Visiting Roswell
One of the most famous places in New Mexico is the small town of Roswell. I assume most others like me know nothing about the city except for the famous UFO incident that took place in the mid 20th century. I expected Roswell to be nothing but a few small houses in the middle of no where, but it’s actually a decent sized town, large enough to justify this big courthouse above!
It’s a bit hard for me to take this town seriously with all the silly rumors and conspiracies that have plagued Roswell for so long. In the courthouse grounds was this large statue of a cowboy known as John Chisum. He was one of the first people to move his herds into New Mexico which later helped settled the territory. He was a very wealthy rancher and helped settle many parts of the state, including having a ranch in Roswell. I’m not sure if he’d be proud of the what Roswell turned out to be!
Roswell became infamous after a supposed crash landing of a UFO in 1947. The attraction to space enthusiasts and conspiracies theorists has brought many people here from all over the country, and even some from other parts of the world. There are UFO tours that run in the area, and of course a large museum to help explain both sides of the story!
The military claims that the confusion started when local news mistakenly reported the incidence as a flying saucer that had crashed. They claim that in reality it was simply an experimental weather device and nothing more. When I visited White Sands, the government had on display a similar device to what they say was mistaken in Roswell. From that point forward, the US government has always maintained that it was a failed experiment and there was nothing extraterrestrial going on or any kind of cover up.
The world lost interest until the 1970’s when another interview was done with an official who mentioned a government cover up. The photo above and this life sized recreation below show what some people believe was really going behind the scenes; that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico. They also believe that the government recovered a space ship and alien bodies later performing autopsies on them.
The UFO and alien obsessions go way beyond the museums and tours. Many parts of downtown Roswell are alien themed. This goes from lamp posts along the streets to advertisements, license plates, and even this UFO shaped McDonald’s below! Roswell is certainly worth a visit, just to see the eccentric town and all their alien themed decorations.
