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THE ROSWELL INCIDENT: CASE VERY MUCH NOT CLOSED
Researchers Tell of New Leads, New Progress, New Hope
No UFO case in history has been more thoroughly investigated, argued
over, satirized, distorted and debunked than the Roswell Incident of
July 1947. For the U.S. Air Force, it is the UFO case that refuses to
die despite being repeatedly stabbed through the heart. For many UFO
researchers, both in America and abroad, it is a case upon which far
too many hopes are hung, upon which far too much time and attention
has been lavished, while other and perhaps better cases have
languished.
And of course, even among those most devoted to Roswell, there are
endless arguments. Which is the true crash site, or sites? Who are the
most authentic witnesses? What is the exact timeline? What day,
indeed, did the crash really happen? Were there four bodies, or five,
or any at all? Was there one saucer or two? Where was the debris sent?
Who knew, and when did they know it?
And there are many tangential but related controversies as well, about
alien autopsies, about MJ-12 documents, about alleged shards of
debris. All told, Roswell is a sprawling mess of a case.
But, all that said, Roswell refuses to fold under pressure from those
who have tried to explain it away. The Roswell case is not closed, and
it shows every sign of remaining wide open for eternity.
And maybe the reason Roswell doesn’t just fade away is that it is
basically true—that behind all the smoke and confusion, there is too
much substance to ignore.
If fact, if CNI News were in the business of prophecy, we might
predict that one day, perhaps not too many years hence, there will
come a break in the case that shows once and for all, beyond the
slightest doubt, that something not of this world did crash a few
dozen miles from Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947, and was
retrieved by elements of the U.S. military under cover of great
secrecy, and has been the subject of much covert study and subterfuge
ever since. Yes, we might predict that the basic assumptions of people
like Stanton Friedman and Kevin Randle and Don Schmitt and a handful
of other notable Roswell researchers are correct, and will one day be
proven so.
In 1997, the world suddenly discovered Roswell. For one brief summer
around the 50th anniversary of the event, every kind of media wanted a
slice of the Roswell pie. All the U.S. networks and many foreign TV
affiliates examined Roswell from every conceivable angle. Roswell made
the cover of major magazines and headlined in major newspapers.
Roswell the town drew some 50,000 people to a week-long “celebration”
that was two parts serious and eight parts goofy, but huge by any
standard.
And then, the hoopla was over. And attention shifted elsewhere.
But Roswell, the UFO case, remains. If it is true, as described by its
ufological chroniclers, then it signifies something bigger than
conventional history and weirder than conventional wisdom can
contemplate. Maybe it is true.
Work on Roswell continues. A new research paper just received by CNI
News from long-time Roswell researcher Donald R. Schmitt, co-authored
by Thomas J. Carey, spells out some of the promising angles currently
under examination. Far from being tired or discouraged, Don Schmitt
for one is as enthused and determined as ever. The case is alive and
well. Progress is being made. New leads keep appearing. Here are some
highlights from Schmitt and Carey’s report, excerpted with permission.
With first-hand witnesses growing older and fewer in number every
year, the two researchers agreed in 1998 to collaborate on a new
effort to uncover any eyewitness testimony or material evidence that
may have been previously overlooked. For this purpose, they took two
trips to Roswell in May and October of 1998. “Contrary to finding a
stale, over-plowed landscape populated with well-worn paths and dry
holes, we were impressed by the number of new leads that we were able
to obtain, as well as some surprising new twists in the testimony of
‘old’ witnesses,” they write. “Right now, we believe that we are on
the verge of a new, or at least a modified, Roswell timeline and in
possession of more leads than we can ever hope to follow in our
lifetimes, given our present resources.”
One of the most urgent goals of Roswell research is to obtain an
authentic piece of the wreckage. There have been several provocative
claims in the recent past, but none that have gained widespread
acceptance among ufologists, not to mention mainstream scientists. But
Schmitt and Carey are confident that such physical evidence does
exist, and they have several promising leads:
“We are presently trying to enlist the cooperation of a first-hand
witness who claims to have actually held a piece of something similar
to Frankie Rowe’s ‘memory metal’ in his hands within the past two
years....
“We know of a retired MP (military policeman) who claims to have a
piece of the Roswell wreckage stored in his attic for safe keeping and
who will supposedly give up the piece to civilian investigators when
he dies....
“We have spoken several times to a relative of a well-known Roswell
personage who claims to know of parties who have pieces of the Roswell
crash material. When pressed further, he identified one of them as
none other than himself. When asked for its provenance, he stated
that it came, not from the craft, but from ‘one of the bodies’ and
that it is currently being analyzed by degreed professionals in the
appropriate forensic fields. He claims that the artifact is not a
tissue or fabric sample, but ‘something else’. He plans on going
public with this and other Roswell-related ‘evidence’ in his
possession in 1999. We shall see,” Schmitt and Carey write.
Also in the offing: a “full scale archeological dig” at the Foster
Ranch where the main debris field was located. The theory is that, if
small pieces of wreckage were strewn on the ground for as little as a
few hours, prairie dogs, rabbits and ground squirrels in the area
would have taken some samples into their burrows, where they might
well remain today.
Another lead: A young man named Fred Miller, who died in the Vietnam
war, had reportedly found pieces of wreckage and hidden them in a
nearby cave. Local legend had circulated for years about “Miller’s
cave.” Now, Schmitt and Carey say, they know where the cave is.
Among eyewitness testimony, “deathbed confessions” hold a special
significance. Several known participants in the Roswell incident have
already made dying remarks attesting that the UFO crash story is true.
More recently, Schmitt and Carey have heard from widows or children of
several deceased Roswell-era military personnel who have added new
details to the story. In at least one instance, there is a claim of
some significant documents left by a deceased relative. And, say the
authors, “we are aware of a former officer who was stationed at
Roswell in 1947 who is terminal and knows it. He has told his family
that he would like to make a statement concerning Roswell but at a
time of his own choosing. We have been in touch with the family who
has assured us that they will let us know when it is time.”
Then there are the so-called “reluctant witnesses.” Over the years,
several people have been identified as key players in the Roswell
incident, who have repeatedly refused to talk. Schmitt and Carey say
there are several such witnesses on their “most-wanted list.” One
example:
“There is a witness, still living at the relatively young age of 58
years old, whose identity is known to all Roswell investigators. He
saw everything and could solve this case for everyone tomorrow [and
put all of us out of our misery in the bargain]. The problem is: we
know who he is and where he is, but no one has interviewed him as yet.
Not for lack of trying, however. He has the knack of being able to
‘disappear’ every time an investigator gets near, so far with a 100%
success rate. How long can his luck continue? We keep trying and
hoping and are open to suggestions.”
Schmitt and Carey say that an accumulation of new testimony is helping
them refine the probable timeline and sequence of events, “causing us
to reconsider some prior conclusions as to what occurred, where it
occurred and when it occurred. Without giving the store away here, a
future article will suggest a new Roswell crash sequence while
answering the nagging question as to why the military kept ‘Mac’
Brazel in ‘custody’ for so long,” they say.
Finally, Schmitt and Carey note the contribution made by several
researchers who have been studying enlargements of the photos taken by
James Bond Johnson in the office of General Roger Ramey on July 8,
1947. In one of those photos, a teletype message in Ramey’s hand can
be seen to contain several readable words. Though most of the words
are indistinct at best, “there is no dispute whatsoever that the
phrase, ‘...victims of the wreck ...forwarded to Ft. Worth, Tex.’,
can be seen on the Ramey memo,” say the authors. They characterize
this phrase as a possible “smoking gun,” adding that it positively
proves that whatever crashed at Roswell was not a mere balloon,
Project mogul or otherwise.
Thus, the work continues. New leads keep developing, and older leads
beg for more attention. Roswell is the case NOT closed, and may one
day prove to be everything that UFO researchers have hoped for, and
more.
[Schmitt and Carey will make another trip to Roswell in March of this
year. The full text of the foregoing report will be published in an
upcoming edition of “Quest” magazine. Further reports will follow. Tom
Carey can be emailed at tcarey1947@aol.com. Don Schmitt does not have
email at this time.]