In Search of Mysterious Unsolved Ancient Mysteries #5
Hey- Who doesn’t love a great mystery? We’re all into caching, after all and some of us grew up (and are growing old) on TV shows, movies and websites that encourage us to question reality and provide answers like “There’s more to the story” and “Things are NOT what they seem”.
While there’s no shortage of LPSs and PBNs on traffic signs - which are great when you just need to grab a cache, it’s worth noting that the world remains full of places and things that just defy common theory and conjecture.
So, strap on your tinfoil hats and hone your caching skills. That’s the signpost up ahead...
The Background: UFO Coverups?
This In Search Of episode (Season 5, Episode 01) was really one of their swansongs, and it set the legend of recovered alien crashes into hyperdrive. Over 40 years later, it's still rather creepy.
In case you may be among the handful of people who have not heard the Roswell story before, here’s the basic “facts”. On the night in July 6th, 1947, a thunderstorm rolled across the New Mexico (USA) desert. During that storm, a local rancher named Mac Brazel heard what sounded like a crash somewhere out on his property. Next morning, he contacted the local Sheriff and they drove out to investigate a scene that just didn’t seem right. Figuring that something, likely classified, had actually crashed, and being that they were aware that the US. Air Force had a nuclear bomber base nearby, they reached out to the military to inform them of what they had found.
To their surprise, the Air Force initially reacted as if they were not involved in any activities in the area, yet they quickly cordoned off the area to conduct their own official investigation.
Then things got weird. They got so weird that the stories remained unspoken of for over three decades.
Initial reports were that the Air Force had recovered a "flying disk" of undetermined origin. This was only modestly alarming since World War II was still fresh in people’s minds and many secrets had yet to be unravelled.
Still, it was enough to raise suspicion at a wider level, and this was a bit too much for the comfort of the Air Force brass.
So, the story quickly became something else. This is where the legend of “weather balloons” began. The wreckage was part of an "Atmospheric Research Project".
People, for some reason, believed it- for decades. Some say that’s because they were forced to. This is where the legend gets a lot darker.
For eventually more strange details in the story emerged - in addition to people being intimidated for security reasons, there were tales of funeral directors being asked about small coffins, witnesses disappearing and even wreckage, including bodies, being recovered and carted away. Yes, this is also where “Men In Black” really entered the narrative.
All of this might have been written off, and forgotten, if one of the Air Force’s Intelligence Officers, Major Jesse Marcel, hadn’t brought the story back to life in the latter stages of his life in the late 1970’s.
According to the Major Marcel, the Air Force did indeed recover wreckage of an undefined origin- of designs and materials which did not seem to have been in line with anything done by any known agency- at least on Earth. To avoid having to admit that he had no idea what they had on their hands, the story of downed weather balloons was concocted.
Also, being that Major Marcel was supposedly among those “sworn to secrecy”, it was rather possible to dismiss his story- for a while.
However, once the story entered the public spotlight, the Air Force came under increasing pressure to answer questions about what became known as “The Roswell Incident” (despite the town proper being 40 miles away). When they eventually came up with an answer, It was in the form that the "atmospheric research project". was revealed to be part of “Project Mogul”, a Top Secret program to launch high altitude balloons to detect Soviet nuclear testing. Since the Project was Top Secret at the time, Colonel Marcel was not informed of it's details, or even its very existence.
As for the supposedly alien bodes, they were just “dummies” from the balloons.
Why would the Military put dummies on a secret project? As a prank? Well, maybe, but let’s not go there .
The Air Force’s Official story was not airtight at convincing the believers. For starters, Project Mogul wasn’t supposed to be active in 1947. Then, there’s that strange metal wreckage, photographic inconsistencies and, of course, those bodies?
These things do exist, right?
As the Legend has it, the remnants of the crash were ultimately sent to "Hangar 18", which is officially known as the Foreign Technology Division, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. But, maybe they went somewhere else instead..
For this cache:
Don’t go looking for a “flying disk". Or was it a weather balloon? Reaching GZ might pose a challenge. It is located near the banks of Tarabusi Creek. There are no defined trails leading to GZ, and it would probably be best accessed by parking in the adjacent subdivsion on Louise or Brookview Streets. In addition, let’s just say that the cache MIGHT contain something interesting. Please do not remove this and return the intact container to the same location and condition.
Good luck and happy caching