ROSWELL: HAVE THE RAMEY OFFICE PHOTOGRAPHS NOW BEEN PROVEN AS AUTHENTIC?

This is a statement from Major Jesse Marcel, as published in our first Roswell related book publication 'The Roswell Incident', by Charles Berlitz & William Moore:

"Just after we got to Carswell, Fort Worth, we were told to bring some of this stuff up to the general's office - that he wanted to take a look at it.

We did this and spread it out on the floor on some brown paper.

What we had was only a very small portion of the debris - there was a whole lot more. There was half a B-29-ful outside.

General Ramey allowed some members of the press in to take a picture of this stuff.

They took one picture of me on the floor holding up some of the less-interesting metallic debris. The press was allowed to photograph this, but were not allowed far enough into the room to touch it.

The stuff in that one photo was pieces of the actual stuff we had found.

It was not a staged photo".

Subsequently, we we have the publication of 'Crash at Corona', by Stanton T. Friedman and Don Berliner (1992).

How then to bypass Marcel's existing testimony, which is, of course, evidence which demolishes Roswell as a seminal alien spaceship, crash-retreival case, replete with corpses and that isn't on Friedman's agenda.

The obvious solution is to ignore it completely and instead publish an entirely unsupported claim of subterfuge, Friedman purporting:

"General Ramey invited the press in to announce that the excitement was over, and that the wreckage found on the Foster ranch was nothing more than the remains of the radar reflector from a rawinsonde weather balloon.

To do this in a convincing manner, he had someone find just such a device, made certain it looked badly damaged and presented it to the press. He then called in Warrant Officer Irving Newton from the base weather office, who promptly and correctly identified it as a weather balloon and its radar reflector.

The press obligingly took notes and photographs of General Ramey and Major Marcel, and quickly put the story out on the wires: The "crashed flying saucer" was no more than a weather balloon that had been misidentified by the rancher and the first military people to see it. Major Marcel had been ordered to keep quiet, and Captain Cavitt was nowhere to be seen. The military people who could easily have spilled the beans had thus been taken care of".

I have posed this question before; where exactly, at short notice, would it be possible to find a collection of debris, especially rubber which seems to have some age, resembling what was described by Mac Brazel and Major Jesse Marcel and others.

In 'The Roswell Legacy' (2008), by Dr Jesse Marcel and Linda Marcel, we read:

"My father was ordered to appear in the photograph holding the weather balloon material for one reason: to support the Army’s contention that the officers who had made the initial determination had erred because they did not really know what they were looking at. In the first photograph, my father is shown holding a portion of a radar target...".

The assertion that, "My father was ordered to appear in the photograph holding the weather balloon material" is pivotal and the entire Roswell case dependent upon it.

So, what is the actual hard-core proof being cited.

Continuing from the book:

"Dad later told us that the civilian photographer saw only a small part of the actual debris, and that he was only allowed to observe the real debris - which remained wrapped up from a distance, as opposed to being allowed to get close enough for a detailed photograph, as he had been allowed to do with the radar target material".

This would appear to be misconstrued and relates to the aforementioned statement from Major Jesse Marcel, as published in 'The Roswell Incident':

"General Ramey allowed some members of the press in to take a picture of this stuff.

They took one picture of me on the floor holding up ~ debris. The press was allowed to photograph this, but were not allowed far enough into the room to touch it.

The stuff in that one photo was pieces of the actual stuff we had found.

It was not a staged photo".

Major Jesse Marcel did not avow this latter 'debris substitution' at all.

Not then and unless evidenced otherwise, not ever.

An elemental video testimony (begins at 39 minutes in) is from the 1979 documentary entitled, 'UFOs Are Real', in which Major Jesus Marcel affirms:

"The newsmen saw very little of that material, very small portion of it... and none of these important things like these members that had hieroglyphics...".

Documented on camera, this is Marcel's unequivocal confirmation that the actual debris recovered was displayed:

Major Jesse Marcel's grievance has always been that the genuine pieces of debris he had accompanied from Roswell and which he was pictured with, did not feature what was, in his sole opinion, the more interesting 'I-beam's with 'hieroglyphics', he alone had immediately decided were created by an alien civilization.

Plus, infinitely worse, his recovered flying saucer remnants were dismissed as only originating from a mundane weather balloon.

Despite exhaustive searches, I can find no factual evidence, whatever in existence, to support Friedman's pivotal allegation.

More recently, the related facts are entirely misrepresented within a book publication, 'In Plain Sight' (2021), by Ross Coulthart:

"Jesse Marcel did not speak up until 1978, but for eight years from1978 until he died in 1986, he claimed he had been ordered to collude in a cover-up and dramatically alleged in multiple interviews that the real debris he brought with him that day from Roswell was substituted by General Ramey with wreckage from an old weather balloon, and that he actually believed what crashed at Roswell was extraterrestrial.

Marcel, who left the Air Force Reserves as a decorated lieutenant colonel in 1958, said he was forced to pose for photographs with pieces of a weather balloon to debunk the flying disc crash story.

In retirement, Marcel told the ‘real’ story to nuclear physicist and self-described flying saucer researcher Stanton Friedman. Friedman then alleged a ‘cosmic Watergate cover-up’ of a recovered alien spacecraft and alien bodies".

As illustrated and evidence' not one iota of this seems to be true.

Coulthart then goes on to say:

"The initial press release issued by the US Army clearly referred to are covered ‘flying disc’. It began: ‘The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field,was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc.’

What has never been satisfactorily explained is why Roswell’s commanding officer Colonel Blanchard so quickly concluded that what had crashed was a‘flying disc’ when, supposedly, all he was shown at the base by Marcel and Cavitt were small pieces of debris.

(...)

So, why did Blanchard authorise issuing a press release saying a ‘flying disc’ had been recovered, unless he knew that for sure"?

The explanation is revealed in an interview with Lt. Walter Haut:

"I took the releases into town and that was one of the things Col. Blanchard told me to do, because if there's any validity to this, he didn't want the news media to think we had jumped over their heads and we not cooperating with them".

Note, "if there's any validity to this".

Coulthart omits a fundamental clue.

The press release states:

'Not having phone facilities, the rancher stored the disc until such time as he was able to contact the sheriff's office, who in turn notified Major Jesse A. Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office.

Action was immediately taken and the disc was picked up at the rancher's home. It was inspected at the Roswell Army Air Field and subsequently loaned by Major Marcel to higher headquarters".

So where was this 'flying saucer' device stored by Mac Brazel.

Perhaps in a large barn, or similar...

We know exactly where; underneath some sparse foliage.

"The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality...".

"...fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc..."

"The flying object landed on a ranch...".

Equally significant, is that Roswell AAF base, would not divulge any details of the disc's construction.

Inevitably, the news release gave rise to the now infamous 'Roswell Daily Record' headline and a story set in stone, forever:

'RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region'.

No wonder, anyone looking back and who doesn't appreciate the actual facts, might be suspicious.

Connotations of a large, metallic, disc-shaped spacecraft then, only hours later, it's announced this was actually a weather balloon.

If it maybe further assists to appreciate the overall perspective and context...

One video documentary extract, is a perfect example of how Stanton Friedman's entire unsupported claims re our genuine debris being substituted - Friedman never once saying that Major Marcel had told him this happened - becomes intertwined with Marcel lamenting his flying saucer certainty, had been disregarded.

In next video Marcel comments:

"They had a whole flock of microphones there.

They wanted me... they wanted some comments from me and I wasn't at liberty to do that.

All I could do was keep my mouth shut... and let General Ramey, the one who told the newspapers, what it was and to forget about it.

It was nothing more than a weather observation balloon.

'Course we both knew differently".

Again, merely Marcel's conclusion and essence of his displeasure - for the past couple of weeks, these flying saucers were being increasingly reported on a daily basis and those hieroglyphic type symbols, unlike any he had seen on an earthly aircraft.

However...

Inject Friedman's claims and Marcel's remarks suddenly take on a completely different connotation...

This being what is actually presented as evidence in the documentary:

"They had a whole flock of microphones there.

They wanted me... they wanted some comments from me and I wasn't at liberty to do that".

Narrative: Marcel was instead forced to pose with wood, foil and rubber debris, from a conventional weather balloon.

"All I could do was keep my mouth shut... and let General Ramey, the one who told the newspapers, what it was and to forget about it...

It was nothing more than a weather observation balloon.

'Course we both knew differently".

Full video:

There is no suggestion this mix of fact and fiction was intentionally deceptive, more likely to be highlighting the false perspective which was now accepted to be firmly established.

In the past, these images imperatively had to be discredited, otherwise 'Roswell' loses its mystique and repercussions quite unthinkable.

With no agenda, other than a ufologist endeavouring to establish facts, one merely highlights same.

Everything rests on our debris switch, Marcel reiterates otherwise and effectively it all comes down to Friedman being opiniated:.

"General Ramey invited the press in to announce that the excitement was over, and that the wreckage found on the Foster ranch was nothing more than the remains of the radar reflector from a rawinsonde weather balloon.

To do this in a convincing manner, he had someone find just such a device, made certain it looked badly damaged and presented it to the press....".

Etc.

No more than a personal diatribe, which does not constitute evidence.

It goes without saying I am acutely aware this challenges 'Roswell', per se, to the core and I have invited responses, from seasoned case researchers, for publication.