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Project Blue Book Socorro file

The Black Vault · 167 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Black Vault release compiles 1964 newspaper and wire service clippings plus a Project Blue Book summary on the Socorro, New Mexico sighting by policeman Lonnie Zamora on April 24, 1964, when an egg-shaped object left four depressions and burned brush. It covers J. Allen Hynek's site visit, APRO and NICAP comment, and related New Mexico reports at La Madera, Edgewood and Albuquerque. The Air Force summary reports that soil and brush analysis found no radiation or propellant, and the case remained open.

  • p. 6 …was here today to examine the secluded hill where a Socorro policeman reported seeing a mysterious…
  • p. 14 …that she saw a fire in the hills southwest of Socorro Sunday night, where city officer…
  • p. 23 …pm, in an unpopulated area full of hills and gullies and covered with sagebrush. Following is…
  • p. 30 …The tourist also commented that he had seen a police car heading up the hill. This…
  • p. 56 …He also observed the police car heading up the hill toward the spot where the UFO…
  • p. 75 …ago south of Socorro on an isolated hill remains unsolved. And to help find clues to…
  • p. 77 …travel a little-used road over several hills and gullies. After two or three efforts to…
  • p. 97 …You suggest that when Zamora's car created the hill, the hoaxers triggered another blast of…
  • p. 100 …As you may know, we have rented a house at 57 Avon Hill Street. I hope…
  • p. 114 …Made three attempts to climb hill. First sighting of object. Stopped car for a couple of…
  • p. 123 …Could not see bottom of flame because it was behind hill. No smoke noted. Noted some…
  • p. 125 …I was still running and I jumped just over the hill--I step because I did…
  • p. 126 …ran from object, jumped over edge of hill, then got back to car and radio as…
  • p. 128 …He turned off the road and proceeded to a point up a hill where he could…
  • p. 132 …He thus came up upon the object from behind the hill and from the side, so…
  • p. 137 …The tourist also commented that he had seen a police car heading up the hill. This…
  • p. 149 …One year ago Saturday Zam investigated what sounded two explosions in the hills so of Socorro…
  • p. 150 …an unidentified flying object on a lonely hill-just south Socorro. Among results were an Force…
  • p. 151 …reports." Dr Hyek visited yesterday the secluded hill where Socorro policeman Lonnie Zamora reported seeing an…
  • p. 153 …was here today to examine the secluded hill where a Socorro policeman reports seeing a mysterious…
  • p. 160 …As Zamora moved closer he lost sight of the object behind a hill. He continued driving…
  • p. 165 …short "men." Zamora continued driving up the hill to get a closer look. When he stopped…
  • p. 166 …HYNEK VISITED TODAY THE SECLUDED HILL WHERE SOCORRO POLICEMAN LONNIE ZAMORA REPORTED SEEING AN EGG-SHAPED…

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

As far as kids having it in for Zamora, there is ample evidence that this is the case. But it was also pointed out to me by Opelgrinder (sp.?) and his assistant and by several others, that it is a national phenomenon for teenagers to hate "fuzz" and the statement by Wesley Johnston, a high school senior who works at Opelgrinders is particularly significant. He said that many of the high school kids didn't like Zamora, but that he, Zamora, was not important enough to do anything about it. He said that if the kids wanted to get even with Zamora they would simply thrash him or do something to his car, but that an elaborate hoax would not be the way they would get even with him. One should remember that the time of the sighting there had been no talk in the Socorro region of unidentified flying objects. This would not have suggested itself as a means of getting back at Zamora. Apparently the Socorro teenagers are much more direct in their methods of reprisal for the "fuzz." As far as the cardboard is concerned, Menzel's conjectures here fall completely flat. The cardboard was portions of very old and weathered corrugated paper from a packing box. There are many samples of this all over the region. There is a city dump not too far away, and when the wind, which blows tumbleweeds all over the place, gets hold of some of this stuff, it scatters the papers pretty well all over the whole region. Many of the bushes, I noticed particularly this time, have papers caught on their underneath side. In any case, some this paper was still there, and I shall send Menzel a sample of what this cardboard really looks like. I would say that the cardboard had been there through many rains and had suffered successive dryings. The original piece I picked up was definite/charred, This was the piece I sent to you along with soil samples, you will remember.

One rather interesting item is that the burning bush has recently exuded some sap, and one of the movie people took this to Los Angeles to

About this file

Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 167 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.