Why Do People Still Believe There Was A Cover Up At Roswell?

I always find it strange that so many people still believe that something was covered up during the Roswell Incident. Back in the 1990s, I was totally sucked in by Roswell. I was convinced that a UFO had crashed in New Mexico and that the truth was being kept hidden from us. But it was an era filled with UFO documentaries, 'The X-Files' was on TV, and books about aliens were everywhere.

The idea of a government cover-up was exciting, as was the possibility that extraterrestrial life had visited us. But as I got older, my perspective began to change, and I became much more skeptical of paranormal claims. There wasn't any dramatic "a-ha" moment that made me change my mind. It was a gradual shift, and by the time I left high school, I'd lost my belief in pretty much every type of paranormal claim, from ghosts to UFOs. I even became an atheist and stopped believing in God.

The Roswell story begins in 1947 when something crashed in the desert near Roswell. The US military initially reported that they had recovered a "flying disc" but quickly changed their story, saying it was just a weather balloon. This sudden shift in narrative was the spark that ignited decades of speculation and debate, and the seeds of a conspiracy were planted.

The government's explanation only got more complicated years later when they admitted that the wreckage was actually from a classified project called Project Mogul, which used high-altitude balloons to detect Soviet nuclear tests. This secrecy made sense, given the Cold War context, but by then, the UFO theory had taken on a life of its own.

For me, the Project Mogul explanation is pretty satisfying. It accounts for the strange debris, the secrecy, and even the misinformation initially put out by the military. Yet, what I find odd is that for so many people, this explanation falls flat. They see gaps, inconsistencies, or simply refuse to believe it because of a deep mistrust in official narratives.

Perhaps the reason why people still believe in the Roswell cover-up comes down to the fact that, when faced with the unknown, we often look for answers that align with our worldview. For those inclined to believe in extraterrestrial life, Roswell fits perfectly - it offers an explanation that's far more exciting than the reality of a secret military balloon. There's also the role of pop culture at play. Roswell has been put on a pedestal in countless TV shows, films, and books. Roswell is not just a historical event anymore - it's a cultural phenomenon that serves as a symbol of hidden truths and government deception.

We should also remember that this was a time of mistrust in government. When isn't it? But this was a post-WWII and Cold War era, a time when secrecy was the norm, and the initial mixed messages from the military about Roswell only deepened suspicions. Once this mistrust and doubt take hold, it's difficult to see past it, and even the most logical explanations can be dismissed if people feel they've been lied to before - and in the case of the Roswell Incident, they definitely had been lied to initially.

We often think of conspiracy theorists as "sheep," guided by their echo chamber of misinformation, but when you see this widespread, lingering suspicion over an event that took place almost eight decades ago, it makes me wonder if I'm actually the sheep. Am I too trusting in accepting the Project Mogul explanation? Am I just going along with the official story because it's convenient? But then I remind myself that trusting an explanation backed by evidence isn't the same as blind faith - it's a rational assessment of what we know. Skepticism is important, but it needs to be balanced. Rejecting every official explanation outright can be just as uncritical as accepting everything without question.

You might be wondering why I spend my time thinking about Roswell if I don't believe in it. Why am I even so deeply involved in the paranormal world for that matter? Well, I may have lost my belief in many aspects of the paranormal, but that doesn't mean I'm not still fascinated by the stories, the claims, and the psychology behind why people believe what they do.

I think that's why Roswell is of particular interest, because it actually tells us far more about ourselves than it does about extraterrestrials. It's about our fear of the unknown, our distrust of authority, and our desire to believe that the truth is out there.