Rumors surrounding the Roswell incident include stories about EBE, the Extraterrestrial Biological Entity, who survived the crash and lived to chat, in a manner of speaking, with the government. These rumors also state that the movie ET was based on this situation, as a small boy, a son of one of the government officials involved, struck up a telepathic relationship with the EBE. Any of this true? Some. EBE was returned to his group, alive, after contact was established over the next few years. Rumors that EBE died were spread so any press to see and talk to him would be eliminated.
EBE, as he was called, was one of seven aliens on board the two craft that crashed at Roswell. One craft was utterly demolished, as it was set to explode close to the ground and did so as planned. The second craft held four aliens, and crashed as planned without becoming utterly demolished. It was expected that the impact would kill all four, who expected to die, but one lived on with injuries. This was a shock to this alien, who was unprepared for the intense interest in his digestive, breathing, and medical needs. He found himself both held at arms length and closely examined by the very nervous humans who recovered him. An officer, called suddenly to the site where EBE was being housed, had his young son in tow, and left him in the car while he conferred inside. When he returned he found that his young son had much to tell him, having been in telepathic communication with EBE. Without having the two ever meet, and without confirming to the young boy that his conversational pal was real, the government subsequently had the two in close proximity and questioned the boy endlessly. To this day he cannot prove that this occurred, other than that questions were put to him.
The impact of Roswell on human culture, and on the government in particular, was that they knew for sure that aliens, intelligent beings from other worlds, existed. The legacy of EBE himself was essentially the quaint story of ET, where aliens are viewed as shy and non-threatening, more vulnerable than humans, and with charming eccentricities. That they bond well with young children is considered by most to be a de facto proof of their acceptability, in line with the adage that a person can be trusted if the dog and the kids take a shine to him. EBE was followed, however, by contacts with the government by a very different sort of alien, those in the Service-to-Self, and this set the stage for the next phase of the government's relationship with aliens.