All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S02E01.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

[music playing]

ANNOUNCER: This program is
about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the
actual family members

and police officials
have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see
is not a news broadcast.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Vietnam.

A wounded helicopter pilot
was taken to a hospital

with a fractured
skull, shattered legs,

and possible brain damage.

20 years later, Jim Mead is
trying to find the heroic nurse

who saved his life.

In 1947, a strange craft crashed
in a remote New Mexico field.

A metal debris with
startling properties

was covered in unusual markings.

Witnesses claim it was a UFO.

The military here at Roswell
Army Air Base in New Mexico

immediately announced
that the object was a UFO.

Within hours, they
changed their story

and said it was only a
downed weather balloon.

Did the military conceal
the most astounding

discovery of the century?

Join me tonight for the season
premiere of Unsolved Mysteries.

[music playing]

Last season, 34 cases profiled
on "Unsolved Mysteries"

were solved, thanks to
information from our viewers.

One recent case was out of
Charles Mule, a 10-year veteran

of the Slidell Louisiana
Police Department,

who disappeared over three
years ago while free on bail.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On March 1, 1985,

Mule was arrested
by fellow officers

at a local motel room
where he allegedly

molested a 12-year-old girl.

At the time of his
arrest, he was a Sergeant

in charge of sexual offenses for
the Slidell police department.

His alleged victim
was a young girl

he was assigned to counsel.

Your honor,
please, considering

the serious gravity of--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On September 27, 1985,

Charles Mule was
indicted on over 25

counts relating
to the molestation

and rape of six young girls.

He was released
on $150,000 bail.

Eight months later,
on the morning

that his trial was to begin,
Mule was reported missing.

Five days later, a fisherman
believed he saw Mule emerging

from a swamp near Slidell.

This was closely followed
by a second sighting.

This witness was
shot at by a man

dressed in hospital clothing,
a favorite outfit of Mule's.

[gunshot]

We were convinced more than
ever that Charles was alive.

That he was in this
area, and he had

not moved far from this area.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
For more than three years,

Charles Mule's whereabouts
remained a mystery.

Update.

Charles Mule has been captured.

Within minutes of
our July broadcast,

the FBI received several calls
from viewers who reported

that Mule was living
in Ocala, Florida,

30 miles south of Gainesville,
under the assumed name

Joseph John Trangia.

Mule had seen our broadcast
and left the Ocala area

for approximately three weeks.

When he returned
on August 3, he was

arrested by FBI agents
and Marion County,

Florida, Sheriff's deputies.

A war in Vietnam.

For the first time, helicopters
played a pivotal role.

A crucial lifeline between
base camps and the soldiers

in the field.

The skill and bravery
of a helicopter pilot

meant the difference
between life and death,

freedom and captivity.

A pilot's chance of being
killed was nine times greater

than any other soldier's.

One out of every eight
helicopter pilots in Vietnam

lost his life.

These pilots truly were heroes.

But there was another
group of heroes

in the Vietnam War, a group
who remained largely unsung.

Those heroes were the skilled
and patient military nurses

who dealt with the wreckage
of young bodies brought back

from the front and struggled to
return those battered soldiers

to a normal life.

This section of the National
Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia

is dedicated to nurses
slain in battle.

It's one of the few memorials
we have in the United States

honoring them.

Tonight we tell the story
of an army helicopter pilot

whose life was
salvaged by a nurse,

Lieutenant Betty Stephens.

For 15 years, he's
been searching for her,

but mysteriously, there is
no record of where she went.

What he wants to say are the
simple but eloquent words,

thank you.

Perhaps someone watching
tonight can help him.

In 1965, 18-year-old
Jim Meade Jr.

Gave up a promising
college career

and volunteered to
serve in Vietnam.

We tried to talk
him out of it.

The professor at the
University of Oregon

tried to talk him out of it.

Finished college and then go.

And the war will still be
there after you finish college.

But he was determined,
and he went.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Jim won

his wings as an army helicopter
pilot in the winter of 1967.

It didn't surprise
me to see him want

to give time to his country.

And being in helicopters and
being in the rescue mission

and what have you, these
were all part of Jim.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Jim served in Vietnam

for only three months,
transporting troops

to and from combat missions.

Twice Jim was shot down,
twice he went back.

On May 8, 1967, he was shot
down for the third time.

This time, Jim Meade would
not be able to go back.

On May 9, 1967, Jim's
parents received

a vaguely worded
telegram saying their son

had been placed on
the seriously ill list

because of a fractured skull.

He was transferred
to Madigan General

Hospital in Tacoma, Washington.

We don't have a
room for him yet.

We'll let you know
as soon as possible.

Thank you.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Jim's mother

and father, along with
two of his brothers,

waited in the hospital lobby.

Jim had not yet been
assigned a room.

His family had no
idea what to expect.

It was quite difficult
for me to just sit and relax

and wait till they
came to tell us

that Jim had been put in a room.

So myself and two
sons, I got up,

I said, I'm going to walk
down the hallway for a while.

I just can't sit here and wait.

And there's miles
and miles of hallway

in Madigan General Hospital.

And as I was walking down the
hallway, here in the hallway

was a gurney.

There was a soldier
on the gurney,

and he had bandages
all over him.

Bandages on the head.

Legs in a cast.

Tubes and bottles.

So I said to the young
boys, the two sons,

I said, boy, that soldier
was tore all to hell.

[gasping]

JAMES MEADE: And after a while
then, the nurse came to us

and said, OK.

We have your son in a room.

Come go with me.

[groaning]

We went into that room,
and he was that gurney.

That guy that was tore
all to hell was my son.

Beyond recognition.

And there was
nothing we could do.

That was the-- that was the
terrible thing, is there

was nothing that we could do.

Jim, it's mom.

It was just unbelievable.

He didn't look like himself.

You know, and of course he
had all these tubes in him

and all of these things.

I worked in an emergency room,
and I've seen a lot of things.

But I don't think I
have seen anything

as horrible as my son was.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Jim was in a coma.

The helicopter rotor blade
had fractured his skull.

He made only animal-like
sounds and flailed

his arms involuntarily.

Both of his legs
had been shattered

and were riddled with gangrene.

Jimmy?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
doctors feared that Jim would

never come out of his coma.

We're here.

As

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
A last resort,

they assigned him to
a ward with amputees

who had served in Vietnam.

The doctors asked the
man to talk to Jim

and act as if he could hear
them on the slim chance

that the constant
exposure to other people

might trigger a response.

Jim, what do you
want to play now?

I've beat everyone
at gin, poker,

now you want to play blackjack?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The experiment worked.

After 10 weeks in the ward,
Jim came out of his coma.

He had no memory of
his first 19 years.

Jim had even
forgotten how to talk

and how to move
his arms and legs.

I didn't know that I'd
been a helicopter pilot.

I didn't know I'd
been to Vietnam.

I didn't know that I'd
been injured so seriously.

I didn't know anything.

It was like a whole new world.

Happily, Jim Meade
continue to heal.

Neither of his
legs was amputated.

Today, he's 42 years old and
has made a miraculous recovery.

Jim feels it is
due in large part

to the dogged determination
of his nurse, Lieutenant Betty

Stephens, who literally
brought him back to life

and who, for one crucial
year, was the most

important person in his life.

Nice and flat.

There you go.
All right.

Now start with this
hand and this leg.

Ready?

There you go.

Good.
Grip that mat.

Feel the mat.

Keep your legs straight.

Keep your legs straight.

There you go.

JIM MEADE: To learn
how to walk, I first

had to learn how to crawl.

Keep going!

JIM MEADE: Lieutenancy
Stephens would

get down on the mat with
me and be right next to me.

Show me.

Because I didn't
have any coordination

between my arms, legs, and
the commands from my brain.

And so at the beginning,
she would work on me

and teach me how to crawl.

And she would show
me how to do it.

Good.

Good.

I remember one
time in particular,

there were some base trainees
who had sprained ankles

or whatever and
were in the hospital

and were in physical therapy.

OK, get your legs a
little bit further apart.

There you go.
Come on.

JIM MEADE: And one
time, or after a series

of times of falling on my face,
they started laughing at me.

[laughs]

You look like a turtle, man.

[laughter]

JIM MEADE: And I remember
her getting so angry.

What gives you the
right to laugh at him?

That is a person
who has been at war!

He's trying to learn things
that are very easy for you!

Now, I want you both
out of here right now!

Come on!
Get out!

And just the way she yelled
at them and kicked him out.

She was so mad.

It meant a lot to me.

It just made me want to do what
she wanted me to learn to do.

When I was in so much pain that
the people couldn't take me

out of bed, she
would even come down

and ask me how I was doing.

And I was in so much pain
that I was really crying.

I know you're hurting,
but you can't give up.

JIM MEADE: And she
responded that she

knew that I was hurting.

--getting stronger.

The more you exercise, the
stronger you're going to get

and the less it's going to hurt.

JIM MEADE: The most
important thing that I

remember, she held my hand.

And it was just showing her
concern and her caring that

made me want to get better.

To want to learn to walk.

To want to learn to feed myself.

To want to learn things like how
to shave, how to comb my hair.

Now straighten it out.

Come on, work hard!

Come on!

Pick it up.

There you go.

Pull. there you go.

JIM MEADE: I don't know
if I would have learned

to do these things without her.

Oh.

Bring it up.

JIM MEADE: I might have
eventually learned,

just out of the sheer
survival factor.

But she made it important
for me to withstand

the pain and frustration.

Straighten it out.
Up.

Now put your hands
around it like that.

Put your hand around that.
Good.

Push.
Work.

Good.

Good.

Good.

Good job.

Here he is.

Hi, Jim.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Because of her patient load,

Lieutenant Stephens could
give Jim physical therapy

for only one hour each day.

She felt he would benefit
from going home for 30 days

to work with his parents
around the clock.

We couldn't have gone
as far as we did with Jim

without her supervision.

There are certain things
in physical therapy

that you can do
more harm than good.

And so therefore, her
as the professional

was showing us how to
do it the right way.

There we go.

We're going to play ball today.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For
12 grueling hours each day,

Jim's parents tried to
improve his motor skills

and teach him how to talk,
all under the guidance

of Lieutenant Stephens.

Can you roll it back to me?

Come on.

Back here.

JIM MEADE: Even when I
wasn't in a hospital,

when I was home with my
parents, [inaudible],

I always wanted to get
better and learn things

so I could go back
to the hospital

and show her how
much I had improved.

It was always important to me.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Nearly one year

after Jim had first
arrived at the hospital,

Lieutenant Stephens told him
she was leaving the Army.

She never saw Jim
walk independently

or had any idea that she had
set him on the path to recovery.

JIM MEADE: And over
the years, I've thought

about her many, many times.

I'm not so naive to pretend
that I'm the only soldier

that she affected this way.

As a matter of
fact, she probably

affected all of us this way.

All of us that she worked with.

But she was really important
to me, and she always will be.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Building on the foundation

Lieutenant Stephens
and his parents

gave him, Jim Meade relearned
how to walk and talk

and made a nearly
complete recovery.

Today he is a
clinical psychologist

working in San Diego.

He would like
Lieutenant Stephens

to share in his triumph.

He would like to say
thank you to the woman

he will never forget.

Keep going!
Come on!

Don't give up!

Don't!

JIM MEADE: If I saw her now,
I don't know what I'd do.

Cry, maybe?

Maybe just laugh a lot.

I don't know.

I thought about seeing
her so many times,

it's like she never left.

I never left.

Whatever.

I don't know what I'd do.

I just know this.

It's always been important for
me that she knows that I'm OK.

The morning after our broadcast,
Jim Meade's 15-year search

came to an end when
he received a phone

call from one of our viewers.

I was watching
TV, and I saw Jim

at the beginning of the program,
and I said to my family,

I treated that fella when
I was in the service.

And the next remark was
that they were looking

for Lieutenant
Stephens, and I thought,

well, that was my maiden name.

And at that point, I realized
that this was going to be more

than just a program to watch.

[knocking]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On September 25,

nearly 21 years after
they said goodbye,

Jim and Karen were reunited.

Hi.

Oh.

oh, God, it's good to see you.

[laughter]

How are you doing?

Oh, I'm good.

How are you doing?
- Oh, I'm. fine.

You look wonderful.

When Karen came to
the door, I went numb.

If somebody else
saw her, they might

say that Karen's changed 200%.

In my heart, Karen
hasn't changed a bit.

[laughter]

And I'm glad to
tell her thank you.

The reunion today has been
everything I expected it to be.

It will stand out as one of the
most exciting days of my life.

It's thrilling to see someone
that has come back so far

and made a success
of their life.

But a lot of people had a lot
to do with Jim Meade's recovery.

I was just a small part.

JIM MEADE: It will
be very difficult

for me to put into words what
this day has meant to me.

It just makes the future that
much brighter, because I do

know now that
dreams do come true.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): In a moment,

we'll examine the
extraordinary and controversial

story of a strange craft that
crashed in New Mexico in 1947.

This Air Force base here
in Roswell, New Mexico

was the center of
a controversy back

in 1947, that over 40 years
later, still remains unsolved.

Remnants of a mysterious craft
were found on a remote ranch

and allegedly stored
here in Hangar 84.

To this day, there are many
who believe it was a UFO.

When we first heard of
the incident at Roswell,

we assumed it was just
another UFO sighting

and could be easily explained.

A distant aircraft,
an errant missile,

or perhaps it was just a hoax.

However, eyewitness accounts
and disturbing evidence

suggests that something strange
happened here at Roswell.

Something that cannot
be easily dismissed.

July 2, 1947.

A violent electrical storm
sweeps over the desolate plain

of south central New Mexico.

At this time of
year, these storms

are almost nightly occurrences.

At his remote ranch house,
Mac Brazel patiently waits out

the fury of the storm.

Mac was a-- he was just an old
time cowboy, I guess you'd say.

And he was pretty--

pretty serious.

If he told you something, you
could pretty well depend on it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Apparently, Mac Brazel

heard a thunder clap that night
that somehow sounded different.

The story is that Mac Brazel
supposedly heard a loud crash

at some point during the storm
and didn't know if it was

related to the storm or not.

According to his son,
Mac was on the range

the next day, looking to see
which fields may have gotten

precipitation the night
before so they could move

the livestock to those fields,
because the grass would

be better there.

And in his process of looking
to see where the rain had come

down, he found the
debris field spread

out near his ranch house.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
It was obvious

that something had crashed
in one of his pastures

the night before.

Whatever it was was broken
up beyond identification.

KEVIN RANDLE: The debris
field was approximately 3/4

of a mile long, maybe as much
as 200 or 300 feet in width.

Scattered along there were
bits and pieces of material.

We refused to call it metal,
because from the descriptions

we have, it was more of
a plastic like material,

very strong, very lightweight.

The pieces of it were
described as being three

or four feet long but
as light as a feather,

as thin as newsprint.

There were metal beams
that were slightly

flexible but very
strong, and it was

spread out all over the field.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Some of the mental pieces

appeared to have
strange qualities

and unusual tensile properties.

Later that day, Mac
drove over to his closest

neighbors, Floyd
and Loretta Proctor,

who lived 10 miles away.

Afternoon, Floyd.
Loretta.

Hi, Mac.

What brings you all
the way out here?

LORETTA PROCTOR (VOICEOVER):
For Mac, he was excited.

You know, he was
wanting somebody

to go down and check it out.

And we should have
went, but we didn't.

Take a look at that.

Light a match to it.

You'll see what
I'm talking about.

LORETTA PROCTOR (VOICEOVER):
And he brought a little sliver

of wood-looking stuff,
and him and my husband

tried to cut it and burn
it, but it wouldn't whittle,

and it wouldn't burn.

Well, I'll admit,
that's pretty damn odd.

Now I would say it
looked like plastic.

But back then, why, we
didn't have plastic.

And I guess it was more like a--

some kind of a lightweight wood.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The Proctors urged Brazel

to go to the authorities.

The following Monday, Brazel
reported his discovery

to the Sheriff, who informed
nearby Roswell Army Air Base.

That afternoon, Mac Brazel
led two Army intelligence

officers to the crash site.

One of the officers was
Major Jesse Marcel, Sr,

an experienced combat pilot
whose primary duty in peacetime

was to investigate
air accidents.

Why don't you stay
there, Mr. Brazel.

Lieutenant!

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Even with his experience,

Marcel was unable to identify
what kind of craft it was.

Marcel died in 1982,
but before his death,

he gave the following interview
for a documentary film

about UFOs.

It was just fragments
strewn all over the area.

An area about 3/4 of a mile long
and several hundred feet wide.

So we proceeded to
pick up the parts.

He says, I've tried
to bend the stuff.

He says, it will not bend.

I even tried to burn it.

It would not burn.

See, that stuff weighs nothing.

It's not any
thicker than tinfoil

in a pack of cigarettes.

He said, we even tried
making a dent in it

with a 16-pound sledgehammer.

Still no dent in it.

One thing I was certain
of, being familiar with all

our activities, that it
was not a weather balloon,

nor an aircraft, nor a missile.

It was something else, which
we didn't know what it was.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Late on the night of July 7,

Major Marcel drove
back to Roswell,

his car loaded down
with the unusual remains

found on the ranch.

Before going on to the base,
he stopped by his home.

He wanted to show his
family what he had found.

When he came
back to the house,

he had had a bunch
of wreckage with

the-- with him at the
time, and he brought

the wreckage into the house.

He actually awakened my mother
and myself up so we could view

this because it was so unusual.

It was about 2 o'clock in the
morning, as I recall right.

And he spread it out so we could
get some basic idea of what

it looked like, what it was.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Jesse Marcel Jr.

was 11 years old at the time and
remembers the incident vividly.

Where did you
find all this stuff?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
He is one of the few people

still alive known to have
handled pieces of the debris.

--plane crashed?

No, son.

I don't know what this stuff is.

JESSE MARCEL JR:
We all were amazed

by this debris that was there.

Primarily because we
didn't know what it was.

You know, just the unknown.

Look at this writing.

What do you think that is?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The most remarkable fragment

was a short piece
of I-beam which

was covered with strange
symbols and embossed markings.

Looks like some
kind of hieroglyphics.

JESSE MARCEL JR: This
writing could be described

as like hieroglyphics,
Egyptian-type hieroglyphs,

but not really.

The symbols in the
I-beams were more

of a geometric
type configuration

in various designs.

It had a violet-purple
type color,

and it was actually an embossed
part of the metal itself.

Years after this
incident happened,

we would talk privately
among ourselves about what

the possibilities of this--

what this thing was.

And I feel that we--

well, I know that we
came to the conclusion

it was not of earthly origin.

If I had not actually held
pieces of it in my hand,

I would not think they
would be possible.

But because I
happened to see this,

that's the only
reason I believe it.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): Major Marcel

took the wreckage to the Roswell
base where he was stationed.

Roswell was home
to the 509th Bomb

Squadron, the Air Force's sole
atomic bomb group at the time.

It was a closed
base, and personnel

stationed there required
a high security clearance.

The following morning
it is believed

that some of the pieces
were flown to Wright Field,

near Dayton, Ohio, with
a short stop at Carswell

Air Base at Fort Worth, Texas.

That same morning,
Colonel William

Blanchard, the
commanding officer,

made a crucial decision.

He went public with the
story of the discovery

made by Mac Brazel.

[phone ringing]

PO's office.

Lieutenant Haut speaking.

COLONEL BLANCHARD
(ON PHONE): Hart,

this is Colonel Blanchard.
- Colonel Blanchard.

Yes, sir.

What can I do for you, sir?

COLONEL BLANCHARD
(ON PHONE): Haut--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Second Lieutenant Walter

Haut was a public
information officer

for the 509th at the time.

Flying disk?

COLONEL BLANCHARD (ON PHONE):
You heard me, lieutenant.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Colonel Blanchard

ordered him to issue
a press release

telling the country how the
Army had found a flying saucer.

I never questioned it.

In 1947, when a colonel
told a first lieutenant

to do something, the
first lieutenant did that.

I'm sure that had I asked
Colonel Blanchard to see it,

he would have said no,
and that would have

been the end of the subject.

There's a little
bit of difference--

you didn't have any
democracy back in 1947

in the military establishment.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
press release read in part--

MAN (ON RADIO): many rumors
regarding the flying disk

became a reality yesterday
when the intelligence

office of the
509th Bomb Squadron

was fortunate enough to
gain possession of a disk

through the cooperation
of a local rancher.

WALTER HAUT: I took
the releases into town.

And that was one of
the things that Colonel

Blanchard told me to do.

Take it into town, because if
there is any validity to this,

he didn't want to
lose me, to feel

that we had jumped
over their heads

and were not
cooperating with them.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
That same day, it

was reported that an
engineer for the Soil

Conservation Service made
another remarkable discovery.

Barney Barnett of Socorro,
New Mexico, died in 1969,

but he may have been the person
who discovered what was perhaps

the first positive
proof that there

was other life in our universe.

Barney was just a real
straightforward-- just what you

would call a real straight guy.

He wouldn't tell you one
story out of color or nothing.

That's why I was
really surprised

when he related this information
to me about the crashed saucer.

He told me that he come
on to this spaceship.

It was during the daytime.

It was an oval shape,
similar to what

had been identified, you
know, in different sightings

and so on.

And it had crashed,
and it had broken open.

There was beings laying about.

Four beings laying
on the ground.

Not in-- not in the spaceship.

Laying on the ground.

He did describe that the heads
were larger than the bodies,

by proportion.

And they had some
type of clothing

on that looked a
little bit different.

Not exactly like our space
suits, or that sort of thing.

But the four were
laying on the ground,

and they were scattered not
too far from the object.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Barney told Verne

that he reached the crash
site about the same time

as a group of
archeology students

who had seen the wreckage
from their nearby dig.

The military had also apparently
discovered the second crash

site after an aerial
search, but they arrived

too late to secure the area.

Sergeant, get those
people out of there

and in front of this jeep now.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Barney Barnett

and the students had a
clear and detailed look

at the craft and its occupants.

VERN MALTAIS (VOICEOVER):
When the Army showed up,

they immediately escorted
these people from the scene.

And then at that time, they
gave them a warning not to relay

any information to anybody.

From that time on,
Barney never mentioned

it to anybody until
the time that he

told me about the thing.

Ladies and gentlemen, it
is my duty to inform you--

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): All efforts

to track down the members
of the archaeology dig

had been unsuccessful.

This is a restricted area.

And from this moment on--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): While
the Barnett story has only

been told secondhand,
many believe there is just

too much supporting
circumstantial evidence

to completely dismiss it.

When he first told me, I
was sort of flabbergasted.

I didn't know what to say.

But I believed it
because of his integrity.

I'd stake my life
on his reliability.

He would never
concoct any story.

That's why [inaudible].

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
On July 8, 1947,

newspapers across
America published

accounts that a
UFO had supposedly

crashed in New Mexico.

That same day, according
to some investigators,

a cargo plane carrying the
debris from the crash site

arrived at an air base
in Fort Worth, Texas.

At almost the same
moment, the Army

received the news of a second
crash site, where alien bodies

may had been found.

Brigadier General
Roger Ramey was

the ranking commander of the 8th
Army Air Force at Fort Worth.

Within hours, Ramey's office
issued a new press release,

stating that the material
recovered in New Mexico was not

a UFO, but in
reality, the wreckage

of a US Army weather balloon.

My dad said, obviously,
it was a cover up story.

It was not a weather balloon.

He was a little
disturbed about that.

But he had his own intelligence
classification, security

classification to protect.

He could not really
go public with hey,

this is not the real thing.

I mean, this is not
a weather balloon.

So he had to keep
that to himself.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But
the UFO incident was still

very much alive for Mac Brazel.

At the time, rumors
surfaced that Brazel

was held at the Roswell base
until after the new cover

story had been circulated
and generally accepted.

In Roswell, Floyd Proctor
and a friend saw Brazel,

but he appeared to be unwilling
or unable to acknowledge

his friend.

LORETTA PROCTOR (VOICEOVER):
Floyd and a neighbor

was in Roswell and saw
Mac surrounded by the--

some of the Air Force people.

And they walked right by them,
and Mac wouldn't speak to them.

They kind of thought he was
kind of-- kind of funny.

I guess really wondered
what he got into.

And Mac, he-- he
wouldn't talk about it

after he come back home.

But he did say that if he
ever found something else,

he wouldn't report it.

[laughs]

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): By the time

Brazel returned to his ranch,
all traces of the Roswell

incident had apparently
been removed from the area

and taken to Wright
Field in Dayton, Ohio.

Everything went
to Wright Field.

That's where the Air Technical
Intelligence Center was.

That was where they
could make their studies.

Subsequent to that, we
think that the material

has been sent elsewhere.

We think one of
the bodies has gone

to Langley, CIA headquarters.

We think another has gone to
MacDill, which is an Air Force

Base in Florida, where they have
an aerospace medicine facility.

We don't know where
other stuff has gone,

and we think some of it is
still left at Wright Field.

I think the reasons
for the initial cover

up are pretty
straightforward when

you stop to think about it.

Remember, this is two
years after the worst

war the planet had ever seen.

You didn't think in
terms of nice guys

here to say hello kind of thing.

They didn't know how
to deal with them.

What could you tell the public?

It would have been totally
irresponsible to say,

by the way, we thought you'd
like to know that there are

alien visitors to planet Earth.

That we can't do a darn
thing to prevent them

from flying over the country.

We don't know what they
want or where they're from,

but we thought
you'd like to know.

For this group of people
at that time to do

that would have been
totally irresponsible.

ROBERT STACK
(VOICEOVER): In spite

of the circumstantial evidence,
there was no real proof

to dispute the Army's contention
that the wreckage was,

in fact, a weather balloon.

Then, more than 30 years
later, UFO researchers

obtained a document which many
contend proves the Roswell

incident actually occurred.

In 1984, this top
secret document

known as the MJ-12 memo
was mailed anonymously

to a UFO researcher.

Operation Majestic 12,
or MJ-12 as it's called,

was a group of 12 people,
apparently established

by the president, to
deal with the wreckage

from Roswell and the whole
problem that that created.

How did these things work?

Where did they come from?

How can we get more information?

How can we analyze the wreckage
and the bodies and so forth?

And how do we interact
with the rest of society,

having that knowledge?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
The contents of the report

stunned researchers.

In part, it read--

GOVERNMENT MAN
(VOICEOVER): 07 July, 1947,

a secret operation
was begun to assure

the recovery of the wreckage.

Aerial reconnaissance
discovered that four

small human-like
beings had apparently

ejected from the
craft about two miles

east of the wreckage site.

All four were dead.

Civilian and military witnesses
in the area were debriefed,

and news reporters were
given the effective cover

story that the object had been
a misguided weather balloon.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The
government has consistently

refused to comment
on the MJ-12 memo,

and there is still no
proof of its origin.

But if we are to believe
the MJ-12 document

and the other accounts, then we
must ask ourselves a fantastic

question; did our
government, in 1947,

really discover evidence that
there is life in the universe

outside our own atmosphere?

Apart from Barney
Barnett, there is

only one man who
has ever admitted

to having seen these aliens.

My husband, Oliver
Henderson, otherwise known

as Pappy in the Air
Force, he was entrusted

with many of this
country's top secrets,

and they were safe with him.

He never told anything
that he wasn't supposed to.

And therefore, it was 34
years after this incident

happened that I heard about it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
Captain Pappy Henderson

was the man who
piloted the plane

that took the first pieces
of wreckage out of Roswell.

In 1981, two years
before he died,

he told his wife that in
spite of military denials,

the Roswell incident
really happened.

SAPPHO HENDERSON
(VOICEOVER): My husband

told me the bodies were small,
smaller than human bodies.

The heads were larger,
and the eyes were rather

sunken and a little slanted.

Clothing was of material unlike
anything he'd seen before.

They were strange.

They were not--
not of this earth.

When my husband, who was a
man of truth, who was trusted

with 29 different
Army aircraft planes,

first pilot, aircraft
commander, tells me this story,

I believed him.

If this happened,
it's the most

significant event
of the 20th century

and probably the Millennium.

It would be akin to Columbus
discovering the New World

and Queen Isabella deciding not
to tell the rest of the world

about the discovery
of the New World.

[thunder]

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER):
More than 40 years

have passed since
that hot summer

night when a
violent thunderstorm

swept over the Brazel ranch.

The military declared
that the remnants

found in that remote field came
from a downed weather balloon.

But the people who actually saw
and held the wreckage disagree.

Perhaps it was an
experimental aircraft

that the military wanted to
keep top secret at all costs.

But perhaps, just perhaps,
it was something else.

Next week on
"Unsolved Mysteries,"

we'll feature a
special appearance

by the director of the FBI,
William Sessions, who will ask

for your help in tracking down
several of the most dangerous

fugitives in the United States.

We will visit Ambridge,
Pennsylvania, where

several parishioners of
the Holy Trinity Church

claim they witnessed a
miracle above the altar

during a religious service.

And we will profile
a clever con man

who has targeted nudist
camps across the country

for his devious scams.

For every mystery,
there is someone,

somewhere, who knows the truth.

Perhaps it's you.

[music playing]

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