by Charles Lear
The April 24, 1964 sighting by Socorro, NM, Police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora of a landed UFO with two beings standing next to it has been written about extensively and remains a fascinating mystery to this day. What’s noteworthy about this case is the large number of people who investigated it. Representatives from the Socorro Police, the New Mexico State Police, the F.B.I., and the Army were first on the scene. They were followed by the Lorenzens from the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, members of the Air Force and J. Allen Hynek as part of Project Blue Book, and Ray Stanford for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Besides the testimony of Zamora, there was trace evidence to examine, there were witnesses to interview who’d reported a similar craft, and there were reputed witnesses to the very craft Zamora reported who were searched for but never found. Despite the thoroughness of the inquiries and analyses by so many experienced investigators, no one was able to come up with an agreeable earthly explanation.
According to Zamora’s written report, he was chasing a speeder around 5:45 p.m. in the southeast section of Socorro when he heard what he described as a roar and saw a flame to the southwest. Just over a nearby hill was a dynamite shack belonging to the mayor, and Zamora was concerned that it might have blown up, so he broke pursuit and went to investigate.
As he drove, he saw a funnel shaped, narrower at the top, blue and “sort of orange” flame slowly descend behind the hill. He turned onto a dirt road, made it up a hill after three tries, and after looking around for 15-20 seconds, saw what he thought was a car standing on end in a gully. As he got closer he noted two figures in what looked like white coveralls standing next to the “car.” As he drove quickly towards them to help, one of the figures turned towards him and seemed startled.
Zamora radioed that there had been an accident. When he was close to the site, he got out of the car and dropped the mic. He turned to replace it in its holder, and as soon as he turned away from the car to head down into the gully, he heard a roar and saw flame coming out of the bottom of a white object shaped like an oval on its side, which was rising up slowly. He described the roar as not being like a jet, going from lower pitch to higher pitch and increasing “from loud to very loud.” He noted a red insignia, like an arrow under a crescent, in the middle of the object.
Fearful of an explosion, Zamora ran behind his car, bumped his leg on it and dropped his sunglasses. He kept on running so he could duck down just over the edge of the hill. He glanced back at the object as he did so and saw that it was completely out of the gully and level with his car. He had intended to keep running down the hill when the roar stopped and was replaced by a whine that went from high to low pitch for about a second. The object then moved away towards the southwest in complete silence, with no flame, in a straight line maintaining a height of 10-15 feet. Zamora estimated the height in relation to the dynamite shack, which the object had cleared by around 3 feet. According to Zamora, the object moved quickly away and then ascended as it took off “across country.” Zamora later recalled seeing legs that held the object about three feet off the ground when it was landed.
Zamora radioed headquarters and asked the operator, Nep Lopes, to look out his window and tell him if he could see what he was looking at. Lopes said he saw nothing, and Zamora gave directions to him and Sergeant Sam Chavez of the State Police who monitored the same frequencies as the Socorro Police.
Chavez arrived on the scene approximately three minutes after the object had disappeared from sight. His first observation was that Zamora was pale and seemed shaken, and Zamora acknowledged that he was. Chavez and Zamora investigated the landing site and noted there was charred brush that was still smoking and that there were no blast marks. They also saw four rectangular indentations with dirt mounded up around them, and four small circular depressions near one of the indentions. The indentations were later interpreted as possibly having been caused by landing legs and the circular depressions as possible marks from a ladder that had been put down twice in order to set it properly.
Soon, other officers arrived who also examined the site, and they would later corroborate Zamora’s and Chavez’ descriptions. Chavez contacted local F.B.I. Special Agent Arthur Byrnes who contacted Stallion Station, White Sands Missile Range, and spoke with a Lt. Hicks. Hicks then contacted Army Captain Richard T. Holder.
Holder was the acting senior officer at Stallion Station, and he was contacted at his home in Socorro.
Both men interviewed Zamora and then went to the site, accompanied by military police officers. The men secured the site by flashlight and took measurements and samples. In the midst of the activity, while Zamora was distracted, Chavez took the opportunity to look in Zamora’s car. He checked to see if there were any tools that Zamora could have used to create the indentations and char the brush, and he found none. Chavez would later state that his search of Zamora’s car was part of a regular procedure of collecting evidence.
The story made national news the next day and Holder was contacted by a colonel who said he was sitting in the Joint Chiefs of Staff war room of the Pentagon. Holder was asked to read his report on the case over the phone, which was equipped with a scrambler.
The first civilian investigators to arrive on the scene were Coral and Jim Lorenzen of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization. They published an account of their investigation in the May, 1964 edition of The A.P.R.O. Bulletin. They had been notified by Arlynn Bruer of the Alamagordo Daily News via telephone at 11 a.m. on Saturday the 25th.
The Lorenzens left their home in Tucson, Arizona at 5 p.m., arrived in Socorro at 1 a.m., and were at the police station by 9 a.m. Sunday Morning. They spoke with Chavez and Police Chief Polo Pineda. The officers were very cooperative and drove them to the site in a patrol car where they arrived at around 9:45 a.m.
The Lorenzens took their own measurements and made arrangements to interview Zamora that afternoon at the Dispatcher’s Office. After arriving back at the station, they mentioned their surprise that no one from the Air Force had arrived, and they were told by Chavez that there were actually two Air Force officers waiting in the hall for him.
While Chavez attended to some business, Jim Lorenzen ran into the officers, Sgt. David Moody from Wright Patterson AFB and Maj. William Conner from Kirtland AFB. Jim didn’t mention his last name or that he was from A.P.R.O., and he soon found himself in a candid discussion about UFOs with Moody. Moody mentioned a research group in Tucson headed by a Coral Lorenzen, whom he described as “a nut.”
At 2 p.m., the Lorenzens interviewed Zamora, and they described him as being reluctant and that he at first denied seeing the “men” next to the craft and would not discuss the insignia. He later admitted to seeing the “men” but again refused to talk about the insignia and explained that he was told not to. Zamora had already been contacted by members of the press at that time and would soon be at the center of a media onslaught, so his reticence could be understandable. The one thing repeated by all investigators and acquaintances was that Zamora’s reputation as an honest man was impeccable.
On Tuesday, the 28th, Project Blue Book Director, Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla asked Blue Book scientific consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek to go to Socorro and collect more data. According to an account by Kevin Randle in his 2017 book, “Encounter in the Desert,” Hynek arrived that afternoon at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque and was being driven to Socorro in an Air Force car when they got a flat. Hynek was forced to hitch hike to Socorro and didn’t arrive there until later that evening, but he was still able to interview Zamora and Chavez. Hynek found that the police officers had developed a dislike for the Air Force by that time. By disassociating himself from the AF personnel, Hynek was able to gain the police officers’ trust and they arranged for a re-enactment at the site the next day.
Ray Stanford, a researcher for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, had arrived in Socorro after Hynek and had tried in vain to make contact with Zamora. Stanford went to the police station on Wednesday morning and was told by the dispatcher, Mike Martinez, that Zamora was in the southern section of town. Stanford, convinced Zamora was at the landing site, asked Martinez to make a call on the radio. Chavez answered and said they wanted privacy while Hynek was investigating, but Hynek interrupted and invited Stanford to come out as long as he came alone.
When Stanford arrived, he and Hynek discussed another case and then Hynek took pictures as Zamora described the object’s entry and exit. Hynek then wanted to take some samples but had nothing to contain them, and Stanford offered him the use of some vials he had brought along.
Stanford was intrigued by a rock that had been pointed out by Zamora in one of the indentations. The rock had scrapes on it, and if they were caused by landing gear, Zamora reasoned there might be metal fragments left on the rock that could be tested. Hynek didn’t think enough of Zamora’s theory to take the rock himself, so Stanford returned later and took the rock for his own investigation. He had it tested that year at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Stanford wrote and published a book in 1976, “A Socorro ‘Saucer’ in a Pentagon Pantry,” in which he detailed initial results of the tests and alleged there had been intervention by the intelligence community in order to suppress them.
Hynek was dissatisfied with the Air Force’s handling of the case, and he continued his own investigation and re-visited Socorro twice. The case made quite an impression on him and is one of several he came upon that shifted him from skepticism to a belief that there was possibly an otherworldly explanation for some UFOs. Not long after his time at Socorro, Hynek put together an informal group of investigators and scientific consultants that would become known as “The Invisible College.” He then organized a more formal group in 1973 called the Center for UFO Studies.”
The Socorro case is a true classic in UFO history that challenged the belief systems of the many people who became involved. The sheer number of initial investigators ensured that there would be plenty of documents generated and archived.
It may interest the reader to know that this blog was written in Magdalena, NM, Lonnie Zamora’s town of birth, approximately 20 miles west of Socorro.