In July 1947 ranch foreman W.W. Brazel found a strange object in the town of Roswell, New Mexico.
It was described as a ‘flying disc’ of shiny material scattered over some of his land.
Brazel handed the wreckage to the town's sheriff who escalated it to the US Air Force.
The finding sparked huge interest around the world and put Roswell in the spotlight for UFO hunters who believed it was a sign that aliens had visited Earth.
50 years later, the US Air Force released a 231-page report about the claims that the object belonged to extraterrestrials.
The report stated its objective was to 'find all the facts and bring them to light'.
The 1940s was a time of the atomic bomb and rapid developments in the possibility of space travel, so many Americans were looking up to the sky and asking if other life was out there.
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It was this backdrop of scientific discovery that led to a growing fascination with alien life.
Shortly after the US Air Force was handed the debris, it took back its claim about it being a flying disc and brushed it off as a downed weather balloon.
Over the years the incident was largely forgotten but in the late 1970s claims emerged that the ‘Roswell incident’ was a cover up.
Believers of the theory said that officials had recovered alien bodies from the crash which were stored in Area 51 in Nevada.
There were even theories that an autopsy had taken place.
The US Air Force report about the incident, published in 1997, was titled ‘The Roswell Report, Case Closed’.
It stated that there was no evidence that any kind of life form was found in the town in connection with UFOs.
The report stated: "The US Army Air Forces did indeed recover material near Roswell in July 1947... what was recovered by the Army Air Forces was not the remnants of an extraterrestrial spacecraft and its alien crew, but debris from an Army Air Forces balloon-borne research project."
It also sought to address the rumours that alien bodies had been found.
The report read: "The most puzzling and intriguing element of the complex series of events now known as the Roswell incident, are the alleged sightings of alien bodies.
"The bodies turned what, for many years, was just another flying saucer story, into what many UFO proponents claim is the best case for extraterrestrial visitation of Earth."
However, the report explains that these claims are not reliable because they are based on second and third-hand witness accounts collected 40 years after the crash.
Furthermore, the report states that alleged sightings of bodies in New Mexico were actually test dummies.
It also reveals that the actual crash site of the alleged UFO 'was the actual landing site of a Project Mogul balloon train in July 1947', casting further doubt over whether a UFO was found at the location.
The report points out that theorists have identified several locations which could be the possible crash site.
It states that these accounts 'have become increasingly convoluted' as the theories attempt to offer explanations as to why their location is the correct one.
Concluding the incident, the report stated: "The US Army Air Forces did not recover an extraterrestrial vehicle and alien crew.
"This conclusion was based on extensive research that included a thorough review of both classified and unclassified materials at record depositories, archives, libraries, and research facilities throughout the nation.
"Of the millions of pages of material viewed, there was no mention of any activities that even tangentially suggested such an event."
Despite the hope that the documents would put an end to question marks over the incident, public interest only intensified.
UFO theorists started claiming inconsistencies with the reports and questioning whether a cover up did happen that day.
In fact, a poll by CNN in 1997 found that 80 per cent of Americans think the government is hiding knowledge of the existence of extraterrestrial life forms.
The town of Roswell continues to receive tourist visits from those interested and curious about alien life.
It also hosts the annual UFO Encounter Festival in July and welcomes visitors all year to its International UFO Museum and Research Centre.
The Roswell UFO report may have wanted to dispel any claims that alien life has been found on Earth, but the American public clearly have doubts over what really happened that day.
