On July 4, 1947, in the town of Roswell, New Mexico, several people witnessed the crash and wreckage of an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO). "These credible witnesses, included respected members of the local medical, law-enforcement, military, and scientific communities. The eyewitnesses describe five extraterrestrial beings, the interior of their spaceship, and loose pieces of debris with inexplicable properties." (Randle, Schmitt)

In the television series "The X-Files", several episodes show high ranking members of the FBI attempting to cover up UFO sightings. The series and the incident at Roswell inspired me to attempt to answer this research question. Is the government really trying to cover up UFO sightings? My thought on this, which may coincide as to why the government attempts to cover up these sightings, is to recall a radio program broadcasted by Orson Welles.

"On October 31, 1938, Welles and the Mercury Theater broadcasted a dramatization of H.G. Wells tale ‘War of the Worlds’ which recounted a Martian invasion of Earth. Although Welles informed listeners at the start of the program that they were listening to a fictional radio drama, thousands of listeners who tuned in late believed that the Earth was indeed under alien attack and panic soon followed." (War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast)

I believe it is because of this reason that the government does attempt to cover up UFO sightings. They have already witnessed first-hand what an event like this can do to the safety of the public.

Taking the events surrounding the Roswell incident as an example, "Air Force officials initially reported that they had discovered debris from a crashed "flying disk." The next day, the Air Force’s official explanation was that the debris had come from a downed weather balloon." (Nardo)

The incident at Roswell is just one of many examples of our government’s interference with our right to know. Do you believe that there is a cover-up? According to Leslie McAney in an article written in the Gallup Poll Monthly, "Seventy-one percent expressed their belief that the US government knows more about UFOs that it is publicly admitting. Seventy-two percent said that they believe in the existence of some form of life, but only 38% claimed to believe that aliens show themselves in human form." (McAney)

A look through the below listed articles, books, encyclopedias, and websites should help you decide for yourself. Also if you’re a big fan of "The X-Files" you already know what the answer is.

 

Emigration and immigration -- Economic aspects

Illegal aliens

United States -- Emigration and immigration

Barker, Gray. They Know Too Much About Flying Saucers. N.Y:University Books,1956

Berliner, Don. "Has the US Air Force Dispelled Longstanding Claims of a Government Coverup of a UFO Incident in Roswell, N.M., in 1947." CQ Researcher, 29 March 1996. 281

Berlitz, Charles. The Bermuda Triangle. N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974

Brown, Stuart F. "What Crashed in Roswell?" Popular Science October 1994: 30.

Chambers, Howard V. The Facts on the Flying Saucer Controversy. N.Y. Gossett and Dunlapp. 1968

Daniken, Erich Von. Chariots of the Gods. N.Y. G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 1969

Davidson, Leon. Flying Saucers: An Analysis of the Air Force Project Blue Book Special Report #14. City,WVA.: Saucerian Books, 1971.

Darlington, David. Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles. N.Y: Henry Holt and Co., Inc. 1997

Fagan, Kevin. "Date With the Aliens. Hordes to Descend on Roswell, N.M." San Francisco Chronicle. 30 June 1997: A1.

Friedman, Stanton T. "More on UFOs"<http://www.primenet.com/bdzeiler/papers/phystod1.html>. May 1998[Accessed 8 May 1998]

Goldsmith, Donald and Tobias, Owen. "Visitors to Earth?" Mercury. Sept/October 1992. 155+

Good, Timothy. Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up. City:Quill. 1989

Heseman, Michael and Mantle, Philip. Beyond Roswell: The Alien Autopsy Film, Area 51, and the US Government Cover-up of UFOs. City: Shooting Star Press. 1997

Keyhoe, Donald E. The Flying Saucer Conspiracy. N.Y. H.Holt. 1955

McAney, Leslie. "Large Majority Think Government Conceals Information about UFOs." The Gallup Poll Monthly, Sept. 1996: 23

Nardo, Don. Flying Saucers: Opposing Viewpoints. City:Greenhaven Press. 1996

Pearce, Fred. "Yes, We Have No Dead Extraterrestrials." New Scientist. 1 October 1994. 4

Randle, Kevin D. UFOs in the ‘90s. N.Y. M. Evans and Co., Inc. 1997

The author of The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell investigates UFO related incidents such as the abduction of Travis Walton, the Operation Majestic-Twelve (MJ-12) documents, and the Alien Autopsy video. Randle gives his conclusion on each incident and also gives an update on the final Air Force report on the incident in Roswell.

Randle, Kevin D. and Schmitt, Donald R. The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell. N. Y.: M. Evans and Co, Inc. 1994.

The author and his co-author interview dozens of first-hand witnesses regarding the crash of a UFO which occurred in Roswell, New Mexico on July 4, 1947. They also present several documents supporting their claims that the U.S. government attempted to cover up the crash and claim that debris from the crash sight was from a weather balloon instead of wreckage from a flying saucer. The team also present as evidence a sequence of events leading up to and after the event on July 4, 1947. These sequence of events leads the reader to not come to a conclusion, but rather a speculation that the government may have been trying to cover up something.

Rothenberg, Randall. "Area 51, Where Are You? Route 375 in Nevada declared ‘Extraterrestrial Highway’". Esquire. September 1996. 88+

Sagan, Carl. Contact. N.Y: Simon and Schuster. 1985

Stacy, Dennis. "Cosmic Conspiracy: Six Decades of Government UFO Cover-ups." Omni. July 1994. 54+

UFOINFO. 25 April 1998 <http://ufoinfo.com> [Accessed 8 May 1998]

This webpage is a civilian organization and "attempts to investigate all UFO reports on a scientific, objective, and unbiased manner and make accurate and reliable information."

"War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast" 27 February 1998<http://www.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/SETI/History/wells.html>. [Accessed 30 April 1998]

Washington, Mary D. "Pentagon Closes Real-Life X-file after ‘Solving’ the Roswell Affair." The Independent. (London) 25 June 1997: 12

The U.S. Air Force gives a "final report" on the incident in Roswell, N.M by stating that the "aliens" "were in fact dummies used in experiments in the Fifties to test the effect of high parachute drops on human bodies." However, Washington states that if the crash was only a downed weather balloon, this does not explain why "the US authorities mounted such a massive operation to recover and secure the site or why top-level officials were flown to the scene.

 

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These materials may be used for educational purposes, but please inform and credit the author and cite the source as: LSCI 105 Computerized Research. All commercial rights are reserved. Send comments or suggestions to: Eric Brenner at brenner@smcccd.cc.ca.us