In the summer of 1947, a sheep rancher named Mac Brazel discovered a peculiar assortment of debris in his sheep pasture outside Roswell, New Mexico. Although local Air Force officials initially claimed it was a downed weather balloon, a prevailing belief persisted that it was the remnants of an extraterrestrial flying saucer. This notion was further fueled by the occurrence of secret “dummy drops” in New Mexico during the 1950s, which were experiments involving the release of bandaged, featureless dummies that bore an eerie resemblance to the stereotypical image of space aliens. These dummies were used to test ways for pilots to survive falls from high altitudes, and their landings raised suspicions among those who believed the government was covering up the truth about the Roswell incident. To these skeptics, it seemed like these dummies were extraterrestrial creatures being subjected to experiments by government scientists.
Years later, it was revealed that the military had more knowledge about the “flying saucer” than previously disclosed. A top-secret atomic espionage project known as Project Mogul was underway at New Mexico’s Alamogordo Air Field. Project Mogul utilized high-altitude balloons to transport low-frequency sound sensors into the tropopause, a distant part of Earth’s atmosphere that functions as a sound channel, enabling sound waves to travel vast distances without interruption. These scientists believed that by placing microphones in this sound channel, they could eavesdrop on nuclear tests, even those conducted by the Soviet Union. The debris discovered in Brazel’s field was linked to Project Mogul and constituted the remnants of a 700-foot-long array of neoprene balloons, radar reflectors, and sonic equipment launched from Alamogordo in June, which had crashed in early July of 1947.
Despite subsequent revelations and declassified documents, some individuals still maintain their belief in government cover-ups and alien landings in Roswell. While the Pentagon declassified most Project Mogul files in 1994 and produced a report intended to debunk the rumors, a portion of the population continues to adhere to the UFO theory. Each year, hundreds of thousands of curious individuals visit Roswell and its crash site, seeking to uncover the truth behind this mysterious incident.