Documents / Document
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.
“Hill”20 pages
, 2 it on a global basijfnd the UFO phenomenon1 apart from the Socorro case;is certainly not limited to the United States. After these discussions in ~XXmxi the editorial offices, Ra'nSr and ~ went out for lunch and asked Sgt. Chaves to join us. 1Vhile we were waiting for him, I showed Ra~er the letter from Menzel and his co~nents about part~f it were, "Childish." But we~ went over it point by point, and likewise Chaves did. Chaves' reaction to the letter was rather strange. He had sort of a resigned, almost pathetic look on his face, and said, "I really feel sorry for Lonnie. He's had to take an awful lot. "~hen he told of a recent case where Zamora was arresting a kid for speeding, and the kid said, "vr.nat do you want to give me a ticket for? Don't you · know a flying saucer might . ,...,, COme right dOWll On US nOw? II (Or SOmething like that • ) r(Jf'., (J• I asked him what the whole movie situation had been~ Zamora and how it ha~ · effected him. He said that Zamora had not wanted to be in the picutr~ but it was at the~yor's insistence, via his boss, that he consented to do so . I can't quite believe this myself. When I talked to Zamora later, he seemed to be reasonably pleased about being in the movie. Clearly, with a world ~t premiere in Socorro, it would be a strange hurmn who did not get some ~~iek out of a thing like that • . I will come back to the MenzeJ/ letter later because I discussed it with Dr. I.a Paz who knows Menze}/ well. That was the next day in Albuquerque. I purchased five newpapers which had various stories about the movie or about related matters. The papers were for Tuesday, Feb:ruary 9; Thursday,February 25; Tuesday March 2; !Hues day, March 9; and Thursday, March 11. The first one I think you have; it states, "Socorro Part of Film on UFO's Completed; Zamora's Account Jibes With Sixtten Verified Sightings." The Feb:ruary 25th issue contains a front page story on a UFO sighted over Gallup which_ps far as I can see_., is nothing more than a meteor. · The March 2nd issue contains a lovely story aboutRob Mercer
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.