1995 00 00 OMNI - OMNI - Roswell issue

Magazine Overview

This issue of OMNI, dated Fall 1995, features a bold cover headline "WE'RE BACK!" and the tagline "BIGGER, BETTER, BOLDER," accompanied by an illustration of a child and a metallic robot. The main article, "THE TRUTH ABOUT ROSWELL," by Dava Sobel with photographs by David Michael Kennedy, revisits the infamous 1947 incident.

First Word: A UFO FOUNDATION: Working together to find answers by Gregory Benford

Gregory Benford, a physicist and science-fiction writer, addresses the acrimonious exchanges between UFO fans and scientists. He argues that for UFOlogists to gain credibility, they should support scientific research that could uncover convincing evidence. Benford suggests that extraterrestrial visitors might use locations like the far side of the moon or lunar Lagrangian points as bases, and that funding research into their potential waste heat signatures in the asteroid belt, as proposed by Michael Papagiannis, could be a path forward. He believes that a serious institution dedicated to objective research would garner more respect than the current confrontational approach.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ROSWELL Article by Dava Sobel

The Beginning of the Legend

The article traces the origin of the "flying saucer" phenomenon to Kenneth Arnold's sighting in June 1947. Within two weeks, the U.S. Army announced the recovery of a flying saucer near Roswell, New Mexico, on July 8, 1947. The next day, the Army corrected itself, stating it was a misidentified weather balloon. This event, the "Roswell Incident," has since become a seminal case in UFO lore, with many residents claiming an alien craft and bodies were recovered and the event was covered up by the government.

The Cover-Up Claims

According to various accounts, military and government agencies intentionally concealed the truth. A former funeral parlor employee recalled humanoid bodies being autopsied at Roswell Army Air Field and then flown to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for study. Rumors persisted of a surviving alien creature. Congressman Stephen H. Schiff has called for an investigation by the General Accounting Office (GAO) into the alleged cover-up and suppression of information.

The Air Force's Explanation

In contrast, the U.S. Air Force released a "Report on Roswell" in September 1994, identifying the object as part of "Project Mogul," a top-secret program to monitor Russian nuclear bomb tests. This explanation, reported by The New York Times, was presented as the definitive debunking of the alien-spaceship theory.

Key Witnesses and Researchers

The article highlights several key figures involved in the Roswell debate:

• W. W. ("Mac") Brazel: The rancher who found the debris.
• Major Jesse Marcel: The intelligence officer who initially examined the debris.
• Walter G. Haut: The base public relations officer who issued the initial press release.
• Stanton T. Friedman: A nuclear physicist and UFO researcher who has extensively investigated Roswell.
• Charles Moore: A physicist and writer.
• Gerald F. Anderson: A witness who claimed to have seen the craft and alien corpses.
• Kevin D. Randle and Donald R. Schmitt: Authors who have researched the incident and initially sought to debunk it but later came to believe the claims.
• Jim Ragsdale: A witness who claimed to have seen a flying saucer and alien corpses.
• Frank J. Kaufmann: A witness who claims to have seen the crashed spaceship.
• Glenn Dennis: A mortician who claims to have received unusual calls related to the incident and encountered a nurse who described alien autopsies.

The Project Mogul Theory

Researchers like Robert Todd and Karl T. Pflock have linked the Roswell debris to Project Mogul. Charles B. Moore, a professor emeritus of atmospheric physics, explains that Project Mogul involved high-altitude balloons carrying radar reflectors, some with distinctive markings. The theory suggests that the Roswell debris might have been from one of these balloons, possibly colliding with a UFO or a Mogul balloon.

The Role of Media and Skepticism

The Roswell Incident has been amplified by media coverage, including books, movies, and television programs. The article notes the ongoing debate and the challenges faced by researchers, including the disappearance of witnesses and the difficulty in verifying claims. Skeptics, like those at the Air Force, emphasize the lack of concrete evidence, while proponents point to witness testimonies and alleged cover-ups.

STAR WITNESS: The Mortician of Roswell Breaks His Code of Silence

This section features an interview by Karl T. Pflock with Glenn Dennis, a mortician in Roswell during the 1947 incident. Dennis recounts receiving unusual phone calls from the Roswell Army Air Field mortuary officer inquiring about baby caskets and embalming fluids. He later drove an injured airman to the base hospital and witnessed what he believed to be a top-secret military operation involving the examination of alien bodies. A nurse, identified as Naomi Maria Selff, who was also involved, described the gruesome autopsies and provided Dennis with drawings and notes before disappearing.

Dennis describes the alien bodies as small, with large, sunken eyes, and lacking bridges on their noses. He also notes the unusual construction of their hands and the disproportionately large heads. The nurse claimed the bodies were moved to a hangar and then flown to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Dennis kept the notes and drawings hidden for years, but they have since gone missing. He also received a letter from the nurse, which was later returned stamped "Deceased."

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The issue consistently explores the tension between the desire for definitive answers regarding UFO phenomena and the rigorous demands of scientific proof. The "First Word" by Benford explicitly calls for a more scientific and collaborative approach. The Roswell articles, while detailing witness accounts and alleged cover-ups, also present the official explanations and the challenges of verifying such claims. The overall stance appears to be one of open inquiry, acknowledging the persistent public interest in UFOs while also highlighting the need for credible evidence and scientific investigation. The magazine seems to aim to present both sides of the debate, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions.

This issue of OMNI, dated September 1995, features a prominent article titled "The Case of the Vanishing Nurses," exploring the persistent mystery surrounding the alleged disappearance of nurses connected to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. The magazine's cover presents a stark image of a hangar and the dramatic headline, hinting at a deep-seated conspiracy.

The Roswell Incident and the "Vanishing Nurses"

The central narrative begins with the account of a nurse, referred to as "Nurse X," who allegedly witnessed alien autopsies at the Roswell Army Air Field hospital on July 5, 1947. This testimony was reportedly shared with Glenn Dennis, the town's mortician. Dennis, who had worked at the base as an ambulance driver, recounts his interactions with Nurse X and the strange events he perceived, including being ushered out of the hospital and later hearing rumors of the nurse's disappearance in a training mission plane crash.

The Researchers' Claims

Decades later, in the 1980s, UFO investigators Don Schmitt and Kevin Randle began piecing together the Roswell story. They focused on the alleged "vanishing nurses," including Nurse X and five other nurses whose photos appeared in the Roswell base yearbook. Schmitt and Randle claimed that official records for these nurses could not be found, suggesting a deliberate government cover-up to erase any witnesses or participants in the Roswell incident. They asserted that the government had "willfully purged the nurses from the record, and, possibly, the earth."

The Investigation and Documentation

The article details an investigation undertaken by the author, who, skeptical of the "vanishing" claim, set out to verify the researchers' assertions. The author's search, conducted from Hawaii using resources like the Federal Government Document Depository at the University of Hawaii and the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, proved surprisingly fruitful. Within days, the author located records for most of the nurses, including Captain Adeline M. Fanton, Captain Joyce Godard, Major Claudia Uebele, First Lieutenant Angele A. LaRue, and Lieutenant Colonel Rosemary J. Brown (formerly McManus).

Unraveling the Mystery

The investigation revealed that most of the nurses had not vanished. Angele LaRue had married and raised four sons, Adeline Fanton had served for 13 years and died in 1975, Joyce Godard had died in 1981, Claudia Uebele had retired in 1965 and died in 1994, and Rosemary J. Brown was alive and residing in a nursing home. Brown, the only surviving nurse mentioned, stated she had witnessed nothing unusual related to a crash or alien autopsies at Roswell and was unaware of any "hush-hush" activities.

The Case of "Nurse X"

The identity and fate of "Nurse X" remained the most elusive part of the puzzle. Glenn Dennis had provided a name, Naomi Maria Selff, to some researchers, but he also claimed to have promised Nurse X to keep her identity secret. The article notes that Dennis's memory was imperfect due to the passage of time and the stress of recounting the events. He expressed a desire for his story to be verified and for Nurse X to be safe, but refused to reveal her name, citing his promise.

The Researchers' Reaction and the Air Force Report

When confronted with the author's findings, Schmitt and Randle's explanations shifted. Initially, they had claimed a fruitless five-year search. Later, Schmitt suggested he had found Lieutenant Colonel Rosemary J. Brown but had kept it quiet to avoid sensationalism. Randle expressed surprise that the author had found records so quickly, implying that perhaps the records had been made available only after their own persistent inquiries. The article also references the Air Force's official explanation of the Roswell incident, which identified the recovered object as a Project Mogul weather balloon.

Conclusion and Themes

The article concludes that the "vanishing nurses" narrative, as presented by some researchers, was largely unsubstantiated by documented evidence, with most nurses' lives and careers being traceable. The primary mystery that persists is the true identity and fate of "Nurse X." The overarching themes explored are government secrecy, the challenges of UFO investigation, the fallibility of memory, and the contrast between sensational claims and documented facts. The article questions the methodology and motives of some UFO researchers, suggesting that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

This issue of OMNI appears to maintain a critical yet open stance towards UFO phenomena. While presenting the sensational claims surrounding the Roswell incident and the "vanishing nurses," the magazine also engages in investigative journalism to verify these claims. The editorial stance seems to favor documented evidence and logical explanations, while acknowledging the enduring public fascination with mysteries like Roswell. The recurring theme is the pursuit of truth in the face of potential cover-ups and the complexities of eyewitness testimony and historical research.