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A 50 Year Phenomenon
This timeline follows the progression of America's supposed discovery of aliens on Earth, the immediate fascination by the public, and the way it has developed over time. This timeline has an emphasis on the Roswell incident, starting in 1947 and goes to the 1990s. The Roswell Incident was the biggest moment that spiked America’s interest in extraterrestrial life because technology hadn’t progressed far enough yet to make space seem less fantastical so rumors were at their strongest. -
The Roswell Incident
This article appeared in the Roswell Daily Record newspaper on July 8, 1947, just one day after a New Mexican rancher outside the city gathered up the remains of a mysterious object’s crash and took them to the local sheriff. Soon, the Army and Air Force became involved in the investigation of the wreckage. Since the incident, the Air Force has come out with statements saying the crash was of a balloon used in Project Mogul to detect any nuclear activity by the Soviet Union. -
Now Introducing Project Blue Book
This document catalogs the frequency of unidentified flying object reports from June through September of 1952. This document is highly interesting because its data coincides with the beginning of the Project Blue Book initiative. In short, Project Blue Book was headed by United States Air Force officials with the intent to investigate and analyze UFO sightings and materials and to determine if they pose a threat or could be a new scientific discovery. -
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A New Interest in Space
During this time period, America found space and the idea of aliens extremely compelling and this came out in the relatively rediscovered Science Fiction genre with movies, books, and radio shows. This was also fueled by the NASA Space Race and the excitement that these theories could possibly be a reality and were becoming much more tangible than ever before. -
Years Later, Roswell is Still a Mystery
This image depicts protesters with signs in Washington D.C. outside the General Accounting Office. These protestors are expressing their dislike of the government’s secrecy surrounding the Roswell case. It had been 48 years since the incident, yet it was still living in the public consciousness. Stating that the government knows that UFOs are real is a stronger claim than asking for more information, implying that the government is lying and keeping secrets from the public. -
Air Force Press Conference
This speech was given in 1997 by Kenneth Bacon of the Department of Defense before an Air Force update on the UFO situation in America. The most notable lines of the speech include “Why does this come out in dribs and drabs? Doesn’t that sort of just fuel conspiracy?” He’s referring to information on the Roswell Incident and why the government refuses to reveal so little new information or just repeats all old news without disproving rumors, and and is therefore most likely lying.