Project Blue Book desk file, Socorro (217 pages)

1 More UFO Sightings Are
Reported Over ide Area
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
State officers and the miritary
are investigating more uniden-
tified flying object reports.
The reports came from Socor-
ro and the Espanola area.
State Police Capt. Martin
. Vigil said investigators from
Kirtland Air Force Base at Al-
buquerque were to arrive in Es-
panola today after noting the
similarity in the different . re-
ports.
All of the reported sightlngs
are similar in that they describe
oval or · egg-shaped objects,
.names surrouding the craft
when on the ground, scorched
earth and wedge shaped depres-
sions th3t officers say appeal
to have been left by some type ;
of landing gear. I
The latest report came from I
a Santa Fe resident, Orlando
Gallegos, 35, who told of seeing
an object early Sunday morning
at his father's home north of
La Madera, sitting in a gravel
area.
State Police received a report
from two men· traveling in the
same area Saturday night that
a flying object, which they said
definitely was not an airplane,
had swooped dov.'Il toward their
car, then veered off.
At Socorro, where the first
such report came Friday eve-
ning from a city officer. a 1
moto~ist, George Mitropolis of i
Albuquen]ue, told of seeing S~n - 1
day rrigbt "a luminous flymg i
thing, like an upside down bath- i
tub, without lights except for. a i
glow like exhaust underneath tl, II
come up ever the crest of the
mountains and then go back i
down." ,
An unidentified girl, about 18,
told Socorro officer Bill Pyland
\ that she saw a fire in the hills
southwest of Socorro Sunday
night. where city officer ~onnie
Zamora first report-ed seemg an
"eaa.shaped object" fly away
fro~ a draw. She said she went
to within 300 feet to 500 feet
from the fire when she tpou,ght
1
she saw something in the
flames. She then left to report it.
About the repo.rt from Galle-!
gos, State Po11ce Ca_P~·. Martin
Vigil said, after vtsttmg the
site, "There was dclinitely some-
thing there.
"The ground was still smol-
, dering ·20 hours after the sight-
· 'mg." . 1
I Gallegos said he had gone Ott[ I
to chase away some horses 1
when he saw the. object. He said
he was about 200 feet away
when he first saw it.
Gallegos said there was no
noise and as he · watched, the
· flaming jets were turned off. He Isaid he didn't see anyone or
· .anything moving around the
! craft.
-~ He said he returned to the
- bouse and told his family _but
- no one else ventured outst?c.
· ~ - Gallegos said he returned twtce
more to look at the object .. He
;: describ~d it as being of bnght
.. metal without windows, as long
as a 'telephone pole and about
·· 14 feet in circumference. It was
egg-shaped. he said, and re-
sembled a large butane gas
~ tank.
I Capt. Vi gil said the ground
was smoldering later Sun~ay
- and he fouml what ~ooked hke I: paw prints alon~ ~1th the de~
pressions that mdtcate som~
type of landing gear. 1
The captain said he c~ntac~ - 1ed Kirtland AFB and an um?enll-
fied officer there told !urn a
team of military investigators
was on its way.
State Patrolman Marvin Ro-
mero told of the Saturda~ nig~t
sighting by two motonsts m
the Espanola area. .
Romero said the men told htm
they were driving from ~biquiu ·
to Espanola when the nymg o~
ject came straight toward thetr
car. They said it veered aw~y
and all they could see was a Jet
stream of blue flame.Rob Mercer