Roswell

In July 1947 a rancher found debris on a field north-west of town; the local army airfield issued a press release saying a flying disc had been recovered, then retracted it within hours calling it a weather balloon. The story lay quiet for thirty years before books in the late 1970s revived it. In 1994 and 1997 the air force published reports identifying the debris as Project Mogul, a classified balloon programme listening for Soviet nuclear tests, and the reported bodies as anthropomorphic crash-test dummies from later parachute trials - explanations many people do not accept. The town leans in entirely: alien streetlights, an annual July festival, and a museum that presents the competing accounts rather than one.

The main sights

• A museum of the 1947 incident - presenting the competing accounts.
• Alien-themed streetlights and shopfronts - the town's committed approach.
• A July festival - on the anniversary.
• The Mogul explanation - published by the air force in 1994 and 1997.

When to go

October to May for the weather; July for the festival. Half a day.

What to expect

The official explanation is a classified balloon programme, and the museum says so alongside the alternatives. The town is otherwise an ordinary ranching centre. Summer is very hot. The crash site itself is on private land and not accessible.

Nearby

Bottomless Lakes State Park is east; Carlsbad Caverns is south.