Witness to Roswell
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🎬 Book or film
Contents 7
| Type | Book, film or media |
|---|---|
| On the Timeline | 2 events, 1947–1994 |
Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60-Year Cover-Up is a 2007 book by UFO researchers Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt. It argues that an alien spacecraft crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, and that the government has hidden the truth ever since. It is best known for first publishing the "Sealed Affidavit of Walter G. Haut." In it, Roswell's former public information officer, Walter Haut, said he had seen a crashed craft and alien bodies, after decades of saying he had seen nothing.[1][2] The document was signed in 2002 and released after Haut's death in 2005. Its value is disputed, because Schmitt drafted it himself and it contradicts Haut's earlier accounts.[1] A 75th-anniversary edition was later published by Red Wheel/Weiser.[3]
The book
The book gathers testimony from people who said they had seen debris, bodies or military activity connected with the Roswell incident. Its publisher calls it a "classic in the field" built on the "sheer weight of eyewitness testimony." The publisher adds that the authorities "now have four explanations" for what was officially called a conventional weather balloon.[3] The 75th-anniversary edition adds a new introduction and further material. According to the publisher, this includes:[3]
- "deathbed confessions" about "little people" recovered at the crash site;
- a timeline of events, which it calls the most comprehensive ever published;
- the identity of a Boeing engineer said to have examined the wreckage;
- an account of a nurse said to have ordered children's caskets at the base hospital;
- the story of a soldier who wore gloves at the dinner table after guarding the "bodies."
Endorsements quoted by the publisher come from radio host George Noory, Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell, ufologist Jerome Clark (who called it "the finest Roswell book ever") and Mark Rodeghier of the Center for UFO Studies. One reviewer singled out the Haut affidavit as the book's "piece de resistance."[3] The UAP timeline also links the book's subject to the 1994 claim by Army photographer Frederick Benthal that he photographed the crash and bodies. See Frederick Benthal's Roswell photographs claim.[5]
Walter Haut
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Haut, born in Chicago in 1922, flew 35 bombing missions against Japan in the Second World War. He dropped instrument packages during the 1946 Bikini atomic tests. In 1947 he was public information officer for the 509th Atomic Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field, where the base commander, Colonel William Blanchard, was a close friend. Haut issued the July 1947 press release announcing that the Army had recovered a "flying disc."[1] In 1991 he co-founded the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, and he was its president until 1996.[1]
His story changed over the years:[1]
- 1979. In The Roswell Incident, the first book on the case, he was described as "not a witness." He told interviewers that Blanchard asked him to write the release, and that when he asked to see the object he was told this was "impossible."
- 1989. He said he knew "nothing" about what was recovered. He repeated Jesse Marcel's view that it was not "of this planet" and said "I think there was a giant cover-up."
- 1993. In an affidavit signed on 14 May 1993, he said Blanchard and Marcel could not have mistaken the material for a weather balloon.
The "sealed affidavit"
Before Haut's death, Schmitt interviewed him on matters Schmitt says Haut wanted kept confidential during his lifetime. Schmitt then composed an "affidavit" and emailed it to Haut's family. Haut signed it at his museum in 2002, in front of his daughter, a staff notary and a museum guest. Schmitt and the family agreed to hold it until after his death. Haut died on 15 December 2005, and Carey and Schmitt published it in Witness to Roswell in 2007. See Walter Haut sealed affidavit.[1][4]
As reported by The Register on 2 July 2007, the statement says:[2]
- The weather-balloon story was a cover, and the real object was kept by the military.
- At a meeting on the morning of the crash, samples of wreckage were passed around the table, including foil-like pieces "paper thin yet extremely strong" and pieces with odd markings. No one could identify them.
- The press release was meant to divert attention from a second crash site.
- Haut was shown an egg-shaped craft with no windows or landing gear in a hangar. Nearby were "a couple of bodies under canvas," the size of a ten-year-old child with large heads. A temporary morgue had been set up.
- "I am convinced that what I personally observed was some type of craft and its crew from outer space."
The Register noted the contrast with Haut's "lifetime spent denying any such things."[2] The UAP timeline summarises the affidavit's account that Blanchard called Haut about "flying saucer" debris recovered northwest of Roswell.[4]
Criticism
According to the Wikipedia account, the book was criticised for a lack of evidence, for inconsistencies with earlier accounts, and for presenting a document Schmitt had drafted as Haut's own affidavit.[1]
Notes on the earlier version of this article
- Who wrote the affidavit. The earlier version attributed to researcher Dennis Balthaser the claim that Haut did not write the statement and that neither Carey nor Schmitt was present when he signed it. The sources read here do not mention Balthaser. The Wikipedia account says Schmitt composed and emailed the document and that Haut signed it before his daughter, a notary and a museum guest. It does not say whether Carey or Schmitt was present.[1]
- Unsupported details. The earlier version gave the original publisher as New Page Books, dated the affidavit 26 December 2002, and said the full text appeared in June 2007. These details are not covered in the sources read here, which give 2002 for the signing and report the text in early July 2007.[1][2]
On the UAP Timeline
- Walter Haut sealed affidavit (8 July 1947) — Roswell press officer Walter Haut's affidavit says his commander told him the base had recovered crash debris from a disc.
- Frederick Benthal's Roswell photographs claim (1 September 1994) — Army photographer Frederick Benthal says he photographed the Roswell crash and bodies.
References
- Walter Haut — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Report on the Haut affidavit, The Register (2 Jul 2007) · theregister.co.uk · archived copy
- "Witness to Roswell, 75th Anniversary Edition", Red Wheel/Weiser · redwheelweiser.com · archived copy
- UAP timeline published with Michael Shellenberger's 2024 congressional testimony, entry for 8 July 1947 · oversight.house.gov
- UAP timeline (Shellenberger testimony), entry for 1 September 1994 · oversight.house.gov
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia article “Walter Haut”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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