1/22/18: Since returning from New York, one of the first places we wanted to visit was Sierra Vista, AZ. Pat’s dad and his wife, Lin, have lived there for the past 15 years or so. We hadn’t seen Pat’s dad in about a year, and hadn’t seen Lin in almost three. It was well past due for a visit. We finally had a window of opportunity at the end of January, and took advantage of it. As we were looking at the map and route we were taking, we saw that Roswell, NM, was right on the way. We definitely had to stop there!
The incident
Roswell is one of the most well-known UFO incidents in history. Millions of people around the world believe that, in 1947, one or more UFOs crashed on a remote ranch near Roswell, and that the government covered it up, claiming (originally) the crash was nothing more than a weather balloon. Since then, hundreds of people with knowledge of the events have been interviewed and have claimed that, in addition to UFO wreckage, the government recovered the bodies of (at least) 4 alien creatures, and at least one was still alive (for those that follow things like this, the bodies were those of ‘The Greys’, which are the most prominent alien species in UFO culture). Researchers have uncovered secret government documents which lend credence to the events at Roswell. And the government has, on more than one occasion, changed the ‘official’ story of the Roswell events, only adding fuel to the conspiracy theories of a government cover-up. The entire story is far more complex than this, and there are hundreds of websites devoted to the events surrounding Roswell. One thing is certain: something happened there, and the town had become a tourist attraction for believers and non-believers alike.
The town
Everywhere you look in Roswell, you see UFOs and aliens (interestingly, most of the aliens are green, not grey, probably an homage to the belief in 1947 of ‘little green men from Mars’). The hotel we stayed at had a carving of an alien outside and dozens of posters inside portraying UFOs and aliens. Dozens of stores in the downtown area sell UFO and alien related gifts, and many businesses and restaurants have aliens or UFOs blended into their decor. The downtown McDonald’s is shaped like a UFO, and lights up at night with red and yellow fluorescent lights. And the city is also home to The International UFO Museum And Research Center, which contains displays from various UFO incidents around the world and has an extensive library focused on the field of UFOs.
We spent a couple hours at the museum, and it was quite interesting and informative. Most of the displays and videos they show center around the Roswell incident, but there are many from other events as well. Some are even dedicated to the ‘ancient alien theory’, which suggests that aliens have been visiting us for thousands of years, and interacted with many of our historical cultures including the Mayans, Egyptians, and Sumerians. Before we left, we stopped by the museum gift shop, and bought a few mementos of our visit. It was a fun and quirky place to stop. Obviously, it’s not for everyone, but we had a good time visiting Roswell.
Pics of Roswell
