by Charles Lear
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?
The case that first brought attention to this aspect of the phenomenon was the 1957 incident involving a series of extraordinary encounters in and around the small farming community of Levelland, Texas. Patrolman Abraham John Fowler was working the evening shift at the Levelland Police Department on the night of November 2, when the first of what would be a series of unusual calls came in.
Just before 11:00 p.m., a farm worker, Pedro Saucedo, called to report a very strange encounter that left him and his co-worker, Joe Salaz, shaken and mystified. According to Saucedo, they were in his pickup truck on their way to a farm ten miles northwest of Levelland. At 10:30 p.m., they turned off Route 116 (now Route 114), four miles west of Levelland, onto a side road. Off to their right, in a field, they saw a bright, blue flash, which drew their attention. The source of the light was a cigar or torpedo-shaped object around 200 feet long. As they watched, the object, glowing blue-green, lifted up and came towards the truck. As it did so, its color changed to bright yellow-white. Saucedo, thinking there was going to be a collision, jumped out and hit the dirt. Salaz remained inside and, fortunately for him, the object went over the truck. As the object passed over, the truck’s engine stalled, and the headlights went out.
The object gave off a roaring sound, its color changed to red, and air rushed in behind it as it flew off, leaving the truck rocking. Saucedo described feeling an intense heat from the object and estimated that it traveled to the east at 600 to 800 mph. As the object moved off, the truck engine started back up on its own and the lights came back on. Saucedo then drove to the town of Whiteface, ten miles away, which was the location of the nearest payphone.
Patrolman Fowler assumed that Saucedo was either drunk or making a prank call and dismissed his report. Then he received another call from James Wheeler of nearby Whitharral, Texas. Wheeler reported that he was on Route 116 on the east side of Levelland when he came upon an object sitting on the road in front of him. He described it as being egg-shaped, over 200 feet long and that it gave off a neon glow. As he got close, his engine and headlights both shut off. Wheeler got out of his car and walked towards the object. It lifted up suddenly to a height of 200 feet, its glow faded out, and it moved off. After it was gone, Wheeler was able to restart the car (or it started up on its own) and the headlights were again operational.
Several more callers described similar encounters, and Fowler began to take what they were telling him seriously. He contacted the Texas State Highway Patrol, informed them of the reports, and suggested they be on the lookout. He contacted Sheriff Weir Sam Clem and Deputy Pat Ira McCulloch of the Hockley County Sheriff’s Department. He also called the Lubbock, Texas, Police Department.
Thinking that airplanes might have been involved, Fowler called Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, and the Civil Aeronautics Administration. He was told by both that there were no planes in the area. After all the calls were made, there were 14 police cruisers from various police departments, along with Major Daniel R. Kester from Reese AFB, all on the lookout for mysterious objects.
Kester spoke with members of law enforcement, collected details of the reports and visited the sites where the encounters occurred. After gathering what he felt was enough information, Kester wrote up the original report that initiated the investigation by the Air Force’s Project Blue Book.
Sheriff Clem and Deputy McCulloch both became witnesses when they happened upon an oval-shaped light sitting on the road. Clem said that it lit up the entire road in front of them. Other officers reported distant flashes of light, and Levelland Fire Chief Ray Jones saw lights as his car engine sputtered and his headlights flickered.
Throughout the morning of November 3, and into the night of November 6, there were many more reports from the surrounding areas of Texas and New Mexico that involved lights, egg-shaped objects, and stalled cars. Reporters came into Levelland on November 3, and several witnesses, including Sheriff Clem, spoke to them about their encounters. The stories were written up for the local papers and sent out over the Associated Press and United Press wire. The news quickly went national.
Because of all the news coverage, the Air Force was compelled to send a Project Blue Book investigator to Levelland. On November 5, Staff Sergeant Norman P. Barth arrived at the Hockley County Sheriff’s Office. He talked to Clem and interviewed three witnesses including Saucedo and Wheeler. He then spent three hours in Levelland and three hours in Lubbock. He gathered some weather information and then left to write up his report.
In the case file, mentions of mist, rain and drizzle are circled and noted. After exploring various “possibilities,” including burning gas fires from nearby oil fields and St. Elmo’s Fire, the conclusion is that ball lightning was the cause of all the fuss. It’s an odd conclusion to have settled on because, at that time, most scientists believed in ball lightning about as much as they believed in spaceships.
In spite of the Air Force conclusion, the case remained significant in the minds of many researchers. They soon came across other instances where UFOs seemed to have caused electrical failures not only in vehicles but also in power grids. These cases caught the attention of the scientists at the University of Colorado who were part of the Air Force funded UFO study headed by Dr. Edward U. Condon. In the midst of what was primarily anecdotal evidence, this aspect of the UFO mystery was something that could be tested. An experiment was arranged to see if it was possible for electromagnetism to shut down an electromechanical system, and if it was, how much it would take.
Chapter 4 of the published report encompassing the entire study is titled “Indirect Physical Evidence.” The results of an experiment involving an electromagnet and components of an automobile ignition system can be seen in section 4, titled “Automobile Engine Malfunction and Headlight Failure.” The experiment was done at an unnamed national laboratory and the experimenter requested anonymity.
The electromagnet was placed coaxial to the arc of a spark plug, and there was a “slightly brighter spark.” When it was placed perpendicular to the arc there was a movement of the spark to the side of the electrodes. There was no interruption throughout the range of the electromagnet up to 20 kilogauss. To give the reader a sense of perspective, a junkyard magnet capable of lifting a car has a magnetic field of 10 kG.
A lead acid battery showed a voltage drop from 12.3 to 12, and a light showed no effect at 20 kG, but there were effects on coils, which differed according to whether they were housed in steel or aluminum. The coil in steel showed a spark interruption at 20 kG and the one in aluminum began to miss at 4 kG and stopped at 20 kG. The conclusion is that a car with a steel encased coil would continue to operate in fields less than 20 kG. But, because most ignition systems reside inside a steel car body, the researcher concludes that “very intense magnetic fields” would be required to stop a car.
According to a 2007 article in the online MIT Technology Review, U.S. Army researchers, not concerned with UFOs but interested in stopping vehicles, began experimenting with microwaves in 1997. At the time of the article, a private company, Eureka Aerospace, was developing a system for police use. Their system, a 200-pound unit attached to the top of a police car, would generate 640 Kilovolts that would be converted into microwave pulses. It would only be effective, however, if directed through a window, the grill, or any other non-metallic part of the car. It also only works on cars with electronic control modules, which were not used in cars prior to 1972. An update on military progress experimenting with similar systems can be found in a 2018 article on the online site The Warzone headlined, “The Pentagon Wants To Stop Marauding Vehicles With High-Powered Microwave Beams.” This system also targets electronic control modules.
So, it seems that it hasn’t been sufficiently demonstrated that electromagnetism could have stopped the cars at Levelland. Perhaps someone can come up with an experiment utilizing ball lightning.