Is there anyone out there? (International UFO Museum and Research Centre)

Member Name: machar

Product:	International UFO Museum and Research Centre
Date:	10/08/01 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: really interesting documents, puts the other side of the story over, its free!

Disadvantages: lots of reading, kids may get bored!

I'm not so sure but the people at the UFO museum and research centre in Roswell may disagree! UFOs and aliens are the only reason that people visit Roswell. Bit of a strange claim to fame for a town to have but Roswell has done rather well out of it for the last 54 years!

There can't be anyone out there who doesn't know what happened (or was supposed to have happened) near Roswell in 1947. Apparently an alien space ship crash landed and there were survivors of the ET sort. It doesn't really matter if you believe the story or not but there was definitely something out there!

The institute is situated on the main street of Roswell in a building that looks suspiciously like an old cinema. You can't possibly miss it due to the HUGE sign outside. Admission is free as it is an actual research insititute but you do have to sign in by leaving your name and address. You get a leaflet explaining the work of the institute and a lovely car window sticker with the obligatory alien on it.

The museum mainly concentrated on the infamous Roswell incident with lots of documents, newspaper reports, first hand accounts and photographs, not to mention the "official secret documents". There is a LOT of reading so children will not find it the most interesting place on earth althought there is an audio tour you can hire. You really need to read to get both side of the story and to try and understand what happened out there. As well as the Roswell incident, there are displays on other UFO encounters and the universe in general.

There was a huge display of UFO photographs sorted into fakes, explained phenomenon and those still to be explained. It was quite interesting to see how mistaken people could be in their enthusiasm to find a UFO! There was a wonderful display of crop circle photographs which were obviously done by group of very talented people down in Wiltshire, England. There were some smaller displ
ays on what to do if you ever meet a UFO or an alien. Funnily enough, running away was one of the pieces of advice.

At the end was the an amazing gift shop but not amazing for the right reasons! You name it, you could buy it complete with alien character on it. You could buy golf balls, glasses, postcards, hats, coasters, mugs etc. The stuff was a bit pricey but as it is a research institute and it doesn't charge admission, they have to make money somehow. Unfortunately it was a bit out of my price range so I stuck to postcards!

It is an interesting place to visit and you really have to go there to get the full Roswell experience. As I said there is a lot of reading so children may find it a bit boring. Give them the audio tour to keep them amused while you get on with the decision making. My final decision on it all - well something happened out there in 1947 but what it was I'm not sure!

Summary: