https://apple.news/AcDZKSsMpRCuVhE8TPCJRxANot just a gimmick’
Roswell’s place in extraterrestrial history begins in July 1947, when either a flying saucer or a weather balloon – depending on whom you ask – crashed in a field outside town. A local rancher named WW “Mac” Brazel found the crash debris, which military personnel from the Roswell army airfield came to collect.
At first, the army told the public that the debris was indeed a flying saucer. The Roswell Daily Record printed a large headline saying as much. But the army changed its tune the next day, saying the debris was really from a weather balloon, kicking off a conspiracy theory that persists decades later.
The event has spawned numerous documentaries, articles and books, as well as two television shows – one titled Roswell, the other Roswell, New Mexico.
He has been following the news on the Pentagon report but said he didn’t expect any valuable information to come from it. Balthaser said government officials could not afford to admit anything about the Roswell incident, or anything else, now.
“What politician is going to say: ‘We’ve lied to you for the last 70 years?’” he said. “It’s not going to happen.”
Through his research, Balthaser has met eyewitnesses to the Roswell incident, pored over countless pieces of evidence and met with self-proclaimed alien abductees including Betty and Barney Hill.
But when asked for a single story that makes him confident we aren’t alone, he shared an anecdote from one of his friends, the editor of the old Roswell Morning Dispatch newspaper.
That editor, Art McQuiddy, was friends with Air Force Col William Blanchard, who penned the initial press release purporting that the crash was a flying saucer. The pair were having a drink shortly after the crash when McQuiddy asked, “What happened here a couple weeks ago?”
The colonel said he couldn’t talk about it. A couple of drinks later, according to Balthaser’s recounting, McQuiddy asked again.
The colonel replied: “I saw something here in Roswell I had never seen before, and I never want to see again.”
Today, much of the conspiracy theory lingers as kitsch around the city. One of three McDonald’s locations in Roswell is in the shape of a flying saucer. Many storefronts have at least one alien or flying saucer visible from the road.
But beneath the showy facade, locals know the crash is an integral part of their city. “It’s part of our history, it’s not just a gimmick,” Bullock said.
And many Roswellians believe their town hosted an extraordinary event seven decades ago. Among the believers is Dennis Balthaser, who has been researching UFOs for over 30 years.
“I think most people, they know the bottom line is something happened here in 1947,” he said. “We know that. And as far as we know, it’s still covered up.”
Balthaser, 79, is a retired civil engineer from Texas. In the 1980s, he became interested in the night sky, wondering what was going on up there. Balthaser said he had retired in 1996 and moved to Roswell so he could dedicate more time to researching UFOs.
