Editing UFO conspiracy theories (section)

====Jesse Marcel and Roswell====
{{Main|Roswell Incident}}
[[File:Marcel-roswell-debris 0.jpg|thumb|right|Jesse Marcel holding foil debris from the Roswell incident in 1947]]
In February 1978, UFO researcher [[Stanton T. Friedman|Stanton Friedman]] interviewed [[Jesse Marcel]], the only person known to have accompanied the Roswell debris from where it was recovered to [[Fort Worth]] where reporters saw material that was claimed to be part of the recovered object.<ref name="Barkun2006"/>{{rp|81}}<ref name="Gulyas2015"/>{{rp|92–93}}<ref name="Peebles"/>{{rp|246–251}} Marcel's statements contradicted those he made to the press in 1947.<ref name="FWStar">{{Cite news|title=New Mexico Rancher's 'Flying Disk' Proves to Be Weather Balloon-Kite|date=1947-07-09|work=[[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]]|publication-place=Fort Worth, TX|pages=1, 4}}</ref> Marcel revealed that the 1947 "weather balloon" had been a cover story, saying: "They wanted some comments from me, but I wasn't at liberty to do that. So, all I could do is keep my mouth shut. And General Ramey is the one who discussed – told the newspapers, I mean the newsman, what it was, and to forget about it. It is nothing more than a weather observation balloon. Of course, we both knew differently."<ref name="autogenerated1">"UFO Coverups". In Search Of.... Season 5. Episode 1. September 20, 1980.</ref><ref name="wyrar">{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Primetime/story?id=528860&page=1|title=Aliens Changed Roswell, Even Without Proof|website=ABC News}}</ref>

Uncertain of the material's origin, Marcel would speculate the debris might have been extraterrestrial. In all his statements, Marcel consistently denied the presence of bodies.<ref name="wwbV0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUEYAQAAMAAJ|title=The Skeptical Inquirer|date=April 29, 1998|publisher=Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal.|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="korff-csi">{{cite journal | last=Korff | first=Kal | date=August 1997 | url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/1997/07/what-really-happened-at-roswell/ | title=What Really Happened at Roswell | journal=Skeptical Inquirer | volume=21 | issue=4 | access-date=February 5, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418144129/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/what_really_happened_at_roswell | archive-date=April 18, 2014 | url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref> On February 28, 1980, [[sensationalist]] [[Tabloid journalism|tabloid]] the ''[[National Enquirer]]'' brought large-scale attention to the Roswell story.<ref name="GqgXu">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H9ij_QAvyEEC&pg=PA233|title=Before and After Roswell: The Flying Saucer in America, 1947–1999|first=David A.|last=Clary|date=January 22, 2001|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|isbn=9781462841295|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In the 1990s, the US military published two reports disclosing the true nature of the crashed aircraft: a surveillance balloon from Project Mogul. Nevertheless, the Roswell incident continues to be of interest to the media, and conspiracy theories surrounding the event persist. Roswell has been described as "the world's most famous, most exhaustively investigated and most thoroughly debunked UFO claim".<ref>{{cite journal |title=A Roswell requiem |first=B.D. |last=Gildenberg |journal=Skeptic |volume=10 |issue=1 |year=2003 |page=60}}</ref>
<!--====Gordon Cooper====
By 1981,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H_BO36JhUSMC|title = Riddle of Hangar Eighteen|isbn = 9780787312060|last1 = Beckley|first1 = Timothy Green|date = June 1987| publisher=Health Research Books }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2021}} astronaut [[Gordon Cooper]] reported suppression of a flying saucer movie filmed in high clarity by two [[Edwards AFB]] range photographers on May 3, 1957. Cooper said he viewed developed negatives of the object, clearly showing a dish-like object with a dome on top and something like holes or ports in the dome. When later interviewed by [[James E. McDonald|James McDonald]], the photographers and another witness confirmed the story. Cooper said military authorities then picked up the film and neither he nor the photographers ever heard what happened to it. The incident was also reported in a few newspapers, such as the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. The official explanation was that the photographers had filmed a weather balloon distorted by hot desert air.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ufoevidence.org/Newsite/Files/MacDonaldSubmissionUFOSymposium.pdf|title=McDonald, 1968 Congressional testimony, Case 41|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624204634/http://www.ufoevidence.org/Newsite/Files/MacDonaldSubmissionUFOSymposium.pdf|archive-date=2006-06-24}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2021}}-->