by Charles Lear
It is often the case with UFO investigators that once they get to an area where a UFO has been reported, the UFO is long gone, and all they can do is interview witnesses. This is important as a means of creating a record of the case that can be referred to by future investigators and researchers. But, occasionally an investigator gets the chance to be a witness and actually observe what had been reported. This happened to investigator Lee Speigel who was looking into a series of sightings by as many as thirty police officers and 50 civilians in Lumberton, North Carolina in 1975. Spiegel submitted a report on the case to the director of the Center for UFO Studies and former Project Blue Book scientific consultant, J. Allen Hynek. The case file resides in the archives housed by David Marler in New Mexico.
Along with Speigel’s report and contemporary newspaper clippings, there is also a series of paper slips in the file folder containing call information, presumably filled out at a CUFOS UFO call center. (If anyone can confirm this, please comment.) According to Speigel’s report, a violent thunderstorm in the area ended at 1:35 a.m. on April 3, 1975. A “call slip” in the case file has the information that at 1:45 a.m., Sheriff Ronn Thompson was monitoring the radio while working as the dispatcher at the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office in Lumberton when the first report of a strange object came in. It was seen by Robeson County Officer Phil Stanton and then by two officers from St. Paul. All three described the object as v-shaped with red, blue, and clear lights. A slip with 5:15 a.m., filled in for the time has the information that two Sampson County officers saw a similar object that put a spotlight on them as it moved off. One of the officers “clocked it” at 200 mph. It appears that there was a full fledge flap after 10:00 p.m. that night because a slip with 10:15-10:30 p.m. filled in for the time has information on the back that officers from four different police departments and 50 “citizens” reported seeing something.
As one looks into UFO history, there are cases that turn up again and again in books, blogs, magazines, newspapers, and documentaries. These are the “classic cases” and they’re classics because they still intrigue those who come across them. A case known as the “Coyne Incident” is one of those, and it has all the elements that make a good case: multiple credible witnesses, an official report, extensive investigation, and contemporary news coverage.
It may have had an unusual title: “
First up, Travis Taylor & Brandon Fugal on the Season Premier night of the HISTORY Channel’s “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, then then the main show guest, Mark Fiorentino shares his views on how the universe really works based on his study and research of Einstein’s Unified Field Theory and how the applications can be used to travel thru space (possible UFO propulsion), renewable energy, and future technology and more.
In the first year of the Air Force’s flying saucer investigation, then operating as Project Sign, a sighting was reported that was one of a few that convinced some members of the Air Force that flying saucers were interplanetary craft piloted by extraterrestrials. The witnesses were two commercial pilots flying for Eastern Airlines and one passenger. The pilots, after thinking at first that they were seeing a new Army jet, quickly thought otherwise.
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.
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.
