Welcome to Mysteries Over Martinis! This blog is a mix of unexplained phenomena and personal encounters served up with a mystery-themed cocktail. It’s a recipe for intrigue!

 

Silver Balloon

 

Ingredients:

2 parts Absolut Vodka

2 parts Grapefruit Juice

1 part Almond Liqueur

1 part Williams Pear Liqueur

 

Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Take it all in and then pretend it never happened.

 

Insight into the Roswell Incident (Part 2)

 

Without question, the Roswell incident was not merely a weather balloon. Although aliens crashing onto Earth’s soil would be a concern for national security, there may be a more terrestrial explanation why the government scrambled for secrecy.

In January 1994, Congressman Steven Schiff requested that the General Accounting Office (GAO) look further into the Roswell matter. The GAO is a branch of the United States Congress that investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. When there are allegations of illegal or improper activities, the GAO steps in. The following month, the Air Force was informed that the GAO was planning a formal audit. The Secretary of the Air Force then ordered an investigation to locate any information it had on the incident.

A nearly 1000 page report entitled “The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert” was published in 1994 and 1995 in response to the inquiry. The report identified an explanation for the debris found on the Foster ranch in 1947. The remnants were that of a balloon train from a secret military program called Project Mogul. Though several people had previously suggested the debris to be that of a Mogul program balloon,the report included specific details about the program which had never been revealed before the publication of the report.

Project Mogul was a top secret project conducted by the US Army Air Forces. Its primary purpose was to detect sound waves generated by atomic bomb tests with the use of low-frequency acoustic microphones placed at high altitudes. The project was given a high priority because the US had no other means of monitoring the nuclear activities of a locked down country like the Soviet Union. The project was carried out from 1947 until early 1949. The operation was not reclassified until the 1980s because the government wanted to prevent a matter of national security from leaking out.

The conclusion was that the wreckage was that of Mogul Flight #4, which was launched from Alamogordo, NM on June 4, 1947. The components of these balloons consisted of neoprene balloons, metallic paper, plastic ballast tubes, a sonobuoy and a black electronics box. Flight #3 and #4 were the only two balloons launched in June of 1947 that were unaccounted for. Flight #4 was last tracked about 17 miles from the location of the debris field before the batteries depleted and contact was lost. Its construction was more unorthodox than #3 because corner reflectors were implemented. The photographs taken in Ramey’s office show parts of more than one reflector, suggesting the remains belonged to Flight #4.

One of the strangest reports about the debris itself was the “hieroglyphic-like” characters. Both Dr. Jesse Marcel Jr. and Glenn Dennis described seeing such markings. Research has revealed that the corner reflectors for the mogul flights had been manufactured by a toy company during or shortly after World War II. Due to supply shortages, the manufacturer used any resources available. They used plastic tape with pinkish-purple flowers and geometric patterns to seal the seams of the corner reflectors. It would certainly seem plausible that someone might mistake the decorated tape for indecipherable figures.

Colonel Sheridan Cavitt was interviewed on May 24, 1994 regarding the Roswell incident. Prior to the interview being conducted, the Secretary of the Air Force provided Cavitt with a written authorization and waiver to discuss classified information with the interviewer. Cavitt provided a sworn statement recalling the events surrounding the wreckage. He stated that the material recovered on the Foster ranch consisted of a reflective material similar to aluminum foil, thin sticks resembling bamboo and a small “black box.” He believed the wreckage to be that of a weather balloon and nothing more. When reviewing the pictures of the debris taken at Fort Worth, he confirmed that the remnants were consistent with those found on the ranch. He claims that he didn’t even realize there was a conspiracy surrounding the incident until he was interviewed in the 1980s. Cavitt also said he had been interviewed several times by UFO researchers but felt his statements were taken out of context or embellished.

How could Cavitt and Marcel Sr. have two completely different conclusions about the same debris? Perhaps the combination of having an unfamiliarity with the top secret equipment and Kenneth Arnold’s report of a UFO skewed Marcel’s perspective. It makes sense that if the military was trying to conceal the truth behind the flight, that they would not reveal all the components of the “weather balloon.” When Marcel commented that the “less interesting” parts of the wreckage were not featured in the photo op, this may have simply been the military preventing the real mission from being exposed.

Mack Brazel would also have been correct in saying the wreckage didn’t look like any weather balloon he’d ever seen before. The balloons used in Project Mogul were far more sophisticated than your typical weather balloon. He mentioned that the rubber was smoky gray in color. Charles B. Moore, who was one of the scientists working on Project Mogul, was interviewed for the Air Force report. He said that the debris Brazel described was consistent with the components found in Flight #4. The patches of a smelly, smoky gray, rubber-like material matches that of a neoprene balloon. Neoprene was a relatively new technology at the time and would not have been easily identifiable by the untrained eye.

Charles Moore provided detailed analysis of US national weather service wind data. His calculations showed that the balloon path of Flight #4 would have passed over the Foster ranch which was approximately 85 miles northeast of the launch site. He also noted that the debris was strewn in a southwest to northeast angle as originally reported by witnesses. This would be consistent with the predicated flight path.

Next, we move on to Glenn Dennis’ testimony. He came forward with his accounts around 1989. His story about the hermetically sealed coffins did happen but not until June of 1956. Eleven people were killed in a refueling accident involving a KC-97G aircraft. His description of the mangled bodies which were short in stature bares an eerie similarity to the dismembered corpses of the airmen. The autopsy report stated that the lower extremities of the burned bodies were missing. Perhaps this is what Dennis was referring to.

Next, his story about the nurse doesn’t seem to add up. Many investigators have done research to find her identity but only 5 nurses were assigned to RAAF during the time of the Roswell incident. None of them were suddenly transferred to England or anywhere overseas. The New York Times index, National Transportation Safety Board, and Army Air Force records contain no documentation of any such plane crash. There was one nurse who was transferred in September of 1947 due to a medical condition but she does not match the description given by Dennis. Dennis finally gave up the name “Naomi Maria Self.” This too was investigated but the military has never had anyone in the service by that name. When researchers confronted Dennis with the fact that she didn’t seem to exist, he suddenly changed her name. His accountability has been discredited by many who have interviewed him.

As far as Walter Haut’s recollection of events, there is a lot of conflicting information. His daughter claimed he witnessed bodies under a tarp at Hangar 84. In an interview conducted in 1990 for the Fund for UFO Research, Walter Haut was asked he could recall Col. Blanchard mentioning anything regarding the “flying saucer” incident after the weather balloon report was released. Haut stated that a week or two after the ordeal, he attended a staff meeting. Col. Blanchard commented that “We sure shot ourselves in the foot with that balloon fiasco. It was just something from a project at Alamogordo, and some of the guys were here on our base later, too. Anyway, it’s done and over with.” This was nearly 4 years before the Air Force shed light on Project Mogul.

In 1993, Haut signed an affidavit saying that he was convinced that the material recovered was some type of craft from outer space. He also claimed that he had not been paid or given anything of value to make this statement, and it was the truth to the best of his recollection. I should mention that Walter Haut and Glenn Dennis were founders of the International UFO Museum and Research Center. Is it possible that they had something to gain from their elaborate stories?

Those who believe the crash was an extraterrestrial space ship will argue that many of the records from the RAAF were later destroyed or disappeared and that the military cannot produce the debris to be compared to a mogul balloon. The most interesting may be the evidence in the photos below. According to Research Scientist Dr. David Rudiak, the GAO stated that the memo could not be enhanced clearly. He said that this was not difficult to do with today’s technology and enhanced the memo digitally. The word “disk” and the phrase “victims of the wreck” do raise an eyebrow. The testimony, documentation and theories are endless. I have barely scratched the surface in this two part article. I will leave it up to you to decide.

As always, I invite you to post your comments, questions, or personal encounters. Anything weird is always welcome!