In mid 1947, a United States Air Force surveillance balloon crashed at a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, prompting claims alleging the crash was of an extraterrestrial spaceship. After an initial spike of interest, the military reported that the crash was merely of a conventional weather balloon. Interest subsequently waned until the late 1970s when ufologists began promulgating a variety of increasingly elaborate conspiracy theories, claiming that one or more alien spacecraft had crash-landed, and that the extraterrestrial occupants had been recovered by the military who then engaged in a cover-up. In the 1990s, the US military published reports disclosing the true nature of the crashed Project Mogul balloon. Nevertheless, the Roswell incident continues to be of interest in popular media, and conspiracy theories surrounding the event persist. Roswell has been called "the world's most famous, most exhaustively investigated, and most thoroughly debunked UFO claim"
The sequence of events was triggered by the crash of a Project Mogul balloon near Roswell. On July 8, 1947, the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) public information officer Walter Haut, issued a press release stating that personnel from the field's 509th Operations Group had recovered a "flying disc", which had crashed on a ranch near Roswell. The military decided to conceal the true purpose of the crashed device – nuclear test monitoring – and instead inform the public that the crash was of a weather balloon. Later that day, the press reported that Commanding General of the Eighth Air Force Roger Ramey had stated that a weather balloon was recovered by the RAAF personnel. A press conference was held, featuring debris (foil, rubber and wood) said to be from the crashed object, which matched the weather balloon description. Historian Robert Goldberg wrote that the intended effect was achieved: "the story died the next day". Subsequently the incident faded from the attention of UFO enthusiasts for more than 30 years. On June 14, 1947, William Brazel, a foreman working on the Foster homestead, noticed clusters of debris approximately 30 miles (50 km) north of Roswell, New Mexico. This date—or "about three weeks" before July 8—appeared in later stories featuring Brazel, but the initial press release from the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) said the find was "sometime last week", suggesting Brazel found the debris in early July. Brazel told the Roswell Daily Record that he and his son saw a "large area of bright wreckage made up of rubber strips, tinfoil, a rather tough paper and sticks." He paid little attention to it but returned on July 4 with his son, wife and daughter to gather up the material. Some accounts have described Brazel as having gathered some of the material earlier, rolling it together and stashing it under some brush.
The next day, Brazel heard reports about "flying discs" and wondered if that was what he had picked up. On July 7, Brazel saw Sheriff Wilcox and "whispered kinda confidential like" that he may have found a flying disc. Another account quotes Wilcox as saying Brazel reported the object on July 6. Wilcox called RAAF Major Jesse Marcel and a "man in plainclothes" accompanied Brazel back to the ranch where more pieces were picked up. "[We] spent a couple of hours Monday afternoon [July 7] looking for any more parts of the weather device", said Marcel. "We found a few more patches of tinfoil and rubber." As described in the July 9, 1947 edition of the Roswell Daily Record.
ROSWELL FOOTAGE SANTILLI
Fox television broadcast the footage in the United States on August 28, 1995 under the title Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction. The program caused a sensation, with Time magazine declaring that the film had sparked a debate "with an intensity not lavished on any home movie since the Zapruder film".Fox re-broadcast the program twice, each time to higher ratings, with the November 1995 broadcast winning its time slot again with 11.7 million viewers and a 14% share. Although in the broadcast version some parts of the autopsy were pixelized or edited out because of their supposed "graphic nature", the earlier versions[clarification needed] contained, Santilli claimed, the complete and unedited film, in addition to the previously unreleased footage of the wreckage which was presented as the remains of the alien craft reported to have crashed in Roswell. The Fox program features numerous well-known figures both in front of and behind the camera. Interviews with experts on the authenticity of the film include Oscar-winning special effects make-up artist Stan Winston, cinematographer Allen Daviau, and noted forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who considered the autopsy procedures in the film to be authentic but stopped short of declaring the being an alien.
In 2006, the events surrounding the release of the footage were adapted as a feature film, Alien Autopsy, a British comedy directed by Jonny Campbell and written by William Davies. The film gave a humorous reconstruction of the making of the Santilli film based on Santilli's statements, without commenting on the veracity of his claims. On April 4, 2006, days before the release of the film, Sky broadcast a documentary, Eamonn Investigates: Alien Autopsy, presented by Eamonn Holmes. In this program, Ray Santilli and fellow producer Gary Shoefield admitted that their film was actually a "reconstruction" containing only, in their words, "a few frames" from the original twenty-two rolls of film (each averaging four minutes in length), that Santilli had viewed in 1992. They explained that, by the time they had raised enough money to purchase the original, only a few frames were still intact, the rest having been degraded beyond the point of usability by heat and humidity.
Alien artifacts, supposedly items recovered from the crash site, were depicted in the footage. These included alien symbols and six-finger control panels, which Santilli describes in the Sky documentary as being the result of artistic license on his part. These artifacts were also created by Humphreys. The footage also showed a man reading a statement "verifying" his identity as the original cameraman and the source of the footage. Santilli and Shoefield admitted in the documentary that they had found an unidentified homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, persuaded him to play the role of the cameraman, and filmed him in a motel. The documentary was also released, slightly modified, on DVD in 2006.
INTERVIEW WITH JACK BARNETT
On December 19, 1996, Japanese Fuji TV broadcast a 6 minute video taped interview which presented the alleged "Jack Barnett", an old man, answering questions that Robert Kiviat, producer of "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction" gave Ray Santilli to have him the question answered by the cameraman. Allegedly, the videotape was done by the cameraman's own son. Here is a transcript of the interview:
"Jack Barnett": Ready? Okay. I have here some notes, and on these notes I have answers to precise questions. My son is here to help me with this interview. You will excuse me, this is the first time I have been in front of a camera and I am a little nervous. And I will use my glasses; and I have prepared a statement before we go on with the interview. I am the person who shot the film. I will not tell you my name but I want you to know that I am not happy that I have betrayed my country.
Our United States of America is the greatest country in the world and I am proud to be an American. I do not want that to change.
Question: What made you to become an army photographer?
"Jack Barnett": It wasn't my decision to become a cameraman in the military. They found out that cameras were something I understand and do best. And that's why I was given the job.
Question: What instructions did you receive from the army concerning a UFO in 1947?
"Jack Barnett": No comment.
Question: Why did you fly to New Mexico and did you receive any special instructions from the army?
"Jack Barnett": Yes, I remember I got a call from McDonald telling me to immediately report to General McMullen. When I got to McMullen I was told that a plane had come down just outside Soccoro, New Mexico. A flight was being laid on to go down there and I was to be on it. I was told to film the crash site and stay with the team, nothing else.
Question: Please tell us anything that you saw when you arrived at the crash site in New Mexico. Where and how did you get there?
"Jack Barnett": Now let's see...I flew out of Andrews with the team, mainly medical I think. We stopped at Wright Field to pick up other officers and men, changing planes and flew down to Roswell Air Base. Ah... we had a lot of equipment with us. After the flight we traveled by road and dirt track to the site.
Question: What instructions did you receive when you arrived at the site and what was your impression?
"Jack Barnett": There were injured creatures lying around, obviously in pain, but the men at the site were too scared to get close. Oh there was a great deal of confusion until we arrived. My authority allowed me to operate as an independent as long as I didn't interfere with the clean up. When I arrived, I set up my tent and equipment and once I had light, I started shooting. How did I feel about it? I was concerned about potential contamination, but I had no choice.
Question: Who else did you see at the location? Photographer? Scientist? Soldier?
"Jack Barnett": Even if I could remember, I wouldn't give you names! Yes, there were scientists, military brass, and medical experts, even Truman's team got down there, it was the full works.
Question: How was the situation of the site?
"Jack Barnett": We were told nothing and ordered not to discuss what we had seen. We all knew it was not a spy plane or any other type of plane we had seen before. No one knew how it crashed or where it came from.
Question: What did you take at the site?
"Jack Barnett": I filmed the crash site, also the poor freaks, and we were told to keep back. I filmed the vehicle itself and the area around it. I felt nervous of something I could not understand or explain.
Question: How did you communicate with the spacemen?
"Jack Barnett": The freaks kept crying out and the men were scared but they were trained and they were ordered to go in and treat it like a war situation. Their first job was to recover the objects the freaks were holding just in case they were weapons of some kind. I filmed the assault on the freaks to get these objects. It turned out they were not weapons, but control units of some kind. The freaks didn't want to let them go but they didn't stand a chance, we got 'em. Once the units were secured the freaks were removed.
Question: How did you keep the film after shooting and who developed it?
"Jack Barnett": I kept all the film with me, went back to the base and I processed it.
Question: What happened to the remains of the UFO after delivery?
"Jack Barnett": Where did it go? Give me the question again. Now the freaks were taken by the medical team to a lab that had been set up at Fort Worth; the debris and craft were taken to Wright Field.
Question: When was the spaceman cut up after the crash?
"Jack Barnett": The first autopsy took place about three weeks later. I filmed some at a small lab in Fort Worth.
Question: Under what instructions did you take pictures of the dissection?
"Jack Barnett": I was never given orders on how to shoot film, my brief was the same, film everything, but stay out of the way which is what I did.
Question: Who else was there for the dissection of spacemen?
"Jack Barnett": What do you think I am? I can't give names.
Question: What were difficult points in shooting of dissection?
"Jack Barnett": The protective suits made my job very difficult. Also the air feeds into the feet kept tripping me The surgeons were always getting in the way, but I expected that.
Question: How did you develop the film?
"Jack Barnett": [not audible] ...away I developed the film myself back at the base.
Question: What are problems after developing the film?
"Jack Barnett": Most of the processing took place around August, by the time the military as we knew it, ceased to be. The Air Force and the Army were about to split and my unit was about to be disbanded for a time anyway [laughs loudly]. In fact, you could say I was in a strange position for a time of not belonging to either one service. Then eventually they found a home for us.
Question: Why could you take back the film proving the existence of spacemen home with you?
"Jack Barnett": I took all the film because I had no one to report to. My orders were not to discuss the situation with anyone unless they brought up the subject first. The first batch had been delivered, then the department folded and I had no one to deliver to. I tried to contact McMullen, but I couldn't get through. In the end I couldn't leave it laying around so I took it home which is where it stayed.
Question: Why did you keep the film after 50 years?
"Jack Barnett": I didn't present film to an eager buyer, it didn't happen that way. One thing lead to another and I felt that there was no reason to keep hold of it any longer. Also I needed money at the time.
Question: How did you meet Ray Santilli?
"Jack Barnett": He was in Cleveland looking for music film. I had some footage I shot in '55 when I was freelancing and he was interested in buying it for a documentary. In fact I wouldn't have met him if it hadn't been for my son who discovered that a British company was in town looking for old film.
Question: Is there anyone that has seen the film in the past 50 years?
"Jack Barnett": No!
Question: How did you keep the film and protect it for 50 years?
"Jack Barnett": Now the film was kept safely hidden for about 40 years. I never got to handing it back and just didn't want it in the house. Keeping it secret was never a problem, as it was among other film cans; most of the time I didn't give it a thought.
Question: Was there any reaction from the US government to release such secret film of dissection, which influences the history of human being?
"Jack Barnett": I don't know. Thank heavens I haven't heard from them.
Question: [not understood] Some people think that you are used for global psychological test to see how much the world can be controlled through the existence of spacemen. What do you think?
"Jack Barnett": A test lasting 50 years! People can think what they like, all you have to do is look at the film. I can't tell you what these freaks are or where they came from, but it happened. Frankly, I wish I had never sold the film. He kept after me until I sold him the film. I sold him the film because I needed money. I’m not proud of it. Santilli took about 25 reels. That's it. I’m going now. No more questions. Turn it off. No more questions.