The news of a UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico sent shockwaves through the nation, but what was once a headline of a newspaper on July 8, 1947 now seems to be nothing more than an urban legend.

The Roswell event started with a flying saucer in military possession to it being nothing more than a weather balloon, and a UFO expert Pope Nick told DailyMail.com that the '180 narrative flip' was effective in 'killing the story'

The Roswell event started with a flying saucer in military possession to it being nothing more than a weather balloon, and a UFO expert Pope Nick told DailyMail.com that the '180 narrative flip' was effective in 'killing the story'

Nick Pope, who ran the British Government’s UFO project from 1991 to 1994, told DailyMail.com in a phone interview: ‘The US military released a press release that we had recovered a flying disc, which they said was once of those mystifying discs spotted over the US weeks before.

’24 hours later, they completely reversed the narrative.’

If the debris at Roswell was not of this world, than this could be one of the best cover story in American history, Pope suggested.

‘I am not saying this is deliberate, but the best cover story is the one that makes you laugh, makes roll your eyes,’ he said.

‘If something becomes a joke then serious politicians, military personal, scientists and journalists don’t want to touch it or if they do, they come from a perspective that they do not really believe it.’