Roswell incident

The Roswell incident began in 1947 when the U.S. military recovered debris near Roswell, New Mexico. The debris came from a classified balloon-borne surveillance program, but reports of a recovered “flying disc” fueled claims of an alien crash.

Project Mogul: A classified U.S. Army Air Forces program that used high-altitude balloon trains to detect acoustic signals from Soviet nuclear tests. The Air Force later identified the Roswell debris as remnants of a Mogul balloon train.
Rawin target: A radar-reflecting target carried by balloons to help track upper-air winds. Targets of this type were among the materials associated with the debris recovered near Roswell.
Roswell Incident: Case Closed: A 1997 U.S. Air Force report addressing claims that Roswell involved recovered alien bodies. It attributed body-recovery stories to later confusion with military test-dummy recoveries.
UFO folklore: Stories, beliefs, and recurring motifs associated with unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial visitors. Roswell's alien-crash narrative became one of UFO folklore's best-known stories.
Roswell Army Air Field: A U.S. Army Air Forces base near Roswell, New Mexico, during World War II and the early Cold War. Its personnel recovered the debris and issued the initial announcement about a flying disc.
Sonobuoy: A buoyant acoustic sensor that detects underwater sounds and transmits data by radio. Project Mogul adapted acoustic-sensing ideas from wartime systems such as sonobuoys.
UFO conspiracy theory: A belief that authorities conceal evidence of unidentified flying objects or extraterrestrial contact. Roswell became a central example of claims that the government hid evidence of alien visitation.
Roswell, New Mexico: A city in southeastern New Mexico associated with the 1947 debris recovery and UFO-themed tourism. The incident became a defining part of the city's public identity and visitor economy.
Walter Haut: A public information officer at Roswell Army Air Field in 1947 who issued its flying-disc press release. His announcement made the recovery a national news story before the military retracted it.
High-altitude balloon: A balloon designed to carry instruments into the upper atmosphere for scientific or operational purposes. Mogul used high-altitude balloons to lift acoustic equipment above the weather.

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Grey alienRelated: Later alien-crash stories linked Roswell to beings often imagined as Grey aliens.