The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

## Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0

realized that it could not be a blimp - they are only about 200 feet long. And this thing was gigantic. It was about 800 feet long. I could estimate that because it was so close to the mountain ridge where trees and clumps of trees were visible for comparison.

While we were watching the cigar-shaped thing, for four or five minutes as it paced the train, we noticed that another object had joined it. This second object appeared very suddenly in back of the first one. It was a disc-shaped thing. Both of them were very shiny, we noticed. . If my estimate of size on the cigar-shaped thing was correct then the disc-shaped object would have been about 100 feet in diameter, flat on the bottom with a shallow dome on top.

My wife and I watched them for another two or three minutes. They were moving at about the same speed as the train and they were very close to the top of the ridge, not more than 500 feet above it, I should say. Then they began to rise, slowly at first and then much faster. In a matter of seconds they had risen so high that we couldn't see them any more from the train window.

All over the world credible witnesses are reporting experiences similar to mine. Holding these people up to ridicule does not alter the existing facts. The time is long overdue for accepting the presence of these things, whatever they are and dealing with them and the public on a basis of realism."

# NEW MEXICO COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND MECHANIC ARTS

ADJACENT TO AND COOPERATING WITH WHITE SANDS PROVING GROUND

10 September 1957

Mr. Richard Hall SATELLITE 721 Burdette Street New Orleans 18, La.

Dear Mr. Hall:

Regarding the solidity of the phenomenon I saw: My wife thought she saw a faint connecting glow across the structure. The illuminated rectangles I saw did maintain an exact fixed position with respect to each other, which would tend to support the impression of solidity. I doubt that the phenomenon was any terrestrial reflection, because some similarity to it should have appeared many times. I do a great deal of observing (both telescopic and unaided eye) in the backyard and nothing of the kind has ever appeared before or since.

As I have said before, I was so unprepared for such a strange sight that I was really petrified with astonishment. Consequently, some of the details I might have noted were missed.

Sincerely yours,

CWT:ds

Clyde W. Tombrough

CLYDE W. TOMBAUGH Astronomer

## Antarctic Sighting

March 16, 1961; Antarctica. A Brazilian Meteorologist, recently employed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, D. C., observed a strange phenomenon while aboard an ice-breaker in Admiralty Bay, Antarctica on a scientific expedition. He noted the observation in his diary, and later filled out a NICAP report form. Though in some respects the phenomenon resembles a meteor, in other respects it does not. At

any rate, it is worth recording as an unexplained aerial phenomenon, possibly related to UFO activity.

Rubens J. Villela, who also has experience as a glider pilot and Moonwatch observer, was on the deck of the U.S.S. Glacier about 6:15 p.m. The temperature was about 33 degrees, dew point 28, wind calm, sky overcast, visibility about 5 miles. Weak, yellowish sunset light was visible to the NW. About 50 degrees above the horizon he noticed a strange tear-shaped "luminous body" crossing the sky from NW to SE. It was "multi-