Roswell? What are we talking about?

The story has been bubbling along for many years, fueled by various pieces of fairly inconclusive evidence. However, 'Roswell Fever' has struck recently with, firstly, US congressman Steve Schiff of the GOA demanding the release of official documents relating to the event and, more importantly, the emergence of film footage which purports to show the military dissection of two of the alien corpses in 1947.

The film has violently divided opinion, but is certainly of sufficient apparent authenticity to warrant close examination.

• If it is a hoax it is one of the most preposterous (and effective) stunts ever.
• If it is genuine it is one of the most important scientific and philosophical discoveries in human history.

For more general information about the incident read

• The 1stVolume of the 'Roswell Reporter' edited by Schmitt & Randle, the most active publicists of the incident
• 'Roswell's Legacy' by Gillian Sender

• If you think these pictures are too realistic to be special effects, why not look at this still from a movie about Roswell for comparison (N.B. This is a film model- not one of the supposed genuine shots! )
  

Many biologists would accept that it is not so unlikely that alien life from a reasonably similar environment might develop into a 'humanoid' form (2 legs/arms, head on top etc). Convergent evolution, the process by which geographically and evolutionarily disparate species come to resemble each other by evolving into what are simply the 'best designs', is well documented on earth. However, the Roswell footage shows bodies which still seem TOO human: Chimpanzees share 98.4% of human genes (Diamond, The Third Chimpanzee) but are vastly morphologically dissimilar from humans by comparison to the aliens., suggesting that they must have remarkably similar DNA to humans in order to look like this.

A few theories to explain this include:

1. Thousands of individuals have reported being abducted by aliens and subjected to medical examinations involving the methodical extraction of ova and sperm. It might therefore seem ( very remotely) possible that aliens have been creating 'more human' versions of their species using gene splicing technology. (perhaps....)

2. On a less world-shattering, but perhaps equally sinister level, Kent Jeffrey has suggested that the Roswell film may actually show a doctored human body with certain known medical conditions.

3. The eternal truism of time travel is 'time travel can't exist because if it did there would be visitors here from the future'. It has been suggested that 'aliens' may actually not be space travellers, but travellers in time- tourists from the future if you like. Certainly an extrapolation of our current evolutionary trends could leave us with a small, hairless body and a larger head.

4. Or alternatively there is some curiously solid evidence that UFOs may actually be relics from our past. SEE HERE

5. But, to be fair, as editor of this whole web site, I am confindent that I am not being unduly skeptical with the following explaination - They look like humans because the whole video is a piece of dodgy special effects with no scientific credibility, which neither supports nor discredits the concept of extra-terrestrial life. It is merely one many hoaxes in a world of evidence.

• The Times (London), July 8, 1947 (scan courtesy of Fortean Times)
• The Roswell Daily Record, July 8, 1947
• contemporary radio broadcast (200k, AIFF)

• the Anderson Family
• the Archeologists
• the Nurse