A discussion about UFOs and the Media could not occur without mentioning the Roswell incident, as it is the most controversial and widely known UFO incident in history. In an attempt to clarify the mysteries that surround Roswell I will explore how the legend started, what were the conditions that led up to the incident, and why it perseveres today.

 

On July 8th, 1947, the Roswell Daily Record published the story outlining the retrieval of a downed alien spacecraft. This announcement was extremely important, and the story would have been the first documented account of the existence of extraterrestrial life. Only, the story was retracted, and eventually faded into obscurity.

 

To understand why those in 1947 were so quick to announce the now famous saucer story, one should go back to June 24th, 1947. A few weeks prior to the Roswell story, Kenneth Arnold made a report of 9 UFOs. Arnold, a pilot, was searching for a downed Call-Air A2 flight - there was a $5000 reward for the discovery of the Military aircraft - when he saw 9 unidentified objects.

 

Arnold claimed to have spotted the silvery metallic crafts over Mount Rainier, flying at a tremendous speed, much faster than conventional aircraft. Arnold stated that there was a line of very thin, crescent-shaped objects. His initial report likens them to “saucer shapes, pie pans, or discs”. The term “flying saucer” was born.

 

Several media outlets reported on Arnold’s claims. On July 7th, 1947, two separate stories were published which cited Arnold as suggesting the discs were possibly of “unearthly origin”. The birth of the first UFO wave occurred during the weeks that followed Arnold's sighting. Coincidently, the most famous UFO event, which is Roswell, occurred during this wave. It would appear that the stories might possibly be linked.

 

Just before the events of Roswell, the army issued a press release declaring UFOs not a threat. The UFO wave, which included hundreds, if not thousands of sightings of unexplained objects, hoaxes, and publicity seekers, soon followed.

 

Now, when you couple the events of the UFO wave with a published military report that doesn’t deny the existence of UFOs, an atmosphere prime for the creation of a fantastic story is born. After the Roswell Daily Record published claims of a downed flying saucer, the military retracted their statement, and changed the story to a weather balloon, and the story quickly disappeared.

 

The three decades that followed saw a gradual increase in UFO reports, UFO publications, and UFOs in entertainment media. Bigger budget movies became commonplace, and extraordinary claims and stories were embraced. But in the twenty to thirty years that followed this initial Roswell story, those who were growing up during the first 1940’s and 50’s UFO wave started investigating UFO’s on their own.

 

The 1970’s saw the birth of the ufologist. Now, when someone studies a subject, they might initially start with current events, but gradually over time, they will take a historical look into their subject matter, so naturally, the Roswell incident started to become more and more popular. The story had all of the requirements to become a legend. It was a historical event that “suspiciously” vanished from the spotlight. It had received media attention, which included one of the most famous newspaper stories in history. But most importantly it had the ability to evolve slowly over time, adding and subtracting convenient portions of the story, until it fit in with modern interpretations of UFOs and aliens.