UFO Crash Retrievals

Summary

Alien UFO Podcast – "UFO Crash Retrievals"

Host: Simon Bown
Episode: July 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Simon Bown delves into the enduring mystery of UFO crash retrievals by reading from Chapter 18 of John Kendall’s book, The Metaphysics of UFOs: Evidential Case Studies on UAPs, Paranormal Phenomena and Spiritual Experiences. The episode explores infamous tales of alleged UFO crashes, the credibility of such stories, and the broader implications for the extraterrestrial hypothesis. Bown supplements Kendall's analysis with his own insights, weighing skepticism and belief while emphasizing the need for critical evaluation in UFO research.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origins and Evolution of Crash Retrieval Stories

[03:05 – 05:30]

• UFO crash retrieval stories are as old as the UFO phenomenon itself. The 1897 Aurora, Texas incident is an early example, involving a mysterious airship crash, death of its non-human pilot, and a “burial” by townsfolk. Kendall notes this is likely a hoax, highlighting the prevalence of dubious accounts in the UFO literature.

• The phenomenon was popularized by Frank Scully’s 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers, which detailed government scientific involvement in alleged crash sites. This set the narrative pattern for later accounts, including military recovery, retrieval of bodies, secrecy, and purported reverse engineering.

  “These accounts date at least as far back as April 17, 1897 in Aurora, Texas... This story, like most crash retrievals in the literature, was likely a hoax, as the author aptly demonstrates.” — (Simon Bown reading John Kendall, 04:05)

2. Roswell and the Issue of Evidence

[05:30 – 08:15]

• Roswell, New Mexico (1947) remains the most iconic case. Col. Philip J. Corso’s book The Day After Roswell alleges military retrieval of alien craft and bodies, and claims groundbreaking technology (fiber optics, Kevlar, lasers, etc.) was reverse engineered from the wreckage.

• Kendall and Bown critique Corso’s account, citing lack of evidence for sudden technological advances matching the claims and historical inaccuracies. John B. Alexander’s criticism underscores the factual gaps and inconsistencies in Corso’s narrative.

  “The Day After Roswell was undeniably an entertaining read, but it struck me as more of a missed opportunity for a historical fiction novel rather than a book that accurately conveys historical facts.” — (Simon Bown reading John Kendall, 07:00)

  “John B. Alexander...identifying numerous problems, including major errors. Most notably, the scientific developments of the aforementioned technologies are well known and well documented, and there are no sudden, mysterious leaps that would accommodate Corso's claims...” — (Simon Bown reading John Kendall, 07:45)

3. Sober Perspectives: Kevin Randle and Evidentiary Pitfalls

[08:15 – 09:30]

• Kevin Randle, regarded as a leading Roswell scholar, offers a balanced view. He describes the case as “a confusing mass of information, misinformation, lies, distortions, inaccuracies, mistakes, and witnesses, both real and imagined.”

• Randle contends that while Roswell remains the best candidate for possible genuine crash retrieval, it lacks conclusive proof (“smoking gun”), burdened by conflicting testimonies and sensationalism.

  “The Roswell crash case has become a confusing mass of information, misinformation, lies, distortions, inaccuracies, mistakes, and witnesses both real and imagined...” — (Simon Bown reading Kevin Randle quoted by John Kendall, 08:32)

  “But in the end, this is the case that could very well be the key to solving the answer of life on other planets and the feasibility of interstellar travel. All we need to do is cut through the nonsense, the hype, the misunderstandings, and the purposeful distortions...” — (Simon Bown reading Kevin Randle quoted by John Kendall, 08:54)

4. The Weaknesses of Crash Retrieval Claims

[09:30 – 11:00]

• Most witness testimony surfaces decades after the alleged events, introducing doubts about memory accuracy and potential distortion.

• Many crash retrieval stories are “dominated by hoaxes and other cases that cannot be traced with confidence to first-hand witnesses,” undermining their reliability.

  “The weaknesses of crash retrieval cases as I see them are twofold. The testimony is often a few decades or more removed from the events... The crash retrieval literature is dominated by hoaxes and other cases that cannot be traced with confidence to first-hand witnesses or are only single witness cases.” — (Simon Bown reading John Kendall, 09:44)

5. The Logic Problem: Advanced Aliens, Frequent Crashes

[11:00 – 12:15]

• Kendall and Alexander point out a logical inconsistency: how could extraterrestrials traverse interstellar distances just to crash repeatedly on Earth?

• Alexander’s quip: “It appears that ET must have a quality control problem.”

• If alien tech was truly recovered, why hasn’t there been a visible leap in energy or defense technology, or solutions to global issues like the energy crisis?

  “Are we to believe that our extraterrestrial visitors were able to travel from regions light years away only to have a complete systems failure to after entering the Earth's atmosphere and that this occurred multiple, perhaps many times?” — (Simon Bown reading John Kendall, 11:15)

  “John Alexander sardonically comments, it appears that ET must have a quality control problem.” — (Simon Bown reading John Kendall, 11:32)

6. The Ultimate Dilemma: Military Retrieval vs. Alien Capabilities

[12:15 – 13:05]

• The plausibility of earthly militaries consistently retrieving crashed alien craft without interference from technologically superior visitors is questioned.

• Given the implied surveillance and numbers of UFOs, it seems unlikely aliens would fail to recover their own artifacts.

  “Given the vast gulf in technology that seems to exist between them and us, I find it untenable that the aliens would not have retrieved their own crashed materials, well ahead of us...” — (Simon Bown reading John Kendall, 12:50)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Persistent Hoaxes and Cultural Impact:
  “The UFO literature is littered with crash retrieval tales.” — (John Kendall, 03:25)
• On Corso's Work as Fiction:
  “It struck me as more of a missed opportunity for a historical fiction novel rather than a book that accurately conveys historical facts.” — (John Kendall, 07:00)
• On Roswell’s Enduring Appeal and Problems:
  “All we need to do is cut through the nonsense, the hype, the misunderstandings, and the purposeful distortions of so many to get to the truth.” — (Kevin Randle, read by Simon Bown, 08:54)
• On Logic in the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis:
  “It appears that ET must have a quality control problem.” — (John Alexander, via John Kendall, 11:32)

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Takeaway & Closing Thoughts

Bown, through Kendall’s writing and his own commentary, emphasizes the need for skepticism and rigorous documentation. While the lore of UFO crash retrievals fascinates both believers and skeptics, the actual evidence remains weak, often muddied by hoaxes, unreliable witnesses, and logical inconsistencies. The episode stands as a call to filter myth from fact in pursuit of understanding the UFO phenomenon.

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Further Reading

• The Metaphysics of UFOs by John Kendall
• Aspects of Alien Abduction by Simon Bown

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Note: All timestamps refer to the main narrative of the episode, excluding advertisements and non-content segments.

Transcript

[A]

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[D]

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[E]

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[F]

This is episode 143 of UFO Encounters. In this episode I'm reading from John Kendall's book the Metaphysics of UFOs Evidential Case Studies on UAPs, Paranormal Phenomena and Spiritual Experiences. When I have guests on my podcasts, I read their books to work out questions for the episodes. When reading these books, I always find such amazing information that never makes it into the podcast and here I get a chance to give you a peek into the book. I've put a link to the book in the show notes and I did seek permission to record this extract and the author can kindly said yes, I'm going to be reading from chapter 18, which is titled UFO Crash Retrievals and this is what John has written. Hopefully readers will forgive the pun when I say that the UFO literature is littered with crash retrieval tales. These accounts date at least as far back as April 17, 1897 in Aurora, Texas. There, an airship reportedly crashed into a windmill and blew up, and its otherworldly occupant, having died in the crash, was buried by the townsfolk. This story, like most crash retrievals in the literature, was likely a hoax, as the author aptly demonstrates. Hollywood columnist Frank Scully published a book in 1950, behind the Flying Saucers, a best selling volume detailing a government project he involving no less than 1,700 scientists that studied multiple UFO crashes, one of them near Aztec, New Mexico. This would set the tone for interest in UFO crashes for the next several decades. Scully's book seemed to establish a general template that was mimicked by numerous subsequent reports of crashed flying saucers. While the scores of crash retrieval stories over the ensuing decades did vary widely in terms of location and details, the common elements to many of them often included a crashed ship, usually a saucer or disk, alien bodies, usually deceased, anecdotal reports of witnesses seeing the inside of the craft before the military intervention forced them off site and the military collecting the debris or craft, plus or minus alien corpses, and hauling everything away on large flatbed trucks. The most famous reported crash retrieval is that of Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947. In the 1960s, Colonel Philip J. Corso, then a lieutenant colonel, led the Pentagon's foreign technology desk in army research and development. In his best selling book, the Day After Roswell, the very well connected Corso could confirms that a flying saucer crashed, was retrieved by army officers from the nearby 509th Bomb Group, that the deceased aliens were found among the wreckage, and that the technology discovered in the flying saucer was successfully reverse engineered over the course of the next few decades. This ultimately led to breakthroughs in various technologies, including bulletproof vests, fibre optics, integrated circuitry, lasers, night vision and particle beam devices. Corso, under the command of then Lt. Gen. Arthur Trudeau, claims to have been at the center of the reverse engineering process, having been the one who presented the relevant otherworldly materials to companies that could put them to use for technological development. More dramatically, he claims that the study and reverse engineering of alien technology proved vital for defending against the hostile extraterrestrial biological entities, as he referred to them. The Day After Roswell was undeniably an entertaining read, but it struck me as more of a missed opportunity for a historical fiction novel rather than a book that accurately conveys historical facts. John B. Alexander, who was friends with Corso, registers a devastating critique of the book, identifying numerous problems, including major errors. Most notably, the scientific developments of the aforementioned technologies are well known and well documented, and there are no sudden, mysterious leaps that would accommodate Corso's claims regarding reverse engineering. While discussing the book, Corso also reportedly admitted there were many mistakes that he had spotted too late in the process of publication and that he'd begun writing his next book to correct the errors. Alexander does note that unfortunately, the Colonel passed away from a heart attack before he could publish his response. In contrast to Colonel Corso, Kevin Randall's treatments are much more sober and believable. Perhaps the best authority on the matter of UFO crash retrievals, Randall writes, the Roswell crash case has become a confusing mass of information, misinformation, lies, distortions, inaccuracies, mistakes and witnesses, both real and imagined. It hasn't been helped by the conflicts of the investigators, the commercial success of the yearly celebration, and the addition of charlatans who see it as a way to achieve some sort of fame and maybe a quick buck. But in the end, this is the case that could very well be the key to solving the answer of life on other planets and the feasibility of interstellar travel. All we need to do is cut through the nonsense, the hype, the misunderstandings, and the purposeful distortions of so many to get to the truth. Despite the aforementioned problems, Roswell constitutes the best evidential case I'm aware of regarding the possibility of an actual UFO crash having occurred and the debris subsequently retrieved by the US military. But here the matter remains far from conclusive. After a lengthy, sober treatment, Randall admits that we still lack the proverbial smoking gun as far as the evidential value goes. The weaknesses of crash retrieval cases as I see them are twofold. The testimony is often a few decades or more removed from the events. While the Roswell crash occurred in 1947, it was not until 1978 and later that public interest in the case was ignited and serious investigations took place. Although memories of salient or consequential events are typically remembered well and often with vivid recollection even long after the fact, this significant time lapse nevertheless leave such testimony open to charges of memory distortion. 2. The crash retrieval literature is dominated by hoaxes and other cases that cannot be traced with confidence to first hand witnesses or are only single witness cases. If alien craft have crashed and were retrieved by national militaries or governments inside the US or abroad, and especially if there have truly been captured aliens dead or alive, that is a game changer. It would certainly stack the deck in favor of extraterrestrial interpretations of UFOs over and against occult or apparitional theories. However, the concept of UFO crash retrievals is a difficult one for me to square. Are we to believe that our extraterrestrial visitors were able to travel from regions light years away only to have a complete systems failure to after entering the Earth's atmosphere, and that this occurred multiple perhaps many times? John Alexander sardonically comments, it appears that ET must have a quality control problem. He notes that the subsystems of these alien technologies should already be much more advanced than our current modes of transportation. Alexander also points out that if a reverse engineering program successfully made use of the crashed UFO tech, this likely would have resulted in new revolutionary military and energy applications that would have had the potential not only to save the lives of thousands of our military men and women, but also to have virtually solved the energy crisis and any associated issues with climate change. Even more troubling for me than the concept of alien crashes having occurred in the first place is the question of how these crashes were successfully retrieved and by our nation's militaries. Presumably these craft would have been tracked by their fellow visitors. Given the vast number of UFO sightings even in the 1940s, if they represent extraterrestrial craft, they were far more than just a few in our skies. Given the vast gulf in technology that seems to exist between them and us, I find it untenable that the aliens would not have retrieved their own crashed materials. Well ahead of us in this episode, I was reading from John Kendall's book the Metaphysics of Evidential Case Studies on UAPs, Paranormal Phenomena and Spiritual Experiences, and my book Aspects of Alien Abduction is on Amazon and you can get it on paperback, Kindle, and audiobook. And if you enjoy this episode, please leave a review and be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or via your favorite podcast app to make sure that you don't miss out on any episodes. And thanks for listening.

[A]

Oregon Parks make an Oregon Summer but what makes an Oregon park? Well, Oregon Lottery Gameplay helps no matter the game Megabucks, video lottery or Keno funds from lottery games help support parks projects across the state, ensuring they stay safe, accessible, and open for all. In fact, Discover State Park Scratches are in stores now. It's the perfect way to put a little bit of Oregon's parks in your pocket. The Oregon Lottery Together we do good things. Must be 18 or older to play. Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only.

[B]

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[F]

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[B]

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[D]

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[B]

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[F]

No?

[B]

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[C]

Listen, whether or not you believe we're actually alone out there, I think we can agree on one thing. The pondering goes better with a little enhancement. That's mood. Mood.com despite what you've heard in the news, THC products like Moods are still federally legal to buy online, and they ship discreetly straight to your door. Here's the part that'll actually get you it's not just about thc. Different terpenes take you to different places. Social focus, chilled out, blissfully euphoric and mood sorts everything their gummies flower edible and pre rolls all by the vibe that you're chasing. Want to sit under the stars and connect some dots? Well, their mind Magic gummies are built for exactly that kind of creative deep dive. First timers get 20% off their whole order with code ALIEN UFO. Plus your purchase is backed by a hundred day satisfaction guarantee. So head to mood.com and use code alien UFO. The truth is out there but the good stuff that's on mood.com

[D]

I'll be honest, shopping for clothes is not my favorite thing. I just want to look good without overthinking it. Stitch Fix makes it easy. You take a quick style quiz, your size, your vibe, your budget, and a real human stylist sends a box with clothes that actually fit your life. Try it on at home. Keep what works, send back the rest. Shipping's free. No subscription required. Get $20 [e-mail] podcast

[E]

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