New Mexico, USA, 14th June 1947
William Brazel, farmer, was riding across his property with his son, when there was a great noise over their heads which scared the horses, who reared up and galloped away. Brazel managed to control his horse and began to chase his son, whose horse was continuing to gallop at full speed. With a huge effort Brazel caught up with the boy, grabbed the reins and brought both horses to a halt. When father and son calmed down and looked up at the sky, they saw a huge trail of smoke which was heading towards the east.
‘My God, what was that?’
‘I don’t know, Dad, but it was a terrible noise.’
‘it must have been another of those balloons the government sends up to monitor the weather. Follow me, son, let’s go that way.’
The two of them galloped towards the tail of the smoke trail, which extended from the sky to the ground. After riding some three miles they came on a wide trail of destruction across the earth. They were behind a hill, now outside the limits of the farm, and they rode down it in search of the end of the trail.
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‘Dad, I think it was a plane. Look at that stuff that’s been thrown out,’ said the boy, pointing at some wreckage.
‘That’s odd, planes don’t fly in these parts.’
Going along the edge of the furrows, they could see big pieces of metal scattered everywhere. The objects were the color of silver and didn’t seem to be battered, just cut. The horses started to get uneasy and then stopped dead, unwilling to go any further. The men dismounted and as they walked, felt heat which was getting ever hotter.
‘Son, stay here and I’ll go ahead to see what it is.’
William hurried up to the top of another hill and saw in the distance another scrape in the ground and broken pieces everywhere. Night was falling and he decided to go home. Before remounting his horse he picked up a piece of metal which formed part of a trail of broken objects. Then he went back to the farmhouse with his son.
As the broken pieces weren’t on his property, Brazel stopped worrying about them. Days passed and nearly a month later he decided to return to the place where the furrows were, to see if anyone had picked it all up. This time he went with his family: his wife, his son and his daughter. When they got to the place, the scratch in the ground was less deep, but the broken pieces were still there. The horses didn’t panic this time and so the family managed to get closer to where the pieces were concentrated. All of them dismounted and began to pick up small pieces of metal.
Near the end of the furrow, they could see a rounded object, made of metal and very large. it looked like a military plane but it had no wings, and the markings on the hull were different from the usual lettering. ‘It looks like it’s written in Japanese or Russian,’
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he thought. William was afraid and he told his family not to stay there.
‘let’s get out of here. it must be a russian plane. When i go into town i’ll tell the sheriff.’
They went back towards the farmhouse, but first dropped in on their neighbor, their friend Floyd. William told him what they had seen and showed him one of the objects they had picked up. The neighbor then told them that rewards were being offered to anyone who could provide evidence of the existence of flying saucers, and asked if what William had seen could be a flying saucer. William was excited at the idea of the money. The next day he went to the police station to tell his story to the sheriff George Wilcox. George listened carefully to what he had to say and immediately phoned the air base at Roswell, to report what the farmer had told him.
That same day they sent Major Jesse Marcel and Captain Sheridan Cavitt to the place where the wreckage had been found, to check out the report, since William’s testimony coincided with what they had been told about a month earlier by people who had called the base reporting a meteor falling from the sky.
When they got to the wreckage, the officers immediately identified the ship as being alien to planet earth. What seemed to be the rear part was totally destroyed and they could see the inside through the hole made in it. The officers quickly contacted the base and asked for reinforcements. Carefully the major and the captain went closer to the ship. underneath it they found two burnt bodies. From their size they seemed like children, but the bone structure was different.
The major started to climb over the wreckage, examining it with a torch, as he went into the ship. Soon he was standing inside it, and 161
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from there he could see his colleague, also with a torch in his hands and pointing it at him. he went forward carefully. After a few steps he could see a body lying on the ground. It wasn’t burnt, but it was a different sort of being, with grey skin like leather, similar to a dolphin’s skin. The major was speechless and sweated nervously.
he shone the light on to the creature’s face and saw that it was dead.
Advancing a little more, he heard a sound coming from inside the ship. Perhaps something had fallen. Major Jesse recoiled in alarm and shone his torch into the distance. A being identical to the one on the ground was trying to hide in a corner of the ship. it was alive but very badly hurt. The major went forward slowly. In spite of the fear he felt, something was telling him that he was not in danger, since he was there to help. The officer came nearer and kneeled down so as to be at the same level as the creature. he slowly put out his hand and touched it on the shoulder. The creature was sitting on the ground, seeming weak and very badly hurt. on its face a vertical membrane opened and closed, giving it an exhausted look.
Jesse stayed there with the creature, so that it would understand he wasn’t going to hurt it. some minutes later the sound of trucks and jeeps could be heard. The captain, who was waiting outside, called out:
‘Major, the cavalry has arrived!’
‘I’m on my way back,’ the major shouted back.
And in a gentle voice, he said to the creature:
‘Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here. We’ll look after you.’
After some activity and having received Major Jesse Marcel’s report, a medical team, wearing specially insulated suits, laid the creature on a stretcher and carried it into an ambulance. Meanwhile 162
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another team of army doctors searched the ship, looking for more survivors. The military sealed off the area, giving out that a truck laden with chemical products had had an accident near there. in a few hours the ship and all the wreckage had been removed from the scene. The bodies were taken to a military base. The next day, a headline in the Roswell Daily Record proclaimed: Roswell Military Air Base Captures Flying Saucer on Neighborhood Farm.
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