Theories are still circulating 75 years after the most famous UFO "sighting" of all time, some involving Nazis and crashed aliens.
The 'Roswell incident' in 1947 occurred in Roswell, New Mexico when local ‘Mac’ Brazel found some strange wreckage and debris complete with tin foil, rubber and wooden sticks.
Surprisingly, the US Army got involved and sent out a press release saying they had recovered a "flying disc".
The Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) said: "The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff's office of Chaves County."
RAAF quickly changed their story to state that the wreckage was from a weather balloon.
UFO enthusiasts have been sceptical of the official government account ever since and some believe the wreckage belonged to a UFO that was downed by lightning. Of course, it was no surprise the aliens were in the local area, say the conspiracy theorists, due to ET's reasonable concerns about US nuclear activity.
Other members of the tin foil brigade believe the UFO was firmly of Nazi origin, built by the German scientists shipped to the US to work on the atomic bomb. According to the theorists, the UFO built by the Roswell Nazis was not great for flying and promptly crashed.
Local news didn't exactly help with calming speculation as the Roswell Daily Record reported "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region".
In an effort to push away the conspiracies, it was revealed in 1994 that the wreckage was part of 'Project Mogul', an attempt to detect Soviet nuclear bomb tests. Those convinced of a government cover-up are unlikely to buy this version of events.
In 1980, reports of 'alien bodies' emerged and were not debunked until a US Air Force report in 1997 titled 'The Roswell Report: Case Closed'. They said the bodies were likely to be parachute dummies, an injured airman or charred bodies from a plane crash.
The wreckage was found on Brazel's property around 75 miles north of Roswell, but it is the city itself that now owes a large portion of its local income to alien-friendly tourists.
It is now home to a yearly UFO festival and the International UFO Museum and Research Centre.
