Lonnie Zamora incident, Socorro

About 5:45 p.m. April 24, 1964. Officer Lonnie Zamora was chasing a speeding car when he heard a roar and saw a flame descending southwest of town. He thought a dynamite shack had exploded. He drove up a rough road. About 150 to 200 yards away stood a shiny object he first took for an overturned car, with two small figures in white beside it. One appeared to notice him. It 'jumped'.

Zamora radioed the sheriff and got out of his car. The object began to roar. A blue and orange flame appeared beneath it, and it rose from the arroyo. He saw a red insignia on its side. Fearing an explosion he ran and dropped behind his car. From there he watched the now-silent object fly away low over the ground toward the southwest.

Sergeant Sam Chavez of the state police arrived within minutes. He found Zamora pale and sweating. At the site they found four wedge-shaped impressions in a rough quadrilateral, several small footprints, and smoldering brush. The Army, FBI, and Project Blue Book investigated. J. Allen Hynek visited twice and was impressed by Zamora's sincerity and the traces. Blue Book carried the case as 'unidentified'.

Proposed explanations include a hoax by New Mexico Tech students, a claim made decades later without physical evidence. Others offered a lunar lander test from White Sands, or a hot-air balloon. None has been substantiated. Zamora maintained his account until his death in 2009.

Socorro is the benchmark trace case. A credible law enforcement witness. Near-immediate corroboration. And physical ground evidence examined by official investigators.