ROSWELL, NM | Surrounded by a barren desert landscape, Roswell seems the perfect location for a UFO incident, and in fact, on July 4, 1947, it was. At about 11:50 p.m. rancher Mac Brazel heard a loud noise different from the thunder that had been shattering the quiet in the desert that night.
At the same time two nuns at St. Mary’s Hospital in Roswell saw what they thought was an airplane crash. The tower at the Roswell Air Base also tracked and reported a “descending flash” they had followed on radar.
The subsequent investigation into what happened that night would become known as the Roswell Incident and would spark the imaginations of science fiction writers and UFO investigators for decades to come. The International UFO Museum and Research Center in downtown Roswell chronicles the incident, as well as other UFO sightings from around the world.
It was in early 1990 that Walter Haut, the public information officer at Roswell Army Air Field in 1947, began working on finding a permanent home for items relating to the Roswell Incident he covered as a soldier. He also wanted to document other UFO sightings. He and Glenn Dennis, who worked at the local funeral home, got together and began planning for a UFO museum.
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In a pamphlet written by Dennis, he details how the military at the base contacted him at the funeral home with some very intriguing questions. They asked if he had any baby caskets 3 feet 6 inches to 4 feet in length and hermetically sealed. Dennis said they had one on display and one in the storeroom but he could order more.
He asked the officer on the phone what was going on and got the cryptic reply, “We are just having a conference about the future, in case something happens and we need a lot of them.” Dennis ordered the small coffins and then received another call asking about embalming procedures.
A short time later Dennis got a call for an ambulance, since at that time small-town funeral homes also operated the ambulance. The call was for an injured airman from the base. He took the airman to the base hospital and then tried to find a friend who was a nurse there. His experience at the hospital convinced him something strange and other-worldly happened that day.
Then in 1990 Walter Haut got together with Glenn Dennis, and the two sought a home for a UFO museum. This brought them to Roswell Realtor Max Littell, who helped find the first location for the museum.
The museum was organized in September 1991 in three offices in a local bank building. The group quickly outgrew that location and moved to a storefront, but continued to grow and moved again and again until arriving at their final site in the former Plains Theater. The theater was remodeled to accommodate the museum, and an adjacent store was purchased to expand the space.
The museum reached an important milestone in 2001 when it welcomed its one millionth visitor. Each year about 150,000 people tour the facility. They come from every state and at least 34 countries from around the world.
The museum Exhibit Hall features documents, photos and written statements from those involved in the Roswell Incident as well as other UFO events. A communications center with a calendar permanently set to July 8, 1947, is one of the first displays visitors see. The hallway leading to a large exhibit area is lined with documents and newspaper clippings relating to the Roswell Incident.
A timeline detailing the events in the days following the Roswell Incident has a prominent spot among the displays. The timeline reveals that on July 4, 1947, approximately 75 miles northwest of Roswell at about 11:50 p.m., rancher Mac Brazel heard an unusual loud noise. Others in the area also heard the noise. The next day Brazel and his neighbor’s 7-year-old son discovered a debris field 300 yards wide and 3/4 of a mile long. Brazel and the boy collected some of the debris and put it in a sack. The remoteness of the crash site meant that Brazel didn’t get the material he found to authorities until the next day.
The official Air Force report called the debris a weather balloon but Brazel and others involved doubt that account. The museum tells the other side of the story according to those who were there.
The main display area has newspaper articles and eyewitness reports about other UFO sightings. Hollywood depictions of UFOs are also a part of the museum and include a large model of a scene from the 1951 movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” The movie, starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal, tells the story of an alien who lands on Earth to tell everyone they must live peacefully or be destroyed because they are a danger to other planets.
Also in the main display area are a couple of dioramas depicting the UFO crash site just outside of Roswell.
One unique display in the museum is a replica of the "Palenque astronaut," a carving from the lid of a Mayan tomb portraying an astronaut sitting at the controls of a space ship. The average Mayan was about 5 feet tall but the tomb was built to hold someone about 70 inches tall or just under 6 feet. The lid dates back to A.D. 400-500. The Mayans were an exceptional people and far advanced in science and medicine. There is evidence that Mayans were performing successful medical procedures including brain surgery.
The most dramatic display in the museum is a life-size scene featuring a flying saucer and four green men standing outside. Intermittently the saucer lights up and smoke fills the area.
