The Roswell Incident

First Report of Foreign Object At 9:50 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot see an oval object, "like two inverted saucers faced mouth to mouth," passing over their house in Roswell, New Mexico. The object, moving at a high rate of speed, is heading northwest. (Ref. 1)

Foreign Object Sightings and Behavior The first of the special flights from Washington arrives. On the plane is Warrant Officer Robert Thomas. Thomas and his companions are in uniform upon arrival, but quickly change to civilian clothes. Thomas wants an on-site briefing as soon as it could be arranged. These men remain at Roswell throughout the retrieval. (Ref. 1)

William Woody and his father watch a flaming object, white with a red trail, fall toward the ground north of Roswell. (Ref. 1)

During a thunderstorm near Corona, New Mexico, W W. "Mac" Brazel hears a tremendous thunderclap that sounds like an explosion but is somehow different from the rest of the thunder. Others in the area report the same phenomenon. (Ref. 1)

At 11:27 PM. the radar sites continue to watch the object. It seems to pulsate a number of times, then explodes into a starburst. The belief is that the object has now crashed. (Ref. 1)

Jim Ragsdale and Trudy Truelove see a bright flash of light and hear a roaring sound that passes overhead. Ragsdale knows that something has struck the ground close to their campsite. (Ref. 1)

Subsequent Events Jason Ridgway (name changed), a sheepherder in central New Mexico, finds the remains of a crashed saucer He spends little time on the site and refuses to tell anyone about it until many years later. Ridgway is a friend of Mac Brazel. (Ref. 1)

Archaeologists, including W. Curry Holden, working the sites around Roswell stumble across the impact site where the object has crashed. One of them heads to the closest phone to tell Sheriff George Wilcox of the discovery of the remains of a crashed aircraft of some kind. (Ref. 1)

Wilcox calls the local fire department to alert them about the crash. One truck, with Dan Dwyer on it, responds to the call. The site is about thirty-five miles north of Roswell. (Ref. 1)

The Roswell Fire Department, escorted by members of the Roswell Police Department, makes a run along Pine Lodge Road northwest ofRoswell. These are among the first civilians to stumble across the impact site. (Ref. 1) At 5:30 A.M. the military knowing the approximate location of the saucer crash, move in with a carefully selected team for the recovery of the craft. The soldiers find civilians on the site already. They escort them off while others secure the area. Five bodies are found on the site. The site is cleaned and secured in six hours. (Ref. 1)

Following the rain the night before, Brazel inspects the pastures surrounding the ranch house. Riding with him is the young son of the Proctors, William D. Proctor. During the inspection, Brazel discovers a large debris field. Scattered on the slopes and into the sinkhole and depressions are metal, plastic like beams, pieces of lightweight material, foil, and string. The debris is thick enough that the sheep refuse to cross the field and are driven around it to water more than a mile away. (Ref. 1)

Thomas and his crew move out to the impact site. The bodies, originally covered by sheets, are now in lead-lined body bags. Only those with the highest clearance are allowed close to the center of the impact. Guards are posted, facing out, to keep the curious away (Ref. 1)

John McBoyle, a reporter for radio station KSWS in Roswell, tries to reach the crash site. He phones to report an object looking like a crushed dishpan. He tells Lydia Sleppy, who works at the parent station in Albuquerque, to hang on. She overhears an argument and then McBoyle tells her to forget it, he has made a mistake. McBoyle is about forty miles north of Roswell. (Ref. 1)

Sleppy tries to put a message out on the Teletype. According to Sleppy, the message is intercepted by the FBI in Dallas and she is ordered not to complete the transmission. (Ref. 1)

Melvin F. Brown, who is on guard duty at the impact site, is warned to climb into the back of the truck. Although he has been ordered not to look under the tarp, the moment that everyone's back is turned, he does. He finds the bodies of the alien flight crew. They are small, with large heads and skin that is yellow or orange. (Ref. 1)

Glenn Dennis, the mortician working at the Ballard Funeral Home in Roswell, receives a call from the base mortuary officer, who asks him about small caskets. (Ref. 1)

In Roswell for a conference, C. Bertram Schultz, a vertebra paleontologist, drives north from the city on Highway 285. To the west he sees a number of guards along the highway. Schultz isn't interested in driving to the west, so he doesn't stop, nor is he bothered by the guards. (Ref. 1)

The Roswell base mortuary officer calls again. He asks Glen Dennis questions about what various chemicals would do to blood and tissue. He also wants to know the procedures for preparing a body that has lain out in the elements. Dennis suspects a fatal crash involving a VIP. (Ref. 1) Glenn Dennis receives a call from downtown Roswell, where an airman had been injured. The funeral home where Dennis works also operates the ambulance service. Dennis drives the injured airman to the base, is waved through the gate, and stops at the rear of the hospital. Parked behind it, at the loading dock and in front of the emergency room, are three ambulances. In the rear Dennis sees small, canoe like devices and strange debris of some sort. (Ref. 1)

The bodies arrive at the base and are taken to the hospital for examination. Dr. Jesse Johnson pronounces them dead. Two doctors who are not assigned to the base but who have arrived on one of the special flights begin the preliminary autopsy. (Ref. 1)

Brazel, taking a few scraps of the material, heads to the home of his closest neighbors, Floyd and Loretta Proctor. He shows them "a little sliver" of material that he can neither burn nor cut. The Proctors suggest he take it into town to show the sheriff. (Ref. 1)

Inside the base hospital at Roswell, Dennis is confronted by two officers. A red haired captain tells Dennis that he has seen nothing and heard nothing; if he opens his mouth, they will be picking his bones out of the sand. (Ref. 1)

Military bases along the West Coast have fighters on standby in case the flying disks are seen. A few bases in Oregon and Washington have planes equipped with gun cameras on airborne alert. (Ref. 1)

Sherman Campbell of Circleville, Ohio, reports to the sheriff that he has what he thinks is an explanation for some of the flying disk sightings. He has found a weather balloon on his farm. It is metallic, with a kite like appendage on it. The device is displayed at the local newspaper office and then returned to Campbell. Jean Campbell (Romero), Campbell's daughter, reports that it is kept in a barn for years afterward. (Ref. 1)

Later that evening, Brazel removes the large, circular piece of the debris from the range. Brazel either loads it into the back of his truck or drags it along behind. He stores it in a livestock shed about three miles north of the crash site. (Ref. 1)

The bodies are sealed into a long crate, which is taken to a hangar. It is left there overnight with spotlights playing on it while MPs stand guard around it. They never approach it. (Ref. 1)

Melvin Brown, along with other soldiers, is ordered to stand guard outside the hanger. Brown's commanding officer approaches and says, "Come on, Brownie, let's have a look inside." But there is nothing to see because everything has been packed and crated, ready for shipment. (Ref. 1)