Paranormal Activities - Fort Worth Army Airfield

June 14, 1947 - William Ware "Mac" Brazel notices some strange and unidentifiable debris at Foster homestead some 30 miles North of Roswell, New Mexico.

July 7, 1947 - Major Jesse Marcel, stationed at Roswell Army Airfield, and a "man in plainclothes" recover the so-called "Roswell debris."

July 8, 1947 - The "object" from Roswell is flown to Fort Worth Army Airfield according to the orders of General Roger M. Ramey of the Eighth Air Force and inspected by Warrant Officer Irving Newton.

March 11, 2011 - Justin Tiemeyer, accompanied by girlfriend Amy Bolan and friends Adam Friedli, Josh Toulouse, Adam Knorr and Corinne Shady see an opening night showing of Battle: Los Angeles at Rave Motion Picture Company at Ridgmar Mall in Fort Worth, Texas.

Last year at this time, I was spending my spring break investigating America's great UFO mystery in Roswell, New Mexico and the surrounding areas. This year I found myself stuck in Fort Worth for my last spring break prior to the completion of my master's degree. While it might seem boring to be stranded during spring break on the campus where you go to school and without a car, I found that instead I was right in the middle of the setting of chapter two of the Roswell story. It just so happens that the UFO debris from Roswell stopped at Fort Worth Army Air Field (Carswell Air Force Base) before being sent to storage at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Last year I was still unfamiliar with Fort Worth. By March of 2010 I had only been in Fort Worth for seven or so months. I knew that Carswell Air Force Base was supposed to be only ten or fifteen minutes from my apartment, but I had never been driven by it and had never heard anyone talk about it. Recently, I came to understand that the air field had been shut down and that Ridgmar Mall had been constructed on the Southern end of the former Air Force base.

Within a week, alien films Battle: Los Angeles and Paul were released in theaters, and the movie theater where I prefer to see my alien movies is on the grounds that hosted the Roswell object for some short period of time. Seeing an alien movie, however bad, where once stood the best known alien artifact in human history - now that's what I call a paranormal activity. Battle: Los Angeles was nothing like I had hoped it would be, but amidst the tragedy of an unsatisfying fictional alien narrative I found myself a part of America's great nonfictional alien narrative for the second consecutive spring break.

Cavemengo Anecdotes - Tom Mitsos

Blog post: Copycat McDonalds Shamrock Shake
March 25, 2010

I remember the adventure that Justin endured trying to find a Shamrock Shake outside of Michigan. When Justin, Adam and I went to Roswell, Justin was determined to find at least one McDonalds that carried Shamrock Shakes.

I was confident there had to be at least one McDonalds that carried Shamrock Shakes. Why would they deny people of the Southwest this delicious treat? I’m not sure if Justin was as confident as I was, but I think my confidence gave him the drive to complete the task at hand.

During our 9-hour drive from Fort Worth, Texas to Roswell, New Mexico, Justin called numerous McDonalds asking if they had Shamrock Shakes. Every one of them denied him, and the dream seemed to be slipping further and further away. However, I could tell Justin was passionate about this endeavor, and he was not going to give up very easily.

Once we arrived in Roswell, Justin called a few more McDonalds in the area. He was denied a few more times, but one call led to a beacon of hope. There was one McDonalds that claimed to have them. I don’t exactly remember where it was, but it wasn’t very far from our hotel in Roswell so we decided to venture there. Justin and the rest of the crew (I think Stephan was present for this trip) were so elated at finally fulfilling Justin’s dream and crossing off yet another item on the bucket list.

Alas, when we arrived at the store, there were no Shamrock Shakes. I later recall Justin saying he thought the clerk he talked to thought Justin asked if they had “shakes” instead of “Shamrock Shakes.” One unheard word was the difference between glory, and failure.

I believe this was the last McDonalds that we tried. Justin had no choice but to accept defeat. It was a bitter defeat. Every March, I look forward to those delicious Shamrock Shakes. I think Justin has missed them the most living in Texas during the past few years. It’s almost as if he were trying to reclaim a bit of his youth with the Shamrock Shakes. Trying to remember a simpler time when there were no worries about the future, and a Shamrock Shake meant that spring was right around the corner.

I think Adam found a copycat Shamrock Shake for Justin and we were going to try it while we were in Roswell if we couldn't find the real deal. We never got around to it, and I don’t know if Justin has tried to make it since. However, I can guarantee that a copycat is not nearly as good as the legend that is the Shamrock Shake.

Postcard 2010: Dating

During Spring Break 2010, I found myself in Roswell, New Mexico, in a hotel with three friends, Stephan, Adam and Tom. Stephan was at the time and remains in a happy relationship, but he was the only one. In fact, the rest of us were all reeling from recent break-ups. If we were honest with ourselves we were searching desperately for something new but we were each hamstringed by some sort of emotional unreadiness. This trip was all about being honest with ourselves.

I can say without exaggeration that during the first half of 2010 much of my consciousness was devoted to readying myself for love. At the end of the winter semester I traveled to New York City and used the metropolis as my laboratory. I grew a culture of confidence and charm there, powering up like Superman aside Earth's yellow sun. Upon returning to Grand Rapids, I released these energies upon an unsuspecting woman named Amy.

Amy is my current girlfriend, and I've ret-conned her into the position of love-of-my-life 1982 to current. After an exciting and passionate summer together and a difficult autumn apart, we rang in the New Year in one another's arms. I don't expect I'll ever need to find a new love. I may be foolish to suggest this after only eight months, but I prefer to see it as bold or courageous, heroic even, but most of all accurate.

Travel Shots: Roswell, NM