WEBVTT - S04 Episode 11: New Dawn Fades (Pt.1 of 2) 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.560 It is late one September night in nineteen ninety seven 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:17.680 in the borderlands of Nevada and California. Out on the 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.880 edges of the desert town of perump sits a simple 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.000 double wide trailer surrounded by a panopoly of satellite dishes 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:29.280 and radio receivers. Eighty miles to the east lie the 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.320 bright lights of Las Vegas, and just a little further 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.400 to the north, past desolate valleys and dusty mountain ridges, 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:42.080 a place known variously to some as Dreamland or Paradise Branch, 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:49.280 but more commonly today as Area fifty one. Inside the trailer, 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.960 late night radio DJ Art Bell takes a drag on 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.520 a cigarette as the Charlie Daniel's band thunders through the 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:00.560 Devil Went Down to Georgia, when suddenly he notices a 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.679 call coming through on the Area fifty one line. Earlier 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:07.959 in the show, Art had invited former employees of the 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.840 secretive US Air Force base to call in on the 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:14.399 dedicated line if they wish to share any information about 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:18.600 their time working there. It is shortly after one am, 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.240 with millions listening across more than four hundred radio stations 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:26.240 throughout the nation, when Art prematurely fades out the music 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:30.559 and takes the call on my Area fifty one line. 0:01:30.560 --> 0:01:36.399 You're on there, Hello, Hello, Art, Yes, him. I don't 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:42.560 have a whole lot of time A former employee, former employee. 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:45.480 I was let go on a medical discharge about a 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:52.960 week ago, and and I've kind of been running across 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:57.200 the country. Man, I don't know where to start them. 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.680 They'll triangulate on this position. Really released soon. You can't 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:02.320 spend a lot of time on the phone, So give 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:08.760 us something quick. Okay, um um, okay. What we're thinking 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:14.680 of as as aliens are there, that they're they're extra 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:21.800 dimensional beings that an earlier precursor of the UM space 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:27.000 program made contact with. H. They are not what they 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:34.280 claim to be. They have infiltrated a lot of uh, 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.720 a lot of aspects of of of the military establishment 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:42.040 of particularly the Area fifty one. UH. The disasters that 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:46.200 are coming, as the caller went on to explain, disasters 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.560 were coming that would lead to the wiping out of 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:55.079 major population centers led by these apparent aliens, and then silence, 0:02:56.120 --> 0:03:00.160 the signal completely cut out, not just for the call, 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.919 but Art's entire show. Though it would be a stretch 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.600 to say that Art was shaken by the incident. After all, 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:12.600 he had been fielding similar callers throughout his career, this 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:17.080 one was undoubtedly different. Not once in his twenty years 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:21.120 of broadcasting history had he ever lost his satellite signal. 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:26.280 Something or someone, it seemed, had cut the caller off, 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:31.600 and so this incident would become one of many events 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:35.640 in the great ocean of UFO conspiracy theories linked to 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:40.920 that mysterious Air Force base. Today, for many, the words 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:44.880 Area fifty one are synonymous with the UFOs and theories 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.760 about just what it is the US government really knows 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:52.560 about supposed visitors from other realms, And for one incident 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.680 in particular that sits at the very top of ufology law. 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:02.320 You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard mc lean smith. 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.960 Early in the morning of June fourteenth, nineteen forty seven, 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.719 two riders are slowly picking their way through desert scrub 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.680 as a herd of sheep amble about in the distance 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.560 ahead of them. The riders a forty eight year old 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:27.840 ranch manager William mac Brazell and his eight year old 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:32.920 son Vernon. For the past decade or so, Brazell had 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.720 worked as the foreman for the j b. Foster Sheep Ranch, 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:40.440 a homestead located about one hundred and thirty miles southeast 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:45.600 of Albuquerque in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Though the family 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.520 lived seventy miles away into LaRosa, Mac as he was 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.480 known to his friends, was required to stay on site, 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.400 boarding in what was little more than a shack, isolated 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:00.280 on his own, with no electricity, water, or tell of phone. 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.240 And so it was with great fondness that he looked 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.760 forward to days like these, spending time with his son, 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:13.839 just enjoying the tranquility of the desert. Just forty years previously, 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:19.240 Mac's uncle, Jesse Wayne Brazil, achieved some notoriety after getting 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.799 caught up in the murder of Pat Garrett, the infamous 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.880 lawman who gunned down Billy the Kid. Though Jesse confessed 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:30.680 to the killing, many believed he'd merely been put up 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.440 to it, since that kind of act just wasn't the 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.440 Brazil way. As for Mac, he was very much the 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:41.039 quiet sort, preferring to just keep his head down and 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:45.960 work hard for his family. That morning, Mac and Vernon 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.920 were about seven miles from the ranch. As Mac ran 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.919 his eyes over the sheep when he caught sight of 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:57.000 something glinting in the distance. That's strange, he thought, as 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:00.080 he tugged his hat down further over his eyes and 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:04.359 squinted toward the sparkling light it seemed to be coming 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:08.719 from the ground. Assuming it to be nothing but a 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.479 mirrg or some other trick of the light, Mac kicked 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:16.680 lightly on the horse and trotted out toward it. But incredibly, 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:22.359 as he drew nearer, the mirage didn't disappear. Instead, it 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:25.880 seemed to fracture into a number of separate reflective pieces. 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:31.280 This was no mirage, he realized, but something material that 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:35.520 had fallen from above and shattered all across the desert floor. 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.760 Though often out there in that big, wide expanse, it 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:44.800 could feel to Mac like he might as well have 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.320 been on Mars, how isolated he was from the outside world. 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:52.400 On occasion, his world would be interrupted by the odd 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:56.400 weather balloon dropping in from out of the sky. But 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.640 as Mac looked upon the strange mix of materials scattered 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.520 across the floor in front of him, the only thing 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.560 he did know was that this was nothing like any 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:16.200 of those weather balloons he had seen before. Ten days later, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.800 after mac Brazel's discovery in New Mexico, something unusual was 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:26.720 about to unfold fifteen hundred miles away. Since nineteen forty one, 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:31.080 fire control engineer Kenneth Arnold had run his own business, 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:35.400 selling and installing firefighting equipment to rural areas across five 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:40.760 western states. Part of Arnold's success owed much to his 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:44.400 dual experience as a pilot, which gave him direct access 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:46.560 to his clients in a way that most of his 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:51.760 competitors couldn't match. In nineteen forty four, Arnold gained his 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:56.160 solo flying license and duly purchased his own plane, often 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.040 flying forty to one hundred hours per month as he 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.760 peddled his wear up and down the country. By the 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.040 summer of nineteen forty seven, Arnold, who was by then 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.720 thirty two, had over nine thousand hours of flying time 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:14.600 under his belt. On the morning of June twenty fourth, 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.160 Arnold had been helping to install equipment for the Central 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:23.360 Air Service in Chehalis, Washington. Having finished the job shortly 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:27.440 before two pm, Arnold headed to the local airport, then 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:31.360 boarded his call Air single engine airplane, and promptly set 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:36.040 off toward his next appointment, pulling ever higher into the 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.679 bright blue sky. Above, Arnold set course for the city 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:43.440 of Yakama, located just one hundred and fifty miles due 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.480 east on the other side of the Cascades mountain range. 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.319 With it being such a calm and clear day, Arnold 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.840 decided to have a look for a C forty six 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:57.200 transport plane but had apparently gone down in the Cascades 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.920 somewhere on the southwest slope of Mountbrenier only a few 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:05.240 days previously. A five thousand dollar reward had been offered 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:09.640 to any one who could locate it. A short time later, 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:13.400 flying at nine and a half thousand feet, Arnold made 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.640 his approach to the mountain, then turned back on himself 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.960 to make a thorough sweep of its western bridge. Seeing 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:24.720 nothing below save for a series of dark, rocky crags 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.560 protruding out from under a dusting of fine white snow, 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.240 Arnold continued westward, just past the town of Ashford before 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.560 completing a three hundred and sixty degree turn and heading 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:40.160 on towards Yakima. Though he was disappointed not to have 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.040 spotted the downed plain, Arnold eased back to an altitude 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.160 of nine thousand, two hundred feet and resolved just to 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:50.679 enjoy the rest of the flight from thereon, in admiring 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:55.000 the wide blue sky above and the wild, untouched terrain below. 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:01.360 Moments later, Arnold noticed a DC four aircraft flying about 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:05.600 fifteen miles behind him and five thousand feet above. He 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:07.880 was just making a note of it when he was 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:11.920 distracted by a series of sudden bright flashes reflecting off 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:22.760 his plane. Startled by the flashes, Arnold hurriedly searched about 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.080 for any sign of any other aircraft nearby, worried that 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.960 he might have gotten too close to something without realizing. 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.240 Then he noticed something odd just beyond the summit of 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:38.520 Mount Raynier, what appeared to be nine single aircraft flying 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:42.760 at a similar altitude to his own plane, approaching rapidly 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:48.160 in a V formation from north to south. Arnold watched 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.840 with amazement as the apparent crafts, though keeping set on 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.240 their course, continued to dip and swerve in and out 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:58.160 of the high mountain peaks, moving as if there were 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:03.480 stones being skimmed across water. As they did so, bright 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:07.000 flashes of sunlight reflected off them, just like he had 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:12.720 been startled by moments before. Before long, the objects had 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:15.199 moved in front of the mountain, from which Arnold was 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.720 then able to observe the shape of them, silhouetted against 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:22.760 the white canvas of snow behind, and that was when 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:27.560 things got really strange. At first, the objects seemed to 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.720 be little more than thin black lines, until they would 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:35.040 flip suddenly and momentarily revealed themselves to be round, saucer 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:37.760 like discs that came to a point at the back. 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:42.960 Worried his eyes were deceiving him, Arnold slid the window 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.319 back to get a clear view unimpeded by the plexiglass. 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:50.440 He also tried turning the plane slightly for a different angle, 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:57.720 but still the nine strange objects remained visible. Quickly grabbing 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.600 a small tool from his pocket, Arnold used it to 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.120 compare the size of the vehicles with the DC four 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.040 in the distance, judging them to be about half the 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.079 size of its wingspan. The width of the whole v 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:14.000 formation be estimated to be about five miles long. After 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:17.760 almost three minutes, Arnold watched the objects as they continued 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:22.280 on their way south toward Mount Adams, before eventually disappearing 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:30.040 altogether from view. Are you always taking care of your family? 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.720 Do you often take care of others and not yourself? 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.000 Now it's time to take care of yourself, to make 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.920 time for you you deserve it. Teledoc gives you access 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.560 to a licensed therapist to help you get back to 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:46.959 feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:50.160 you can speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video. 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.959 Therapy appointments are available seven days a week from seven 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:57.760 am to nine pm local time. If you feel overwhelmed 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:02.360 sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.680 or you might be struggling with a personal or family issue, 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:11.440 teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.280 so they make it easy to change counselors if needed. 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:19.400 For free, teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers. 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.680 Download the app or visit teledoc dot com Forward slash 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:28.319 Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's t e la 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:38.079 DC dot com slash Unexplained podcast of amused and excitable 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.839 Arnold touched down at Yakima Airport just after four p m, 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:45.960 where he immediately regaled airport manager and good friend Al 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:50.280 Baxter with what he had just witnessed. Baxter listened carefully 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:52.680 to what his friend had to say, but there was 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.480 just no way he thought that Arnold could possibly have 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.400 seen what he was claiming. Nonetheless, it was such an 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.240 unusual story that by the time Arnold arrived in Pendleton, Oregon, 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.679 to attend an air show later that day, news of 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:11.599 his bizarre sighting had already preceded him. Speaking to a 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:15.640 number of pilot friends at the show, some former Army pilots, 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:21.600 Arnold was urged to recount his story again. Unlike Baxter, however, 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.240 many were less certain if Arnold had been mistaken. A 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:29.120 number of them speculated as to whether the aircraft might 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:32.320 actually have been top secret planes that were still being 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:38.240 developed by the US military. During the incident, Arnold had 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:40.680 tried to gauge how quickly the objects had been moving 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.120 by counting the time it took for them to travel 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:47.160 between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams. It was only later 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:50.120 that evening that he remembered to check the distance between 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:53.920 the two landmarks. When he discovered they were fifty miles apart, 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:59.720 Arnold was shocked by his estimation. The objects would have 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:02.680 had have been flying in the region of seventeen hundred 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.840 miles per hour, three times faster than any known aircraft 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:16.840 at the time. The day after his apparent sighting, Arnold 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.760 was invited to the offices of the East Oregonian Paper 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:24.160 in Pendleton to share his version of events. The paper 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.240 published the story the same day, following it up the 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.920 next giving a description of the aircraft as nine bright 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:37.200 saucerlike objects flying at twelve hundred miles per hour. Before long, 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.440 the story was sweeping the nation, being picked up by 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:45.040 countless other papers, including The Chicago Sun, whose now famous 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:50.440 headline supersonic flying sources, cited by Idaho Pilot, is thought 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.320 to be the first ever use of the term flying saucer. 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.640 Two days after the event, Arnold was interviewed on k 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:03.720 w RC radio. They didn't fly in a conventional formation 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.560 that's taught in our army. They seemed to kind of 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.880 weave in and out right above the mountaintop, and I 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.200 would say that they even went down into the canyons 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.440 in several instances, or probably one hundred feet. But I 0:16:15.480 --> 0:16:18.920 could see them against the snow, of course, on Mountaineer, 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:21.480 and against the snow on Mount Adams as they were flashing, 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.400 and against the higher ridge that happens to lay in 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:28.760 between Mount Rainier and Mount Adams. But when I observed 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.080 the tail end of the last one passing Mount Adams, 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.720 and I was at an angle near a mountraineer from it. 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.480 But I looked at my watch and it showed one 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:42.040 minute in forty two seconds. Well, I fell thought, well 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.160 that's pretty fast, and I didn't stop to think what 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:47.160 the distance was between the two mountains. Well, I landed 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.760 at Yakima, Washington, and Al Baxter was there to greet me, 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.320 and he told me, I guess I better changed my 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:58.040 brand for the next few days. Arnold was catapulted into 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.600 the spotlight in one day two with interview requests and 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:06.120 even recognized when out on the street. But incredibly, it 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:09.920 wasn't only Arnold who had apparently seen the nine supposed 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:15.399 saucerlike aircraft. On June twenty fourth, while Arnold and his 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:21.320 plane were heading past Mount Rainier prospector Fred Johnson from Portland, Oregon, 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.680 was in the Mount Adams district when he too spotted 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:29.040 something unusual heading toward him in the sky above. Having 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.160 a telescope on him at the time, Johnson was able 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.920 to get a closer view of them. In a letter 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.080 written to the Army Air Force some months after the event, 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:42.360 Johnson claimed the objects were roughly thirty feet wide at 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.520 a bright top surface, and were round in shape but 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:48.560 tapered to a sharp point at the back, just as 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:53.800 Arnold had claimed. Looking closer through his telescope, Johnson had 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:57.120 also apparently seen some kind of device at the tail end, 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.639 which he described as being like the big of a clock, 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:05.760 shifting from side to side like a big magnet. That 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:10.119 same day, a Washington State Forest Service worker on firewatch 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.520 in the Diamond Gap lookout tower, just twenty miles south 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:18.919 of Yakima, saw something too. It was around three pm, 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.320 while making a routine sweep at the forest with his binoculars, 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.399 that the man noticed a series of bright flashes coming 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:30.479 from the direction of Mount Vernier. The flashes appeared to 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.679 move in a straight line right across his field of vision. 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.320 Johnson's and the fire service workers account are thought to 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.639 be two of at least sixteen similar sightings to Kenneth 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:45.959 Arnold's given by witnesses considered credible by either the press 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.400 or Army Air Force investigators. The pilot of the DC 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.720 four that had been flying close to Arnold at the 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.800 time of the incident was also contacted. However, he was 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:06.880 reported not to have seen anything unusual that day. Back 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:10.520 at the JB. Foster Ranch in New Mexico, mac Brazel, 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.639 unaware of the Kenneth Arnold's sightings, was beginning to wander 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.840 more and more about the peculiar debris it'd spotted on 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:22.439 the pastures the previous week. Something about it just didn't 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:26.800 add up. On July two, just over thirty miles to 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:29.880 the east of the Foster Ranch, in the town of Roswell, 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:35.159 something else was afoot. Roswell, with a population at the 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.960 time of roughly fifteen thousand, is the seat of Chaves County, 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.919 and its residents were no strangers to the site of 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:47.000 objects flying rapidly through the sky. Back in nineteen thirty, 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.480 early rocketing pioneer and inspiration to a young Jack Parsons, 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.600 Robert Goddard, established a base in Roswell to conduct his 0:19:55.680 --> 0:20:00.280 research in the nascent technology. Goddard had picked ross Well 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.160 as the perfect place to experiment due to its sense 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:08.720 of isolation and the strict secrecy it afforded him. Only 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.400 ten years later, the United States Army Air Forces, having 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:16.280 acquired land from a local rancher, constructed the Roswell Army 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:21.240 airfield on the southern outskirts of the town. That July night, 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:25.640 at one hundred and five South Pennsylvania Avenue, thirty two 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:29.159 year old Dorris and forty year old Dan Wilmot headed 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.160 out to their porch as they usually did to relax 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:36.320 after one of the hottest days of the year. The 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.960 couple were well known to many in the city and 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.719 highly respected, partly due to Dan being the owner of 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:46.600 a prominent local hardware store, but also a serving member 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.879 of the city's Board of Education. It was just approaching 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:55.080 ten PM when Dan noticed something unusual in the pitch 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:59.040 black sky. Since both Dan and Dorris had spent their 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:03.320 entire lives the area, having lived through both Godards experimenting 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:06.360 and the construction of the local Air Force base, they 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.919 had seen their fair share of aircraft, but this was 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:14.600 like nothing they had seen before. At first, it seemed 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.280 nothing more unusual than a bright star in the sky, 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.199 until Dan realized that not only was it moving, but 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.480 it was getting closer, sipping through the sky at a 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.320 high rate of speed. Doris soon caught sight of it too, 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:31.359 as it approached from out of the south, heading in 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:35.840 a northwesterly direction. In their excitement, the couple sprang to 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:38.439 their feet and ran into the yard to get a 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.159 better look at it. Dan later estimated it to have 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:45.080 been traveling somewhere close to five hundred miles per hour 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:49.080 at roughly fifteen hundred feet, but it was the shape 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.879 of it that really caught their attention, as the couple 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.760 reported later, at about five feet in depth and somewhere 0:21:56.840 --> 0:22:00.399 between fifteen to twenty feet wide, it appeared to be 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:05.720 oval like, two inverted sources placed face to face. Aside 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:09.719 from the faintest swishing sound, the object was completely silent, 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:15.040 but most peculiarly, the whole body of it was glowing, 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:18.160 not from any light they could see outside of it, 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:22.679 but from the inside of the object. The couple claimed 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:25.320 to have watched the object for roughly a minute before 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:29.440 it disappeared beyond distant treetops on nearby six mile Hill. 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:38.480 Dan and Doris would spend the rest of the night 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:41.640 utterly confused as to what on earth it was they 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:44.520 had just seen, assuming that it would be the talk 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:48.719 of the town the next day. Much to their surprise, however, 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:54.040 not one person mentioned it. Before long, the couple began 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:57.120 to wonder if they had seen anything unusual at all. 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:02.120 Back out on the j Be Foster ranch, Mac Brazell 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:04.560 and his son had been joined by his wife and 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:09.399 daughter to celebrate Independence Day. Having finally decided to do 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:13.120 something about the debris out in the field, Brazel convinced 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:15.760 his family to join him out there in trying to 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:19.080 pick it all up. After riding for an hour and 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:22.760 a half, the family came upon the strewn pieces just 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:27.040 as Mac had left them on June fourteenth. Together, they 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:29.119 jumped down and gathered up as much of it as 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.240 they could, bundling the rest of it up and hiding 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:36.800 it under a bush. The following day, Mack drove up 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.639 to Corona, a small township forty miles to the north, 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:45.359 to visit his brother in law, Hollis. Later, when Mack 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:48.200 told Hollis about the strange materials he had found out 0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:52.560 in the desert, his brother in law's eyes widened. It 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:55.439 was then that Mac heard for the first time about 0:23:55.440 --> 0:23:59.440 the bizarre sightings of unidentified flying objects that seemed to 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:03.520 be plaguing the nation. And so it was that, after 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:07.440 wrestling with what best to do, on Monday morning, je 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:11.160 Mac loaded up his truck with some of the pieces 0:24:11.160 --> 0:24:16.320 of what he'd found and set off toward Roswell. A 0:24:16.400 --> 0:24:20.400 short time later, after first dropping his family off into LaRosa, 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:26.000 Mac pulled up outside the Chaves County Sheriff's office. Taking 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:28.879 the strange materials from the back of his truck, he 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:32.520 walked through the big double doors and straight into one 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:36.240 of the most beguiling and enduring mysteries of modern times. 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:46.920 You've been listening to Unexplained, Season four, episode eleven, New 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:51.359 Dawn Fades, Part one of two. The second and final 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:59.840 part will be released next Friday five. If you enjoy this, 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:02.680 think to Unexplained and would like to help support us, 0:25:03.080 --> 0:25:06.240 you can now go to Unexplained podcast dot com, forward 0:25:06.280 --> 0:25:10.879 Slash support. All donations, no matter how large or small, 0:25:11.160 --> 0:25:16.800 are massively appreciated. All elements of Unexplained are produced by 0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:20.800 me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show 0:25:20.840 --> 0:25:23.600 on iTunes, and feel free to get in touch with 0:25:23.640 --> 0:25:26.439 any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:29.840 the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own 0:25:29.880 --> 0:25:33.720 you'd like to share. You can reach us online at 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:38.919 Unexplained podcast dot com, or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:56.840 Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward slash Unexplained. Now, it's 0:25:56.880 --> 0:26:00.159 time to take care of yourself, to make time for you. 0:26:01.000 --> 0:26:04.560 Teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help 0:26:04.560 --> 0:26:07.439 you get back to feeling your best. 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