Project Blue Book Socorro file

Although LaPaz was impressed with Vallee's book, he felt that his impressive list of references was padded with too many references to unpublished articles or statements. He feels that it is not really a scientific book on the subject (I guess that about in the year 1980 I will have to write a really scientific book on the subject).

Coming now to the Menzel letter, I will consolidate the opinions of LaPaz, Cahves, and of Raynor. I did not show the letter to Zamora because I think it would merely have upset him.

Page 1. I asked Zamora about the reported fall me when he first heard the explosion, when he was still on the highway. He denies ever having said anything about a flame at that time, only at the time when he saw it rise from the ground. As a matter of fact, he never mentioned anything like that to me, originally, but this did appear in Captain Holder's original report, and he purportedly got this in conversation with Zamora. However, I think this was in the original newspaper writeup. I will have to agree with Menzel that this part of Zamora's evidence is very mixed up and suggests some embroidery of the original sighting either by Zamora or by Captain Holder when excitement was running high.

Page 2. I can't agree with Menzel here. When he wears his glasses, his vision is okay. He had the glasses on when he saw the flame at the time the object was preparing to rise. Now this whole question of the "burning bush": I visited the site again on Saturday, with Raynor and Shrode, the owner of the radio station, and at no time was any bush no grass seen to be burning, and nobody seems to confirm any actual smoke. All that seem definitely to agree on is that the green snakeweed and the green greasewood, which are notoriously hard materials to ignite, showed evidence of having been charred, as though they have been seared by a hot flame and not burned in an ordinary fashion.