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UFO Crash at Roswell
Argues that a UFO crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947, and that the Army Air Force covered up the information it gathered from the wreckage, including the bodies of alien beings
328 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
3 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
Kevin D. Randle
144 books29 followersUfologist and historic fiction & science fiction writer.
Within the UFO community he is often regarded as one of the preeminent experts on the reported crash of a UFO near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947.
A professional writer with more than 80 books to his credit, Randle is perhaps best known for his books about UFOs and the Roswell story.
Within the UFO community he is often regarded as one of the preeminent experts on the reported crash of a UFO near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947.
A professional writer with more than 80 books to his credit, Randle is perhaps best known for his books about UFOs and the Roswell story.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 18, 2011
In short, this must be the best book about the Roswell UFO crash (at least from the believers' POV) as of 1991, even though more revelations have come out in the last 20 years (including Walter Haut's sealed deathbed confession and the story of the nurse's observation of the aliens, which I think are published in Witness to Roswell, which I plan to read shortly; also, Randle and Schmitt's followup to ...Crash, The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell published in 1997, which identifies previously anonymous sources, witnesses and persons of interest). What's remarkable about this case is the sheer number of credible military and civilian witnesses at each stage of the case, from the discovery and retrieval of the "unearthly" debris to the observation of the dead alien crew to the cordoning off the area, the scaring of witnesses into silence by the military, the shipments of the debris and remains to Fort Worth then to Dayton, and the retraction of the initial press release in which the military -- our own US government -- admitted the existence of flying saucers.
This is one book that should give even the staunchest skeptics pause. It's hard to read this and not believe something very weird happened in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. The sheer number of witnesses make the case hard to dismiss. I plan to read a debunker's book on the subject soon for balance and perspective. Since I saw a UFO myself in 1983, it's hard for me to call other people crazy for seeing these things, thus my open-mindedness on this subject.
The assertions and evidence in the book are presented in a somewhat repetitive fashion, which gives it a kind of Pimsleur language course effect, but in this case I think it works in helping to keep track and remember various strands of the story, particularly as the cast of characters is large.
This is one book that should give even the staunchest skeptics pause. It's hard to read this and not believe something very weird happened in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. The sheer number of witnesses make the case hard to dismiss. I plan to read a debunker's book on the subject soon for balance and perspective. Since I saw a UFO myself in 1983, it's hard for me to call other people crazy for seeing these things, thus my open-mindedness on this subject.
The assertions and evidence in the book are presented in a somewhat repetitive fashion, which gives it a kind of Pimsleur language course effect, but in this case I think it works in helping to keep track and remember various strands of the story, particularly as the cast of characters is large.
September 28, 2013
While this investigation covers a lot of the same ground as The Roswell Incident, it comes at the subject matter from trying to find enough witnesses who will talk so that the evidence for a crash retrieval can stand up in court. The authors are up front that they hope the book will start a Congressional hearing on the matter, and they collected so much that it is very convincing. Of course, what they actually got was 'Project Mogul', but c'est la vie. In the back of the book it briefly touches on other suspected crash retrievals, which was pretty interesting.
May 21, 2024
ONE OF THE MOST WELL-KNOWN BOOKS ABOUT THE ‘ROSWELL INCIDENT’
Kevin Douglas Randle (born 1949) is a prominent ufologist and author of science fiction, and a veteran of both the Vietnam War (Army), and the Iraq War (Iowa National Guard), as well as being a retired Captain of the U.S. Air Force. Donald R. Schmitt is the former co-director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies.
They wrote in the Introduction to this 1991 book, “The above account is… the reality behind the public face of the Roswell event. This book will flesh out the details with a huge collection of first and secondhand accounts, documentary evidence, and reconstruction of the most probable course of events… Why, though, should you be convinced? Why should you believe the testimony of these witnesses? How could such an event be kept a secret so long?... it is certainly true that the government can keep secrets, but to what lengths are officials prepared to go to enact a coverup? We present copious details in this book about what was done at Roswell, but there is historical precedent for those actions.” (Pg. 4-5)
They continue, “The government cover-up extends to the public records of the Air Force UFO investigation as well. Those records were released in 1976, and the file on Roswell contains but a single press clipping… Where is the material that should be in the Roswell file? The evidence we have begun to present here… establishes that the Roswell crash was one of those events that had to be kept secret by whatever means were necessary… As you can well imagine, it has not been an easy task to reconstruct what actually occurred … Many of the men (and the few women) involved are now dead, and those living are quite old. Human memory does not record events with complete accuracy, especially after years have elapsed… This is certainly true for the accounts we have gathered… and the natural errors that creep into an individual’s memory mean that some inconsistencies exist in the testimonies you will read. Nevertheless, the general pattern of events … does fit one consistent picture.” (Pg. 7-8)
They acknowledge, “The story gets muddled when the search for the bodies begins. For years there have been rumors of alien bodies from crashed saucers, but no one ever offered any proof that they existed. There was even talk of cryonic suspension of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and there were rumors of special rooms with special equipment, none of which could be confirmed.” (Pg. 87)
They explain, “There were never many witnesses to the discovery and recovery of the bodies. Access to that portion of the crash site was severely limited. While the debris field was literally filled with the men assigned to clean it, the second site was nearly empty. [Col. William H.] Blanchard realized the importance of that find and wanted to keep it as quiet as possible. The fewer men on it, the better it would be. The debris itself could be explained in an ordinary way. Metal was metal and wires were wires, even if that metal and those wires seemed to be extraordinary. Bodies, however, could not be explained so easily.” (Pg. 113)
They recount “Jerry Brown was a NASA engineer… Brown was able to explain everything to his own satisfaction except for the foil that unfolded itself and resumed its original shape. He could think of nothing to explain that except that the witnesses had been fooled by something else. And the bodies? Small bodies that didn’t look human. He speculated about that. Could they have been chimpanzees sent up for experimentation? Possibly, but then why all the secrecy after forty years? That didn’t make much sense. If the rocket had crashed on a New Mexico ranch and the occupants had been animals, it might have been embarrassing but it was nothing that would remain a secret for forty years… something would have come out.” (Pg. 169)
They recount, “As they left the major witness, both Schmitt and Randle realized that the story was so complex, so involved, with so many witnesses that they could continue to work on it for another ten years and still fine new information. The investigation of the crash at Roswell would continue, but the writing of the book has to end. They wanted to get it published in the hope that the new sources would be encouraged to come forward. They felt they knew the whole story. It was the fine tuning that would continue.” (Pg. 182)
In an Appendix, they note, “One man who was identified as being on the crash site denied, at first, he had ever been in Roswell in July, 1947. According to him, nothing extraordinary happened in Roswell, there was no talk of alien spacecraft, and nothing published in either of the Roswell daily newspapers. He finally admitted that he had been there, but insisted he know nothing of the crash and hadn’t heard about it until UFO researchers began to call him.” (Pg. 268)
This book will be of great interest to those studying UFOs, Roswell, and related phenomena.
Kevin Douglas Randle (born 1949) is a prominent ufologist and author of science fiction, and a veteran of both the Vietnam War (Army), and the Iraq War (Iowa National Guard), as well as being a retired Captain of the U.S. Air Force. Donald R. Schmitt is the former co-director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies.
They wrote in the Introduction to this 1991 book, “The above account is… the reality behind the public face of the Roswell event. This book will flesh out the details with a huge collection of first and secondhand accounts, documentary evidence, and reconstruction of the most probable course of events… Why, though, should you be convinced? Why should you believe the testimony of these witnesses? How could such an event be kept a secret so long?... it is certainly true that the government can keep secrets, but to what lengths are officials prepared to go to enact a coverup? We present copious details in this book about what was done at Roswell, but there is historical precedent for those actions.” (Pg. 4-5)
They continue, “The government cover-up extends to the public records of the Air Force UFO investigation as well. Those records were released in 1976, and the file on Roswell contains but a single press clipping… Where is the material that should be in the Roswell file? The evidence we have begun to present here… establishes that the Roswell crash was one of those events that had to be kept secret by whatever means were necessary… As you can well imagine, it has not been an easy task to reconstruct what actually occurred … Many of the men (and the few women) involved are now dead, and those living are quite old. Human memory does not record events with complete accuracy, especially after years have elapsed… This is certainly true for the accounts we have gathered… and the natural errors that creep into an individual’s memory mean that some inconsistencies exist in the testimonies you will read. Nevertheless, the general pattern of events … does fit one consistent picture.” (Pg. 7-8)
They acknowledge, “The story gets muddled when the search for the bodies begins. For years there have been rumors of alien bodies from crashed saucers, but no one ever offered any proof that they existed. There was even talk of cryonic suspension of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and there were rumors of special rooms with special equipment, none of which could be confirmed.” (Pg. 87)
They explain, “There were never many witnesses to the discovery and recovery of the bodies. Access to that portion of the crash site was severely limited. While the debris field was literally filled with the men assigned to clean it, the second site was nearly empty. [Col. William H.] Blanchard realized the importance of that find and wanted to keep it as quiet as possible. The fewer men on it, the better it would be. The debris itself could be explained in an ordinary way. Metal was metal and wires were wires, even if that metal and those wires seemed to be extraordinary. Bodies, however, could not be explained so easily.” (Pg. 113)
They recount “Jerry Brown was a NASA engineer… Brown was able to explain everything to his own satisfaction except for the foil that unfolded itself and resumed its original shape. He could think of nothing to explain that except that the witnesses had been fooled by something else. And the bodies? Small bodies that didn’t look human. He speculated about that. Could they have been chimpanzees sent up for experimentation? Possibly, but then why all the secrecy after forty years? That didn’t make much sense. If the rocket had crashed on a New Mexico ranch and the occupants had been animals, it might have been embarrassing but it was nothing that would remain a secret for forty years… something would have come out.” (Pg. 169)
They recount, “As they left the major witness, both Schmitt and Randle realized that the story was so complex, so involved, with so many witnesses that they could continue to work on it for another ten years and still fine new information. The investigation of the crash at Roswell would continue, but the writing of the book has to end. They wanted to get it published in the hope that the new sources would be encouraged to come forward. They felt they knew the whole story. It was the fine tuning that would continue.” (Pg. 182)
In an Appendix, they note, “One man who was identified as being on the crash site denied, at first, he had ever been in Roswell in July, 1947. According to him, nothing extraordinary happened in Roswell, there was no talk of alien spacecraft, and nothing published in either of the Roswell daily newspapers. He finally admitted that he had been there, but insisted he know nothing of the crash and hadn’t heard about it until UFO researchers began to call him.” (Pg. 268)
This book will be of great interest to those studying UFOs, Roswell, and related phenomena.
December 28, 2021
Several facts are repeated a few times in this book, which made it a bit boring. Perhaps merely referencing prior mentions would have been more appropriate where facts are repeated. On the whole, I loved reading this book and I’d like to read the 2nd one. The importance of works like this for me is that they bring out my creative side. So, it’s 5 stars from me. Thank you. 🙂
March 28, 2024
A look at the Roswell UFO investigation of 1947 and other similar incidents and the possible government cover ups.
December 2, 2007
Embarrassingly written. It's like, "Dude, aliens! Like, you totally gotta believe the shit we saw."
June 13, 2014
Poorly written, repetitive, inconclusive. Had the authors used a narrative style, it could have been a very interesting account of their investigative efforts. Maybe next time.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews