Documents / Document

Project Blue Book desk file, Socorro (217 pages)

The Black Vault (Rob Mercer collection) · 217 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 10 …pm, in an unpopulated area full of hills and gullies and covered with sagebrush. Following is…
  • p. 14 …He also observed the pollee car heading up the hill tova.rd the spot where the…
  • p. 16 …travel a little-used road over several hills and gullies. Af"ter two or three ef…
  • p. 77 …Made three attempts to climb hill~ ,Pl./ / .• "B" 800' / ------------ ~ · First sighting of o1)jec :~. Stopped car…
  • p. 86 …to back down and try again before mU.ing the hill.. 1Iil1 abcut 60ft.. loug.P…
  • p. 87 …ard J j~ j~t over the hill--I s ·tG~..t~\~cause I did not…
  • p. 97 …He turned off the road and proceeded to a point up a hill where he could…
  • p. 102 …He thus came up upon the object from behind the hill and from the side, so…
  • p. 106 …The tourist also commented that he had seen a police car heading up the hill. This…
  • p. 129 …ly over his car. :Socorro on an isolated hill re- On AP'ril 24, 1964, Socorro…
  • p. 135 …or radar the so>clu·lf:'d hill where Socorro i an ~'.. an \\edg~:--l'?f…
  • p. 136 …ed hill where a Socorro po- tion in Socorro will deter- (I W h" t th…
  • p. 145 …P.er parents said !hal she saw a fire in lhc hills ISharon is very tnith…
  • p. 151 …As Zamora moved closer he lost sight of the object behind a hill. He continued driving…
  • p. 157 …short "men." Zamora continued driving up the hill to get a closer look. When he stopped…
  • p. 164 …ject that would compare to the tile hill to get a closer look at the 1…
  • p. 167 …tnl ~ty~yto examtfre the secluded hill W'here a Socorro policeman reported seeing a…
  • p. 174 …that she saw a fire in the hills southwest of Socorro Sunday night. where city officer…
  • p. 193 …leu Sllg6est tba;t when Za!X>l"a 's car crested tl:e hill, the…
  • p. 196 …As you 1;ey know, we have rented a house at 57 Avon Hill Street . I…
An inspection of the scene Sat-
urday morning showed the ob-
ject had landed astride a narrow,
rock-strewn dry wash in the
gully. Officers earlier had circled ,
with stones the four places where ithe. legs of the·.object had touch-
ed earth. The holes were shallow, !
abotit a foot long 'by six inches 1
wide. They did not appear to '
bav~ been made by an object
atriking the earth ·with grea!
force, but by an object of con-
siderable weight settling to earth
. ~ slow speed ~d not moving af-
ter touching the ground. ·
I ~ two legs of the object that
Zamora saw probably were about
2% feet long.
It was about 12 feet from on~
landing hQle to the other on the
west side and 15 fee t between the
two on the east side. The width
probably was nine or more feet.
The clumps of green grass and
two greasewood bushes seemed
to have been seared all at once
by an extremely hot flame. There
were also ·. brok~n branches on
one greasewQod.
. The two round depressiQns
were four and ~ive inches in
diameter, respectively.
The cause of the landing of the
'
object. like its id~ntity and its
source, remain unanswered. Was
~ landing in the secluded, little-
frequented gully !or a test Qr
caused by momentary mechanical
dffculty?
Mter Capt. Holder was aP-
praised of the UFO occurrence, he
I
.made a report of it to the proper
agencies at WSMR. Investigation
' o! th~ incident will be conducted
by designted government agen-
·ces. '
By Sunday afternoon hun-
dreds of curious persons had
trampled the scene and there
was virtually no evidence left of
the landing marks. ·
_ _,.Rob Mercer

About this file

Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 217 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.