"War of the Worlds" 2 or Story of the Century?

In July 1938 in a CBS Mercury Theater radio program that terrified the nation, Orson Wells broadcast a live presentation of H.G.Wells' science-fiction novel, War of the Worlds. Only later did much of the eastern seaboard realize that it was science fiction, not an actual extraterrestrial invasion.

The following day, the New York Times front page announced: "Many flee homes to Escape Gas Raid from Mars..."

Ten years later, on July 8, 1947, the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issued a press release stating that personnel from the field's 509th Bomb Group had recovered a crashed "flying disc" from a ranch near Roswell, sparking intense media interest. Later the same day, the Commanding General of the Eighth Air Force stated that, in fact, a weather balloon had been recovered by RAAF personnel, rather than a "flying saucer." A subsequent press conference was called, featuring debris said to be from the crashed object that seemed to confirm the weather balloon description.

In breaking news yesterday, Sunday July 1, it was announced that "Roswell Officer Gives Deathbed Confession That He Did Personally See the Aliens Corpses." In what might be one of the most incredible confessions of the century, the officer also revealed details about the alien’s spacecraft, the alien bodies and the government’s cover-up operation.

Is this a repeat of Wells Mercury Theater broadcast -science fiction- or will it actually prove out as fact?

Lieutenant Walter Haut was the public relations officer at the base in 1947 and was the man who issued the original and subsequent press releases after the crash on the orders of the base commander, Colonel William Blanchard.

Haut died last year but left a sworn affidavit to be opened strictly after his death. The statement was revealed just recently. Others who made similar statements in life were persecuted and ridiculed by the military, so it is likely that Haut kept his secret out of fear or a sense of duty. However, his confession matches that of others who personally saw the craft or bodies.

Last week, the text was released and asserts that the “weather balloon” claim was a cover story and that the real object had been recovered by the military and stored in a hangar. He described seeing not just the craft, but alien bodies as well.

Haut's affidavit mentions a high-level meeting he attended with base commander Col William Blanchard and the Commander of the Eighth Army Air Force, General Roger Ramey.

Haut states that at this meeting, pieces of wreckage were handed around for participants to touch, with nobody able to identify the material. His testimony matches the key witness, Major Jesse Marcel’s testimony , the intelligence officer who had gone to the ranch to recover the wreckage. He described the metal as being wafer thin but incredibly tough, and that it was as light as balsa wood, but couldn't be cut or burned.

Haut says the 2nd false press release was issued because locals were already aware of the crash site, but in fact there had been a second crash site, where more debris from the craft had fallen.

The cover-up plan was that an announcement acknowledging the first site, which had been discovered by a farmer, would divert attention from the second and more important location.

Haut also details the clean-up operation, where for months afterwards military personnel scoured both crash sites searching for all remaining pieces of debris, removing them and attempting to erase all signs that anything unusual had occurred.

This fits perfectly with the claims made by locals that debris collected as souvenirs was seized by the military. Locals who had “seen things” were bullied by the military to stay quiet.

Haut then tells how Colonel Blanchard took him to "Building 84" - one of the hangars at Roswell - and showed him the craft itself.

He describes a metallic egg-shaped object around 3.6m-4.5m in length and around 1.8m wide.

He said he saw no windows, wings, tail, landing gear or any other feature.

He saw two bodies on the floor, which he described in his statement as about 1.2m tall, with disproportionately large heads.

Towards the end of the affidavit, Haut concludes: “ [what] I personally observed was some kind of craft and its crew from outer space".

What is particularly interesting about Walter Haut is that in the many interviews he gave before his death, he played down his role and made no such claims. Dutiful up until the end, he would surely have spoken about the craft and the bodies in life had he wanted the publicity.

Historically, whether or not aliens exist has been an uncomfortable topics for many people. As with other so-called “conspiracy theories”, there’s the fear that you’ll be instantly labeled as “nuts” if you dare to venture an open-minded opinion.

However, that knee-jerk reaction is disappearing, especially in light of Haut’s confession, but also as prominent astrophysicists begin to voice their opinions that the odds are quite good that we are not alone in the universe. If you can accept that life could have formed somewhere in infinity, then it’s not too far stretch to accept that another life form—likely much older and more advanced that human beings—could have mastered space travel. After all, we ourselves have already mastered a rudimentary form of it.

The infamous Roswell “cover-up” is probably the best-known “alien” incident. For those of you unfamiliar with the full history—here’s a summary of events:

60 years ago, Pilot Kenneth Arnold was flying when he saw some bright lights, on tried to get in closer for a better visual and noticed the lights were actually a group of nine shiny metallic objects flying in a formation.

He estimated their speed as being around 2600km/h - nearly three times faster than the top speed of any jet aircraft at the time. Soon after, similar reports began to come in from all over America.

On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) issued a press release, which stated that personnel from the field's 509th Bomb Group had recovered a crashed "flying disc" from a ranch near Roswell.

Military authorities original press release began: "The many rumours regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence officer of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc."

Yet, just 24 hours later, the military changed their story and claimed the object they'd first thought was a "flying disc" was a weather balloon that had crashed on a nearby ranch.  Later that day, top officials revised the statement to say that it was a hot air weather balloon. But wouldn’t air force personnel—who actually saw the object in question—know the difference between a “flying disc” and a balloon? Everyone was confused, but wanted to trust their government had a handle on things.

The case was quickly closed until years later when Major Jesse Marcel (who was involved with the original recovery of the debris in 1947) said that the military had indeed covered up the recovery of an alien spacecraft. Local mortician, Glenn Dennis, also put forth a detailed personal account that Roswell alien autopsies were carried out at the Roswell base, for which he could personally testify. He said he was contacted by authorities at Roswell shortly after the crash and asked to provide a number of child-sized coffins. When he arrived at the base, he was apparently told by a nurse (who later disappeared) that a UFO had crashed and that small humanoid extraterrestrials had been recovered.

Others testified to having seen the alien corpses as well, but were “bullied” by the government to keep their “mouths shut.” The government later responded that the creatures that eyewitnesses saw were not aliens but dummies that looked like aliens. That explanation has been widely criticized as making absolutely no sense, and for being ridiculous and patronizing.

German-born American astrophysicist Bernard Haisch, Ph.D., who was editor of the Astrophysical Journal for ten years, and served as Principal Investigator on several NASA research projects, says that he does not discount the possibility that the government has covered up UFO evidence and artifacts in the past.

Haisch reports that recently astrophysicist Ken Olum at Tufts University argued that inflation theory predicts that we should find ourselves part of a large, galaxy-sized civilization, implying that the "We are alone" solution to Fermi's paradox  that "if aliens are out there why haven't we found them" is inconsistent with our best current theory of cosmology. Beatriz Gato-Rivera, a physicist at the Instituto de Matematicas y Fisica in Madrid, followed up with the hypothesis that Olum is correct, but that by design we would be kept unaware of a greatly advanced surrounding civilization. She also argues that modern superstring and M-brane theory further aggravate Fermi's "missing alien" problem.

"It is quite strange," Haisch has written, "that while our best modern physics and astrophysics theories thus predict that we should be experiencing extraterrestrial visitation, any possible evidence of such in the form of a subset of UFO reports is ignored or ridiculed."

“I have learned quite a bit about the UFO phenomenon over the years (certainly more than I had bargained for)," Haisch noted, "and have met many of the leading figures, some credible, some deluded...There are astronomers and pilots and NASA engineers—and others who have been around the block a few times when it comes to observing natural phenomena—who have witnessed events for which there is no plausible conventional explanation...There is another aspect to the UFO phenomenon that involves politics and secrecy rather than observational evidence. Over the years I have gotten to know individuals who for one reason or another would be aware of the existence of black programs and secret projects…I have learned how it would indeed be possible to maintain decades-long secrecy on this topic and why this might be justified.”

But why would our government lie to us about this and other incredible events? Is the public deemed too stupid, or unpredictable to handle the truth? This is a scary thought, but the only logical explanation for the cover-up. Initial reports spoke of having “captured” an alien craft. So the still unanswered question is whether the craft crashed on it’s own.

Posted by Rebecca Sato with Casey Kazan.

Related Galaxy Posts:

The Worldwide UFO Phenomenon -Religion or Science?

Orson Wells on his Mercury Theater Broadcast of H.G. Well's "War of the Worlds"

UFOs as Pop Art & Mythology
 

Source

Declassified Government Documents

Timeline for UFO Sightings

George Haisch

Comments

[D!]

You are just advocating personal opinions about the existence of UFOs and Conspiracy Theories without any strong evidence to support it, and thus trying to spread your "religious" thought about this matter. Still doesn't convince me, and I'm sad for the biased view of yours.

[true skeptics aren't scoffers]

D!, Your comment is ridiculous. A Roswell PR Officer dies leaving a sworn affidavit that he saw the alien craft and alien bodies. That is real news. That's incredible, mind-bending news. I accept that you are too narrow-minded to consider anything you didn't hear from your 5th grade science teacher, but other large & reputable news sites have reported on Haut's affadavit as well. News is news. This site reports on interesting news. Sounds like you're the biased one! I'm sad for YOUR biased view that a dying man can't say what he believes to be true, and that no one should be allowed to report news that doesn't mesh well with YOUR personal beliefs.

[Scott]

My comment is this. Where are they ? Discussing this issue reminds me of the evolution/creationism debate. You either believe this event happened as described or you do not. No amount of rational discussion is going to change any ones opinion. This event has become a religion and the belief structure has become fixed.

Scott -Agree, completely. Personally, I'm not a believer, but it's a great story. ...Casey.

[D!]

Completely agree with Scott, too. Sorry for being a bit harsh on my previous comment, I admit I have strong feelings on that subject. It's just I think the way Carl Sagan's in "Demon-Haunted World", specially when it comes to the strength of the evidences. But I see the replier to my comment is very upset! Cool down, man, it may be true, it's just that second hand stories don't persuade me at all.
But I still believe in Santa! ;-)

[D!]

I forgot to say that I LOVE Daily Galaxy, by the way! :-)

[kmct10]

Two truths are evident about this story: 1) even if untrue, the public seems determined to believe in an alien craft at Roswell - apparently it reflects what we want to believe, and what common sense dictates, that we are by no means alone, and 2) a main characteristic of all large beauracracies is that they tend to protect their own reputations at the expense of the truth - because they have the power to get away with it, and they are never more paranoid than when they feel powerless.

Considering the ignorance, paranoia and hysteria of the post-war era, and the great embarassment to the govt which would be caused by such a "revelation" from space, the govt had plenty of motivation to deeply bury this truly awesome and incomprehensible event, using their well-honed apparatus for intimidation and threat, which has recently re-emerged in this new era of paranoia in facing a ruthless and mysterious enemy.

To admit that they covered it up is to further admit their incompetence, fear and ignorance, which govt's rarely do. Sadly, the gov't seems far less able to handle this exciting reality than the public. And it's also believable that is was just a weather balloon, since the headline was printed before any formal evidence had been collected, and the cultural and political paranoia could have produced the ridiculous presumption about a "saucer".

Regarding the "where are they" qustion, it only makes sense that we would be deliberately kept in the dark by a superior civilsation. If they are truly "superior" then they should have a superior ethical sense enough to not want to interfere with us. And for a more self-serving and practical reason, who would want to bear the burden of a less developed civilisation, especially if there are millions of us, as common sense dictates there must be? Imagine us constantly clamoring to them to "share your technology"? To what end? So we could fight more horrific wars and provide a new competitor to them? What a pain in the neck and guilty burden we would be. No, it makes no sense that they would want us to know about them at all, except from the irresponsible or juvenile among them. And from those, please protect us!

There continue to be regular reporting of cattle mutilations around our globe, which usually means surgical removal of the gonads, suggesting that someone is here collecting presumably genetic material, of which cattle are apparently adequate suppliers. This paints a disturbing picture of an advanced society which is heavily invested in genetic manipulation of some kind, whether for offense, defense or indulgent self-"improvement", which are the exact directions in which our own technology is leading us. It's a disturbing picture of whatever "they" are up to here, and our own future in their footsteps.

[cho]

people = stupid (most of us)
government = responsible
aliens = curious/not that smart

for aliens is like for us to try to talk to a gorilla

if the government wouldn't hide the story, people (aka stupid gorillas) would go nuts in fear

if the government shot the ship down, they just made a threat to our life

[bertvere]

One would think that if there is no substance to the story(aliens are here)
that the goverment would not have kept up secret studies of UFOs all this time.
It is well proven that the military has a two level reporting system in operaqtion, and has been hiding a large quantity of information for long time.
I can think of plenty of reasons for doing such a hing,and not all are beneficial to us citzens.
The military/industrial control of our society is awsomely near complete.
Soon spy satelites will be employed in tracking US citzens without their knowledge or consent.Data mining technologies,
in place already, capable of keepinmg track of the entire population of America in great detail.
All telephones are monitored all over the country by satelite, and ground stations,and every conversation is sifted for key words and phrases.Thanks to new advances in computing power.
The UFO secrecy is merely one more facet of the goverments agenda of disempowering us.
In fact, the evidence has culminated in sufficient amount to virtually be proof of their existance ,DESPITE THE WALL OF SECRECY, AND DISINFORMATION THEY HAVE THROWN UP TO HIDE THE TRUTH.