Roswell Daily Record

Roswell, N.M. (April 17, 1997) - Stanton Friedman couldn't find any survivors of the Roswell Incident, so he's looking for the next best thing - witnesses.

Friedman, who has written two books about the crash and given more than 600 lectures worldwide, is in Roswell this week with the science editor of a German magazine doing research.

He said the editor contacted him to make introductions to key people because Friedman has been researching the crash for almost 40 years. He referred to himself as the original civilian investigator of the alleged 1947 UFO crash near Roswell.

A nuclear physicist and consultant who lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, he first became interested when ordering books. He needed one more book in order to not pay the shipping charge and ordered Capt. Edward Ruppelt's "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects."

"It didn't fully convince me, but it certainly intrigued me," he said Wednesday.

Friedman went on to read more books, attend UFO meetings and read reports, but it was the Air Force data that fully convinced him.

"I believe the U.S. military recovered the wreckage of two crashed saucers here in New Mexico in 1947," he said, adding he thinks another UFO crashed in western New Mexico around the same time.

Friedman said he thinks the timing of the crash makes sense. He said, assuming every civilization is concerned about survival and security, another civilization would want to keep track of others.

After World War II, there were indications people on Earth would be going into space soon because of development of nuclear weapons, rockets and radar.

He said that in 1947, New Mexico was the only place on the planet which had all three.

"I think they were checking us out," Friedman said, adding he thinks the war concerned the aliens. "Every new frontier for mankind is a new place to do battle."

His two books, "Top Secret/Majik" and "Crash at Corona," which he co-authored with Don Berliner, describe what he believes to be a government cover up of the crash.

He said he can't blame the government for covering it up if there was a crash; it probably would have created mass hysteria in 1947.

There are many reasons for continuing to cover it up if there was a crash, he said, such as wanting to be the first to figure out how the UFO works, fear someone else would figure it out first, political reasons, religious repercussions and economic chaos from the new technology.

"We have to realize that we're not the big shots in the neighborhood," he said.

Friedman wants anyone with information on the crash to contact him at the Roswell Inn, 623-4920. He will be in Roswell until Saturday.