The public relations officer at the Roswell air base in 1947 has released claims that he saw a crashed spacecraft and the bodies of aliens at the site, despite a lifetime spent denying any such things.

In the affidavit, Lieutenant Walter Haut says the weather balloon was a cover story, and that the real crashed object had been stored by the military. He also claims to have handled the material from which the crashed craft had been constructed.

Haut died last year, but left instructions that his statement should be opened after his death.

In it, Haut described a meeting he attended on the morning of the crash:

Samples of wreckage were passed around the table.  It was unlike any material I had or have ever seen in my life.  Pieces which resembled metal foil, paper thin yet extremely strong, and pieces with unusual markings along their length were handled from man to man, each voicing their opinion.  No one was able to identify the crash debris.

He said that for months after the crash, military personnel would periodically search the wider area for debris.

At the same meeting the decision was taken to put out a press announcement. Locals were already aware that something had crashed, Haut said, and the release was intended to divert attention from a second crash site.

Haut also claimed to have been given a quick tour of the hanger where the wreckage was being kept. He describes an egg-shaped craft with no windows or landing gear, and "a couple of bodies under canvas" that appeared to be the size of a ten year old child but with disproportionately large heads.

A temporary morgue had been set up to deal with the bodies.

"I am convinced that what I personally observed was some type of craft and its crew from outer space," he says.

The full text of the affidavit appears in the book Witness to Roswell by Tom Carey and Donald Schmitt, and has been helpfully reproduced online here (http://roswellproof.homestead.com/Haut.html). You'll have to scroll down a bit to get to it. ®

Related stories

French Colonial Marines to get Aliens medic-datalink (17 April 2008)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/17/french_colonial_marines_get_aliens_medi_net/
Venezuelan man survives autopsy (17 September 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/17/venezuelan_autopsy_surprise/
Registration open for reality TV style Mars mission trial (21 June 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/21/esa_big_brother_mars_mission_ordeal/
UK boffins: extraterrestrial life will be discovered soon (6 June 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/06/alien_telly_fanciers/
Scientology tries to discredit BBC documentary (14 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/14/scientology_panorama/
Russians tell aliens to suck on a fat one (2 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/02/huge_russian_message/
Engineers write defence against aliens manual (27 April 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/27/sixth_column_recycle/
Aliens exoskeletons for Japanese old-timers (25 April 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/25/motorised_silvertips/