OCTOBER 5, 2014.
Some folks believe this is the kind of UFO that crashed in a field near Roswell in 1947. The military denies it. I’m going to poke around town in the morning and see if I can get to the bottom of this mystery.
ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO. Visiting New Mexico without stopping in Roswell to learn about aliens, flying saucers and little green men just wouldn’t be right, would it? So we came here and parked at the local Elks Lodge. As I mentioned last year in an early post, I joined the Elks Club because lodges all across the country typically have RV parking. Anyhow, some lodges are better than others and we lucked out here in Roswell. There are 12 large pull-through spaces with hookups and lawn patio areas with good quality, sturdy picnic tables. The “park” is located in a large field with a view of the mountains in the distance. It’s not crowded at all…in fact there’s not another soul here. And it’s so quiet you could hear a pin drop!
THE CITY is located in the southeastern portion of New Mexico and has a population of about 48,000. It is a center for ranching, farming and petroleum production. There is a National Wildlife Refuge nearby on the Pecos River and a large State Park is also close to town. It is also the home of the New Mexico Military Institute, founded in 1891. That is a state-supported educational institution…one of five military junior colleges in the country. Graduates are commissioned in the US Army as second lieutenants. Many have served as senior level officers in Afghanistan. Tonight about 10 pm I was sitting outside our rig in the patio area, enjoying the warm evening with coffee and a good cigar when I faintly heard “Taps” being blown on a bugle…no doubt signaling the cadets at the military institute a couple miles away that it was time for “lights out.” On a military installation, “Taps” is the last bugle call of the day. Very relaxing. And a pretty neat RV site we’ve got, thanks to the Elks at Lodge 969 here in New Mexico.
Some folks believe this guy was the pilot of the flying saucer in the photo and that the US Military took him into custody. If I can find him in the morning I’m going to try to help him escape!
ROSWELL UFO INCIDENT. But the city’s true claim to fame is the UFO incident which occurred in the summer of 1947, when an Air Force surveillance balloon crashed at a ranch near Roswell. This gave rise to claims alleging the crash was of an extraterrestrial spaceship. After an initial spike of interest in the crash, the military, wishing to conceal the true purpose of the balloon which was to detect Soviet nuclear testing, reported that the crash was merely a conventional weather balloon. Interest in the crash subsequently waned until the late 1970’s. At that time “ufo-logists” began promulgating a variety of increasingly elaborate conspiracy theories claiming that one or more alien spacecraft had crash-landed and that the extraterrestrial occupants had been recovered by the military who then engaged in a cover-up. In the 1990’s, the US military published reports disclosing the true nature of the crashed Project Mogul balloon. Nevertheless, the Roswell incident continues to be of interest in popular media and conspiracy theories surrounding the event persist. Roswell has been called “the world’s most famous, most exhaustively investigated and most thoroughly debunked UFO claim.” That’s no fun. I think it’s kind of like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny…it’s fun to believe. In fact, I’m going to stay up late tonight and look around for some little green men!
Cattle ranching in Roswell. This is the kind of field where “the spaceship” crashed in 1947.
INTERNATIONAL UFO MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER. The museum is an educational organization with the mission of educating the general public on all aspects of the UFO phenomena. The museum maintains its position as the serious side of the UFO phenomena. We’re going to visit this place in the morning and determine once and for all what really crashed in a field here so long ago.
OCTOBER 9, 2014. MUSEUM UPDATE: We dutifully visited the UFO Museum this morning and I can now report that it was about as interesting as watching a card game on TV. There were a bunch of framed newspaper articles dealing with “the incident” in 1947 and all of the hullabaloo since then. There were also a few other exhibits…I’ve included a couple of pictures. The gift shop may have been the worst part of all. It had some Alien key-chains, super thin Alien T shirts and some blow-up Little Green Men, along with some other junk only a 4 year-old would want to own. Overall, the Museum wasn’t worth the price of admission…and that was only 3 bucks apiece! Oh, well…I suppose every single attraction we visit along the way won’t be a “10.” Anyway, we’re next headed to White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo, New Mexico. We’re excited to see it. Our research tells us the place is special. Hope so. See you there!
Entrance to the “World Famous” Roswell UFO Museum and Research Center. It was about as interesting as a cold bowl of soup!
All over town there are pictures and references to “Little Green Men.” Then…when you get to the whoop-dee-doo Museum, the models of ’em aren’t even green. Huh?
I don’t even understand what this exhibit is all about, but it was the most interesting display in the entire building. Just because.
Kinda gross, but sort of realistic-looking. It’s supposed to be, I guess, an Extraterrestrial on an exam table awaiting an autopsy.
