Documents / Official release

65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Serial 438

Federal Bureau of Investigation · 40 pages · text by GLM-OCR

This Federal Bureau of Investigation report from Albuquerque, New Mexico, dated May 8, 1964, deals with an unidentified flying object at Socorro, New Mexico, on April 24, 1964. Special Agent D. Arthur Byrnes, Jr. describes visiting the site and finding four depressions, burned grass and circular marks in the ground. The report also records Officer Lonnie Zamora's account of a roar and a flame, a shiny object standing on legs with two people in white coveralls beside it, and the object's departure. The document states that it contains no recommendations or conclusions.

From the source:Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: N/A, N/A. The FBI's 62-HQ-83894 case file includes investigative records, eyewitness testimonies, and public reports concerning Unidentified Flying Objects and flying discs documented between June 1947 and July 1968. The records include high-profile incident accounts, photographic evidence from sites like Oak Ridge, TN, and technical proposals regarding potential propulsion systems. Additional topics include convention programs, researcher accounts, and extensive media coverage from the period. This file is partially posted on FBI vault with more redactions and some pages missing. Included here is the complete case file with several newly declassified pages and only minor redactions.

  • p. 2 …Arthur Byrnes, Jr., Federal Bureau of Investigation, stationed at Albuquerque, New Mexico, was at Socorro, New…
  • p. 4 …FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Albuquerque, New Mexico May 8, 1964 UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO…
  • p. 6 …FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Albuquerque, New Mexico May 8, 1964 UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO…
  • p. 8 …Lonnie Zamora, 606 Reservoir Street, Socorro New Mexico, 835-1134, Officer Socorro Police Department about five…
  • p. 16 …At that time, I heard Sergeant Chaves, (New Mexico State Police at Socorro), calling me on…
  • p. 18 …Lonnie Zamora, 606 Reservoir Street, Socorro, New Mexico, 835-1134, Officer Socorro Police Department about five…
  • p. 26 …At that time, I heard Sergeant Chaves, (New Mexico State Police at Socorro), calling me on…
  • p. 28 …Lonnie Zamora, 606 Reservoir Street, Socorro New Mexico, 835-1134, Officer Socorro Police Department about five…
  • p. 36 …At that time, I heard Sergeant Chaves, (New Mexico State Police at Socorro), calling me on…

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# UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Albuquerque, New Mexico May 8, 1964

UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO APRIL 24, 1964

Special Agent D. Arthur Byrnes, Jr., Federal Bureau of Investigation, stationed at Albuquerque, New Mexico, was at Socorro, New Mexico, and at the State Police Office there on business late afternoon of April 24, 1964.

At approximately 5:45 to 5:50 P.M., Nep Lopez, radio operator in the Socorro County Sheriff's Office, located about thirty feet down the hall from the State Police Office, came into the State Police Office.

Mr. Lopez advised M. S. Chavez, New Mexico State Police, that he had just received a radio call from Officer Lonnie Zamora to come to an area about one mile southwest of Socorro. The call was in relation to some unknown object which "landed and has taken off." Agent Byrnes finished his work in the State Police Office at Socorro at approximately 6:00 P. M., April 24, 1964, and thereafter proceeded to the site where Officer Zamora, Socorro County Undersheriff Jim Luckie, Sergeant M. S. Chavez, and Officer Ted Jordan, New Mexico State Police, were assembled.

It may be noted that it has been the observation of Agent Byrnes that Officer Zamora, known intimately for approximately five years, is well regarded as a sober, industrious, and conscientious officer and not given to fantasy.

Officer Zamora was noted to be perfectly sober and somewhat agitated over his experience.

Special Agent Byrnes noted four indentations in the rough ground at the "site" of the object described

This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of any kind. It is the property of the FBI, and is a loan to your agency; it and/or its contents are not to be distributed outside your agency.

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Official release, from the pursue collection. 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. 40 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.