The Roswell Rebuttals

Hold up on the "Hoax" talk, fellas. The Roswell experts weigh in on Bernie's interview with Col. Klinikowski.

Few things stir the UFOlogical pot quite like Roswell. For good reason. Roswell is the lynchpin to questions about the existence of UFOs, the possession of off-world technology, and the idea that extraterrestrial life has visited our planet. It’s not some stale case trotted out to impress audiences at conferences, it’s still making headlines today. Superstar UFO “whistleblower” David Grusch highlighted the case in his recent revelations, noting that we should “trust some of these witnesses” who said they saw a crashed saucer and non-human bodies in the desert outside Roswell. Even President Trump touched on the topic briefly during his prior term in office, calling Roswell “a very interesting place.”

It should come as no surprise that Bernie O’Connor’s recent article about Col. Klinikowski’s denouncement of the incident as a “hoax” caused the top Roswell experts to take notice and issue clarifications.

Roswell UFO Crash: A Hoax?

Below are the responses we received from three Roswell heavy-weights—Kevin Randle, Thomas Carey, and Anthony Bragalia. These researchers (along with the irreplaceable Don Schmitt) have spent countless years digging through every possible lead and interviewing every potential witness. They are the voices for the Roswell Incident, they wrote the definitive books, and are invited to speak as experts everywhere from Coast to Coast AM and Dreamland with Art Bell to Sci-Fi and History Channel documentaries. All three investigators have forgotten more about Roswell than we’ll ever learn.

Because of their efforts, the Roswell Incident has become the benchmark against which all other UFO crash retrievals are measured.

Read below to see what they have to say about Col. Klinikowski’s version of what went down during those fateful days in July, 1947.

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Thomas Carey’s Response

Thomas Carey is a legendary Roswell investigator and author of a number of authoritative books about the event. His UFOlogical credentials are impeccable. Witness to Roswell still stands as one of our favorite UFO books of all time. When he sent us his reaction to O’Connor’s interview, it provided much-needed context and brought the Colonel’s comments into a broader perspective.

Now, before you think that Mr. Carey came in hot with his Roswell reply, look at it this way: no one knows more about Roswell than Tom Carey (OK, maybe Carey, Kevin Randle, and Don Schmitt are tied for 1st). Imagine trying to critique Shakespeare on writing sonnets, or telling da Vinci he’s holding his paintbrush wrong. It’s sorta like that.

We think you’ll agree that Carey’s pointed analysis punches holes in Col. Klinikowski’s “hoax” assertion large enough to drive a bus through. He knows his stuff, and it shows:

Dear Bernie O.,

The only "hoax" was your article in THE OBSERVER. Unfortunately, you didn't know what questions to ask your Colonel Walter Klinikowski (hereinafter to be referred to as "Col. Klink").

For instance, Klink admitted that he wasn't there at the RAAF (Roswell Army Air Field) when the crash occurred. You should then immediately have asked him exactly when he was there; likewise for his claim to have been at Wright-Patterson AFB where he claimed to have seen a radar reflector allegedly from the 1947 crash.

In addition to the UFO crash wreckage and little bodies, the substituted Rawin weather balloon and radar reflector were also sent to WPAFB. BTW, Your Col. Klink was not listed in the 1947 RAAF Base Yearbook or the 1947 Roswell City Directory. My guess is that your Col. Klink was stationed at Wright-Patterson and not at the RAAF. There was no such thing as a "Collections Officer" at Roswell. It sounds more like an FTD function at Wright-Patt.

The Delta Airlines pilot who Col. Klink mentioned was a fellow named Kent Jeffry whom I knew personally. He was an inexperienced investigator who, like all inexperienced investigators, tend to believe the last witness they interviewed. He attended an Air Force reunion of some sort a few years ago trying to find someone who could tell him about Roswell. Unfortunately he ran into a few officers, who apparently included your Col. Klink, who sold him on the weather balloon explanation, after which he withdrew from the case and now saves the seals or other wildlife.

Just for the record, the date of the Roswell crash was July 2nd, 1947 and not July 7th as you had it. The "Weather Balloon Explanation" for the crash was debunked as a hoax to us by none other than Col. Thomas J. DuBose himself who is pictured sitting with Gen. Roger M. Ramey at the July 8, 1947 weather balloon press conference in Fort Worth. The "Project Mogul" multi-balloon explanation put forth by the Air Force in 1995 has been debunked ever since because none of the facts comport with the known facts of the case. And the "Dummies from the Sky" explanation by the Air Force of 1997 was so bad that it was hilarious to the members of the press corps in Washington, DC. The Air Force officer making the presentation of it was laughed off the dais in shame. The Air Force has never publicly spoken about Roswell since.

Keven Randle, Don Schmitt and myself have investigate the Roswell case specifically for just over 100 man-years combined. We have amassed a witness pool of several hundred first- and second-hand witnesses (that includes 30 deathbed confessions) to an extraterrestrial event that happened near the dusty town of Roswell, New Mexico in early July of 1947. Don Schmitt and I have co-authored eleven books on the subject since 2007 (not including eight different foreign language editions), and Keven Randle has written quite a few himself. Our books are considered the best on the subject of Roswell out there. When you publish something like your OBSERVER article, you not only confuse people, but you do a disservice to investigators who have spent years on the case.

Very truly,

Thomas J. Carey

Huntingdon Valley, PA

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Kevin Randle’s Response

We’re huge fans of Kevin Randle. In many people’s minds, Roswell = Randle. His seminal UFO Crash at Roswell is a true page-turner. Re-reading it recently we were reminded just how much pavement-pounding he and his co-author Don Schmitt did in pursuit of the truth. It’s truly impressive. Hats off to their dedication and grit. His blog, A Different Perspective, is one of the few worthwhile UFO outlets left on the internet. (Speaking of which, has anyone seen Rich Reynolds or UFO Conjectures lately?)

When he posted a response to our Roswell article on his page, we were thrilled to have even made it on his radar. (Insert “We’re not worthy!” GIF here.) His breakdown provides another solid refutation of Col. Klinikowski’s claims and is a must-read for anyone following the plot. Mr. Randle even shouts out THE OBSERVER by name, though we wouldn’t quite say our article was “Anti-Roswell.”

Read Kevin Randle’s analysis at A Different Perspective

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Anthony Bragalia’s Response

We received another message from long-time UFO investigator and journalist, Anthony Bragalia. Bragalia is known for breaking news and documenting the evolving saga surrounding Roswell. His work has been featured in Tom Carey’s books Witness to Roswell, Inside the Real Area 51, and The Children of Roswell, as well as other major print and online news media. His ufoexplorations.com website contains a wealth of unique and well-written articles on novel topics within the field. Go there. Bookmark it.

"THE ROSWELL UFO CRASH: A HOAX"A REBUTTAL

Bernie O'Connor recently wrote an intriguing article in THE OBSERVER titled "The Roswell UFO Crash: A Hoax?" where he relates his 2008 interview of one Walter Klinikowski. Klinikowski, who has since passed, said that he was attached to the Roswell Army Air Field in 1947. He further maintains that he saw some of the debris from Roswell when he was at Wright Field/Wright Patterson and that the debris was a radar reflector, presumably from the crash of a Project Mogul spy balloon train that the Air Force says accounts for the debris found near Roswell.

Several concerns immediately arise with his claim:

1. Klinikowski, according to researcher Tom Carey, does not appear in the Roswell Army Air Field Yearbook nor does he appear in the Roswell City Directory for 1947. This in itself does not rule out that he was really there, as several service men and women did not appear in the Yearbook. But fewer still do not appear in either the Yearbook or the City Directory.

2. Klinikowski tells O'Connor: “I wasn't even in Roswell when it happened.” It is not exactly clear from the interview just where Klinikowski was at that time. But how could he have spoken with authority about what had happened if he was even not there? Anything that he thinks that he knows about Roswell was from later, from another place, and from what he was told by others about what he saw in a hangar.

3. Klinikowski says that some time later, he saw what he took to be a radar reflector at Wright Patterson in a hangar that he was told was from the crash. How does he know that the item was from the crash? Simply because he was told so? How was he assured of the chain of custody of the reflector's travel from the desert, to the base, to Wright (to which the crash debris was flown)? Where is the provenance?

4. Klinikowski says that the debris landed on a ranch owned by Dewey Stokes, his cousin by marriage. It did not. It landed on the JB Foster Ranch and another ranch. Although I've confirmed Stokes owned property in Lincoln County, at least in the 1930s, I have found no ranch land owned by him that has ever been associated with the Roswell crash. Myself, Tom Carey and other Roswell researchers have heard of many ranch families associated in some way with the Roswell crash, but none have ever heard of a 'Dewey Stokes.' And his name was never brought up by any other nearby area ranchers such as the Proctors, the Richards, or the Sultemeiers.

5. Klinikowski says that his own daughter does not believe him, and that she instead believed in a coverup of the ET explanation. That is, one of the those closest to him does not accept what he said.

6. Klinikowski mentions Col. George Weinbrenner in his interview with O'Connor. He must not have been aware that at the end of his life, Weinbrenner actually confessed to his knowledge of an ET crash. About half-way down in the linked article you will see that confession: https://www.ufoexplorations.com/is-this-where-alien-bodies-stored

7. Most importantly, as has been noted by many, the mere idea that a radar reflector or similar items would have been misidentified by Major Jesse Marcel who recovered some of the material, is plainly ridiculous. The ensuing brouhaha could not have been resultant from such a mundane thing.

It is unfortunate that Klinikowski was not interviewed sooner (he died at age 84) so that he could address these concerns. But as it stands, there are simply too many issues with his testimony and it must be placed in the "questionable" file.

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Lastly, but most importantly, everyone at THE OBSERVER would like to sincerely thank these three giants of Roswell for reading and replying to the original article. We’re honored that they shared their time and expertise with us and encourage our readers check out their work!

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Have a story to tell or theory to share? Let us know! We’d love to read your work and possibly feature it in a print edition of THE OBSERVER.

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