Frederick Benthal's Roswell photographs claim
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 1 September 1994 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Beings & bodies (topic) |
| People | Frederick Benthal, Sean Kirkpatrick, Tom Carey, Don Schmitt |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 121 |
| Year | 1994 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1994 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 5 |
Frederick Benthal was an Army Air Forces photographer who said that in July 1947 he was flown from Washington to Roswell, New Mexico, and photographed small bodies in a tent near a crash site. He gave the account to UFO researchers in the early 1990s.[1][2]
His account
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Benthal, then 26, said he and another photographer were flown to Roswell from Anacostia Naval Air Station in Washington, D.C., possibly on 7 July 1947, and were told they might run into Gen. Curtis LeMay. The next morning, he said, he was taken to a site about an hour and a half north of town, where he photographed several bodies enclosed in a field tent and saw debris being hauled away on trucks. He said the film was taken from the photographers after it was developed.[1]
Publication
Physicist Stanton Friedman first interviewed Benthal in November 1990, after months of negotiation, and he appeared in Friedman and Don Berliner's 1994 book Crash at Corona, identified only by the initials "F.B." He signed an affidavit in 1993, and his full name was published in Tom Carey and Don Schmitt's 2007 book Witness to Roswell.[1]
Claimed corroboration
Supporters link his account to that of a Roswell military policeman, Ed Sain, who said he guarded bodies in a tent north of town, and to retired Brig. Gen. Arthur Exon, who said he knew some of the photographers involved but gave no names. A retired pilot, Ben Games, said in 2007 that he had flown Lt. Gen. Laurence Craigie to Roswell from Wright Field on LeMay's orders.[1]
Assessment
No photographs have ever surfaced, and no official records corroborate the trip. Skeptics point out that the account was given more than 40 years later, after Roswell had become famous. The Air Force concluded in the 1990s that the debris came from a Project Mogul balloon and that stories of bodies probably conflated later events.[1][2][3]
People and topics
- Frederick Benthal — Army photographer who said he photographed Roswell bodies.
- Roswell incident — The July 1947 recovery of debris near Roswell, New Mexico, announced as a "flying disc" and then explained as a weather balloon.
- Sean Kirkpatrick — First director of AARO (2022–23).
- Roswell — The New Mexico town at the center of the 1947 crash story.
- Tom Carey — Roswell researcher and co-author of Witness to Roswell.
- Don Schmitt — Roswell researcher and co-author of Witness to Roswell.
- Witness to Roswell — A 2007 book by Tom Carey and Don Schmitt.
On the Timeline
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- Dan Sherman's September 1994 exchange (September 1994) — Sherman describes another exchange with the non-human source.
- Boscombe Down incident (26 September 1994) — A magazine reports an object crash-landed at Boscombe Down, UK, followed by unmarked jets.
See every 1994 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Sgt. Frederick Benthal", RoswellProof · roswellproof.com · archived copy
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Roswell UFO incident collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries · libraries.uta.edu · archived copy
- Benthal and Kirkpatrick photographers' account — RoswellProof via UFO Scans · ufoscans.com · archived copy
- Roswell 1947 witnesses index — Patrick Gross · ufologie.patrickgross.org · archived copy
Further reading
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- UFOs and the Air Force: records — National Archives · archives.gov · archived copy
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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