17 minute read
Strange history from Roswell and beyond
Texas was apparently the place for little humanoids falling out of the sky during the turn of the 19th century. While many people today are aware of the reported 1897 UFO crash of Aurora, Texas, where an alien was said to have met his demise, fewer are aware of another similar case in 1913.
In January of 1978, a man named Lawrence Jones wrote a letter to the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) in Chicago. Jones claimed that in the month of May in either the year 1913 or 1914, his grandfather, Silbie Latham, had witnessed the death of a strange humanoid creature. Jones wrote in his letter, “My grandfather has a most solid reputation for truth and honesty but has never told of this because of fear of ridicule ... He has agreed to tell this only after much prompting and encouragement from me, his history-oriented grandson. He would take a polygraph or be hypnotized or whatever you need. There is no question in my mind that he is telling the truth.”
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Another reason that Latham didn’t come forward with his story would have been due to the times. Back in 1913, the idea of aliens, let alone descriptions of them, had yet to seep into the public consciousness. But by the 1970s, when interest in the paranormal and UFOs reached new heights, the idea of an alien sighting didn’t seem quite so strange anymore.
Upon reception of Jones’ letter, the Center for UFO Studies set up an interview between Latham, who was then 77 years old and Larry Sessions of the Museum of Natural History of Fort Worth. The interview took place in April of 1978. During the meeting, Latham recalled his boyhood experience on a farm 2.5 miles away from Farmersville, Texas — the spot of an airship sighting in 1897, by the way.
Latham’s encounter with the strange creature took place in either the year 1913 or 1914. He was out chopping cotton with his two brothers, Sid and Clyde, when they suddenly heard their dogs begin howling as if in distress. As the howling went on for some time, Clyde said, “Let’s see what’s going on with the dogs. They seem quite shaken.”
Clyde arrived at the spot first, which was about 60 to 75 feet away on the other side of a picket fence. He was the first to see the strange sight, and as such called for his brothers to hurry and go look. “Boys, come look! It’s a little man!” he shouted at the site where the dogs had cornered a small, humanoid figure, about eighteen inches tall.
Latham told Sessions that the creature looked like “he was sitting on something.” Latham continued that, “He was looking toward the north. He was no more than 18 inches high and kind of a dark green color. He was the same smooth color all over. He didn’t seem to have any shoes on, but I don’t really remember his feet. His arms were hanging down just beside him, like they [grew] down the side of him. He had on a kind of hat that reminded me of a Mexican hat. It was a little round hat that looked like it was built onto him. He didn’t have on any clothes.”
The second part of John LeMay’s story will be published in the Sunday edition of the Roswell Daily Record.
The ‘little green man’ of Texas part 1
By John LeMay Author and historian
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ing on and actually working for MainStreet Roswell and doing gigs for them. It’s been years ago,” he said.
Palmer grew up in Roswell. Asked about his first memories of the UFO Festival, he said, “Honestly, I remember more going to the Chile Cheese Fest than UFO Fest, that was always a busy time of year, growing up. We never had the time to actually do anything.” Palmer and his mother Carla DeAnn Overmier have booths at most of the festivals, including Galacticon, selling hand-crafted art. Overmier specializes in leather works.
Asked about his performance at the AlienFest, Palmer said, “I’ll be performing some original music, some covers, I have a handful of new songs that are coming out. It is country folk with blues. One of my good friends described it as what I play is kind of Americana, but modern. So it is, and he had this wonderful description: Americana is country music, folk music and classic rock, all played in a blues-style fashion on acoustic instruments. So far, that is the best description of Americana that I’ve heard.”
Palmer is also competing in the UFO Festival’s Battle of the Bands and has high hopes to open for Chevel Shepherd. He is already looking forward to fall when Galacticon takes place in Roswell.
“Galacticon will be in October. We’re glad that they split because now it is not a distraction — it’s UFO Fest or Galacticon? It is now separate and I believe it’s going to be better. I am looking forward to see how that goes. Me and my mom are going to run a booth as we had in the past. I am going to contact them to attempt to play music. We’ll see how that goes. They usually bring in the Marquis de Vaudeville band, I am hoping to get my band to open for them. Because now that I have a band, I have more opportunities than solo,” Palmer said.
Trinity Soul
Trinity Soul was formed in Cocoa Beach Florida in 2012. Founder David Michael recruited his Son Judah Michael to play keys for the very busy reggae band. Fulfilling a strong calling to return to his home town of Albuquerque, David Michael returned home in 2019 and — with his two sons backing him up — began playing locally. Quickly gaining momentum the band had a full schedule just before the pandemic. During the lockdown the band continued writing and learning new music and rehearsing.
“We now play many other styles of music, such as rock ’n’ roll, blues and soul. We are most looking forward to playing in front of the awesome people attending; and seeing the costumes in the audience promises to be a unique experience,” David Michael wrote in an email. “I have no reason to not believe that there could be other life in the universe and I have personally seen many a strange sight in the night sky!”
what an alien sees. The Spacewalk is a walk-through blacklight alien adventure that transports Earthlings onto an alien ship and alien planet. “Our hours are 10 to 7, July 1 through the 4th,” Karen Ward wrote. The lobby of the Roswell UFO Spacewalk also features the original retro space art of the artist and creator of the Spacewalk, Bryan Ward. This is a family-friendly attraction with state-of-theart special effects. More information is available on its Facebook page @roswellufospacewalk.
From July 1 to 3, downtown will be under the control — we mean of course, under the “protection” — of the 501st Dewback Ridge Garrison. The Star Wars troopers are known to be a favorite of Darth Vader and he himself may make an appearance. The members of the garrison are based in Albuquerque and are volunteers with a passion for Star Wars. Day and night will bring out famous “aliens” from all around the known galaxies and there will be plenty of photo opportunities for “Earthlings.”
Roswell UFO Festival
The evening of July 1, head on out to the Cielo Grande Recreation Area for Intergalactic Cinema and the showing of the classic movie “Close Encounters of The Third Kind.” The next day the comedy “Spaceballs” shows and on July 3, “Men in Black” (MIB) shows. Tickets are for four people in a designated area.
The 25th Roswell UFO Festival officially kicks off on July 2. This year, the event is in the hands of the city of Roswell who hired the event company In Depth Events. Part of the UFO Festival is a high-tech laser show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Robert H. Goddard Planetarium, which is attached to the Roswell Museum and Art Center. Before or after the show, a visit to the carefully preserved workshop of Goddard will give insight about the scientist who made the first moon landing possible. He would experiment with his rockets in the desert and lived in Roswell.
Locations for the Roswell UFO Festival are DeBremond Stadium, where the opening ceremony will be on July 2, as well as the UFO Festival Abduction Parade. Onlookers can admire for free the decorated vehicles at Cars from Outer Space before the parade. At press time there were 1,163 spots left — in “galaxy-terms” that’s the length of a entire “starship cruiser” — though the government is adamant that starship cruisers don’t exist. Anybody seeing one and is able to take pictures should contact the Roswell Daily Record’s reporters right away.
The Roswell UFO Festival opening ceremony includes celebrity engagements from local government, music and vendors.
Another highlight at the Roswell UFO Festival is Battle of the Bands at the Roswell Community Little Theatre (RCLT), where the audience decides who will open at the UFO Festival’s main event the next evening, on the main stage at the Wool Bowl parking lot, featuring Chevel Shepherd as headliner.
Gina Montague, one of the directors and actors at RCLT, was in charge of the auditions that happened before June 15. “We were able to select four bands to perform at the show,” she said. “Everyone who buys a ticket — they are $5 at the door — gets a vote ticket when they come in to vote for their favorite band, and while they are there they can also purchase additional vote tickets to vote for their band.”
According to Montague, the four bands are: Eternal Vernal from Elephant Butte, New Mexico; L25 from the Dallas, Texas area; Matthew Palmer and band from Roswell; and Sycamore Flood, also a local band.
Palmer is also performing at AlienFest at the Chaves County Courthouse.
“I’ll be performing with Brady Chambers and Donny Simmons and there is a good prize. The prize is opening for Chevel Shepherd at the Wool Bowl during the UFO Festival,” Palmer said.
Shepherd, headliner of the UFO Festival concert, came to international fame when she competed in the 15th season of the TV show “The Voice” and won. She is a native of New Mexico and since the win — before the pandemic hit — has opened shows for Kelly Clarkson, Little Big Town and Lee Brice, to name a few.
In addition to the winner of Battle of the Bands, a second opening act performs: Straight Tequila Night, a ’90s country tribute act.
The Roswell UFO Festival offers entertainment for everybody. Early Saturday morning, runners and those who like to walk meet for the Alien Chase 5K that starts at DeBremond Stadium. The race has been popular since 1995. There are different age divisions and the winners in each division will receive awards and medals. T-shirts will be given to all registered participants and there will be door prizes after the races. “Alien” costumes are not required.
Those who love to golf have a special treat waiting for them after they register for the Alien Open Golf Tourney at Nancy Lopez Golf Course. TV and movie actor Brendan Fehr will be the celebrity golfer, welcoming his fellow golfers to the 18-hole tournament. Single players, groups and mixed groups can register. Fehr was cast as Michael Guerin in the TV series “Roswell” that aired from 1999 to 2002. The popular young adult series was about four alien-human hybrids that came out of incubation pods decades after their ship crashed in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
Later that day, ticketholders will be able to meet not only Fehr, but his co-star Majandra Delfino for a question and answer event. Delfino played Maria DeLuca alongside of Fehr in the TV series “Roswell.”
The Nancy Lopez Golf Course was named after the legendary golfer Nancy Lopez, who was inducted in the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. She was raised in Roswell. She left Roswell in the 1970s to become a golf champion with three Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Championships, 45 LPGA Tour victories, nine amateur wins and a plethora of other achievements, including Player of the Year for the years 1978, 1979, 1985 and 1988.
For those who would like to hike, there are several trails available, including a sunrise hike at Bottomless Lakes State Park on July 4. There are limited tickets available.
Also on July 4, the children’s pastor of Grace Community Church, Alan Gedde, will have Sunday service at the UFO Festival main stage at DeBremond Stadium. The band of Grace Community Church will perform as well. During the entire UFO Festival, volunteers of Grace Community Church will be helping, including offering water.
Asked if it isn’t unusual to combine
Christina Stock Photo Game inventor Matt Bromley is seen here at Galacticon 2019. He will be at the MainStreet Roswell AlienFest with some of his games, such as “Taco Party.” Galacticon 2021 was moved to October.
see ChUrCh on page 29
UFOs with church, Gedde said, “I thought so too. Basically, the event planners that are helping to stage the events are not from Roswell. I had emailed and said we would like to volunteer as a church. We would like to volunteer during the events just to help out. And they emailed me back. ‘We love the idea of you guys volunteering, we also have an empty stage on Sunday morning and we thought it would be fun to do a Sunday service out at DeBremond.’ I went, sure, ‘cause I think it would be fun too. We are going to do Sunday service outside — it will be hot, of course — but that’s OK, we’re only going to be out there for an hour from 9 to 10 a.m. I am going to talk about creation and the cosmos. The idea, if there is life out there, what do we do? Why do we even go into space? I am going to talk about it, God’s creation and that if there is life out there, I believe God created it. So then what’s our role? Are we supposed to be searching for them? It will be fun.
“The main worship leader will be my daughter, Harmony Gedde, who is super-fantastic and we’ll have a band up there from Grace. My daughter works with different churches, so I know she’s got other instrumentalists she may include that are not from Grace,” Gedde said. Those who want to attend should bring lawn chairs, shade umbrellas and water.
For those who love arts, crafts and animals Spring River Zoo Park is the place to be after worship. The park is next to the actual zoo. Numerous vendors will show off their creations and throughout the morning and afternoon, close encounters of the furry, feathered and scaly kind will happen: From pot-bellied pigs, rabbits, owls and bearded dragons, be ready to encounter critters. Most animals at the zoo have been rescued and can’t be released to the wild because of injuries or birth defects. A petting zoo with goats and other domesticated animals is also part of the experience visiting the zoo. The Spring River Zoo has used the downtime due to the pandemic to upgrade and renovate its enclosures. There is no fee to enter the park, but to enter the zoo requires a ticket.
Every day, the UFO Festival has an evening recap online at ufofestival.com. The virtual event includes highlights of the festival and interviews. Broadcasting starts at 5 p.m.
Independence Day
In Depth Events, who organized the UFO Festival events for the city, is also arranging the Fourth of July events on Sunday evening.
Locals and visitors celebrate Independence Day at Cielo Grande Recreation Complex. The free events feature a concert by Bad Moon Rising — a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band — followed by a laser show featuring the entertainment group “The Dancing Fire.” There will also be food trucks, jolly jumpers and face painting.
Happy Birthday, USA!
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nique. Her interest in UFOs and contact began in 1961, when her aunt and uncle, Betty and Barney Hill, had a close encounter and subsequent abduction in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. She spent 15 years in painstaking investigation of the Hill abduction case and continues to seek scientific analysis of the compelling evidence.
She has worked on three comprehensive studies on nearly 5,000 experiencers, two of which she initiated and saw to the end and has five professionally published books. Her bestseller with the late nuclear physicist Stanton T. Friedman (1934-2019) is “Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience.” She and Friedman worked together for nearly 14 years and collaborated on two additional books, “Science Was Wrong” and “Fact, Fiction, and Flying Saucers.” Her book with Denise Stoner, “The Alien Abduction Files,” includes her investigation of six intergenerational cases of abduction/contact. Her fifth book, “Extra Terrestrial Contact: What to Do When You’ve Been Abducted,” is a comprehensive guide to contact for experiencers, those who love them, professionals who work with experiencers and the interested public. Additionally, she is a contributor to the Edgar Mitchell Free Foundation’s “Beyond UFOs: The Science of Consciousness and Contact with Non Human Intelligence.” Her essays have been published in several additional books and magazines.
She has given on-camera commentary on the Discovery, History, National Geographic, Destination America, Science, and Travel channels and on several documentaries. Most recently, her work has been featured on Ancient Aliens and several Travel Channel shows. Kathleen has lectured at conferences across the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and the UK. Additionally, she has given video lectures in Denmark and China.
Thom Reed
Thom Reed is the founder of the international model and artist group, Miami Models (South Beach) founded in 1995. Until the age of two, Reed lived in Cherry Hills, Colorado, at the home of William Roosevelt, the grandson of President Roosevelt. His grandmother Marian was the governess for the household. Reed’s family would move back to New England in 1963.
Reed is best known for making UFO history. His Sept. 1, 1969 off-world incident is the first to be officially inducted into the United States as Historically True, by historians and the Office of the Governor. (“The Reed UFO Incident” made headlines in 2015 when it became the nation’s first UFO encounter to be officially inducted into the archives of the United States, as Historically Significant and True. With its admission and state citations by Massachusetts Gov. Charles D. Barker, Lt. Gov. Karyn E. Polito and the Massachusetts Historical Society. )
Reed has been featured on “Ancient Aliens — The Taken,” “Unsolved Mysteries — Berkshires UFO,” Discovery Channel’s “Alien Mysteries,” Travel Channel’s “Paranormal Declassified,” “New England Legends,” the “Behaviour Panel,” “Yes Theory” and “CSI Miami.”
His free-to-the-public UFO Park, sits at the location of the 1969 incident, in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
Derrel Sims
Derrel Sims, the “Alien Hunter,” is the world’s leading expert on alien abductions. His 38-plus years of field research has focused on physical evidence, and led to his groundbreaking discoveries of alien implants and alien fluorescence. As a former military police officer and CIA operative, Sims has a unique insight to the alien organization, which he believes functions similarly to an intelligence agency. Sims is also a compassionate and skilled therapist who has helped hundreds of alien experiencers all over the world come to terms with what they’ve witnessed.
Whitley Strieber
Whitley Strieber is the author of more than 40 works of both fiction and nonfiction. His books “The Wolfen,” “The Hunger,” “Communion” and “The Coming Global Superstorm” — as “The Day After Tomorrow” — were all made into feature films. His sci-fi series “Alien Hunter” became the SyFy Channel series “Hunters.” His latest releases include “A New World,” “Afterlife Revolution” and “Jesus: A New Vision.”
In 1985, Whitley had a close encounter of the third kind. It led to the writing of the epic bestseller “Communion” that changed the way the world thinks about this enigmatic experience. When he eventually realized that the experience could not be attributed to known factors, he began making an effort to recontact what he calls “the visitors.” The response has been ongoing for the past 30 years and has been chronicled in several of his works. Many people have encountered the visitors with Whitley, placing it among the most witnessed paranormal events in history.
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