UFO Crash at Roswell

The alien spacecraft that allegedly landed in Roswell, N.M., on July 3, 1947, was not the product of rancher Mac Brazel's imagination, say the authors of this report of the event, pieced together from accounts by 200 witnesses. The book contends that the sighting was hushed up for years by the U.S. government (Sen. Davis Chavez allegedly ordered the local press to keep quiet about the incident), and the remains were explained to be weather balloon parts. Those who had any information about the event were sworn to secrecy, and Brazel himself is said to have accepted a new truck in return for his silence. The inability of scientists to identify the material constituting the metallic debris is offered as evidence of an alien visit. The authors even claim to have an otherwise skeptical NASA official believing their version of the story. Though comprehensive, this account is weakened by the repetitious presentation of the facts. Randle has been a field investigator for the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization; Schmitt is director of special investigations at the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies. (July)