UFO Faithful Land in Roswell

July 1, 1997 4:58 PM EDT

By Kieran Murray

ROSWELL, N.M. (Reuter) - Thousands of UFO buffs, researchers and alien-watchers gathered Tuesday for an extravaganza marking the 50th anniversary of the most famous of all alleged alien landings on Earth.

Organizers said between 60,000 and 100,000 people would arrive over the next six days to swap stories of alien encounters and dissect the evidence they believe shows that an alien spacecraft crashed near this ranching town on or around July 4, 1947, and that its dead occupants were taken away for secret autopsies and testing by Air Force scientists.

Bidding to quash the Roswell conspiracy theories, the Air Force last week issued a comprehensive report aimed at refuting details of the alleged extraterrestrial landing. It said the wreckage found in a field 75 miles northwest of Roswell was in fact that of a high-altitude balloon used in the military's top-secret ``Project Mogul'' to detect Soviet nuclear tests at the start of the Cold War.

Eyewitnesses who said they saw dead aliens loaded into body bags at another site and spoke to people who carried out autopsies on the creatures may have confused what they saw with Air Force dummies used to test high altitude parachutes in the area, the Air Force said.

But the report has been ridiculed by UFO believers and the few remaining witnesses insist their stories are true.

``I know what I saw,'' said Frank Kaufmann, now 81, who was working at the Roswell Army Air Field in July 1947 when he was sent out to see what had crashed into a dry river bed north of town. ``Seeing those bodies and the craft made me realize we're not alone in this vast universe.''

He said he got a close look at two dead aliens, one in the wreckage and another in the dry river bed, and that those two and three more were taken away in body bags.

``There is a lot of crap in all this,'' said Kaufmann, who has little time for the zanier alien buffs who claim they have been abducted by little green men or impregnated by extraterrestrial visitors.

``These people who claim they've been abducted by aliens, it's so transfixed in their minds they fantasize it and there's no way you can budge them.''

Max Littel, an 80-year-old local businessman who has researched the alleged landing, said the Air Force report insults the intelligence of local residents because the parachute dummies were not used in the area until the late 1950s, a full decade after the incident.

``It's just more of their coverup. They are trying to get people to shut up about this but there's absolutely nothing to it. We just call it another one of their damn lies,'' he said.

The Air Force report offered no explanation for the time difference except to say that ``Air Force activities which occurred over a period of many years were consolidated and assumed to have occurred over two or three days in July of 1947.''

The so-called Roswell Incident has drawn huge interest in recent years with the release of the ``Independence Day'' movie, the ``X-Files'' television series and fake alien-autopsy videos focusing on the events of July 1947.

Few believe the military report has undermined the Roswell mystique for those who believe intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe and this city of 50,000 people in southeast New Mexico has geared up for a tourist invasion.

``It's the Woodstock of 1997. The U.S. government's effort to deep-six this with this release of another absurd explanation just adds gasoline to the fire,'' said Linda Moulton Howe, a reporter who researches UFO sightings.

``I have no doubt the Pentagon is lying to us. They think people would freak if they told the truth so they are covering it up,'' said a California woman named ``Star'' who arrived in Roswell Monday, her hair sprayed green for the occasion.

Alien dolls, T-shirts, cookies, bottled water and 50th anniversary commemorative coins are on sale and thousands of people are expected to visit three separate sites where the spacecraft or its debris came down.

The ``Roswell UFO Encounter '97'' also boasts a film festival, a rock concert, laser shows, ``Alien Chase'' foot races and a soapbox derby of homemade alien vessels.

While some researchers say the commercial blitz and assorted wackos expected to attend the event undermine their work, organizers insist the serious side to the incident is not being overlooked.

``We're not sacrificing alien babies. This is a legitimate family event and an educational experience,'' chief organizer Stan Crosby said.