International UFO Museum, Roswell, New Mexico, USA

Jun 29, 2022 | City, Museum, USA: New Mexico

The International UFO Museum And Research Center focused largely on the 1947 Roswell Crash and later supposed UFO incidents in the United States and elsewhere.

International UFO Museum: 114 N Main St, Roswell, New Mexico, USA

Buildings near the museum.

The museum.

What happened in Roswell in 1947? According to History.com,

Sometime between mid-June and early July 1947, rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel found the wreckage on his sizable property in Lincoln County, New Mexico, approximately 75 miles north of Roswell. Several “flying disc” and “flying saucer” stories had already appeared in the national press that summer, leading Brazel to believe the wreckage—which included rubber strips, tinfoil, and thick paper—might be something of that ilk. He brought some of the material to Sheriff George Wilcox of Roswell, who in turn brought it to the attention of Colonel William Blanchard, the commanding officer of the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF).

The next day, the RAAF released a statement, writing, “The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff’s office of Chaves County.”

The following day, the Roswell Daily Record ran a story about the crash and the RAAF’s astonishing claim. But U.S. Army officials quickly reversed themselves on the “flying saucer” claim, stating that the found debris was actually from a weather balloon, releasing photographs of Major Marcel posing with pieces of the supposed weather balloon debris as proof.

So, was it a flying saucer or a weather balloon?

According to the museum, the following are the testimonies of people during that time.