Socorro Blue Book documents, pages 1 to 25

NARRATIVE OF SOCORRO, NEW MEXICO SIGHTING, 24 APRIL 1964

Shortly after 5:30 pm on Friday, 24 April 1964 Sgt Lonnie Zamora of the Socorro Police Department was chasing a speeding auto North on U S 85 in the line of duty. While in pursuit he heard a roar and saw flames in an area where a dynamite shack was known to be located. He abandoned chase of the auto and proceeded to where he thought an explosion had occurred. In order to reach this spot he had to travel a little-used road over several hills and gullies. After two or three efforts to drive his car up a gravel-covered incline he reached a crest where the object was visible. At this point, 800 ft from the object, he observed what he thought to be a car overturned and standing on its end. There were one or two objects described as coveralls which he assumed to be occupants of the vehicle. He radioed in to police headquarters that he was proceeding to investigate a 10-74 (auto accident). Proceeding up the road to a point about 150 ft from the gully where the object was, he stopped the car, got out, and headed toward the object. The object was on girder-like legs, white (not chrome) and egg shaped or oval. As he approached the object there were some noises and flame and smoke began to come from the bottom of the vehicle. The noise increased from low pitch to high pitch, was different from that of a jet or helo and not like anything Sgt Zamora had ever heard. The flame was blue like a welders torch, turning to orange or yellow at the ends. Thinking that the object was going to explode he became frightened. The time was approximately 1745 (1 1/2 hours before sunset), the sun was to his back, slightly to the right. He turned, ran back to get behind the police car, bumping his leg and losing his glasses on the way. He crouched down, shielding his eyes with his arm while the noise continued for another 10 seconds. At this time the noise stopped and he looked up. The object had risen to a point about 15-20 ft above the ground and the flame and smoke had ceased to come from the object. The object had a red marking about 1 ft or maybe 18 inches in height, shaped like a crescent with a vertical arrow and horizontal line underneath. The object hovered in this spot for several seconds and then flew off in a SW direction following the contour of the gully. It cleared the dynamite shack by not more than 3 ft. He watched the object disappear in the distance over a point on Highway 85 about 6 miles from where he was standing. The object took about 3 minutes to travel that far. Disappearance was by fading in the distance and at no time did he observe the object to rise more than 20 ft off the ground.

While proceeding to the location when the object was assumed to be an auto Sgt Zamora was in radio contact with police headquarters. The State Police use the same network and his call was monitored by Sgt Chavez of the New Mexico State Police. Sgt Zamora attempted