Walter Haut sealed affidavit
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 8 July 1947 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Walter Haut, William Blanchard, Tom Carey, Don Schmitt |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 38 |
| Year | 1947 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1947 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
Walter Haut, the public information officer at Roswell Army Air Field who issued the July 1947 press release announcing the recovery of a "flying disc", signed a sworn statement in December 2002 saying that he had seen a crashed craft and alien bodies. At his request it was kept sealed until after his death, and it was published in 2007.[1][2]
The 1947 press release
On the orders of base commander Colonel William "Butch" Blanchard, Haut wrote the 8 July 1947 press release saying the 509th Bomb Group had recovered a flying disc from a ranch near Roswell. The story went out on the news wires within hours and was replaced the same day by the Eighth Air Force's explanation that the debris was a weather balloon.[1][3]
Earlier accounts
For decades Haut gave fairly modest accounts, saying he had written the release but never saw the debris himself.[1]
The affidavit
The affidavit is dated 26 December 2002 and was witnessed by a notary, to be opened only after his death. In it Haut said he attended a staff meeting where wreckage was passed around, that the press release was meant to draw attention away from a second crash site, and that Blanchard took him to a base hangar where he saw an egg-shaped craft and two small bodies under a tarpaulin. He said he was convinced it was a craft and crew from outer space. He died in December 2005, and the statement was published in June 2007 in Thomas Carey and Donald Schmitt's book Witness to Roswell, drawing worldwide press coverage.[1][2][4]
Doubts
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The affidavit's value is hotly debated. Haut was elderly and in poor health when he signed it; Roswell researcher Dennis Balthaser, who supports an extraterrestrial explanation, wrote that the text was prepared for Haut's signature rather than written by him, and that neither Carey nor Schmitt was present when he signed it. It also contradicts things Haut had said on the record in the 1980s and 1990s. Supporters see a deathbed confession; skeptics see words put in an elderly man's mouth.[1][2]
People and topics
- Roswell — The New Mexico town at the center of the 1947 crash story.
- Walter Haut — Public information officer at Roswell Army Air Field who wrote the July 1947 "flying disc" press release and left a disputed sealed affidavit.
- Roswell Army Air Field — The bomber base at Roswell, home of the 509th Bomb Group in 1947.
- William Blanchard — Roswell base commander in 1947 who later became Air Force vice chief of staff.
- 509th Bomb Group — The nuclear-armed bomber group based at Roswell in 1947.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- 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
- Art McQuiddy and the Roswell press release (8 July 1947) — Roswell newspaper editor Art McQuiddy says the base announced a recovered disc, then asked him to call it a weather balloon.
See every 1947 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Walter Haut — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Report on the Haut affidavit, The Register (2 Jul 2007) · theregister.co.uk · archived copy
- Roswell incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "My father saw the bodies: chasing the truth about Roswell", SBS (2021) · sbs.com.au · archived copy
- Walter Haut profile — NOUFORS · noufors.com · archived copy
- Walter Haut documentation (PDF, German) · anomalistik.de · archived copy
- Text of the 2002 'sealed affidavit' of Walter G. Haut · flyingtigercomics.blogspot.com · archived copy
- the-sun.com · the-sun.com · 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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