ROSWELL (Day 4 - part 2)
We drove to the downtown where alien imagery was even more prevalent.
Even local businesses were in on it.
We paid a visit to the International UFO Museum And Research Center. It was founded in 1991 to explore an incident that happened in July 1947 just northwest of Roswell during a severe thunderstorm. It contained exhibits on this 'Roswell Incident,' crop circles, UFO sightings, Area 51, ancient astronauts, abductions, and a lot more. The exhibits are not designed to convince anyone of anything. Visitors are encouraged to ask questions and explore their own answers.
Unbeknownst to us previously, this was the beginning of a huge 3-day event.
We arrived just in time for a talk by Don Schmitt. Don was originally a sceptic when he began to investigate the Roswell incident. But over the years he has interviewed over 600 people, wrote 5 books, made a movie and over 30 documentaries, attended four archeological digs and helped found this museum. Suffice to say he's now a believer.
Bill has a few more questions for Don.
What was the Rosewell Incident?
Sometime during the first week of July 1947, an unidentified flying object (UFO) crashed on a nearby ranch owned by W.W. “Mack” Brazel who found strange pieces of metal debris while he was out checking on some sheep the day after a big storm. He also discovered a shallow trench several hundreds of feet long that had been gouged into the ground. He collected a sample of the metal material and showed his neighbors who recommended he notify the sheriff. He did so, and the sheriff then informed the local army base. They promptly came and closed off the entire area, removing all traces of the wreckage.
The army's first press release stated that "a flying disk had been found.” The next day, another press release was issued basically saying Ooops, it was just a weather balloon. The answer remained so until the 1980's when people began asking questions... lots of them. Believers, witnesses, skeptics... the debate still continues.
Documentation and stories of the incident
The original wreckage disappeared and was replaced by a common weather balloon. Witnesses describe the original metal debris as something they had never seen before... it was super thin yet indestructible; it had strange characters written on it; it had light emitting from wires (yet fiber optics wouldn't be developed until the 1970s), etc.
The crash location
Screeeech!
Exibits filled the large building.
Strange beeps and sounds, colored light and hissing steam were part of the saucer show.
The 8-foot tall robot, Gort, from the 1951 movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still"
So much information!
Astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek first created a classification system in 1972 book. They are arranged according to increasing proximity:
Nocturnal lights - These are the most commonly-reported type but they usually doesn't provide much information of value.
Daylight discs - This category generates a lot of controversy, especially since many of them have been proven to be intentional deceptions or simply natural occurences.
Radar-visual - UFO reports that seem to have radar confirmation
Close encounters of the first kind - Visual sightings of an unidentified flying object less than 500 feet away
Close encounters of the second kind - A UFO event in which there is supposedly a physical effect... disruption of electronic devices including cars, animals reactions, a physical effect such as paralysis or heat or numbness, lasting evidence such as impressions in the ground, scorched vegetation or a chemical trace
Close encounters of the third kind - UFO encounters in which an animated creature is present
Nocturnal Lights
Daylight disks
Models, hubcaps, hats, clouds, reflections, etc
A lenticular cloud is a lens-shaped cloud that develops on the downwind side of a mountain when moist air flows over it. Especially in the glowing evening hours, these clouds can look quite... alien.
It has been found that housewives, teenagers and business men were the most common witnesses in this category, perhaps because of their isolation at the time of the sighting.
Even before movies made them popular, there were many reports of encounters of the third kind.
This report was from Kelly-Hopkinsville in Kentucky in 1964.
Alien abductions are sometimes classified as close encounters of the fourth kind. Due to a lack of objective physical evidence, most of these cases are dismissed as deception, fantasy, sleep paralysis, psychopathology, and so on.
Both visible and invisible body markings were found on abductees.
Objects embedded in the hands and feet, yet with no evidence of a previous surgery
Ancient mummies and sky masks... evidence of early visitors?
A highly controversial piece of ancient art is the stone sarcophagus lid of the Mayan ruler K'inich Janaab Pakal I (also known as Pacal, 603 - 683). Discovered in 1952 in the Temple Pyramid of the Inscriptions in Palenque (pronounced Pu-lin-ka), Mexico, this lid either shows an ancient astronaut in his ship or just a symbolic journey to the underworld. (Click for an illustrated view of the lid)
Still more stuff to see!
It is clear that crop circles exist. The question is what creates them.... aliens, mysterious vortices, wind patterns, water spouts, sex-crazed hedgehogs (yes, that was indeed a theory), or simply human hoaxes.
It's not all that uncommon for pilots to see bizarre, unexplained things while in the air.
Unidentified flying objects come in many shapes and sizes.
The museum also included a wall of comedy.
This alien was created for the 1994 movie "Roswell."
Live long and prosper... apparently.
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