Mantle's Report on UFO's Makes Me Wonder

Letter to the Editor

When I read Mantle's report on UFO Digest I wondered about it.

Although I never visited the alleged crash site, I did live in rural New Mexico for 10 years. Mantle's report that he found elevated levels of radiation and a blue substance oozing from the rocks was unconvincing. For one thing, so many open-air nuclear tests were conducted in New Mexico that large parts of the desert are probably contaminated. For another, there is so much naturally-occurring radioactive uranium in the rocks that it could easily have resulted in an elevated reading. I myself have found rocks in the till of an abandoned uranium ore mine which, when measured with a calibrated Geiger counter were giving off as much radiation every hour as a chest X-ray!

As to the "blue substance..." never saw anything like it. However, the conditions on the high desert (known generically as the Colorado Plateau, even though it's in New Mexico) are incredibly harsh year- round with sub-freezing, snowy winters, blazing summers and unpredictable flash floods. To think that any traces of the alleged crash could still survive 60 years later in this harsh environment is presumptuous.

As a former investigative reporter, I think Mantle's experience underlines the difficulties of trying to do research in an unfamiliar area. The people who live there could probably have answered a lot of his questions, had he bothered to ask them.

Finally - isn't it time we let the whole Roswell issue finally die a natural death? The subject has been beaten to death, and nothing new or interesting is likely to come out of it. The USAF has made a convincing explanation for what was found and why - a top-secret "Mogul" balloon launched from White Sands Proving Grounds to detect infrasonic sounds from Soviet atomic tests crashed. The wreckage is reasonably consistent with the descriptions given by witnesses at the scene. Why do we continue to squander valuable time and resources on this incident? They would be far better used to investigate contemporary sightings, where we are likely to have fresher evidence and better documentation.

Malcolm J. Brenner

Astrophysicist: On the pains of investigating the paranormal scientifically

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