Hangar 18 And Its Link To The Roswell UFO Crash

For decades, conspiracy theorists have pointed to a building known as "Hangar 18" at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio as the possible hiding place of recovered alien spacecraft and even extraterrestrial bodies. But how did this story begin? Let's go back to where it all started.

In July 1947, the US Army Air Forces issued a press release from Roswell Army Air Field claiming they had recovered a "flying disc" that had crashed on a nearby ranch in New Mexico. Almost immediately, this story was retracted. The Air Force released photos of the debris, now saying it was just a weather balloon made up of foil, sticks, and rubber. The swift change of story sparked confusion and eventually gave rise to widespread rumours and suspicions.

One of the key claims that emerged after the fact was that the debris had been secretly transported from Roswell to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. More specifically, they were said to have been stored in a facility known as Hangar 18.

There's no official record of any such transfer happening. In fact, the name "Hangar 18" doesn't appear in any documents from 1947. However, this alleged hangar would go on to become central to one of the most talked-about UFO conspiracy theories in UFO lore.

A handful of anecdotal claims have surfaced over the years from people who say they were told that something strange had indeed gone to Wright-Patterson.

One such claim involves Oliver Henderson, a military pilot who reportedly told family members he had flown alien material to the base. Another often-cited name is World War II fighter ace Marion "Black Mac" Magruder. His children claimed that he told them he'd seen a living alien at the base in 1947.

It's important to point out here that back in 1947, at the time of the Roswell crash, no mention was made of alien bodies or anything extraterrestrial beyond the initial "flying disc" phrasing. The claims that alien bodies were involved didn't appear until decades later. To this day, there's no evidence that alien bodies were recovered at Roswell.

And of course, it later turned out that even the crash wreckage wasn't extraterrestrial in nature. A 1994 report admitted that the wreckage likely came from a top-secret Cold War surveillance operation called Project Mogul. This involved high-altitude balloons designed to detect Soviet nuclear tests.

A follow-up report in 1997 tackled the alien body claims directly. It suggested that stories of "dead aliens" were actually misunderstandings based on sightings of high-altitude test dummies used in parachute experiments. These experiments took place in the 1950s, not in 1947, but over time the details may have blurred in people's memories.

Between 1952 and 1969, Wright-Patterson became the headquarters of Project Blue Book, the US Air Force's legendary programme to investigate reports of UFOs. The fact the base was home to such a project added to its reputation in the eyes of believers.

Stirring things up further was science fiction writer Robert Spencer Carr, who in 1974 claimed that two alien spacecraft were being stored in Hangar 18, along with the bodies of their occupants. Although his claims were unverified, they were picked up by the press and further shaped what people thought they knew about Hangar 18. The myth was later cemented in popular culture by the 1980 film 'Hangar 18'.

In an attempt to put the rumours to rest, the US Air Force released an official statement in 1985 saying, "There are not now, nor have there ever been, any extraterrestrial visitors or equipment on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base."

Despite decades of speculation, there's still no verified evidence that a facility called Hangar 18 ever housed alien technology or beings. While it's a compelling story, most of what people associate with Hangar 18 is based on claims that emerged well after the events of 1947 and are based on hearsay rather than actual records or any kind of proof.