Roswell “Invents” the Aliens Although most established scientists argue against the Roswell-ET notion, or ignore it altogether, skeptics must admit that the Army handled itself badly. Inept military-speak in the official press release and in remarks that came later did little except encourage public doubt about what happened. The “weather balloon” explanation is not impossible … Read more
More Revelations A popular 1997 book, Philip Corso and William J. Birnes’s The Day After Roswell, explicitly ties MJ-12 to government-sanctioned study of other planets and extraterrestrials. Among proponents of the ET/MJ-12 relationship, Corso (who died in 1998) had particular credibility, as he was a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who had worked in counterintelligence … Read more
So What’s the Story, Really? The accounts dating to mid-June 1947 inevitably interfere with the more common Mac Brazel timeline: did Brazel discover the debris on June 14 or two weeks later? At this juncture, there may no longer be an answer to that. Certainly, the “thunder” recollections of Dan Wilmot and others (including Brazel … Read more
Always Roswell: Not Just Another Day in the Desert Even the date of the onset of the Roswell mystery is a topic of debate. June 14, 1947, is the earliest among many. It was on that day—or perhaps three weeks later, on July 7—that ranch foreman William “Mac” Brazel, with his young son Vernon in … Read more
Kenneth Arnold’s Adventure of a Lifetime If Kenneth Arnold had been a Hollywood actor registered with Central Casting, he would have been called for jobs playing police lieutenants, attorneys, Army majors, and businessmen. In 1947, he was handsomely masculine, with dark hair swept to one side in a sensible pompadour; and level, dark eyes set … Read more
“The World of Tomorrow” The Future Is Now—Don’t Get Trampled The Modernism that defined the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago presaged a related yet fundamentally different philosophy, futurism. Less apprehensive about industrialization than the Modernists, Futurists celebrated industry’s dynamism, and the sheer, aggressive joy of technology. In his 1909 “Manifesto of Futurism,” Italian poet … Read more
Chaos in Antarctica For nearly three generations, rumors have swirled around Operation Highjump, a 1946 U.S. Navy training exercise in Antarctica that supposedly failed because of troops’ unexpected and disastrous encounter with advanced aircraft flying out of a secret Antarctic base. The precise nature of the claims varies, but two elements are constant: that the … Read more
Important Sightings, 1939–45 Military pilots active during these years witnessed a variety of unidentified aircraft, and chased (or were chased by) some of them. Fliers attributed some incidents to foo fighters. Civilian sightings of the period are no less puzzling. 1939: During a professional visit to Washington, D.C., a Greenwich, Ohio, minister named Turner Hamilton … Read more
Balloon Bombs, Plus Other Nastiness Attack from the air is unnerving as well as potentially deadly. People, particularly civilians, do not cotton to the idea of harmful things dropping onto them from the sky. That’s one psychological advantage held by purveyors of airborne warfare, and what drove the Japanese to pursue a strategically worthless but … Read more
UFOs and the Battle of Los Angeles The most astounding battle of World War II may not have been a proper battle at all, but just a bit of a misunderstanding. And although recognized as having occurred in and above Los Angeles on February 24–25, 1942, the real “battle”— such as it was—took place a … Read more
