AZTEC - Scott Ramsey walks along a dirt road telling curious observers that he believes the road was made by military personnel attempting to extricate a UFO that crash landed in Hart Canyon. The crash, or "soft landing" as Ramsey referred it, occurred March 25,1948. Guided tours of the crash site were given to skeptics and believers as part of this year's UFO Symposium. "This is the first year we've actually had guided tours," said UFO Information Center volunteer Katee Dahlstrom. While showing onlookers a concrete slab sticking up out of the ground, Ramsey said the slab was made by the military to support one of the legs of a crane used to carry out the spacecraft. "The old timers and the eyewitnesses say this area was the staging area for when they brought the aircraft up one piece at a time," Ramsey said. Remains of the spacecraft, and the 16 charred bodies found inside, were supposedly taken to Las Alamos for research. "Some of the eyewitnesses say the spacecraft was intact but the bodies were pretty much charred on the inside," Ramsey said. Spectators like Farmington resident Brady Williams, said the site just added to the confusion about whether or not UFO crashes are real. "Well, I'm even more puzzled," Williams said after the tour. Paula Oliver, from the Jemez Mountain range, said she thinks many of the witnesses are credible and that people should be more open to the idea that aliens do exist. "To ignore it is like hiding your head in the sand," Oliver said. "There are people who get hysterical about it like they're afraid it to be true." Ramsey said during 1949 and 1950, scientist John Oppenheimer kept a house in Blanco or Bloomfield. The question to Ramsey is why would Oppenheimer leave Las Alamos, one of the best research centers in the state, to work on a project over here. This year's symposium played host to many out-of-towners, including a film crew from Japan who were working on documentary titled 'A Discovery of World Mysteries.' The film crew basically travels around the world discussing interesting topics, said the movie's production manager, Yuki Wakano. "We're doing this program about UFO's and extraterrestrials," Wakano said. "It's a pretty subjective program." In addition to filming the crash site, the crew had a chance to interview one of the witnesses to the Farmington alien armada, which occurred 50 years ago. "I think there's something," Wakano said. "I'm still neutral." In addition to guest speakers, alien junkies wandered in and out of the Aztec UFO Center Gift Shop. Mike McCluhan, who recently moved to Aztec, was admiring the paper plate model crash site his two daughters, Eden, 2, and Raven, 5, made. "Whether it's true or not, it's a good thing for the community," McCluhan said. Back at the crash site, Oliver said, "I think a lot can be told by these types of events. It's just an interesting thing. What I like about New Mexico is people are open to these things."
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