Socorro UFO Incident

Socorro UFO Incident

Incident Name:	Socorro UFO Incident
Incident Date:	April 24, 1964
State/Provence:	New Mexico
City/Town :	Socorro
Country :	USA
Shape :	Egg (Tic Tac)
Contact :	Yes
Blue Book Case:	Project Blue Book Case 8766

The Socorro UFO Incident occurred on April 24, 1964, near Socorro, New Mexico, and is considered one of the most significant and thoroughly investigated cases in Project Blue Book's history. The sole primary witness was Lonnie Zamora, a Socorro police officer, who reported observing an unusual craft and its occupants at close range.

The Incident

At approximately 5:45 PM, Officer Lonnie Zamora was pursuing a speeding vehicle south of Socorro when he was distracted by a loud roar and a blue-orange flame descending in the desert to his southwest. Believing a nearby dynamite shack may have exploded, he broke off the chase and drove toward the area.

Upon approaching, Zamora observed a shiny, oval-shaped object sitting in a gully approximately 150–200 yards away. He reported seeing two figures in white coveralls standing near the object — small in stature and appearing humanoid. When the figures appeared to notice Zamora, he braked his car, and both figures quickly moved toward or into the object.

As Zamora exited his vehicle and moved closer, the object produced a loud roar and a flame, rose from the ground, and rapidly departed to the northwest, climbing quickly out of sight. At the landing site, Zamora found four rectangular indentations in the ground and scorched vegetation consistent with the craft having rested on and launched from that location.

Investigation

The case was assigned to Project Blue Book and personally investigated by the project's scientific consultant, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, as well as other investigators. The physical evidence — the impressions, the scorching, and Zamora's consistent testimony — made this case exceptional. Hynek described it as one of the most puzzling and best-documented cases he encountered during his entire tenure with Blue Book.

FBI agent J. Arthur Byrnes also investigated and corroborated the physical evidence. Sergeant David Moody of Project Blue Book conducted the on-site investigation.

Official Conclusion

Project Blue Book classified the Socorro incident as Unidentified — one of the 701 cases that could not be resolved. No conventional explanation was found for the physical landing traces or for the object and entities Zamora described.

Significance

The Socorro case had several unusual features that contributed to its prominence:

• A lone, credible law enforcement witness with no apparent motive for fabrication.
• Multiple corroborating physical pieces of evidence (indentations, scorched brush).
• An unusual insignia reportedly visible on the craft — a symbol that investigators attempted to trace without success.
• Hynek's personal on-site investigation and his conclusion that the case was genuinely unexplained.

The case directly challenged Project Blue Book's internal policy of discounting reports involving UFO occupants or landing marks, a policy attributed by Jacques Vallée to Captain Ruppelt and followed by subsequent directors.

One of the best documented UFO sightings in U.S. history was witnessed by City of Socorro Police Officer Lonnie Zamora and investigated by many top scientists. Below is a short summary of the events that occurred that day:

In late afternoon on Friday, April 24, 1964, Socorro Police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora departed his cruiser on a rough and rocky dirt road to investigate an unidentified flying object which came to rest in an arroyo south of Socorro. The desolate, undeveloped area was primarily made up of mesquite and creosote bushes. What Sergeant Zamora witnessed at approximately 5:45 p.m. was an “egg shaped craft” traveling into Socorro from the south. It was later reported and documented as having been witnessed (in flight) by 5 tourists traveling through Socorro. Lonnie Zamora, in an interview following the incident, stated that he witnessed a bluish flame and a loud roar coming from the direction of the arroyo.

Lonnie Zamora approached the area where he believed the craft had landed. Lonnie Zamora later stated that he had first seen the object from about 150 yards and believed it to be a car or some sort of vehicle in need of assistance. Lonnie Zamora then radioed the Sheriff’s Office about a possible accident he would be investigating. Lonnie Zamora then contacted New Mexico State Police Sergeant Samuel Chavez, someone who Lonnie Zamora trusted to assist in the investigation. After requesting the assistance of NMSP Sergeant Chavez, Lonnie Zamora once again began approaching the object.

At about 50 feet from the object, Lonnie Zamora noted seeing landing gear and a red insignia which he later drew for authorities. Lonnie Zamora then noted bright blue flames and another loud roar until ultimately the object began lifting away from its resting place. Following the incident, many local residents visited the sight and witnessed not only burned bushes but also landing gear depressions in the ground. This incident has been recorded in many newspapers and magazine articles as well as written about in many books.

The Socorro UFO Incident was an UFO sighting that occurred on April 24, 1964 near Socorro, New Mexico when Socorro police officer Lonnie Zamora claimed he saw two people beside a shiny object that later rose into the air accompanied by a roaring blue and orange flame. Lonnie Zamora's claims were subject to attention from news media, UFO investigators and UFO organizations, and the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book listed the case as "unknown". Conventional explanations of Lonnie Zamora's claims include a lunar lander test by White Sands Missile Range and a hoax by New Mexico Tech students.

Incident

On April 24, 1964 at approximately 17:45, Socorro Police radio dispatcher Nep Lopez received a radio call from Sergeant Lonnie Zamora reporting a possible motor vehicle accident. Lonnie Zamora advised Lopez that he would be “checking the car down in the arroyo". Shortly after, Lopez received another radio call from Lonnie Zamora asking Lopez to look out of the window, to see if he could see an object. When Lopez asked Lonnie Zamora to describe it, Lonnie Zamora said "it looks like a balloon” and requested New Mexico State Police Sergeant Chavez meet him at his location. When Chavez arrived, he asked Lonnie Zamora what the trouble was. Lonnie Zamora led him to examine some burning brush. When other police officers arrived they noted patches of smoldering grass and brush.

Zamora's claims

Lonnie Zamora told authorities he was pursuing a speeding car south of Socorro, New Mexico when he "heard a roar and saw a flame in the sky to southwest some distance away—possibly a 1/2 mile or a mile." Believing a local dynamite shack might have exploded, Lonnie Zamora said he discontinued the pursuit and investigated the potential explosion. Lonnie Zamora claimed to have observed a shiny object, "to south about 150 to 200 yards (450 to 600 ft; 140 to 180 m)", that he initially believed to be an "overturned white car ... up on radiator or on trunk". The object was "like aluminum—it was whitish against the mesa background, but not chrome", and shaped like the letter "O". Lonnie Zamora claimed to have briefly observed two people in white overalls beside the object, who he later described as "normal in shape—but possibly they were small adults or large kids." Lonnie Zamora claimed to hear a roar and see a blue and orange flame under the object which then rose and quickly moved away.

Investigations and explanations

Lonnie Zamora's claims were investigated by Project Blue Book and ufologists, and have been reported in the popular press. Several explanations have been presented.

UFO skeptic Steuart Campbell has suggested that everything seen and heard by Lonnie Zamora and fellow witnesses was "almost certainly" a mirage of the star Canopus. It has also been suggested Lonnie Zamora witnessed the testing of a lunar landing device by personnel from the White Sands Missile Range.

Skeptic Robert Sheaffer suggested that the incident was a hoax perpetrated by students at New Mexico Tech. Then-president of New Mexico Tech Stirling Colgate supported this theory, and wrote that the object observed by Lonnie Zamora was: "A candle in a balloon. Not sophisticated."

Skeptic Philip J. Klass, who visited Socorro several years after the incident, claimed that the entire event was part of a conspiracy plot by the municipal government to increase tourism.

Aftermath

In 1966 the president of the Socorro County's Chamber of Commerce, Paul Ridings, proposed developing the site of Lonnie Zamora’s claimed UFO encounter to make it more accessible to tourists. Consequently stone walkways and steps were built into the arroyo from the mesa top, with a rock walkway circling the supposed landing site that included some wooden benches. However these were built approximately a quarter mile from the actual site of Lonnie Zamora’s alleged sighting due to local rumors that the original site was contaminated by radioactivity.

In 2012 Socorro city officials Ravi Bhasker and Pat Salome commissioned local artist Erika Burleigh to paint a mural on a spillway facing Park Street to commemorate Lonnie Zamora's alleged UFO sighting. Lonnie Zamora died on November 2, 2009, in Socorro; he was 76 years old.

See Also

• Project Blue Book
• J. Allen Hynek
• Hector Quintanilla