An Encounter
Of The Third Kind
Roswell, NM

March 3rd, 2001

The United States is well known for its alleged conspiracies and government cover-ups. Most of us can remember the Kennedy assassination and the Warren Commission's inquiry, or the Watergate scandal. These, although spectacular during their infancy, have grown cold and all but forgotten in the light of time. Not so are all such allegations. There is an alleged cover-up that is alive and well in the heart of New Mexico where it has persisted in tweaking the minds of all that have investigated it without tangible results. It all started July 4th, 1947 around 11:00PM when, on a barren stretch of land designated on a military map as "Area 51", located at the base of Boy Scout Mountain near Grooms Lake, 4 miles south of SR 246 and 50 miles or so west of Roswell NM, there occurred a crash of some kind. The only eye witness, Jim Ragsdale and his girlfriend were curled up in the bed of his pickup, parked at a camp site on boy Scout Mountain when there was a streak of light nearby and then the impact of an object hitting the earth with tremendous force. Twenty three miles away, Mack Brazel, a rancher on the Foster Ranch, also heard the crash. All three set out to find the impact zone, and in doing so, changed their lives forever and forever put the town of Roswell on the map. Years later Jim would confide that they saw a 20 foot diameter craft/saucer and four dead aliens with skin that felt like snakeskin. He would talk about a throne room or control chair in the craft and other smaller chairs. When they heard a vehicle approaching they slipped away, saying nothing about what they had found. The next day Brazel, traveling with a 7 year old son of a neighbor, came upon the debris field. He then gathered a quantity of material and took it with him The next day Brazel would take his sack full of stuff to Sheriff Wilcox in Roswell. Wilcox would call Intelligence officer Jess Marcel at the Roswell Army Air Base. Marcel would respond and return to the ranch where Brazel worked. The next morning the two would return to the crash site where Marcel would gather more material which he would show it to his commanding officer Col. Blanchard. Col. Blanchard would instruct Lt. Walter Haut, the public relations officer for the base, and later, the co-founder of the UFO Research Center, to issue a press release declaring the recovery of an unidentified flying object believed to be alien in nature. It is at this point the controversy begins. It is believed by many that on July 9th Marcell flew to Fort Worth to consult with General Ramey. During that time the debris which Marcel had brought with him was spread out on a table. Marcel is then asked to step outside the room for a moment and when he is brought back in the debris is gone and in its place is the remains of a weather balloon, at which time the famous press release photos are taken which hit the papers that afternoon. General Ramey issues a public statement declaring the alien story a hoax and reporting that the item landing in area 51 was a weather balloon as shone in the pictures just released. On the same day Mac Brazel, although a civilian, is picked up the military police and held until July 12. Although he will report extensive questioning and examination, he will never again talk about the space ship, going to his grave in silence. His girlfriend will die within days of the incident. Jim Ragsdale will remain silent until he becomes involved in a movie about the incident in June of '94. He will die within a month. The last controversial character to play out his part in the story is Glen Dennis, a funeral director and operator of an ambulance service in Roswell. He would detail his account of the incident in a 1991 publication called "1947 Roswell Incident" In this, he would describe how he picked up an injured airman, who was a victim of a traffic accident and transported him to the Roswell Air station medical center. Here he would talk with a nurse he knew who was quite upset about something she had just witnessed. He would meet the nurse at the Officers Club the next day and she would describe a necropsy on an alien body in which she assisted. She would make a drawing of what the alien looked like and give it to Glen who would subsequently lose it. He would reproduce what he saw for his publication later. The nurse, who's identity Dennis will not reveal to this day would be transferred out that week, and sent to England where she was reportedly killed in a plane crash. Many years later, the Government would admit to maintaining a secret air field near Grooms Lake but nothing more. In 1991, Water Haut who issued the famous press release for the Army and Glen Dennis, with some help from others, created the UFO Museum and Research Center. You can find them today, at the Museum, talking to visitors and signing autographs. Truth or hoax, the jury is still out. It is left to each person's own opinion. But the paradox has not gone unnoticed by the town of Roswell. Decorations and signs adorn many of the businesses from UFO space storage for a self storage business to the alien face in the middle of the Wal-Mart sign. Whatever it actually was, or has been; it is today, an economic asset to the town.

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