Roswell Hosts Believers in Great Crash of ’47

ROSWELL, N.M. — Tourists and true believers turned out in the hundreds Friday for a service at a remote desert ranch to remember what some say was a UFO crash hushed up by the military 50 years ago.

Some UFO buffs say the crash took place on what is now the Corn Ranch, where a plaque unveiled Friday said: “We don’t know who they were; we don’t know why they came; we only know they changed our view of the universe.”

Ranch owner Miller “Hub” Corn said he wasn’t certain about the so-called Roswell incident. Still, he took hundreds on $15 tours of the sweltering, dusty spot of desert where believers say a spaceship crashed, killing several aliens on board. Dozens more paid $90 to camp there this weekend.

Corn dedicated a dirt patch on the ranch as a “universal sacred site” on Friday.

The six-day festival swelled with visitors on Friday, a mix of tourists in Bermuda shorts and UFO enthusiasts who see Roswell as their mecca. Up to 800 came through the exposition each hour, organizers said.

There were carnival rides and exhibits on alleged alien abductions, hot dogs and a presentation that claimed to prove debris from the crash was “of extraterrestrial origin.”