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Project Blue Book Socorro file (direct PDF)

Wikimedia Commons (USAF Project Blue Book) · 168 pages · text by OCR

This Project Blue Book file on the Socorro, New Mexico sighting of 24 April 1964 compiles an Air Force record card and a large set of press clippings. The clippings cover policeman Lonnie Zamora's report of an egg-shaped object with four landing marks and scorched brush, plus J. Allen Hynek's investigation and follow-up reports from La Madera, Edgewood and elsewhere. An Air Force summary says soil and brush analysis found no foreign material, radiation or propellant, that the case remains open, and that later related sightings were explained or found to be hoaxes.

  • p. 1 …LOCATION Socorro, New Mexico 12. CONCLUSIONS □ Was Balloon □ Probably Balloon □ Possibly Balloon □ Was Aircraft □ Probably Aircraft…
  • p. 2 …the Air Force and night be attributed to the Socorro, New Mexico sighting. FOR THE COMMANDER
  • p. 3 …85,.17 miles north of Socorro. "I wasn't going to report it because I didn…
  • p. 4 …He told police Gallegos' report came on the heels of a similar report from a Socorro…
  • p. 5 # Mysterious Object Pays SOCORRO (UPI) - It was shiny and stood on four gird- round, stood on…
  • p. 6 …Last April 24, Officer Lonnie Zamora, on highway patrol, sighted an oval-shaped craft near Socorro…
  • p. 7 # Astronomer Hunts Clue To 'Saucer' SOCORRO, N. M., April 29 (AP). An astronomer from the Dearborn…
  • p. 8 …Sam Chavez said he was told by Socorro policeman Lonnie Zamora that the UFO he saw…
  • p. 10 …the desert about a mile south of Socorro. He denied seeing any signs of life around…
  • p. 11 …Policeman By CHARLES RICHARDS United Press International SOCORRO, N.M. (UPI)—It's a good place…
  • p. 12 …No less than six "authentic" spottings have been reported since Friday when Socorro Policeman L onn…
  • p. 14 …Gallegos' report came on the heels of a similar report from a Socorro policeman, Lonnie Zamora…
  • p. 15 …The reports came from Socorro and the Espanola area. State Police Capt. Martin Vigil said investigators…
  • p. 17 SOCORRO POLICEMAN Lonnie Zamora tells how, he spotted an egg-shaped flying object near Socorro, N…
  • p. 18 # Air Force UFO 4129 Expert to Check 'Saucer' Reports SOCORRO (P) Dr. J. Allen Hynek, special…
  • p. 19 April 25, 1964, when on the previous day at Socorro, New Mexico a policeman, Mr. Lonnie…
  • p. 20 Landing area at Socorro, New Mexico, taken April 25.
  • p. 21 …When it flew away, Socorro, N.M., policeman Lonnie Zamora said he ran from it. Since…
  • p. 22 # "ELPASO TIMES" Film On UFCs To Include Socorro Officer Secorro, N.M. (AP)—A Hollywood, Calif…
  • p. 23 …No less than six "authentic" spotings have been reported since Friday when Socorro Policeman Lonnie Zamora…
  • p. 24 UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT REPORT SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO, 24 APRIL 1964 On April 24, 1964, a Socorro…
  • p. 26 # Air Force Uru Expert to Check 'Saucer' Reports SOCORRO Dr. J. Allen Hynek, special unidentified flying…
  • p. 27 …85 two miles south of Socorro between 7:30 and 8 p.m. The unidentified tourist…
  • p. 28 …The flap started, as most know, when Socorro, N.M., policeman Lonnie Zamora (note incorrect spelling…
  • p. 29 # El Defensor SOCORRO: Inhabited Since 1540 Home of the Famed New Mexico VOL. 98 NO.34…
  • p. 30 Published Tuesdays & Thursdays in Socorro, N. M. 87801 TUESDAY, APRIL 28. # Of UFO Landing Here Observe…
  • p. 31 …Holder of Socorro, U.S. Army up-range commander with headquarters at Stallion Range Center on…
  • p. 35 # UFO Sighting, Socorro, New Mexico, 24 Apr 64 Hq USAF SAF0I PB (Mrs Gaiser) Wash D…
  • p. 46 …On Tuesday, 28 April 1964, Capt Quintanilla directed Doctor J Allen Hynek to Socorro to obtain…
  • p. 57 …produce markings such as those found at Socorro. One known experimental model, constructed by Bell Aircraft…
  • p. 73 …on the April 24, 1964 sighting at Socorro, New Mexico, made by Lt. Zamora. I would…
  • p. 74 …As I recall, the man was driving into Socorro at the time. Unfortunately, I no longer…
  • p. 75 …As a recall, the man was driving into Socorro at the time. Unfortunately, no longer have…
  • p. 76 ## Four Years Old # $100 Reward Offered In Saucer Mystery SOCORRO The mystery of a reported unidentified…
  • p. 78 ## NARRATIVE OF SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO SIGHTING, 24 APRIL 1964 Shortly after 5:30 pm on Friday…
  • p. 84 TDEW/UFO UFO Sighting Socorro, New Mexico 14 May 1964 Test Support Officer (Col K. Young…
  • p. 85 …On 18 May 1964 TSgt Moody called Mr Opal Grinder at 835-9916 in Socorro New…
  • p. 86 …Capt Quintanilla contacted the FTD liaison office at Holloman AFB regarding the Socorro sighting and requested…
  • p. 90 …Cloud Gap operations were conducted in an area about a hundred miles north of Socorro, New…
  • p. 91 …5 CASES of sightings in 1963 or early 1964 reported subsequent to Socorro Sightings ## ALBUQUERQUE, NEW…
  • p. 93 THE FOLLOWING SIGHTINGS WERE REPORTED TO THE AIR FORCE AND MIGHT BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE SOCORRO…
  • p. 96 …In my visit to Socorro I determined that Zamora had been urged by the Mayor to…
  • p. 100 …Coming back to the Socorro case: I'm sorry that I couldn't have been of…
  • p. 102 Report on the Trip to Socorro - Albuquerque - Socorro, March 12-13, 1965 Left Las Cruces 7…
  • p. 103 …CONCLUSIONS 24 April 1964 Socorro, New Mexico □ Was Balloon □ Probably Balloon □ Possibly Balloon □ Was Aircraft □ Probably…
  • p. 104 it on a global basis and the UFO phenomenon apart from the Socorro case is certainly…
  • p. 105 …His principal reason for selecting Socorro seems to be the following: "The main one can be…
  • p. 106 …Ted Raynor, Editor, Socorro El Defensor Chieftan, Socorro, New Mexico, and he can send one of…
  • p. 109 …Apparently the Socorro teenagers are much more direct in their methods of reprisal for the "fuzz…
  • p. 111 …I do not believe that the Socorro high school students could have kept a secret this…
  • p. 112 …There is also the opinion expressed in Socorro, and expressed to me a number of times…
  • p. 124 # UFO REPORT Lonnie Zamora, 606 Resevoir Street, Socorro, New Mexico, 835-1134, Officer Socorro Police Force…
  • p. 126 …Radioed to sheriff's office Socorro 2, possibly 10-44 (accident). I'll be 10-6…
  • p. 127 …State Police at Socorro) calling me on radio for my location, and I returned to my…
  • p. 128 ## INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE SOCORRO SIGHTING OF UFO BY LONNIE ZAMORA At 0530, Sunday 26 April…
  • p. 130 …Coral Lorenzen and husband were in Socorro at the time and had interviewed both Lonnie Zamora…
  • p. 131 ## REPORT ON SOCORRO NEW MEXICO TRIP On Tuesday, April 28, 1964, in response to a call…
  • p. 134 …No 9 shows the town of Socorro in the distance, looking down longitudinally through the gulley…
  • p. 136 …NUMEROUS INQUIRES CONCERNING AIR FORCE INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION OF THE RECENT UFO SIGHTING AT SOCORRO, NEW…
  • p. 137 …In about a month, I shall have occassion to return to the Socorro area, at which…
matters is to determine whether UFO reports contain any hostile elements. If they do not, it is not in the Air Force charter, so to speak, to conduct lengthy investigations as to the nature of the stimulus that gave rise to the report.

Of course, I have come to regard all this as rather a huhby; there is such a delicious variety of reports and of the people making them. As long as it does not take too much time, I enjoy talking to people who have made the reports and, of course, waste no time on them as soon as I discover they are off the beam. But take these two graduate students in anthropology at the University of Wisconsin; they live in a typical sort of house that young married graduate students live in, with some avant-garde paintings and a scattering of New Yorkers and the ubiquitous hi-fi set. They are people that you and I know and have associated most of our lives. I honestly would like to be able to give their case the time I think it deserves. This would mean not only re-emoting the crime with them and visiting the locale of the sighting under similar temporal and meteorological conditions, but it might involve house-to-house canvass of people in the area. You made mention in your letter that "had the sighting been related to a bank robbery or murder some rather obvious clues might have been better followed." I heartily agree. If a good UFO case were related to a counterfeit or narcotics ring, think of the funds the government would spend in tracking down every possible alue. But I guess that it would be hard to justify the expenditure of taxpayers' money just to satisfy your and my curiosity. Some of the cases that we have classed as "ball lightning" should certainly have been followed up more closely. I think, because as in the Lock Raven Dam Case, ball lightning that is several feet in diameter and lasts many minutes might lead to the solution of the magnetic bottle problem! Is it really possible for ball lightning to be so large and to last so long? Naturally, the first thing is to find out whether it really was that large and whether it really did last that long? Naturally, the first thing is to find out whether it really was that large and whether it really did last that long. This could be a full time job!

Vallee's book will be published June 15. I have acceded to his request, somewhat reluctantly, to be quoted on the dust jacket to the effect that his suggestion that UFO's be given indireased scientific attention should be given serious consideration. This is, of course, what I have been saying all along because a mystery makes me uncomfortable, and I don't like to have these unidentified things hanging around, particularly when they are capitali on by the cultists, etc. I would really like to see a really good report made by several witnesses of good intelligence investigated to the bone and then to have a paper written on the case, much in the manner a M. D. would write up a case study of an extra large goiter or a rare tropical disease. I would like to see them written up as "The Case of the Lighted Bridge" or "The Case of the Toledo Lights" or "The Case of the Baffled Anthropologists." Vallee's book, incidentally, is entitled Anatomy of a Phenomenon and makes for good reading.

Coming back to the Socorro case: I'm sorry that I couldn't have been of any more help. Both Quintanilla and I find it impossible to dismiss it as a hoax unless we have some evidence that there was a hoax. I feel that if it was a hoax, this fact must leak out sooner or later if we keep in touch with some citizens of Socorro over a considerable length of time. Perhaps this is our best means of attacking this particular problem. I am to visit

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 168 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.