Person · 1922 – 2005
Walter Haut
Also known as Walter G. Haut, Lt. Walter Haut, Haut
- First Lieutenant, public information officer of the 509th Bomb Group, Roswell Army Air Field (1947)
Walter Haut (1922–2005) was the public information officer of the 509th Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field in July 1947, and the officer who issued the base's announcement of 8 July that it had recovered a "flying disc", retracted the same day as a weather balloon. In the Second World War he flew 35 missions against Japan as a bombardier. In 1991 he co-founded the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell.
For decades he said he had only issued the release on the base commander's orders; asked on camera in 1990 whether he saw any of the wreckage, he answered "None whatsoever", while saying he believed it was a craft from outer space. A sealed affidavit dated December 2002, published after his death in Witness to Roswell (2007), goes much further: a craft "more of an egg shape" in a guarded hangar and two small bodies under a tarpaulin. The document was drafted for him by the ufologist Donald Schmitt, which critics note, and his earlier affidavit of 1993 says nothing of this. In October 2026 a redacted copy surfaced in the Pentagon's PURSUE release 07, as an appendix to a 2008 plan by BAASS, the contractor of the DIA's AAWSAP program; the release makes no finding on it.
Sources: DOW-UAP-D168 (PURSUE release 07), pp. 45–46 · Roswell reunion interview, July 1990 (National Archives) · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- claimed In his sealed affidavit dated December 26, 2002, released by the Department of War as Appendix 2 of the BAASS Project Management Plan (name redacted), the Roswell base Public Information Officer says that on 8 July 1947 he was taken to Building 84, where he saw an object “approx. 12 to 15 feet in length, not quite as wide, about 6 feet high, and more of an egg shape”, and “a couple of bodies under a canvas tarpaulin”, whose heads “did appear larger than normal”; he concludes that “what I personally observed was some type of craft and its crew from outer space”. — Walter Haut Source: DOW-UAP-D168 — BAASS Project Management Plan, December 2008
- claimed The same affidavit says that at the staff meeting of 8 July 1947 wreckage was passed around the table, “unlike any material I had or have ever seen in my life”, and that the plan to announce the debris field was meant to divert attention “from the more important site north of town”. — Walter Haut Source: DOW-UAP-D168 — BAASS Project Management Plan, December 2008
- claimed Interviewed on camera at the 509th reunion in Roswell in July 1990 and asked “Did you see any of this wreckage or any of the material?”, Haut answered “None whatsoever.” He said Colonel Blanchard told him by phone that he had “a flying saucer, or parts thereof”, and that at the next staff meeting Blanchard said “we sure messed up on that one last week”. — Walter Haut Source: Roswell reunion interviews, July 1990: Walter Haut, Robert Shirkey and Sheriff Wilcox's daughters (National Archives, “Roswell Reunion: Number 1”) at 1:13:08
- unverified The 2002 document was composed by the ufologist Donald Schmitt and signed by Haut, then 80, at the International UFO Museum, on the understanding that it would stay sealed until his death; Schmitt later said Haut did not write it himself. An earlier affidavit Haut signed in 1993 mentions no bodies or second crash site. Source: en.wikipedia.org (archived)
Connected files
Claims
- The U.S. has recovered the bodies of non-human beings from crashed craft (asserts)
- A craft of non-human origin crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, and the military recovered it (asserts)
Incidents
- Roswell crash (witness) — As base public information officer he put out the 8 July 1947 “flying disc” release; his sealed 2002 affidavit adds a craft and bodies
Books
- Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60-Year Cover-Up (quoted in) — The book first published his sealed affidavit of 2002, in 2007
Official records (PURSUE)
- DOW-UAP-D168 — BAASS Project Management Plan, December 2008 (quoted in) — His 2002 affidavit, name redacted, is Appendix 2 of BAASS's 2008 plan for the DIA, released in PURSUE release 07