William “Mac” Brazel planned to spend the summer working at the Foster Ranch, a remote area 70 miles northwest Roswell, New Mexico. He had no idea that his strange find one fine mid-June day would launch one of the largest controversies in the nation. All he knew, as he related later, was that while making his rounds he happened upon some unexplained objects on the field scattered over a 200 yard radius.

On this day, June 14, Brazel launched what would become the single-word synonym for alien visitors, government-cover ups, and conspiracy theories of all stripes.

Whatever Brazel thought of his find, he did not share with others until several weeks later, when he contacted Roswell police, saying he may have had a flying saucer crashed on his field. Roswell’s sheriff quickly got in touch with Roswell Army Air Field, which drove out to the Foster Ranch to investigate. The next day, RAAF put out a press release stating “Roswell Army Air Field was fortunate enough to gain possession” of one of the several disks spotted lately over the western United States “through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the Sheriff’s office of Chaves county.” The story got picked up by the local Roswell paper and went national from there.