Witness accounts of aliens, intimidation and cover-ups
First-hand accounts of aliens
Starting in the early 1990s, several individuals gave first-hand accounts of seeing aliens.
Frank Kaufmann claimed to have various duties at the Roswell base, and his accounts started to appear in UFO Crash at Roswell, published in 1991. When interviewed by Karl Pflock in 1993, he claimed to have been part of a nine-member team, the only one's permitted to "go out to the site," i.e. the location of a crashed alien craft and its crew. The site was north of Roswell, though he elsewhere claimed the site was on the Foster ranch. Kaufmann said his team came to the site and discovered a crashed craft split open, with an alien body thrown against the arroyo wall, another hanging from the craft, and three more alien corpses inside the craft. All were clad in "very, very close fitting one-piece" uniforms, "like wet suits," which were "silvery" and each had a "clear thing" where the belt buckle would normally be. The aliens were described as having smaller noses, eyes and ears (compared to humans), no hair, being trimly built, standing about five foot three, with "normal" hands. Their skin color was "paler, grayish."
Gerald Anderson claimed that as a child of six, he saw aliens at the Plains of Agustin, where Barney Barnett was said to have also seen aliens. His accounts were featured initially in Crash at Corona, published in 1992. He, with his family, said he saw "a silver object ..... jammed into a hillside." He described seeing aliens: There were three of these crew members laid out on the ground ..... one sitting upright .....They looked like they had bandages on'em." He described the arrival of some archaeologists, then the Army.
Sgt. Frederick Benthal: a photographic specialist, claimed that he and Cpl. Al Kirkpatrick were flown in from Washington D.C., to photograph alien wreckage and bodies. They were first driven north of town to one site, where Benthal said he witnessed covered trucks carrying wreckage of some sort. Then Kilpatrick was sent to another site where they were picking up pieces, while Benthal was taken to a nearby tent. There he photographed several little bodies lying on a tarp. "They were all just about identical, with dark complexions, thin and with large heads. There was a strange smell inside the tent that smelled something like formaldehyde." Kilpatrick later returned from the other site in a truck loaded down by wreckage. All their equipment and film was confiscated. They were returned to the base and then flown back to Washington, debriefed and told they hadn't seen anything.
Sgt. Thomas Gonzales: in an interview with Don Ecker, editor of UFO magazine, said he helped guard a crash site and saw bodies and a craft. Ecker wrote that Gonzales said he saw "little men." They were human-looking but had eyes and heads slightly larger than human. The craft was an "airfoil" design.
Jim Ragsdale: claimed to have witnessed first-hand aliens and their craft. His accounts first appeared in 1994's The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell. He claimed, while out camping about 30 miles (48 km) north of Roswell with a lady friend, to have seen an object fly overhead and crash. He described seeing a craft partially embedded in the ground. Near the craft were "bodies or something laying there. They weren't very long ..... four or five feet at the most." He and his girlfriend threw some of the wreckage into their jeep and left as the Army arrived.
Walter Haut: Roswell public information officer, who helped put out the base flying disc press release, mostly denied any other direct knowledge of the incident. However, in his first affidavit he did state "I am convinced that the material recovered was some type of craft from outer space." Then a few years before his death (in Dec 2005) he elaborated on that statement. In a recorded oral history done in 2000 with researchers Wendy Connors and Dennis Balthaser and a 2002 affidavit, both to be released after his death he stated he had direct knowledge about a spacecraft and alien bodies. "Col. Blanchard took me personally to Building 84, a B-29 hangar located on the east side of the tarmac ..... I observed that it was under heavy guard both outside and inside. Once inside I was permitted from a safe distance to first observe the object just recovered north of town. It was approximately 12 to 15 feet (4.6 m) in length, not quite as wide, about 6 feet (1.8 m) high, and more of an egg shape ..... Also from a distance, I was able to see a couple of bodies under a canvas tarpaulin. Only the heads extended beyond the covering, and I was not able to make out any features. The heads did appear larger than normal and the contour of the canvas over the bodies suggested the size of a 10-year old child ..... [Later Blanchard] would extend his arm about 4 feet (1.2 m) above the floor to indicate the height. I was informed of a temporary morgue set up to accommodate the recovered bodies ..... I am convinced that what I personally observed was some type of craft and its crew from outer space."
PFC Elias Benjamin: was an MP with 390th Air Service Squadron. On the evening of Monday July 7 or morning of Tuesday, July 8, he was placed in charge of escorting three or four bodies covered with sheets on gurneys from Hangar 84 to the Roswell base hospital. One appeared to be moving. During transfer, the sheet slipped off of one "revealing the grayish face and swollen, hairless head of a species that I realized was not human" Later at the base hospital, with the sheet removed, he could make out " a very small person with an egg-shaped head that was that was over sized for its body .....The only facial features that stick out in my mind now are that it had slanted eyes, two holes where its nose should have been, and a small slit where its mouth should have been. I think it was alive." He noticed a "terrible smell" at the hospital. He had also seen metallic crash debris in the hangar which wasn't from a plane crash because it wasn't burned. Later, "I was debriefed and made to sign a nondisclosure statement .....I was told if I ever spoke about it, something would happen, not only to me, but also to my family."
In tomorrows Journal (Part 4) - Other accounts of aliens and alien spacecraft recoveries.
