Soccoro, New Mexico close encounter of the third kind

From TinWiki.org

Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY 4/29/64

The Soccoro, New Mexico close encounter of the third kind is one of the most publicized cases in UFO history. At the time of the sighting, unusual objects were being reported by numerous witnesses throughout the region, as related in the Post-Standard.

1 The sighting
2 Zamora and Chavez investigate
3 The investigation continues
4 Physical evidence
5 Another sighting
6 Lonnie Zamora tires of the affair
7 External links
8 Relevant discussion threads on AboveTopSecret.com

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The sighting

The date was April 24, 1964 when Police Sgt. Lonnie Zamora was in pursuit of a vehicle on the outskirts of the small town of Socorro, New Mexico. Zamora broke off the chase when he heard a loud roar and flame in the sky coming from a nearby area in which he knew a dynamite shack was located. As he slowly drove along the narrow gravel road leading to the shack, at a distance of 800 feet he saw a shiny object, what he thought might be an overturned car in the arroyo running beside the road. He also saw what looked like two children or small adults in coveralls close to the vehicle. He noticed that one of them seemed startled and jumped when he saw Zamora’s car approaching.

Zamora’s first sight of object in arroyo. Drawing: Norman Duke

As Zamora navigated the road, his view was briefly obscured by a hill. A few moments later he rounded the hill and stopped 100 feet away from where he estimated the object to be.

"Socorro 2 to Socorro, possible 10-44 (accident), I'll be 10-6 (busy) out of the car, checking the car down in the arroyo."

As he got out of his car, Zamora heard two or three loud metallic sounding thumps. He walked toward the arroyo, he saw an aluminum white, egg-shaped object sitting atop four legs. On the side of the object was what appeared to be a red insignia.

Zamora approaches craft as it lifts off. Drawing: Norman Duke

Just then, he heard a loud roaring sound come from the object as a bluish orange flame, funnel-shaped and four times wider at the bottom than the top, shot out from underneath it. Thinking it was about to explode, he ran to the opposite side of the road. He then heard a whirring noise as the object slowly rose 10 to 15 feet. Suddenly the flame and sound both stopped, and the object silently glided away parallel to the ground, clearing the top of the 8-foot dynamite shack by three feet.
Dynamite shack overflown by craft.

Zamora watched as it moved away from him at a speed later estimated to be 120 mph, and finally disappeared from view.
Object beginning to lift off.

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Zamora and Chavez investigate

Sgt. Zamora immediately got back in his car and called the dispatcher. He then drew a picture of the craft he had just witnessed while still fresh in his memory.
Zamora’s drawing of craft.

Sgt. Sam Chavez heard him over the radio and quickly arrived at Zamora’s location, 3 minutes after the object had flown off in the distance. The two of them climbed down the embankment and found burning vegetation, four impressions in the ground, and small footprints. There were also 3 circular indentations nearby in the sandy soil, such as would be left if someone pressed the top of a jar to the ground.

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The investigation continues

L-R: Sgt. Lonnie Zamora, Agent Burns (FBI), Maj. H. Mitchell (AFMDC),
Coral Lorenzen (APRO), and Sgt. Castle of the Military Police with geiger counter.

Major Hector Quintanilla, Director of Project Blue Book, discussed in a then-classified 1966 CIA publication called Studies in Intelligence, attempts to explain the Socorro sighting, including witness descriptions, site analysis, air force balloon activity, helicopter traffic and government and private plane traffic throughout New Mexico.

“Laboratory analysis of the burning brush showed no chemicals that could have been propellant residue,” Quintanilla reported. About Sgt. Zamora, he said, "There is no doubt that Lonnie Zamora saw an object which left quite an impression on him. There is also no question about Zamora’s reliability. He is a serious police officer, a pillar of his church, and a man well versed in recognizing airborne vehicles in his area. He is puzzled by what he saw, and frankly, so are we. This is the best-documented case on record, and still we have been unable, in spite of thorough investigation, to find the vehicle or other stimulus that scared Zamora to the point of panic."

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Physical evidence

One of four depressions left in soil from craft’s landing gear.

The four depressions caused by the landing gear were estimated to have required one ton per leg. Each imprint was about 6 by 16 inches. The four imprints formed a trapezoid of approximately 12 to 15 feet. The imprints were still visible 3 ½ months after being created.

A roughly circular patch of charred vegetation, oddly cold to the touch, remained. Analysis reports of physical evidence, including the burnt vegetation and soil samples collected at the site, have never been released to the public.

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Another sighting

Two days after Zamora’s experience, Orlando Gallego and his family reported a very similar sighting in La Medera, NM. At the scene, police and researchers found burnt vegetation and 4 indentations in the soil, just as they had in Socorro.

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