By Martin Willis
Since our blogger, Charles Lear is off the week, I thought I would inject a brief opinion about my thoughts on what has changed with UFOs since late 2017. What better time to do that than now with my guest, Lue Elizondo who played a key role.
It may have had an unusual title: “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program” but it certainly changed everything in the world of UFOs. There have been other great informative articles since in the New York Times, but this one was on the front page and it started the UFO ball rolling.
Those of us really fascinated with the UFO topic were really paying attention when To The Stars Academy Of Arts & Science launched in October of the same year and ran a livestream featuring their prestigious team consisting of: Luis Elizondo, James Semivan, Harold (Hal) Puthoff, Steve Justice, Chris Mellon, and president, Tom Delonge. We heard some amazing things that day, and there was a real bustle among the UFO community, social media was ablaze for several days, and then things seem to settle down. There was some talk here and there, but the needle wasn’t really moved too far from what I could tell.
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.
Tales of UFOs ejecting hot metal go back to the days when flying saucers were just becoming an American national obsession. In fact, the first flying saucer witness, Kenneth Arnold, encountered such a tale when he looked into the 
Reports of UFO sightings and alien encounters come from all over the world, from 
An April Fools’ joke that ended up embedded in the UFO mythos as evidence for the existence of aliens involved a photo depicting what has become known as the “Silverman.” Isaac Koi (real name withheld to protect his profession as a barrister) discusses this photo at length on his 
The 1959 sightings of Father William Gill in New Guinea, then an Australian territory, were well known and much discussed in the 1960s and 1970s. Given the multiple witnesses over two nights, observation of occupants and the credibility of the reporting witness, an Anglican missionary, it made for a sensational encounter. Even more incredible, the craft and occupants sighted seemed to respond to the witnesses throughout the encounter. The story was featured in Dr. J. Allen Hynek’s The UFO Experience: A Scientific Enquiry and The Hynek UFO Report, the double album UFO Encounters (which features Father Gill telling his story and Hynek’s commentary) and in the 4th issue of Gold Key’s UFO Flying Saucers comic book.
“You could describe it, I suppose, as a circular ship with a kind of deck and bridge on the top,” Father William Gill stated on the UFO Encounters LP. Further saying that it was “dull yellow, a bright orangey color. It wasn’t as though the thing was itself lit up all around. It was more as though some other light was lighting it up…. All around the whole object was a sparkling effect.” It was silent and as large, he estimated as a five inch object held at arm’s length. Up to four humanoids were seen on the top deck of the craft, as if they were working on something and an “electric blue spotlight” seemed to shoot into the air. Clouds moved in and obscured the object for some time but they eventually cleared allowing the craft to be seen again. Smaller objects, perhaps as many as three, were seen moving in and out of the clouds as well. Shortly before 11:00 PM heavy clouds moved in, obscuring the objects and rain began to fall.
A common element of UFO reports is that cars or other vehicles cease functioning during the sighting and often restart on their own after the UFO’s departure. Many researchers have speculated that this is an effect of electromagnetism, possibly related to an advanced system of propulsion. This seems to be a reasonable hypothesis and one that could be tested. All one would need would be a car and a source of electromagnetism. So, the question is, have there been any experiments done in laboratories, and have the results been published in a peer reviewed format?
One commonly reported characteristic of UFOs is that they are often seen near nuclear weapons facilities. One would think that this would get the attention of government authorities, and it seems it has. Robert Hastings is a researcher who looked into this aspect of the UFO mystery, and his work caused many people, including those in the media, to take a serious look at it. Then, at the risk of casting doubt on his credibility, Hastings came forward with the claim that he had had an abduction experience. While this upset some of the people who had been encouraged by Hastings to come forward with their stories of UFOs at nuclear facilities, one man told Hastings of abductions reported by men stationed at such facilities.
According to Robert Lee “Bob” White, in 1985 (the specific date doesn’t seem to appear anywhere) he was riding in the passenger seat of a car being driven by his female traveling companion. White wouldn’t reveal her name, as she was married, but later gave her first name as “Jan.” They had left Denver, Colorado, and were headed for Las Vegas, Nevada. Between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., near the Colorado-Utah border, his friend woke him and pointed out a light up ahead. White went back to sleep until his friend woke him again. According to White, the light was extremely bright at this point. He described seeing a lighted object about 100 yards away that was “absolutely huge.” His friend turned on the high beams, and the object shot up. It moved between two, blue lights that looked like horizontal fluorescent tubes. All the lights sped off, and as they did so, White saw a flash, and a small, glowing object fell to earth.
From the days of the earliest citizen UFO investigators, metals associated with UFO reports have been held up as evidence for extraterrestrial visitation. Labs have been employed in testing and claims have been made that the results support a non-earthly origin for the material in question. While some of these claims have been dismissed, others continue to be debated.
In our last 
According to the report, Donald Shrum, 28, was bow hunting with two friends in the Loch Leven Lakes region, southeast of Cisco Grove, on Friday night, Sept. 4, 1964. He became separated from his friends, and as it became dark, he decided it would be safer to remain where he was than to risk making his way back to camp in the darkness over rough terrain.