UFO / UAP
Roswell Incident
The Roswell Incident began with 1947 debris recovery reports and later became a central UFO case through official explanations, archival material, and decades of media reinterpretation. Stable source set includes official or archival explanations and reference material; the case is historically important even where extraordinary claims remain strongly disputed.
Case identity
9 sources / 6 evidence items / updated Jun 12, 2026Date
Jul 8, 1947
Location
Roswell, New Mexico, United States
Category
UFO / UAP
Status
Well-Documented Mystery
30-Second Summary
What happened?
The Roswell Incident began with 1947 debris recovery reports and later became a central UFO case through official explanations, archival material, and decades of media reinterpretation.
Why is it famous?
Stable source set includes official or archival explanations and reference material; the case is historically important even where extraordinary claims remain strongly disputed.
Current consensus?
The case has enough stable source material to inspect, while extraordinary interpretations remain provisional.
83Signal
Overall investigation significance score.
79Reality
How strongly evidence supports that the event occurred.
48Debunk
How strongly conventional explanations explain the event.
45Residue
How much unexplained material remains.
Signal basis: score reflects source count, evidence count, freshness, and search interest. Individual evidence and explanation strength is shown inside the workspace so the top score has visible provenance.
Your read
Source Reading Desk
Read the case through the reporting, not just the summary
Sources are arranged for inspection: publisher, date, original excerpts, and Atlas interpretation are separated so readers can judge the material before accepting the assessment.
#1 / Official / U.S. Government Accountability Office / Jul 28, 1995
U.S. GAO - Government Records: Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the 1947 weather balloon crash at Roswell Ar…
2 excerptsInspectCollapse
#1 / Official / U.S. Government Accountability Office / Jul 28, 1995
U.S. GAO - Government Records: Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the 1947 weather balloon crash at Roswell Ar…
Original reporting is separated from Atlas interpretation.
OpenSource Summary
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the 1947 weather balloon crash at Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF), New Mexico, focusing...
Atlas Interpretation
This item is separated so readers can inspect the source trail without mixing every report into one summary block.
Original Excerpts
Source text“Government Records: Results of a Search for Records Concerning the 1947 Crash Near Roswell, New Mexico | U.S.”
“GAO Contacts Drivers Interest Sustainability What Needs to Be Done?”
#2 / Official / Date unknown
Full Report (26 pages)
#3 / Official / Date unknown
Bulk Downloads for Records Related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs)
#4 / Official / Date unknown
Do Records Show Proof of UFOs?
#5 / Official / Date unknown
Air Force Historical Research Agency source record for Roswell Incident
#6 / Archive / Date unknown
Roswell incident - Wikipedia
#7 / Archive / Date unknown
National UFO Reporting Center | Report a UFO | Report a UAP
#8 / Archive / Date unknown
Project Mogul source reference
#9 / Archive / Date unknown
Aurora, Texas, UFO incident
Case workspace
Understand the event before judging it
Start here if you are new to the case: what happened, why people still care, and what the archive currently thinks.
What happened?
The Roswell Incident began with 1947 debris recovery reports and later became a central UFO case through official explanations, archival material, and decades of media reinterpretation.
Why it still matters
Stable source set includes official or archival explanations and reference material; the case is historically important even where extraordinary claims remain strongly disputed.
Current read
The case has enough stable source material to inspect, while extraordinary interpretations remain provisional.
What to inspect next
Why the signal is high
This case has multiple accessible sources, a durable visual record, recurring anniversary coverage, and a clear unresolved residue: the later light row is explainable, while the earlier formation accounts are harder to reconstruct cleanly.
Case Verdict
Best current interpretation
Strongly supported
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the 1947 weather balloon crash at Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF), New Mexico, focusing...
Likely explained
This case still needs a stronger dedicated debunk source; current interpretation should remain conservative until better analysis is attached.
Still unresolved
Which records are closest to the original event?
The case has enough stable source material to inspect, while extraordinary interpretations remain provisional.
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