nationwide. Later reports described the crash in simple terms. On July 9, the Roswell Daily Record noted no engines or metal parts were found. Brazel told the newspaper the debris included rubber strips, "tinfoil, paper, tape, and sticks." He later collected some debris with his wife and daughter. Brazel denied claims he was forced to lie, saying, "I am sure what I found was not a weather balloon." Jesse Marcel, interviewed in Texas, described the wreckage as "parts of a weather device" made of "tinfoil and broken wooden beams."
Some debris was sent to Wright Field in Ohio, where Colonel Marcellus Duffy identified it as balloon equipment. Duffy, who had worked on Project Mogul, contacted Albert Trakowski, the project’s officer, to discuss the debris. Duffy could not share details about Mogul but called it "meteorological equipment."
The 1947 official report did not mention Project Mogul. On July 10, military officials at Alamogordo demonstrated weather balloon use to the press. Four officers gave a story that was not true, explaining how balloons were used for weather data. The United States Air Force later said the weather balloon story was an attempt to hide the secret Mogul project.
UFO conspiracy theories (1947–1978)
The 1947 debris retrieval was not well known for about 30 years. News about it stopped after the government gave a simple explanation, and reports about flying saucers dropped quickly after the Twin Falls saucer hoax. Just days after stories about the Roswell "flying disc" appeared, it was discovered that the crashed disc from Twin Falls, Idaho, was a hoax made by four teenagers using parts from a jukebox.
Despite this, many people believed the U.S. government was hiding information about UFOs during this time. Stories about crashed spaceships and alien bodies in New Mexico later became parts of the Roswell myth. In 1947, many Americans thought flying saucers were unknown military aircraft. Over the decades between the 1947 debris recovery and the rise of Roswell theories, flying saucers became linked to alien spacecraft. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Watergate scandal, trust in the U.S. government decreased, and more people accepted conspiracy theories. UFO believers claimed the government was involved in a "Cosmic Watergate." The 1947 incident was later reinterpreted to match the public's growing interest in conspiracy theories.
In 1948, the Aztec, New Mexico, crashed saucer hoax introduced stories about recovered alien bodies that later became connected to Roswell. The hoax gained attention when the people behind it convinced Variety columnist Frank Scully to write about their fake crash. The story included small grey humanoid bodies, metal stronger than any found on Earth, unreadable writing, and a government coverup to avoid public panic. These elements later appeared in versions of the Roswell myth. In retellings, the ordinary debris from the real crash site was replaced with the Aztec hoax's unusual materials. By the time Roswell returned to media attention, grey aliens had become part of American culture through the Barney and Betty Hill incident. In a 1997 Roswell report, Air Force investigator James McAndrew wrote that "even after this clear fraud was exposed, the Aztec story is still respected by UFO theorists. Parts of this story sometimes reappear and are seen as the start of other crashed flying saucer stories, including the Roswell Incident."
"Hangar 18" is a place that does not exist, but many later conspiracy theories claim it housed alien craft or bodies recovered from Roswell. The idea that alien bodies from a crashed ship were stored in an Air Force morgue at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was mentioned in Scully's Behind the Flying Saucers, expanded in the 1966 book Incident at Exeter, and became the basis for a 1968 science-fiction novel, The Fortec Conspiracy. Fortec was about a fictional coverup by an Air Force unit responsible for studying other countries' technology.
In 1974, science-fiction author and conspiracy theorist Robert Spencer Carr claimed that alien bodies from the Aztec crash were stored in "Hangar 18" at Wright-Patterson. Carr said his sources had seen an alien autopsy, an idea later included in the Roswell story. The Air Force explained that no "Hangar 18" existed at the base, noting similarities between Carr's story and the fictional Fortec Conspiracy. The 1980 film Hangar 18, which dramatized Carr's claims, was described by director James L. Conway as "a modern-day dramatization" of Roswell and by folklorist Thomas Bullard as "nascent Roswell mythology." Decades later, Carr's son recalled that he often "embarrassed my mother and me by telling wild stories to strangers… [like] befriending a giant alligator in the Florida swamps, and discussing deep ideas with porpoises in the Gulf of Mexico."
Roswell conspiracy theories (1978–1994)
Interest in Roswell increased again after ufologist Stanton Friedman interviewed Jesse Marcel in 1978. Marcel had helped move the Roswell debris from a ranch to a press conference in Fort Worth. During the 1978 interview, Marcel said the "weather balloon" explanation given at the press conference was a cover story, and he now believed the debris was from another planet. On December 19, 1979, Marcel was interviewed by Bob Pratt of the National Enquirer. The tabloid magazine brought widespread attention to Marcel’s story in February 1980. Marcel described a material that could be crumpled but would flatten again when released. On September 20, 1980, the TV show In Search of…, hosted by Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy, aired an interview where Marcel described his role in the 1947 press conference:
“They wanted some comments from me, but I wasn’t allowed to speak. So, I stayed quiet. General Ramey was the one who told the newspapers what it was and told them to forget about it. He said it was just a weather balloon. Of course, we both knew differently.”
Ufologists later interviewed Jesse Marcel Jr., a doctor and Marcel’s son, who said his father showed him debris from the Roswell crash site when he was 10 years old. This included a small object with purple-colored symbols. However, the symbols described as alien writing matched those on adhesive tape used by Project Mogul, which came from a New York toy company.
To share his research, Friedman worked with his childhood friend William “Bill” Moore, who contacted Charles Berlitz, a writer known for books about the Bermuda Triangle and the Philadelphia Experiment. Berlitz and Moore wrote the 1980 book The Roswell Incident, which popularized Marcel’s account and added claims about alien bodies found near the Plains of San Agustin. Marcel never mentioned finding bodies.
Friedman, Berlitz, and Moore also linked Marcel’s story to Lydia Sleppy, a former radio operator who said she was typing a story about crashed saucer wreckage when interrupted by a message ordering her to stop. Between 1978 and the early 1990s, UFO researchers like Friedman, Moore, and others interviewed many people about the 1947 Roswell events, creating conflicting stories.
The first book about the Roswell conspiracy, The Roswell Incident by Berlitz and Moore, was published in October 1980. Anthropologist Charles Ziegler called this book “version 1” of the Roswell myth. Berlitz and Moore’s version became the most popular during the 1980s.
The book claimed an alien craft was flying over New Mexico to observe nuclear weapons when a lightning strike killed the crew. It said the U.S. government covered up the crash to avoid panic. The book quoted Marcel’s description of the debris as “nothing made on this earth.” It also claimed some photos showed the debris replaced with weather device parts, though no differences were visible. However, Captain Sheridan Cavitt, who collected the debris with Marcel, described it as ordinary. The book also introduced claims about alien bodies, based on stories from a man named Grady “Barney” Barnett.
The authors said they interviewed over 90 witnesses, but only 25 were included in the book. Only seven claimed to have seen the debris, and five said they touched it. Some details, like small alien bodies and indestructible metals, matched other UFO stories more than the 1947 Roswell reports. Berlitz and Moore also claimed a discredited 1947 story about a crash near Aztec was actually about the Roswell incident.
Mac Brazel, who found the debris in 1947, died in 1963 before interest in the Roswell case grew again. Berlitz and Moore interviewed his children, who said the military arrested their father and made him keep secrets. However, many people claimed to have seen Mac Brazel in Roswell during the time he was supposedly in military custody. His daughter, Bessie Brazel Schreiber, described the debris as waxed paper and aluminum-like foil with tape that looked like pastel flowers under light.
The book highlighted Marcel’s testimony as one of the most important. The UFO media often treated Marcel as a whistleblower. However, independent researchers found parts of Marcel’s stories were false, including claims about his military career and education.
Majestic 12 was a group claimed to be behind fake government documents sent to ufologists in the 1980s. All who received the documents were connected to Bill Moore. After The Roswell Incident was published, Richard C. Doty and others pretending to be Air Force officers approached Moore. They promised evidence of extraterrestrial life to recruit him. Moore shared notes on other ufologists and spread misinformation. The first mention of “MJ Twelve” appeared in a 1981 document used to trick Paul Bennewitz. In 1982, Bob Pratt worked with Doty and Moore on The Aquarius Project, a science fiction manuscript about Majestic 12. Moore later admitted he typed and stamped the fake documents as copies. In 1984, Jaime Shandera received an anonymous package with photos of Majestic-12 documents, which the Air Force said were likely fake.
At a 1989 UFO conference, Moore admitted he had given fake evidence to researchers, including Bennewitz. Doty later said he shared false information while working at Kirtland Air Force Base in the 1980s. Many Roswell conspiracy supporters blamed Moore, but the broader theory about the Roswell incident continued to be believed.
Air Force response
In the mid-1990s, the United States Air Force answered questions about the Roswell incident due to pressure from New Mexico congressman Steven Schiff and the General Accounting Office (GAO), a government group that checks other agencies. In 1994, the Air Force admitted that the weather balloon explanation was a false story for Project Mogul, a military program that used balloons to monitor the environment. A report published in 1995, The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert, supported this with detailed evidence that linked the debris found near Roswell to a specific Mogul balloon launched on June 4, 1947, which later went missing in the area. However, members of the UFO community did not believe the Air Force’s explanation. They noted that the GAO’s investigation found no records about the Roswell incident at the CIA or any information about the claimed Majestic 12 group. Surveys from that time showed that most Americans did not trust the Air Force’s account.
News media and researchers who question unusual claims accepted the findings. Project Mogul provided a clear explanation for the debris described in reports from the time, though it did not fully explain later conflicting details. Scientists Carl Sagan and Phil Klass pointed out that materials described as unusual—such as abstract symbols and lightweight foil—matched those used by Project Mogul. These materials also matched a description of a "disc" mentioned in a 1947 message from the FBI in Fort Worth, Texas. The message stated that the Eighth Air Force described the object as hexagonal in shape, suspended from a balloon by a cable, with the balloon about 20 feet (6.1 meters) in diameter. In 1997, the Air Force released a second report, The Roswell Report: Case Closed, explaining that stories about military personnel loading aliens into "body bags" matched the Air Force’s actual process for retrieving test dummies in insulated bags. These dummies were used to protect temperature-sensitive equipment during desert tests.
Later theories and hoaxes (1994–present)
Pseudo-documentaries, such as Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, have greatly influenced public views about the Roswell incident. In 1995, a British businessman named Ray Santilli claimed he had video footage of an alien autopsy, supposedly filmed after the 1947 Roswell crash. He said he bought the footage from an elderly cameraman who had worked for the Army Air Force. The film Alien Autopsy presented this footage as evidence of a government investigation into Roswell. However, the cameraman, named Barnett, had died in 1967 and had never served in the military. A visual effects expert named Stan Winston told newspapers that the footage was clearly fake. In 2006, Santilli admitted the footage was made in a London living room as part of a set built for the film.
Over 20 million people watched the film. It was shown by Fox before and connected to the fictional TV series The X-Files, which later made fun of the film. Alien Autopsy set a pattern for future fake documentaries that questioned government secrecy. Despite being proven false, some people who believe in UFOs still considered the footage as evidence linking Roswell to aliens.
In 1997, a retired army intelligence officer named Philip J. Corso wrote a book titled The Day After Roswell. His book combined many conflicting conspiracy theories with his own claims. Corso said he had seen a body that was not human, stored in a glass container filled with liquid. However, his book had many errors. For example, he incorrectly stated that debris from the 1947 Roswell incident was sent to Fort Bliss, Texas, which was not the actual headquarters of the 8th Army Air Force. Other books about Roswell placed the headquarters 500 miles away at Fort Worth Army Air Field.
Corso also claimed he helped study debris from the crash. Some UFO researchers doubted his story. One expert, Schmitt, questioned whether Corso was part of a group spreading false information to harm UFO research. Corso’s book was criticized for resembling science fiction, like The X-Files. Without strong evidence, the book relied on Corso’s past work with the Foreign Technology Division and a foreword from US Senator Strom Thurmond. Thurmond later demanded his name be removed from the book after learning its contents, stating he would not support a book suggesting Cold War success was due to alien technology.
The Roswell incident continues to inspire many books and films, including works by ufologist Walter Bosley, paranormal writer Nick Redfern, and journalist Annie Jacobsen. In 2011, Jacobsen’s book Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base claimed that a Nazi doctor named Josef Mengele was hired by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to create "grotesque, child-size aviators" to cause fear. Scientists from the Federation of American Scientists criticized the book for many errors. Historian Richard Rhodes wrote in The Washington Post that Jacobsen’s book repeated old, unverified claims and failed to properly research her sources.
In 2017, a UK newspaper, The Guardian, reported on Kodachrome slides that some claimed showed a dead alien. The slides were first shown at a UFO conference in Mexico, where nearly 7,000 people attended. Later, it was revealed the slides actually showed a mummified Native American child discovered in 1896 and displayed at a museum in Colorado for many years. In 2020, an Air Force historian shared a newly released report from around 1951 about an incident where two Roswell personnel wore old radioactive suits with oxygen masks while retrieving a weather balloon after an atomic test. During one event, they saw a woman in the desert who fainted when she saw them. One of the personnel suggested that their unusual gear might have looked alien to someone unfamiliar with it.
Explanations
Secrecy around the 1947 debris recovery was due to Cold War military programs, not aliens. Despite evidence, UFO believers still claim a spacecraft crashed near Roswell, and "Roswell" is now closely linked to UFOs. B. D. Gildenberg said Roswell is "the world's most famous, most thoroughly investigated, and most debunked UFO claim." Some accounts may be based on mistaken memories of servicemen recovering debris from plane crashes or parachute test dummies, as suggested by the Air Force in their 1997 report. Pflock argues that supporters of the crashed-saucer theory often ignore contradictions and gather supporting details without careful examination. Kal Korff says poor research standards are partly due to financial gain, stating the Roswell UFO myth has been profitable for UFO groups, publishers, Hollywood, the town of Roswell, the media, and UFOlogy. He adds that very few researchers use proper scientific methods.
A 1994 USAF report identified the 1947 object as a device from Project Mogul. Mogul was a secret military program that used high-altitude balloons to monitor nuclear tests. It launched Flight No. 4 from Alamogordo Army Air Field on June 4, 1947. The balloon drifted near Brazel’s ranch when its tracking equipment failed. Major Jesse Marcel and USAF Brigadier General Thomas DuBose publicly described the weather balloon story as a cover-up in 1978 and 1991. In the USAF report, Richard Weaver said the weather balloon story might have been meant to hide Mogul or might have been the weather officer’s mistaken belief, as Mogul balloons used similar materials. Sheridan W. Cavitt, who helped Marcel examine the debris, gave a sworn statement saying the debris came from a crashed balloon.
Ufologists once thought the Roswell debris might have come from a secret balloon. In 1990, John Keel suggested the debris was from a Japanese balloon bomb from World War II. An Air Force meteorologist rejected this, explaining the Fu-Go balloons could not have stayed aloft for two years. Project Mogul was first linked to Roswell by researcher Robert G. Todd in 1990. In the 1994 book Roswell in Perspective, Pflock agreed the debris came from Mogul. In response to a 1993 inquiry by New Mexico congressman Steven Schiff, the General Accounting Office ordered an investigation. Air Force officer James McAndrew concluded that civilians and personnel from Roswell AAF found the debris without knowing about Mogul. This lack of information, along with early misidentifications and rumors of a "flying disc," led to lasting confusion.
The 1947 accounts did not mention alien bodies. Primary eyewitnesses never described bodies. Roswell authors later interviewed only four people who claimed to have firsthand knowledge of alien bodies. Later claims of alien bodies, made by elderly witnesses decades later, often contradict each other on details like the crash location, number of extraterrestrials, and body descriptions.
The 1997 Air Force report concluded that later claims of "bodies" likely came from memories of military accidents or the recovery of dummies that looked like humans. Military programs, such as the 1950s Operation High Dive, used test dummies dropped from high-altitude balloons over the New Mexico desert. The Air Force said the number of body retrieval accounts pointed to explanations other than dishonesty. The retrieval process for dummies matched body retrieval stories in many ways, such as using stretchers, casket-shaped crates, and insulation bags that looked like body bags. Descriptions of "weapons carriers" and a "jeep-like truck with radios" matched the Dodge M37 used in the 1950s. Eyewitnesses described the "bodies" as bald, "dummies," resembling "plastic dolls," and wearing flight suits. These details matched Air Force dummies from the 1950s.
The Roswell myth, which includes stories of alien crashes and government cover-ups, has been studied by social anthropologists and skeptics. Susan Harding and Kathleen Stewart say the Roswell story shows how a fringe idea became mainstream, fitting the 1980s public interest in conspiracies and cover-ups. Skeptics Joe Nickell and James McGaha said the Roswell story’s time away from public attention allowed myths to develop, and early debunking created space for ufologists to exaggerate stories.
Charles Ziegler said the Roswell story has traits of traditional folk tales. He identified six different stories and a process where a core story was formed from witness accounts and then changed by UFO community members. More "witnesses" were added to expand the story, while accounts that did not match the main idea were ignored or discredited by "gatekeepers."
Cultural impact
Roswell's tourism industry depends on museums about UFOs, businesses selling alien-themed items, and decorations with alien images. Many common city features in Roswell, such as fast food restaurants, grocery stores, and street lights, have UFO themes. Stores in Roswell sell a wide variety of UFO-related products. A yearly UFO festival has taken place since 1995. Some areas believed to be sites of alien spacecraft crashes are open to visitors for a fee. Roswell has alien festivals, conventions, and museums, including the International UFO Museum and Research Center. About 90,000 tourists visit Roswell each year.
The Roswell incident became famous worldwide through movies that show the main ideas of UFO conspiracy theories. In the 1980 film Hangar 18, an alien spaceship crashes in the desert of the U.S. Southwest. Debris and alien remains are found, but the government hides the truth. The film's director, James L. Conway, said the movie was a modern version of the Roswell event. In 1995, Conway revisited the idea in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Little Green Men," where characters travel to 1947 and cause the Roswell incident, with their spaceship stored in Hangar 18. In the 1996 film Independence Day, an alien attack leads to the discovery of a Roswell crash and government cover-up, including experiments on alien bodies. The 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull follows the main character searching for an alien body from the Roswell incident.
In the 1990s, Roswell became the most famous location tied to early UFO sightings, partly because of frequent TV shows about the Roswell conspiracy. The popular TV series The X-Files included the Roswell incident in many episodes. The show's second episode, "Deep Throat," introduced a Roswell alien crash into its story. The 1996 episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" made fun of the Santilli Alien Autopsy hoax film. After The X-Files became popular, other TV shows, such as Dark Skies (1996–97) and Taken (2002), also included Roswell alien conspiracies. Starting in 1998, Pocket Books published a series of young adult books titled Roswell High. From 1999 to 2002, the books were adapted into the WB/UPN TV series Roswell, and a second version was released in 2019 under the title Roswell, New Mexico.
Journalist Toby Smith called Roswell the starting point for how the media and pop culture have treated UFOs, alien spacecraft, and aliens on Earth. In a 2001 episode of the animated comedy Futurama, titled "Roswell That Ends Well," characters from the 31st century travel back in time and cause the Roswell incident. The animated series American Dad! includes an alien named Roger who crashed in Roswell. The 2006 comedy Alien Autopsy is about the creation of the Santilli hoax film in the 1990s. The 2011 movie Paul follows Roswell tourists who rescue a gray alien.
Belief that the government hid information about the Roswell incident led to U.S. presidents being asked about it. In 2014, Bill Clinton said, "When the Roswell thing came up, I knew we'd get many letters. So I had all the Roswell papers reviewed, everything." Clinton's administration found no evidence of alien contact or a crashed spaceship. In 2015, Barack Obama told GQ magazine, "It's a little disappointing. People always ask me about Roswell and aliens, but the real top-secret information isn't as exciting as you expect." In December 2020, Obama joked with Stephen Colbert, "It used to be that UFOs and Roswell were the biggest conspiracy. Now, that idea seems tame compared to what the government might be hiding." In June 2020, Donald Trump said, "I won't talk to you about what I know about it, but it's very interesting."