"The Day After Roswell"

Dear readers

Autumn in Adelaide is a delight. Alternating between sunny days and rainy days, with daytime maximum temperatures between 19 and 24 degrees C. The leaves on the trees are turning various shades of red and brown.

Introduction:

Roswell is still one of the leading stories in the world of UFO research. Personally, I no longer know what to think of the event. There has been so much argument and counter-argument; witnesses credited and discredited; the USAF's version of what happened; Nick Redfern's alternative perspective, and on and on. I think that we will never really know what happened.

One of the off-shoots of Roswell 1947 came in 1997 with the publication of a book, "The Day After Roswell" by Philip J Corso. (click here.)

Bullard:

I have been slowly re-reading "The Myth and Mystery of UFOs" by Thomas E Bullard (Published by University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 2010. ISBN 978-0-7006-1729-6.) (Click here.)

I am always interested in what various UFO researchers think of the work of others. In this instance, on pages 88-89 is a piece about the book "The Day After Roswell."

"Just in time for the fiftieth anniversary Roswell celebration, a retired Army Colonel, Philip J Corso, declared in The Day After Roswell (1997) that he assumed leadership of a secret research and development project in 1961 to carry out reverse engineering on the wreckage.

"From this work came lasers, integrated circuits image intensifiers, fibre optics, particle beams, and kevlar bullet-proof material. In fact, most of the technological advances since 1947 began with aliens, according to Corso, and many of these developments transferred from his research group to industry.

"The book amalgamated so many UFO-related claims and rumours that Roswell investigator Karl Pflock (click here) dubbed it "a veritable unified field theory of practically everything ufological and ufoological," but despite its errors and implausible claims, despite its round condemnation as a hoax by serious UFO researchers, Corso's tale has settled into the literature to be cited and quoted again and again as undisputed gospel."

Alexander:

I then recalled that John B Alexander's recent book "UFOs:myths, conspiracies and realities" (Published by Thomas Dunne Books. New York. 2011. ISBN 978-0-312-64834-3 click here) has a whole chapter devoted to Corso.

In the chapter's introduction, Alexander states that Corso was a personal friend of his, and he visited Corso on 2 July 1998, just two weeks before Corso passed away.

In March 1996, prior to publication of the book, Alexander, Hal Puthoff (click here)and George Knapp ( click here) visited Corso at his Florida home and heard Corso's story first-hand.

Following the meeting, Corso was invited to visit Las Vegas in April 1996 for three days of discussions. This time it involved Robert Bigelow (click here,) Alexander, Hal Puthoff and Jacques Vallee.

"Corso's story never wavered, but contained both plausible and troubling information. Plausibility came from his reported assignments supported by documentation. Troubling were topics that ran counter to the known history of technological developments." (p.42.)

Alexander checked out Corso's background. "...when it comes to Corso's background, little is easy to follow. The basic reported path seemed accurate, with a fair amount of fluff involved..." (p.43.)

A check by Alexander of Pentagon phone book records revealed "What was found only partially supported Corso's claims concerning his assignment." (p.44.)

"Corso's most fundamentally important claim was that ET technology assisted in many of our scientific and engineering advances. This assertion is fatally flawed." (pp45-46.)

The group interviewing Corso examined his version of these technological developments and found Corso's accounts did not match historically documented facts. "The scientific advances in all areas ran in a linear fashion and no step functions, or unexpected leaps were noted." (p.46.)

Beyond the technological claims, Corso also made other claims. "In the original manuscript there are episodes that are even more incredulous...One included an encounter with an alien while hew was assigned at White Sands Missile Range (p47)...Once incident included what Corso believed to be evidence for time travel...(p.48.)

In summary, Alexander concludes "There is no doubt that he had an illustrious military career...in The Day After Roswell, Corso made many extraordinary claims..Unfortunately, none of these claims have been substantiated, and most are directly refuted by known facts." (pp49-50.)

Comments:

This seems a conclusive and negative evaluation of Corso's claims. Corso's motive for making the claims remains unknown.

For those readers who haven't come across "The Day After Roswell" its details are:

Corso, Col. Philip J (retd) with William J Birnes. Pocket Books. New York. 1997. ISBN 0-671-00461-1.