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This 217-page Project Blue Book desk file on the 24 April 1964 Socorro, New Mexico sighting by policeman Lonnie Zamora comes from the Rob Mercer collection. It contains the Blue Book record card, which carries the case as unidentified pending more data, along with Foreign Technology Division messages and resumes and a narrative of the sighting. It also holds inquiries about lunar modules, helicopters and VTOL craft, soil and radiation findings, and a letter by J. Allen Hynek rejecting Donald Menzel's hoax hypothesis.
“Socorro”60+ pages
..Neither IWhite Sands Missile · I At 1 st th n 1 Zamora continued driving up Iea one o er .person- .a Range nor Holloman had an ob- unidentified tourist travelmg ject that would compare to the tile hill to get a closer look at the 1 nol"th on U. S. · 85 -saw th~ I object described. There was no object and ·the persons. When I UFO · t befo ' t landed t'n t~a he stopped 'his car on the top ofJUS re l ,..,.. known firing m ission in progress gully. Opal Grinder, manager of at the time of the occurence that 1the mesa and directly opposite ' Whiting Brothers' Service Station would produce the conditions re- ithe place in the gully where ·the Ion 85 north, said the man stopped ported." UFO had landed, he saw it again, 1 t th • t· d e arked that 1 bui the persons were not outside Ia e s~a ton an r m Zamora doesn't know what the . Iaircr~tt flew lo~ around here. object was, but for those who the object on which t he sun Grmder. repbed. the_ re . :V~re desire to speculate, there are gleamed brightly. He got out of h 1 t th n t his car and started towards the many e tcop ers m lS vtct 1 Y· !three possibilities: UFO. Then he again heard • the . The toUrist said it was a t'•'funny. IFirst, it may have been a top roar or blast -that . had brought ' looking helicopter, if that's what I secret U.S. aircraft in an ad- him to the scene and saw flames . j it was." The man said further vanced stage of development. Dust was flying around the ob- 1 1 the object had flown over his Second, it may have been an ject. I car. lt · actually · was headed advanced type of aircraft or space The policeman believed the , straight for the gully where it ship of another power. landed moments later. The tour- Third, it may have been a : object was about to explode. He ist also commented tha·t he harl space scout ship from another \was about 50 feet f:rom the UFO, I seen a police car heading up the I planet. , and for protection ,he dropped to 1 hill. This was Zamora's car. Whatever the object was, it I the ground and covered his face 1 Grinder did not know of the ob- probably was the first reported with an arm. I ject at the time, and did not at. concrete instance of a UFO in No explosion occurred, a n d tach importance to the traveler's N~w Mexico. Zamora also reahzed the object 1 remarks. · Policeman Zamora shifted from 1 was not heading in his direction. A Tucson, Ariz., couple was I a routine task ·to a frighten~ ng, He raised his head slightly. He _ here Sunday to interview Zamo. 1 1 out..of-thJ.S.world experience in saw the UFO, which seemed to ra for a scientific article on the 1 a few minutes Friday night. 1 he headed south on landing, rise 1 object. The womari said a min- I H e was patroling p a r k straight up for an estimated 20 f ister and 26 other persons in New Street where he had begun pur- feet, which brought it about on ., Guinea had seen a similar ob- suit of a fast-traveling car sev. a level with the police car on 'the jed hovering .for two hours at an eral blocks ahead of him. Zamo. mesa top. The object appeared estimated oaltitude of: 400 feet. It ra was almost on the old road to maintain this altitude beyond was reported the observers had when he heard what he described the explosives building and due seen a man on the "deck'' of the as a blast ·or a roar. His first ; west rn a straight line for about s objecl though was that an aluminum 1 two miles to the perlite mill. On Maj . . William Conner of Kirt. buildi-ng used to store explosives · the other side of the mill the : 1• land Air Force Base, Albuquer. had blown up. He forgot about UFO gained altitude very rapid. I 1% que, was also here Sunday after. the speeding car and headed up ! ly, passed over Six.Mile Canyon, . :e noon to interview Zamora. The a very rocky, dirt road towards • became a speck in the sky, and . C'· major said he was not at liberty :the building. On the third -try, I disappeared. I 1o comment. He and an Air Force driving very slowly, ·he managed I Zamora said there was a sharp ' sergeant visited the UFO scene. to get tip the road which leads whining sound at the end of the Use of a Geiger counter at the 1o Stallion Range Cen-ter on White Ithought it was an overturned c;ar. 1 tie or -no nmse. _ Sa~ds Missile Range, said Satur. He was looking out of his car,, Zamora radioed the sheriff's of. day: window as he drove towards j fice immediately after the object "I was cont;1cted ·on the even- the top of the me s a. Za.J ihad taken off. State 1Police Sgt. ing of April 24 by local author. mora said one of two persons a t I .Sam Chavez, State Policeman Hies and asked ·tO provide assist- the UFO, whose back was to him, I Ted Jordan, and Undersheriff ance in identifying a reported turned his head and looked II James Luckie responded. Chavea UFO. After beng appraised of the straight at him. The two persons and Luckie said the burned situation, I attempted to deter- standing by t he object appeared ! clumps of' green grass and the mine whether White Sands Mis. to be dressed in whi-te coveralls, j greasewood were still hot when sile Range or Holloman Air Force and at the distance Zamora saw I they arrived. The military later 'Base had anything tha-t m ight them they appeared to be "child. took samples of the burned earth produce the conditions described. like,"· that is, small. He did not for analysis. notice what sort of headgear, if any, the two persons, presum. ably men, wore.Rob Mercer
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 217 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.