Associated Press
June 12, 2007 at 11:59 PM EDT
Is The Truth to be found in this remote New Mexico town?
Driving alone down a stretch of desolate highway en route to Roswell, I begin to understand why conspiracy buffs have long argued that aliens crash-landed in the desert here a half-century ago.
Darkness engulfs desert fields. A misshapen yellow moon hangs in the sky. Husks of abandoned buildings litter the roadside. Has an alien invasion already taken place? I notice a blinking light in the sky but quickly discern it’s an airplane.
Being out here by yourself is enough to make you think twice.
Enlarge ImageThere’s no shortage of alien-themed shops in
Roswell, N.M. – even the banks are spacey.
(Jake Schoellkopf/AP)
I do know this: There are other things out there in the universe, said John Turner, 78, who was working the desk of the International UFO Museum and Research Center on Roswell’s North Main Street when I visited.
I have secretly wanted to go to Roswell since I was a boy. What I got during my brief visit was a lesson in how a small city in the middle of the American Southwest – about 300 kilometres from Albuquerque became enshrined in American pop culture.
The 60th anniversary of the so-called “Roswell Incident” will be marked July 5-8 at the city’s annual UFO festival. City officials say 50,000 people are expected for the event, which will include lectures, book signings, tours, entertainment and, according to the organizers, perhaps an alien abduction or two.
There’s a new book coming out by Jesse Marcel Jr. (the son) about the Roswell Crash. I hope the book has new stuff in it!
I sincerely doubt that it will. Roswell was one of those seminal events in UFOlogy that is really far less significant in terms of alien contact, more significant as a cultural benchmark than people would have you believe.
If one reads between the lines just a little one can see a cover-up of a real secret project that has nothing at all to do with flying saucers or aliens. The public reaction to the abortive press release saying a flying disk was recovered prompted certain departments in the US military to start looking closely at this whole UFO thing. The study of public reaction and military response to the *appearance* of aliens is (I think) the real legacy of Roswell.
It’s fascinating to me how people can miss the real significance of something