My name is Jim Ragsdale, formerly of 702 North Greenwood, Roswell, N. M. and I am making the following information available to clarify any and all portions of my involvement in the UFO Incident occuring in 1947. Everything contained herein is the result of my personal observation and not from any secondary source.
At that date I was employed by an Oil Co, living in Carlsbad, N. M. and my type of word was Transit Hauling, operating all types of heavy equipment related to oil field development. Over the long july 4th weekend, I had 7 or 8 days that I did not report for work. It was on this weekend, my friend and I spent several days in the Pine Lodge area, west of Roswell.
At that time the Pine Lodge was a favorite spot for all of the area ranchers and others from all over southeast New Mexico, for they always had a dance on Saturday Nights during the summer months. I had been at Pine Lodge on many occasions during the time before 1947.
My friend and I had a pickup truck on this weekend, sleeping in the back, with covers and a tarpaulin (tarp) covering the back of the truck. It was about 11:00 PM, the weather was perfect, and we were looking up at the stars. A storm was in the west, with lightning, but far away enough we couldn't hear the thunder.
Suddenly, a tremendous flash occured, several miles to the north, with it being as bright as a flame from a welder's arc. It was huge, but far enough away we couldn't hear it immediately. Then the object started in our direction and soon we could hear the noise it was making. The only way to compare the noise it was making coming our direction, and until it hit the side of the mountain, was it was like the sound of a Jet motor now used on take offs by large jet air liners. We were frightened and didn't know if it would miss us. The object passed through the trees not more that 60 yards from our truck, and struck the mountain at a point a few yards farther from where we were in the truck.
After a little bit we took flashlights and went to the site of the impact and spent considerable time looking all around.
The craft split open on impact and had struck large boulders in the area some as large as an automobile. The craft had slid down between boulders of this size, but was easily approached. When we looked into the craft, we saw four bodies of a type we had never seen before, and all were dead. The interior of the craft had the equivalent of a dash board with various instruments and writing of some sort I have never seen before or since.
In addition to the wreckage on the inside of the craft, there was lots of material of the type reported on the site of the "Crash" near Corona. This material was on the outside and scattered all over the side of the mountain, described later as weather ballon material.
The bodies of the occupants were all about four feet or less tall, with strange looking arms, legs and fingers. They were dressed in a silver type uniform and wearing a tight helmet of some type. This is positive because I tried to remove one of the helmets, but was unable to do so. Their eyes were large, oval in shape, and did not resemble anything of a human nature.
We decided to return to our pickup until daylight so we could better see the site, however there was very little sleep until it was daylight. When we returned we filled two large gunny sacks with the material, and it was with us when we left the site.
During the early daylight hours we inspected the material used in the craft and the pieces resulting from the crash. It wasn't a rigid metal, but even though being thick was flexible up to a point. You could bend it and it would come right back to it's original shape. This was also true of the lighter material scattered all over the mountain that looked like tin foil and would go back to it's original shape when crumpled in your hand. The material of the craft itself had a sort of bronze-gray color. There were not rivites, seams or indication of how it had been constructed. [The craft was about 20' in diameter and had a dome in the middle, no windows were seen.]
It wasn't too long after we were looking at the total area, we heard what we believed was trucks and heavy equipment coming our way, so we left and were not there when what ever it was arrived.
This material was with us later in the day when we stopped at the Blue Moon Tavern, just south of Roswell, a favorite place for truckers going through the area and I showed the material to several of my friends. However, as far as I know, all of them are dead.
Unexplained to this day is the disappearance of the material. My friend had some in her vehicle when she was killed hitting a bridge and it was gone when the wreckage was brought into town. My truck and trailer was stolen from my home, again with material in the truck, never to be heard from anywhere. My home was broken into, completely ransacked, and all what was taken was the material, a gun and very little else of value.
The impact site is exact and can be described as: A sign post on the Pine Lodge Road indicates "53 Miles to Roswell". Near this sign is a road going south toward Pine Lodge (the Lodge Building was burned down several years ago) and the turn off to Arabella leads east and south. 2 or 3 miles down this road towards Arabella is the site of our pickup that night and nearby the impact site. This area the mountain indicated as "Boy Scout Mountain."
/s/ James R. Ragsdale
State of Oklahoma
County of Logan
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 15th day of April, 1995.
/s/ Kathy Weaver, Notary Public
My commission expires 12-8-98