ROSWELL, N.M.—The 1947 crash of an alleged flying saucer on a ranch outside this high-desert town started a neon-lit alien tourism economy of museums, gift shops, and festivals spanning decades.
Nearly 80 years later, new U.S. government disclosures about Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs, are boosting that industry with videos of strange objects and encounters with U.S. military ships and aircraft.
This year’s release of documents and videos—including some in October referencing the Roswell incident—opened a new chapter in the UFO debate, drawing fresh interest and more visitors to Roswell.
The alleged Roswell crash sits at the center of a 79-year-old conspiracy theory that the U.S. military covered up the capture of a flying saucer and the recovery of alien bodies.
The incident prompted one of the most spectacular headlines in history, which appeared July 8, 1947, in The Roswell Daily Record: “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region,” referring to the Roswell Army Air Field.
But the military quickly walked back the claim, saying it was nothing more than a weather balloon. The hush-hush story faded from the headlines—and may have stayed buried if not for witness interviews that kept it alive across the decades.
In 1980, Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore’s book “The Roswell Incident” thrust the story back into the limelight and mainstream pop culture. In an interview around the same time, Jesse Marcel, the intelligence officer who recovered the Roswell debris, described a thin, weightless, foil-like material that a sledgehammer couldn’t damage.
“It was not anything of this earth; I’m quite sure of that,” Marcel said.
In 1994, new information revealed the balloon was part of the top-secret Project Mogul, which sought to detect Soviet nuclear bomb tests. But that did little to end the conspiracy theories.
It was not anything of this earth; I’m quite sure of that.
Maj. Jesse Marcel, the Air Force intelligence officer who recovered the Roswell debris
Later, a 2002 affidavit—recently included in the government’s October release of UFO documents—fueled further speculation. Walter Haut, the base public information officer, issued the original 1947 “flying disc” press release. The document said the base’s colonel, William Blanchard, showed him an egg-shaped craft with what appeared to be alien bodies in the Building 84 hangar.
The air center now uses Building 84 for commercial aircraft maintenance.
“I am convinced that what I personally observed was some type of craft and its crew from outer space,” Haut said in the affidavit.
Haut described collecting crash debris from two debris fields in Lincoln County. He also said he and others held wreckage samples and passed them around while sitting at a table.
He described a July 8, 1947, staff meeting at which officials discussed wreckage collected from a ranch 40 miles from Roswell.
“It was unlike any material I had or have ever seen in my life,” Haut said. “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 in the affidavit.
Before leaving the base, Col. Blanchard took him to Building 84, a B-29 hangar located on the east side of the tarmac that was heavily guarded. He described seeing an egg-shaped object about 12 to 15 feet long, not quite as wide, and about 6 feet high. The surface appeared metallic, with no windows, wings, or visible landing gear, according to his affidavit.
“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 appeared larger than normal, and the canvas’s contour over the bodies suggested the size of a 10-year-old child. At a later date in Blanchard’s office, he would extend his arm about 4 feet above the floor to indicate the height,” Haut stated.
However, critics point out that Haut’s earlier statements did not include details about alleged craft or aliens.
New Disclosures, Old Conspiracies
After years of people laughing off UFOs as fantasy, Congress took them seriously in 2022. That’s when a U.S. House Intelligence subcommittee held congressional hearings with top military officials to discuss reports of UFOs.
It marked the first public congressional hearing into the UFO sightings in the United States in over 50 years.
Then, a casual comment from former President Barack Obama on a February podcast this year went viral, reigniting the debate over whether aliens exist. “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” the former president said.
President Donald Trump issued a Feb. 19 directive for government agencies to identify and release files related to extraterrestrials (ET) and UFOs, also known as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), because of “tremendous interest.”
They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.
Former President Barrack Obama
“I don’t know if they’re real or not,” Trump said later on Air Force One. “I may get [Obama] out of trouble by declassifying.”
Since May, the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters has released several batches of declassified records.
“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation—and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement.
In one striking close-encounter video released on July 10,the military tracked an “area of contrast resembling a six-pointed star” on infrared from a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command military platform over the Yellow Sea in 2025.
Alien Attraction
In October, most Roswell visitors interviewed by The Epoch Times said the government’s new UFO information piqued their interest in visiting the town where it all began.
Roswell statistics suggest a tourism bump, and anecdotal evidence points to the UFO file releases as one factor in visitors landing in Roswell.
Many who wonder if we’re alone in the universe come to the Roswell International UFO Museum and Research Center, which draws 200,000 to 220,000 visitors annually.
Inside, ceilings with multicolored lights mimicking the underside of a flying saucer greeted guests. Life-size aliens bathed in eerie light, surrounded by mist, stood against the backdrop of a giant silver spaceship.
One crowd-pleasing display featured a 1940s-style mock-up of a small silver humanoid with large almond-shaped eyes, known as a “gray,” lying on a gurney, surrounded by medical personnel and instruments, as a government agent looked on.
During their visit, Texans Arce and Melanie Sambilay admired a diorama of the Roswell alien crash site, depicting shipwrecked grays among scrub brush and mesas in the New Mexico desert.
The Sambilays’ visit was prompted in part by the government’s release of UFO data, which added to their interest.
There is no way we’re the only people in the universe.
Arce Sambilay, Roswell visitor
“I wanted to see kind of firsthand, you know, actual evidence and see what other reports they have,” Arce said, adding that they figured the museum and its research library were a good place to start their investigation.
Both believe aliens exist.
“I am for sure that there is no way we’re the only people in the universe,” Arce said.
“I think there are aliens around just because of documentation and what people see,” his wife added. “It’s just all over the world.”
Arce said technological advances seem to be charging ahead at warp speed over the past few years, which makes him wonder whether the government has been reverse-engineering technology left behind by extraterrestrials.
Something in the Sky
Erasmo DeLeon Jr., a Navy retiree from Texas, was reading a display on close encounters when The Epoch Times caught up with him.
He said the recent disclosures influenced his visit to Roswell and made the trip more compelling.
“The new disclosures make it even more interesting,” said DeLeon. Jr. “They have made people take a second look at what people have been talking about for almost 80 years.”
Though he never had a personal close encounter, Navy pilots and sailors told stories of seeing strange things in the sky.
“I’ve heard a lot of the naval pilots talk about things that they see, things that are unusual, and especially at nighttime,” he said.
Sailors at sea, on ships where the darkest night skies enhance visibility, also spoke of seeing unexplained phenomena.
“Because when you’re out there, yeah, the sky is a lot clearer than would be around land.”
Part of DeLeon Jr.’s curiosity comes from his love of science fiction.
In a nod to the sci-fi genre, the museum created a giant model of Gort, a silver alien robot from the 1951 Hollywood classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”
“I remember watching Gort when I was a kid,” he said. “I still love watching those movies, all the classics.”
He convinced his parents, Erasmo DeLeon, a Korean War vet, and Rosa Marie DeLeon of Texas, to join him on his UFO excursion.
They told The Epoch Times they were on the fence about whether aliens are real, but noted that another son told them about a potential UFO sighting near West Texas about four years earlier.
“You know, nowadays you can make whatever you want,” the elder DeLeon said, skeptical that AI might be used to create such videos.
“I would say that I would believe it if I see it myself,” his wife added.
Crash Landing
Business owners and officials also said tourists are talking about the recent government releases.
Gary Thrine, a retired military guy who works at the Roswell Chamber of Commerce, looked perfectly at home in Roswell. With his white fedora hat, shades, and crisp black shirt, he channeled a gumshoe detective straight out of the ‘50s.
He said visitors have mentioned the recent UFO tranches, and he gets plenty of phone calls from people with inquiring minds who want to know if UFOs are real.
Thrine replies that he “will not confirm nor deny” the alleged crash—and jokingly adds that any survivors might be living and breeding locally because Roswell has “some strange folks.”
While people mention recent UFO releases, he said in an interview with The Epoch Times that the office doesn’t keep formal records on how many people visit town.
Everywhere he goes, people confront him about what he knows, certain the truth is still out there.
At a local eatery, one guy suddenly turned to him and demanded to know whether he had been abducted by aliens or had seen them.
“We see [aliens] all the time. They’re from New Mexico,” was his tongue-in-cheek reply.
Everywhere he goes, people confront him about what he knows, certain the truth is still out there.
At Martin’s Capitol Cafe, Korina Enriquez, a cashier who has worked at the Mexican restaurant for 16 years, said business has been booming this year, though she had not heard about the new UFO disclosures.
“A lot more tourism this year, throughout the whole year instead of seasonal,” she said, wondering whether the files had something to do with the increase.
By the Numbers
Jasmine Ponce, a visitor center worker, said in an interview that tourist numbers were up and that the July UFO festival normally draws big crowds.
Visitor center figures show 14,979 people have stopped by so far in 2026, up from 12,897 in 2025. The visitor center was closed for three months in 2025 for renovations, making the data inconclusive.
While the visitor center saw slightly less foot traffic in July 2026 than the previous July, revenue rose.
12K
VISITORS
More than 12,000 people attended Roswell’s UFO Festival in July 2025.
Retail spending in July 2026 jumped to $18,863, up from $12,559 last July. Likewise, overnight stays rose significantly in July 2026, reaching 64 percent, up from 49 percent the same month the year before, according to monthly visitor center reports, suggesting more dedicated enthusiasts than day trippers.
In 2025, more than 10,000 people visited or attended Roswell events during the UFO Festival weekend, according to the nonprofit Main Street Roswell. The International UFO Museum reported almost 10,000 visitors throughout the weekend.
Main Street Roswell told The Epoch Times that preliminary figures show more than 12,000 people attended this year’s UFO festival.
Fact and Fiction
In a June poll by YouGov and CBS News, about 30 percent of respondents said government-released files and videos made them more likely to believe aliens have visited Earth, rising to 40 percent among those who watched UAP government videos.
The poll showed that people believe the government knows more about UFOs than it is saying.
Texas Tech college students Vince Miller and Liam Barr, after visiting the alien museum, saw the alien theme as a strong tourist draw and useful marketing tool.
Texas Tech college students Vince Miller and Liam Barr are among the nonbelievers despite the hype. After walking out of the alien museum, they told The Epoch Times they don’t think aliens are real.
Still, the 18-year-olds looked right at home among the alien window displays and neon shop signs in their tie-dyed shirts.
After the government released new videos and documents, they grew curious to visit Roswell.
“It was a little intriguing. That’s why we came to check it out,” Barr said.
“It was definitely an incentive,” Miller added.
But Miller called the idea of aliens “fake.”
“Don’t say that too loudly,” Barr said, looking around the street where tourists lingered.
Miller paid his friend no heed, continuing, “There’s a lot of people that say things, but there’s no evidence to back it up.”
It was a little intriguing. That’s why we came to check it out.
Liam Barr, Texas Tech student
“I think like someone got bored one day and just was like, ‘Yeah, I got abducted by aliens,’” Miller added.
But as business majors, they admired the town’s ability to cash in on the alien lore. They saw the alien theme as a strong tourist draw and a useful marketing tool.
“I feel like this town makes all its money off of tourists and the aliens,” Barr said.
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