Claim

The U.S. has recovered the bodies of non-human beings from crashed craft

Also known as non-human biologics claim, alien bodies claim

Disputed. AARO's 2024 report says that under the KONA BLUE proposal “no extraterrestrial craft or bodies were ever collected”, and the Air Force attributes the Roswell “alien bodies” to test dummies and accidents; those making the claim say the remains are held in programs AARO did not reach. (AARO Historical Record Report, Volume 1)

The claim that crash retrievals recovered not only craft but their occupants: “biologics”, in David Grusch's word under oath. It runs from an FBI memo of 1950 relaying a third-hand story, through researchers' anonymous sources, to former officials testifying before Congress. None of those making it has produced a body or a record of one.

Evidence against

Related claims

Who has said it, in order

  1. 22 March 1950 — says so, relayed: Records that “three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico… circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three bodies of human shape but only 3 feet tall, dressed in metallic cloth of a very fine texture.” Source: doc-hottel-memo-1950.pdf
  2. 1978 Leonard Stringfield — says so, relayed: Beginning with his 1978 MUFON paper “Retrievals of the Third Kind”, Stringfield published accounts from informants, mostly identified only by initials, who said the military had recovered crashed craft and alien bodies and taken them to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Source: openlibrary.org (archived)
  3. 14 October 1988 — says so, relayed: Researcher Bill Moore says witnesses described the Roswell bodies as “small humanoid bodies” with large hairless heads. Source: UFO Cover-Up?: Live! (1988 television special) at 43:44
  4. 1991 Kevin Randle — says so, relayed: Randle and Schmitt argue that an extraterrestrial craft crashed near Roswell in July 1947 and that the military recovered debris and bodies. Source: openlibrary.org (archived)
  5. 1997 — disputes it, documented: It attributes claims of "alien bodies" at the Roswell Army Air Field hospital most likely to a combination of a 1956 KC-97 aircraft accident in which 11 Air Force members died and a 1959 manned balloon mishap in which two Air Force pilots were injured. Source: doc-af-roswell-case-closed-1997.pdf
  6. 22 February 1998 Philip J. Corso — says so, first-hand: Corso: as post duty officer at Fort Riley, Kansas, after the war, a sergeant showed him six crates in the veterinary building; under a tarpaulin “I saw a body in there”, with an oversized head, long arms, four fingers and a skin-tight suit, floating in liquid. The drivers said it was an extraterrestrial, “on their way to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and they come from New Mexico”. Source: Col. Philip J. Corso: The Day After Roswell lecture “at the Ranch” (22 February 1998) at 4:28
  7. 9 May 2001 Clifford Stone — says so, first-hand: Claimed he took part in recoveries of crashed craft and debris, some involving bodies and some live occupants, while the public was told there was nothing to it. Source: Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event at 1:10:39
  8. 2007 Donald Schmitt — says so, relayed: Carey and Schmitt present Walter Haut’s posthumous affidavit, in which the 1947 Roswell press officer says he saw the craft and bodies. Source: openlibrary.org (archived)
  9. 2011 Clifford Stone — says so, first-hand: Stone's account of his Army career and his claim to have taken part in recoveries of crashed craft and their occupants. Source: openlibrary.org (archived)
  10. 2013 Donald Schmitt — says so, relayed: Carey and Schmitt argue that the Roswell debris and bodies were taken to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, citing eyewitness accounts. Source: redwheelweiser.com (archived)
  11. 29 April 2013 Kevin Randle — context, opinion: Asked at the Citizen Hearing for any record of bodies from 1947, Randle conceded there was no documentation from that time, only people who spoke of it later. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 1 at 1:33:46
  12. 29 April 2013 Grant Cameron — says so, relayed: Cameron says Wilbert Smith's son testified that his father told him shortly before his death that “he did see a flying saucer and the bodies outside of Washington DC”. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Documents & Proof at 58:47
  13. 29 April 2013 Grant Cameron — says so, relayed: Cameron says a later letter from Sarbacher confirmed “that the americans did have bodies and they did have a craft”, as he had heard from scientists returning from Wright-Patterson meetings. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: A Global Phenomenon, Part 1 at 31:55
  14. 29 April 2013 Roberto Pinotti — says so, relayed: Pinotti says that in 1971–72, when he was an army officer, an American NATO officer told him: “in the usa we have the crushed objects and even the corpses of the pilot”. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: A Global Phenomenon, Part 1 at 1:19:01
  15. 29 April 2013 Richard French — says so: French says material from the Roswell recovery went to the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson, metal no thicker than cellophane that sprang back when crushed, and that there were “eight or nine corpses”. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: History & Background, Part 2 at 1:15:05
  16. 29 April 2013 Jesse Marcel Jr. — context, relayed: Asked whether his father saw bodies, Marcel Jr. answers: “no he did not see the body”. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 1 at 1:24:21
  17. 29 April 2013 — context, opinion: Pressed for any 1947 record of bodies, Randle concedes: “we have no documentation from that time frame”, only people who spoke about it later. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 1 at 1:33:46
  18. 29 April 2013 Richard French — says so, relayed: French says he was asked to review items from the crash site, where “an unknown number of humanoids either killed or injured” were found; the craft's parts had markings like “Arabic”, and parts and casualties went to Wright-Patterson's Foreign Technology Division. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 2 at 3:07
  19. 29 April 2013 Richard French — context, relayed: Questioned closely, French clarifies that he did not see the beings: “No, I didn't see them. I said that I was told about them.” Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 2 at 8:35
  20. 29 April 2013 Donald Schmitt — says so, relayed: Donald Schmitt relays rancher Mac Brazel's reply to a suggestion of monkeys in rockets: “They weren't any monkeys. They weren't human.” His granddaughter heard him speak of “the poor unfortunate creatures”. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 2 at 16:16
  21. 29 April 2013 Daniel Sheehan — says so, relayed: Sheehan says material he learned of while representing John Mack described beings recovered at Roswell, including “a living being” that “they brought to Wright-Patterson”. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Truth, Lies & the Cover-up, Part 1 at 21:20
  22. 29 April 2013 Linda Moulton Howe — says so, relayed: Howe relays an unnamed military man who told her his unit's job was to “extract technology the craft and the bodies” from crash and landing sites, and that in 1978 in northern Arizona his superior had him meet “one of the ebens”, an encounter he described as a telepathic download that made him faint. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Truth, Lies & the Cover-up, Part 2 at 12:36
  23. 19 April 2023 Sean Kirkpatrick — disputes it, documented: Kirkpatrick: “AARO has found no credible evidence thus far of extraterrestrial activity, off world technology, or objects that defy the known laws of physics.” Source: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Public Hearing - In Full - April 19, 2023 at 14:17
  24. 26 July 2023 David Grusch — says so, relayed: Asked under oath whether the government has the bodies of the pilots of crashed craft, he said “biologics came with some of these recoveries”, and that they were “Nonhuman, and that was the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the program I talked to”. Asked separately by Rep. Burlison whether he had seen the bodies himself: “That is something I have not witnessed myself.” Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 1:49:13
  25. 26 July 2023 David Grusch (as reported by Eric Burlison) — context: At the July 2023 hearing he asked David Grusch whether he had seen the bodies; Grusch answered: “That is something I have not witnessed myself.” In November 2024 he asked Luis Elizondo whether the United States possesses bodies; Elizondo answered “Yes”. Source: Hearing transcript: UAP — Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency (House Oversight, July 26, 2023)
  26. 26 July 2023 David Grusch — context, first-hand: Grusch tells Burlison that colleagues were physically injured both by UAP and by people within the government; asked if he has seen the bodies: “That is something I have not witnessed myself.” Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 1:35:30
  27. 26 July 2023 David Grusch — says so, relayed: Asked whether the U.S. has the bodies of the pilots, Grusch: “biologics came with some of these recoveries”, and they were nonhuman — “the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the program I talked to that are currently still on the program.” Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 1:49:13
  28. 8 March 2024 All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office — disputes it, documented: AARO's 2024 report says the KONA BLUE proposal for DHS “was never approved or stood up” and that “no extraterrestrial craft or bodies were ever collected”. Source: AARO Historical Record Report, Volume 1
  29. 27 June 2024 David Grusch — says so, relayed: Asked whether remains exist, Grusch: “oh yes”, of varying kinds; no source told him their origin, and accounts of live interactions were second-hand water-cooler talk he won't repeat. Source: Joe Rogan Experience #2065 - David Grusch at 1:28:56
  30. 20 August 2024 Luis Elizondo — says so, relayed: On Roswell, Elizondo writes that “Our primitive EMP (electromagnetic pulse) device must have somehow disrupted their propulsion bubble, rendering them vulnerable”, and that “Four deceased nonhuman bodies were in fact recovered from the 1947 Roswell crash.” (as quoted by BroBible, 2026) Source: brobible.com (archived)
  31. 13 November 2024 Luis Elizondo — says so: Asked by Rep. Burlison whether the U.S. possesses bodies, Elizondo: “Yes. Yes, sir”, adding it was discussed at the Pentagon but the collection predates his birth. Source: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth at 2:00:44
  32. 19 November 2024 Jon T. Kosloski — disputes it, documented: Kosloski: “to date AARO has not discovered any verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity or technology.” Source: Oversight Hearing on AARO and UAPs/UFOs Nov 19th 2024 (UnEdited) at 7:38
  33. 21 March 2025 Hal Puthoff — says so, relayed: He says reports from people in the government programs indicate non-human beings associated with some of the craft, humanoid but significantly different, and that among those deeply involved “the fact of it is is is taken for granted”. Source: The Sol Forum #1: Hal Puthoff, Jacques Vallée and Larry Lemke at 45:49
  34. 21 March 2025 Hal Puthoff — says so, relayed: Puthoff: reports from people in the government programs indicate “non-human intelligence uh beings associated with some of these craft”, humanoid but different; among those deeply involved, “the fact of it is is is taken for granted”. Source: The Sol Forum #1: Hal Puthoff, Jacques Vallée and Larry Lemke at 45:49
  35. 1 May 2025 Eric Davis — says so, relayed: Davis: the grays he knows of came from the crash near Corona, New Mexico — “misnamed” Roswell. Source: Understanding UAP: Science, National Security & Innovation (House Oversight and Government Reform) at 1:30:23
  36. 20 January 2026 Kirk McConnell — says so, relayed: McConnell: as extraordinary as the Varginha witnesses' claims sound, “similar reports” of crash retrievals and the recovery of non-human beings have reached senators and staff in their investigation. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 31:15
  37. 20 January 2026 Ítalo Venturelli — says so, first-hand: Venturelli: behind a makeshift partition lay a being like a seven-year-old child, calm and breathing well; “Its eyes were lilac and teardropshaped”, the skin white, the arms very thin, three fingers and an opposing thumb. Source: Varginha press conference at the National Press Club: James Fox and the Brazilian witnesses (NewsNation live, 20 January 2026) at 1:58:50
  38. 9 June 2026 Leslie Kean — says so, relayed: Leslie Kean said at the June 2026 press conference that McConnell “was present in classified settings when highly credible sources briefed senators including Marco Rubio about recovered non-human bodies”. Source: FULL PRESSER: David Grusch & Lawmakers Call for UAP Records Declassification on Capitol Hill (9 June 2026) at 16:07
  39. 13 August 2026 David Grusch — says so, relayed: On his evidence: people from the retrieval program would “exfiltrate audiovisual evidence for me to see both video and photos … of the retrieved craft, some of the dead cadavers that were recovered”; he was not hands-on and brought those witnesses to the Inspector General. Source: David Grusch on the Dr. Phil Podcast: craft, cadavers and the retrieval program (August 2026) at 25:20
  40. 13 August 2026 David Grusch — says so, relayed: Asked whether occupants were taken alive: “Yes. And I know people who have had direct interactions in a detainment situation”, citing a former cabinet member who worked the issue. Source: David Grusch on the Dr. Phil Podcast: craft, cadavers and the retrieval program (August 2026) at 37:56
  41. 26 October 2026 Eric Burlison — context, relayed: Burlison said David Grusch, who had been on his team for 18 months, “left our office in September because he had other opportunities”, and that his office is “continuing to follow the trail and try to get the actual receipts on some of the claims that he has made”: the footage Grusch has described of a crash and of beings “what are called like the Nordics”, and an alleged shootout at a military base, which Burlison says he heard about from Grusch “but also have heard from other individuals as well.” Of the footage: “We're still on the trail of getting access to that footage.” Source: theedgeofus.com (archived)
  42. Leonard Stringfield — says so, relayed: In his 1978 MUFON paper “Retrievals of the Third Kind” he wrote that, “According to my sources, these immobilized craft and deceased occupants, described as humanoid, have been placed in custody at certain military installations where they were studied under the highest security measures.” He followed it with seven self-published Status Reports, the last in 1994. Source: archive.org

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