Person
Sheridan Cavitt
Also known as Sheridan W. Cavitt, Capt. Sheridan Cavitt, Lt. Col. Sheridan Cavitt, Cavitt
- Counter Intelligence Corps special agent, Roswell Army Air Field (1947); Lt. Col., USAF (ret.)
Sheridan Cavitt was the Counter Intelligence Corps special agent at Roswell Army Air Field in July 1947, newly arrived from CIC school, and the man who went with Maj. Jesse Marcel and MSgt. Lewis Rickett to collect the debris on the Foster ranch. In the Roswell literature he is often cast as the officer who kept the secret.
Interviewed by Col. Richard Weaver in May 1994, with a written waiver from the Secretary of the Air Force releasing him from any security oath, he gave a sworn statement and a taped interview: the debris was a small amount of foil-like material and sticks that he took at the time, and still took, for a weather balloon, the same material as in the Fort Worth photographs. He is the only first-hand witness to the recovery who was still alive when the Air Force investigated.
Sources: The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (U.S. Air Force, 1995), attachments 17–18
Facts and claims
- claimed In a sworn statement of 24 May 1994 for the Air Force, Cavitt says he went to the ranch with MSgt. Lewis Rickett and “Major Jesse Marcel, Intelligence Officer the 509th Bomb Group”, and found “bamboo type square sticks” and “some sort of metallic reflecting material that was also very light” over an area “about 20 feet square”, with “no gouge or crater or other obvious sign of impact”; “I remember recognizing this material as being consistent with a weather balloon.” — Sheridan Cavitt Source: The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (U.S. Air Force, 1995)
- claimed He says the material in the Fort Worth photographs of Marcel and Ramey “appears to be the same type of material that we picked up”, that he made no report because a weather balloon “did not merit a written report”, and that he never took an oath or was threatened. Of Marcel and Rickett: “I considered them to be good men, however both did tend to exaggerate things on occasion.” His conclusion: “My bottom line is that this whole incident was no big deal and it certainly did not involve anything extraterrestrial.” — Sheridan Cavitt Source: The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (U.S. Air Force, 1995)
Connected files
Claims
- A craft of non-human origin crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, and the military recovered it (disputes claim)
Incidents
- Roswell crash (witness) — He went to the ranch with Maj. Jesse Marcel and MSgt. Lewis Rickett to recover the debris in July 1947
People
- Jesse Marcel (investigated with) — Marcel checked out the jeep; Cavitt thought the request to come along came from Marcel
Documents
- The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert (U.S. Air Force, 1995) (quoted in) — His sworn statement and interview of 24 May 1994 are attachments 17 and 18 of the report
Videos
- Maj. Jesse Marcel interviewed by Lee Speigel on the Roswell debris (audio, about 1980) (discussed in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Roswell, Part 1 (discussed in)