The Roswell UFO Museum gift shop is about as close as we got to the little green men whose spacecraft crashed near here in 1947. Bao isn't particularly impressed. As far as he's concerned, there are dogs, and there are other sentient beings. Cats, fleas, people, extra-terrrestrials, whatever.

And in fact, the little men weren't green. They were little, though. And there were three of them, and they were dead. And anyone who doubts this should spend a couple of hours walking through this meticulously ordered display of documents -- old newspaper stories, letters, telegrams, reports, affadavits.

This was one big cover-up. Just the fact that everybody involved so desperately insisted that nothing had happened (or that it was just a weather balloon) makes you wonder. If nothing happened, what was all the fuss about? What (or who?) was secretly flown to a Texan air force base, embalmed and buried in three, specially ordered coffins?

One of the most fascinating displays was the one that examined the plight of the abductees. You know, people who say they were abducted by aliens. Did you know that an American doctor recently presented a paper at an AMA conference detailing the methodology that should be used to surgically remove alien implants from such individuals? And that he's actually performed a few of these procedures? And that the material he found didn't come from this planet? Scary stuff, actually.

There's a research library, with books from all over the world and hundreds of videotapes, that would keep ufologists busy for months.

If you go -- and it's definitely worth the trip -- the audio-tour is great value, and it only costs a dollar. You can't even buy a cup of coffee for a dollar!

Roswell turned out to be full of surprises. More tomorrow.