Right Pundits

Hard to believe that 65 years ago, the whole UFO phenomenon began. First with the sighting by pilot Kenneth Arnold near Mt. Rainier in Washington state. Then, in early July, an alleged crash at Roswell of a UFO, now confirmed by Chase Brandon, a 35-year veteran of the CIA. On July 8, 1947, the 509th Bomber Group released the news of the recovery of a ′flying disc′ and thus setting off decades of controversy. So the team from the new series on the National Geographic Channel show, Chasing UFOs, paid a visit to Roswell, New Mexico. Its too bad they did not interview the CIA veteran who claims knowledge of a Roswell-Alien cover-up. But they did talk with others.

First the team visits Alamogordo, NM, which is near Holloman Air Force Base. A video, seen below, shows a disc-shaped object plunging downward, first bouncing off the ground, then exploding after it skips and hits the ground a second time. James Fox thinks it is a genuine UFO crash video, but Ben McGee disagrees, that it is just a missile gone awry. They, and the lovely Erin Ryder, talk with retired Air Force officer, Lt. Colonel Wayne Mattson, who says he has never seen a missile crash like the one in the video. Mattson then describes a UFO sighting he had as part of a bomber crew in the 1950s, which makes Ben doubt his objectivity.

After a short night of sky watching near Holloman AFB while wearing their ′Blair-Witch′ head-gear, the team meets up with a retired Air Force technical consultant, Dee Gragg, who used to work at Holloman. Gragg tells them about how a UFO landed at Holloman in 1957 and how President Eisenhower actually went on board to talk with the aliens. Rumors about film taken during this have been floating about the UFO community for decades. There was even talk that Richard Nixon, who had a large collection of books on UFOs, considered making the film public in the early 1970s.

The gang finally arrives at Roswell and talks with retired Air Force Sergeant Clifford Stone, who tells them how he knows of at least twelve UFO crashes which he was part of the recovery for during 22 years in the service. He describes in detail the first crash he went to and how he saw the wreckage of a 30-foot wide disc and a dead alien body. Next, the team goes to the actual Roswell crash site with a local geologist, Frank Kimbler. Kimbler shows them a collection of small, strange metal fragments that he has located over the years.

Armed with metal detectors, the team starts their own hunt for evidence. James comes across a piece of rusty metal which later turns out to be just common tin. But Erin makes a more important find, locating an old button which matches the style used on Air Force uniforms between 1947 through 1955. Thus, possibly confirming that there had been military personal on the ground.