Thomas Carey and Donald Schmitt have been researching the Roswell crash for nearly 30 years. They joined George Knapp to discuss their new book about the relatives of Roswell witnesses. Since many of those originally involved are either deceased or were sworn to secrecy, Carey and Schmitt have been concentrating on second-hand testimony to fill in the blanks in the record and perhaps reveal new leads. To date, they estimate that they have interviewed about 600 witnesses. When asked how much testimony might be enough, Schmitt replied that "for the greatest story of the millennium, there will never be enough."

George pointed out that there were far more witnesses to the crash than are generally known. Carey stated that the military had to take care of the media, civilian witnesses, and base personnel to keep a lid on events. The weather balloon statement "killed the story in its tracks," as far as the public was concerned, he said. Anyone at the base who had any contact with the crash retrieval was threatened with prison if they talked about it, and civilians received death threats, Carey pointed out. He also revealed that the government kept after witnesses for many years, confiscating remnants of crash debris, which suggests that the material was not manmade. The researchers have continually encountered witnesses who were cooperative at first, then mysteriously changed their minds.

The guests were asked about the "Roswell slides" controversy from last year, and their explanation of what transpired after it was found that the images were determined to be a human mummy and not an alien, after both had researched and supported the case for three years. Schmitt replied that they had to place their trust in other researchers and scientists and "that they knew what they were talking about." Carey recalled that his "head was spinning" when it was discovered that the images were not anomalous. He added that they sent the slides to "many organizations" who couldn't decipher a placard in one of the images that indicated the body was a mummified body of a child. As for any imminent disclosure of the Roswell incident or an alien presence, Schmitt asked," What government official is going to step forward and say 'Yes, we did that, we covered it all up. But it was necessary.'?"

The Real Visitors

In the first hour, George welcomed longtime paranormal researcher and author Brad Steiger. Steiger's first book on UFOs was released in 1966. Soon after he began interviewing close encounter UFO witnesses, he realized that an interplanetary explanation could not explain everything, and that apparently different paranormal entities are most likely aspects of the same force or intelligence. After 50 years of searching out these mysteries, Steiger believes that "there's no dogma in paranormal research. You have to stay open." He has had his own encounters with the unknown, beginning when he was a child and saw and heard ghosts from a stagecoach stop that used to be located near the farm where he was raised. He used to think that ghosts were "psychic residue" left at a site, but changed his mind during one investigation when an apparent ghost ripped a door off the hinges and everyone in the room where he was standing were lifted into the air. Steiger said that his experiences have not always been pleasant, but they have "expanded my horizons."