Close Encounters

The first displays in the museum outline the timeline of the “1947 Roswell UFO Incident.” Each event was documented in depth starting the moment in July 1947 when “Mac” Brazel was checking on his cattle after a storm and found wreckage on his property. Eventually, the Roswell Army Air Field quarantined off and removed the wreckage and held Brazel captive for four days before photographing him with a weather balloon and releasing a story to the press. Fifty years later (1997), the U.S. Air Force admitted that the wreckage was part of then-classified Project Mogul to monitor the Soviet Union’s attempts to test atomic weapons. However, alien mania had taken root and many UFOers found reasons not to believe the government’s changed story.

The rest of the museum had displays on UFOs/aliens in movies, televisions shows, literature, history and art. Cases of alleged UFO sightings, alien abductions, cattle mutilations, etc. were covered. We watched about 30 minutes of an Australian documentary about UFOs in that country and abroad. 

Take Me to Your Leader

Artwork depicting Aliens The most interesting part of the museum for me concerned the alleged encounter of ancient civilization with aliens. The Mayans worshiped the heavens, created a solar calendar and could accurately predict eclipses. The lid of the sarcophagus of one of their ancient leader was covered with “alien” beings laying him to rest and another leader’s tomb lid depicted an “astronaut” in a capsule surrounded by symbols for various planets and stars. Replicas of Hopi and Zuni petroglyphs displayed Kachinas (spirit beings) conforming to our conceptions of aliens and suggesting to some that these tribes originated from “star people”.

I entered and left the museum a skeptic that aliens have ever visited planet Earth. Yes, it’s likely that other intelligent life exits in the universe, and yes, there are unidentified flying objects (now call unidentified aerial phenomena, UAPs). But, the chances that intelligent life has, or is even interested in spying on and/or abducting us, making patterns in our crops, mutilating our farm animals, etc. are infinitesimal. What a waste of effort that would be for beings with the knowledge and technology of galactic or even intergalactic travel! Nevertheless, it was certainly fun visiting the museum and learning about all things UFO.

After departing the UFO museum, we walked a few blocks and had lunch at Martin’s Capitol Cafe, extracted the RV from the tight museum car park, dieseled up leaving Roswell, and drove about two hours to Alamogordo. We checked in at the Alamogordo/White Sands KOA and set up the RV in site 18. It was time for Happy Hour so we checked out 575 Brewing Company. After returning to the campground, we dropped by the office building to listen to a live bluegrass/country/western music jam session. Jane ran back to the RV to get my banjo, and I joined the group for awhile before we returned to the motorhome for a quiet evening. 

We Lunched in Roswell at Martin’s Capitol Cafe

We chose 575 Brewing Company for Happy Hour

Campground Jam Session