The Roswell Crash: Fact or Ficition?

New Mexico natives are familiar with the crash that

occurred outside of Roswell, but have they every considered
it as an urban legend?
What is an Urban Legend?
Urban legends are spinechilling short stories that are
generally accepted as true and
are passed down through
various forms of media such as
written articles, verbal strory
telling or visual representations.
Often at times, urban legends
are realistic and scare the
audience into believing that it is
true. Yes, urban legends lack
concrete evidence, but the
audience often contemplates
the possibility of its occurence.
Even though there are many
variations of urban legends,
they are generally all related
and derive from one original
legend.
Roswell UFO Crash
Roswell is a seemingly aquint
townt that includes a history
that involves a mysterious
secret outside the city limits. On
July 7th 1947, an unidentified
flying object crashed on a ranch
northwest of Roswell. W.W
Brazel, the rancher at the time,
found metal debris. His
neighbors, Floyd and Loretta
Proctor, suggested that the
pieces were from a UFO
crashed. Their assumptions
were influenced by the
increased UFO sightings in the
U.S. during that summer.
Brazel reported the incidient to
George Wilcox: Roswell current
sheriff. Wilcox then contacted
military personal and

appointed Major Jesse Marcel

to investigate.
Marcel and two other agents,
Sheridan Cavitt and Lewis
Rickett drove out to the ranch
where Brazel collected the
metal scraps. 24 hours later, the
public information office made
the announcement a flying
disk was responsible for the
recovered remains.
Brigadier Genral
Roger Ramey
ordered the
wreckage to
transfer to
Carswell Air
Force Base for
further examination.
Major Marcel
insisted that the pieces
were from a
weather balloon.
The excitement over the
extraterriestial pieces slowly
died for a few decades. Despite
the claims made by the U.S
governement that it was a
weather ballon, many people
believe that this was rather a
government cover up, which
increases the likelyhood of the
Roswell Crash to not be
considered an urban legend.

Highly controversialthere
is not enouch evidence that
proves that it occurred.
Q & A at the University of
New Mexico
I conducted interviews with a
few students at the University
of New Mexico to understand
what information they obtained
about the Roswell crash and
whether they believe that the
incident can be considered an

urban legend. The comments

below generally depict the
opposite views of this topic.
Q: Do you believe that the
Roswell Crash is an urban
legend? Why or why not?
A1: I believe that it can be
considered one. It is highly
controversial on whether it
happened or not and there are
people on both sides that are
very passionate about it. It is
something that is so out there
that is presented in a realistic
way. There is not enough
concrete and well estabilished
evidence that proves that it
occurred. Melissa Rosenthal

Why would the government

threaten people if the event
did not occur?
A2: No, because it is real due
to the threats of the
government. Why would the
government threaten people if
this event did not occur?
-Jessica Casas
Fact or Fiction?
From the given background
information about urban
legends and the Roswell crash
and the comments made from
both sides of this argument, I
encourage you to decide
whether the Roswell crash is an
urban legend or not. In your
perspective, is it fact or fiction?

Rita-Marie Borja
December 3, 2014
Sources: Korff, Kal K. "What Really Happened at Roswell." - CSI. N.p.,

July-Aug. 1977. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.