1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,680 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Eves and Welcome to This Day 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: in History Class, a show that uncovers a little bit 4 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:24,479 Speaker 1: more about history every day. Today is July eighteen. The 5 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: day was July eighth nine. Roswell Army Airfield public information 6 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: officer Walter Hot issued a press release saying that the 7 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: mysterious wreckage a rancher discovered was an unidentified flying object. 8 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: The military debonch theories that the wreckage was a flying 9 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: saucer and said it was just a weather balloon and 10 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: related materials. Despite this, some people believed then and believed now, 11 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: that the debris came from an alien spaceship. In n seven, 12 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: a rancher named W. W. Mc brazil and his son 13 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: Vernon were about seventy five miles outside of Roswell, New Mexico, 14 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: when they saw some unusual debris on their ranch land 15 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: after a storm. It consisted of a bunch of metallic 16 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: sticks held together with tape, plastic and foil, reflectors, and 17 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: scraps of shining material. On July four, brasl gathered the 18 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: wreckage and a few days later took it to Sheriff 19 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,759 Speaker 1: George Wilcox. The sheriff didn't know what the materials were either, 20 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: so he reached out to Colonel William Blanchard, who was 21 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 1: a commander of the Roswell Army air Fields five O 22 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: nine Composite Group, but when he didn't know the question 23 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: of what the strange wreckage was was sent up to 24 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: General Roger W. Raymy and Fort Worth, Texas. Blanchard also 25 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: sent intelligence officer Major Jesse Marcel to the site where 26 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: the wreckage was to collect more of the materials. On 27 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: July eighth, the Roswell Army Airfield issued a press release. 28 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,639 Speaker 1: It said, in part, the many rumors regarding the flying 29 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 1: disc became a reality yesterday when the Intelligence Office of 30 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: the five O nine Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, 31 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: Roswell Army Airfield was fortunate enough to gain possession of 32 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: a disc through the cooperation of one of the local 33 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: ranchers in the Sheriff's Office of James County. That same day, 34 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: the Roswell Daily Record ran a story on the discovery. 35 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: The article was titled r. A A F Captures Flying 36 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,799 Speaker 1: saucer on ranch in Roswell region. The story began with 37 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: this sentence the Intelligence Office of the five O nine 38 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: Bombardment Group at Roswell Army Airfield announced at noon today 39 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:36,639 Speaker 1: that the field has come into the possession of a 40 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 1: flying saucer. But the next day the War Department published 41 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: a statement that the debris was not from a flying 42 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: saucer but from a weather balloon. But not everyone believed 43 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: this explanation. Many people were convinced that the wreckage was 44 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 1: somehow linked to aliens. Skepticism grew when the Air Force 45 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: conducted tests by dropping dummies from balloons, leading people to 46 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: believe they had seen alien corpses and the government was 47 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: just covering things up. Decades after the nineteen forty seven discovery, 48 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: people were still coming forward with alien related stories about 49 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 1: the Roswell incident. The incident had become such a huge 50 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: topic of debate that the Air Force decided to address misconceptions, rumors, 51 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: and theories by declassifying and compiling documents to explain what happened. 52 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty seven, the Air Force published the thousand 53 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,639 Speaker 1: page The Roswell Report Fact Versus Fiction in the New 54 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: Mexico Desert in nineteen and in nineteen seven it published 55 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: the Roswell Report Case Closed. It said that the aliens, 56 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: people claimed to see we're just test dummies, and the 57 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: conspiracy surrounding the Roswell incident was heightened by the Cold 58 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: War and Sci Fi sensibilities. The military said the debris 59 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: was part of Project Mogul, a government program that launched 60 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: high altitude balloons in the hopes of monitoring Soviet nuclear tests. 61 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: The wreckage, that have been dubbed a flying saucer decades earlier, 62 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: were the leftovers of Neo prem balloons, radar reflectors, and 63 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: sonic equipment launched from the Alama Gordo base. At the 64 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: time of the incident, the project was highly classified and 65 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: the government had to lie and say the debris was 66 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:21,480 Speaker 1: from a weather balloon. But Roswell, New Mexico is still 67 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: a place of interest for UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists 68 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: who are interested in the Roswell incident. I'm Eve Jefco 69 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today 70 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. And if you haven't gotten your 71 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: fill of history after listening to today's episode, you can 72 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at T d 73 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:49,840 Speaker 1: i h C Podcast. Thanks for showing up. We'll meet 74 00:04:49,880 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: here again tomorrow. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, 75 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,280 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever 76 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.