Document · D-005
“Case Closed”: the Air Force's 1997 report on the alleged Roswell bodies
The Roswell Report: Case Closed
U.S. Air Force · Jun 24, 1997 · USA · Report
Original available
Official Air Force report, cited with this link in the notes of AARO's historical report (which, however, mistakenly gives 1994 or 1995 as the year of printing). The media.defense.gov server blocks automated requests and the PDF was not opened here: the content is reconstructed from the AARO report and from the sources already used by the site.
- What it contains
- A follow-up to the 1995 report, it examines the accounts of “alien” bodies linked to Roswell, including that of the funeral director Glenn Dennis. It traces them to the dummies used in high-altitude balloon experiments and to the teams that recovered them, while the rumors of bodies at the base hospital are said to stem from the overlap of two real incidents: that of a KC-97 in 1956, with 11 dead, and that of a manned balloon in 1959. It reiterates that the 1947 debris came from an Army Air Forces balloon program.
- What it shows and what it does not
- It documents the official explanation of the accounts of bodies. The explanation presupposes that the witnesses placed in 1947 episodes that took place years later; the report cannot absolutely rule out the retrieval of bodies, but no document examined indicates it.
- How it came to light
- Presented by the Air Force at a press conference on June 24, 1997; the PDF is on the Department of Defense media server, with the link given in the notes of AARO's historical report.
- The document
- Open the document (media.defense.gov)
Sources
- AARO – Historical Record Report, vol. 1 (2024), section on Roswell (The Black Vault copy) (primary source)
- ABC News – the Air Force presents the Roswell report, June 24, 1997 (video) (video/audio)
- Wikipedia – Glenn Dennis (other)
On this site
People 2
Claims 1
- Luis Elizondo: Claims that four non-human bodies were actually recovered from the 1947 Roswell crash. Contradicted
Official positions 1
Where the claims come from 2
- Non-human biological remains, that is, bodies or “biologics,” were recovered together with the craft.
- In 1947 at Roswell non-human bodies were recovered: four according to Elizondo (2024), with some of the…
Timeline 2
- Jun 24, 1997: “Case Closed”: for the Air Force the Roswell “bodies” were dummies
- Jul 8, 1947: Roswell, July 8, 1947: the base announces the retrieval of a “flying disc”
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