UFOs One Year at a Time: 1979

JUNE 19, 1979, RAUMA, RAUMAN MAALAISKUNTA, FINLAND
http://www.ufologie.net/indexe.htm

Two Finnish ufologists reported in a well known ufology magazine in 1981 that in Rauma, Finland, on June 19, 1979, at 12:30, two witnesses that lived in a rural area were sitting in their living room with the window opened when one of them caught sight of a silvery gray metallic cupola shaped object resting on the ground not too far away.

The bottom of the object was blue black in color and it was emitting a blue-black beam of light from its middle section. The beam briefly swept the nearby woods then switched off.

Both witnesses had now seen the object and one of them decided to have a closer look. One witness walked very close to the object and was able to see that it rested on small metallic legs.

The upper part of the object was transparent and inside two small humanoids could be seen. They were described a very "ugly" with crooked beak like noses and covered with green brown spots, they had large bulging eyes, pointed chins, large mouths and pointed ears.

Both wore shiny gray helmets with antennae with a yellow line on the middle. They also wore black gloves and clothing. The witness was also able to see numerous gauges and levers inside the object. The being nearest to the witness made a sudden move and the witness was suddenly blinded and fell back. The craft then took off emitting a whistling sound.

The witness eyes were irritated for the next several hours and he was briefly in a state of shock.

DECEMBER 22, 1979, TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA

(UFOs at Close Sight) A woman and her brother were driving just north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on December 22, 1979, at 06:25, on a foggy evening, when they came upon a really heavy fog bank, entered a dense black cloud, and when they emerged, there was not any other traffic around.

The case surfaces 11 years later when a ufology bulletin tells about it and indicates they had lost 20 minutes of time, and that under hypnosis, they recalled seeing a swirling black cloud and three blond haired and very human looking figures approaching their vehicle.

They were about five-foot ten inches tall, wore gray green coveralls, took the main witness apparently into an object with a green interior while her brother was left in the car. The woman was later brought back to the car.

Bridge to Mendonca Lima, Peru, 02-13-1979

During the investigation of the well known Bebedouro UFO abduction, the team of Prof. Ney Matiel Pires encountered in that city, not too far from Mirassol, another UFO account related by Sr. Valdemir Menussi which occurred in February 1979. At that time Sr. Valdimir was working on topographical elevations for the region surrounding the approach to the bridge to Mendonca Lima and the bank of the Rio Grande in the Territory of Minas Gerais just to the north of Mirassol. On the 13th of February, Valdemir and four companions decided to fish the river as they waited for some kind of delivery service. At about 17:45 in the afternoon on this clear day, their attention was urgently drawn to a strange phenomenon taking place. A huge circular disc-shaped flying object of some 30 meters (nearly 100 feet) diameter approached and flew over the group at only some 300 meters above them.

Following that, the tremendous aerial object took up a position very near and hovered there, suspended in the sky right over the river where they were fishing. At this point it was only some 700 meters away. The crew watched in amazement. All the observers could clearly see that the base of the flying disc was circular and flat with a small circular depression in the central part. The area around this concavity, at its periphery, was divided by radiating lines or segments, similar to the spokes of a cartwheel. In each of these segmented parts they could see an opening "like a ventilator". The superstructure on top looked like a large low cupola above the disc rim, flattened on top, with a second smaller cupola above that, and in the same way still, a third smaller, higher domed cupola on top of all. On the sides of the large rim, at the base, they could see dual recessed openings illuminated by some kind of fluorescent light.

The huge flying disc executed gentle, silent movements in all directions and occasionally discharged some fumes or gas from vents. About one hour later the huge ship was still there hovering stationary, a little to the south as the whole rim rotated slowly when suddenly, from the base, near the center, three luminous "tubes" of "blue neon light" were projected, like cylinders extended straight down from the ship to the surface of the river. They seemed to be transparent and were rotating, and looked like they were either discharging something into, or were drawing something from, the water.

After several minutes the "cylinders" were withdrawn from the water into the object, one at a time. A moment later the recessed opening at the left, on the rim, suddenly discharged a luminous beam, like electrical sparks, in the direction of the water. When the beam of sparks touched the water it became violently agitated in that local area. A few seconds later this ray of light disappeared and the recessed opening on the right side discharged another ray, similar to the one on the left, and repeated the same phenomenon of disturbing the water. Stunned by this remarkable spectacle, the five observers, each of them simultaneously, "received" the following telepathic message saying:

"Do not be afraid, nothing unpleasant will happen to you. Remain calm. We are working here. In the future Earth will know."

The second ray was stopped and the two recessed openings closed and disappeared completely, as though they had never existed. The huge object began to take on a blue luminescence, changing gradually to red and becoming more intense offering the observers a fabulous spectacular of light and color. In an instant the huge 100-foot disc-shaped craft projected itself straight up at incredible velocity and with little or no sound! The whole episode lasted one hour and twenty minutes.

As he narrated this account to Professor Ney, Engineer Valdemir displayed considerable emotion. His story was confirmed by the other four men. Now this is truly (sic) a remarkable account and should never be overlooked. Here were five expert observers, trained in the use of size, distance and elevation calculations, all engineers, all familiar with the need for technical accuracy, working on their job in full daylight, in full awareness and alertness of all their faculties, and least subject to delusion by darkness, clouds, haze or any other atmospheric phenomena because none of those existed at the time.

Their vision of the phenomenon was clear and unobstructed by anything for the whole time, and they were afforded ample time for detailed examination of the mammoth aerial craft, at close range, for one hour and twenty minutes! There were many other witnesses. How can this case be doubted?

http://www.ufocasebook.com/1979peru.html
http://www.fallingrain.com/world/

(Click pictures to enlarge)

UFOs One Year at a Time: 1968

CLUJ, ROMANIA- 1968In the morning of August 18, 1968, Emil Barnea, a 45 year old construction technician, which had been an officer in the army, known for his integrity, and his girlfriend Zamfira Mattea, aged 34, employee in a charity organization, were taking a walk and went towards the wood of Hoia-Baciu, near the city of Cluj in Romania. They were accompanied by two other people, a man and a woman, who remained anonymous becasue they wanted their privacy respected.

The weather was splendid, and the four decided to stop and have lunch under the sun in a small clearing of the wood, close of the road from Cluj to Bucharest.

Emil Barnea went to seek seasoned wood for a campfire. There was no wind, and the only sounds were the birds singing.

He then heard his girlfriend calling to invite it to come see something which intrigued her. It was 01:23 p.m.

Barnea came back from the clearing and looked at what her girlfriend indicated to him: above the clearing where they were, there was a round craft in the sky, rather large, of metallic appearance, which reflected the sunlight as if it were silver plated. The machine slowly flew above the wood, without any noise.

Barnea then rushed towards his bag of which he extracted his camera, he estimated the lighting and the distance and took a first photography. As the machine went always rather slowly, it had more than enough time to take a second shot.

He noticed variations of luminosity of the craft, and its fluctuating flight.

At this time, the craft suddenly accelerated, going up, and Barnea had just the time to take two more photographs before the machine was too far away to be seen. His fourth photograph was never publicly published because the other couple appeared on it, and they really did not want to be identified. This fourth photography was nevertheless shown by Emil Barnea to ufologists Florin Gheorghita and Ion Hobana later, it shows the machine who had become very small in relative size and as lost in a sort of cloud.

The four witnesses had followed all the maneuvers of the machine, which had lasted approximately two minutes, and then stood quite some time in awe and not knowing what to say. At the end of a few days, the shock which this incident had caused them had dissipated. At the end of one week or two, the film roll in Emil Barnea's camera was finished, and he developed it and made some prints. he was hesitant as of what to do about the observation and of the photographs, knowing that people talking of flying saucers were generally ridiculed.

(From UFO Phenomenon at Close Sight)

FEBRUARY 28, 1968

At 7:45 p.m., February 28, the three-man crew of an Eastern Air Lines ferry flight from St. Louis to Miami saw a string of unknown lights that caused the pilot "to take evasive action." Traveling at 18,000 feet, Captain Robert F. Reilman, Flight Officer A. J. Farmer and Safety Officer Rick Morrison first noticed "a red flashing light" at their altitude. In his report to NICAP, the pilot said the light was at their 11:30 position about halfway between Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida. "Who's this at our 11:30 position?" Capt. Reilman asked a nearby control center. The center replied that they had been in communication with a plane 15 miles away. "Well, this guy isn't 15 miles away," the pilot replied.

"He's at 11:30, has one flashing red light and three - now four red lights strung out - one red light turned to green." At this point, Capt. Reilman "prepared to take evasive action." The center radioed back that they had spotted no targets on their radar scope. "Come on," Reilman responded, "he's going right by us at our 9:00 position." The center still replied that they had no targets and that no balloons were in the vicinity. "I dropped the subject and proceeded to Miami," the Captain concluded. Pacings of ground vehicles have often badly frightened the witnesses, showing that official debunking and denials have not abated fears of UFOs. If anything, they have increased such fears, since many citizens believe the facts are kept from them.

source: http://www.nicap.org/newlook/section_III.htm

Plaine des Caffres, La Réunion, France-- July 31, 1968:

http://ufologie.net/htm/plainedescafres1968.htm

On July 31, 1968, at approximately 9 hours in the morning, Luce Fontaine, a creole, a "drunk cowboy" according to sources making fun of the event and a farmer married to a shcoolteacher according to other sources, 22 years old, was gathering grass for his rabbits in a small clearing, at the center of an acacias wood at the location"Le Tampon" in the Plain of Cafres, Reunion island.

He said to have seen there, during about fifteen seconds, an object of oval shape, with a translucent center and dark blue ends, stationed four or five meters above him at a distance of 25 meters. The machine measured some 5 meters broad and 2 meters 50 height.

Of blue and white color, the object emitted a raw whitish light compared with that of an welder. Sorts of large feet of metal were above and below the machine:

Drawing in J.P. Lavilgrand's report.

In the center of the craft, behind the translucent part, Luce Fontaine saw two characters of the humanoid type, of approximately 90 centimetres in height, dressed from the feet to the head of a kind of bumpy cosmonaut suit, which he called the "Michelin babas" since they resembled the famous mascot of the tires manufacturer. The two beings carried sorts of helmets which partially masked their face.

At the end of a few seconds, the two beings seemed to realize the presence of Luce Fontaine, they turn their back to him and the machine disappears in a few seconds in a dazzling flash of light and a hot air blast.

Luce Fontaine, according to various local journalistic sources, is presented sometimes as "a farmer considered as sober and honest", or "a cowboy who was returning of a party where alcohol abunded." The accounts do not specify if it is him who spontaneously went to find the Gendarmes to report what he saw or if the gendarmes came to challenge the man about a spread story, in any event, the Gendarmes of the island noted his statement to them as:

"I saw during about fifteen seconds an object of ovoid shape stationed at four or five meters above the ground. The object emitted a light like that of an electric welder. It had four to five meters in diameter and approximately two meters and a half in hieght. It was blue and white in its upper and lower parts. I was incomodated by the powerful light, but I could nevertheless distinguish, behind a blue screen, two characters who seemed to me to measure approximately 90 centimetres. The two characters were in an astronaut's suit."

"They resembled two "Michelin Babas", one of them was showing his back whereas the other faced me. When these two kind of cosmonauts saw me, there was a white flash and the apparatus flew away."

His interrogation by the Gendarmerie, within the framework of the investigation directed by Gendarmerie Captain Maljean, of Saint-Pierre, did not end in the publication of a commonplace explanation nor in the exposure of a hoax and the reports are not classified.

After the investigation by the Gendarmerie, it was the director of the departmental service of fire and help, Captain Léopold Legros, who had some knowledge as regards nuclear power, chemistry and biology, who realized that Luce Fontaine's hat and trousers were radioactive in proportions higher than the natural rates. He had used the detection equipment of Gillot airfield to that effect.

Legros then inspected the sighting's premises and also detected an abnormal radioactivity there, on six specific points aligned three by three on the ground. In addition, Luce Fontaine had a bleeding nose during the eight days which followed his observation, but there was no other noted consequence on his health.

J.P. Lavilgrand, of Daint-Denis de la Reunion, was the first "civilian" ufologist to learn about the case and he published a report, followed by a report by Mr. Albany of the GEPA ufology group. Captain Legros told J.P. Lavilgrand about the radioactivity measured on the site:

"In a radius of five meters around the point flown over by the UFO, eight points of radioactivity caught our attention. On grass tufts, on stones, we detected up to 60 milliRöntgens."

These measurements are not alarming, but quite abnormal. J.P. Lavilgrand furthermore pointed out that the measurements were made 10 days after the events, and that the abundant seasonal rains might have washed up the ground. He also noted the statement of Luce Fontaine, as follows:

"I was at kilometer 21 in a small clearing in the center of a wood of acacias. Bent towards the ground, I collected grass for my rabbits that morning, when I suddenly saw in the clearing a kind of oval cabin 25 meters away of me, hovering at 4 or 5 meters of the ground. Its ends were dark blue, the center was clearer, more transparent, a little like the windshield of a 404 car. Above and below, there was like two feet of brilliant metal glass."

"In the center of the cabin, two individuals, stood with their backs turned towards. That of left turned the head and thus faced me. He was upright, small, 90 cm approximately, wrapped feet to head in a kind of suit like the Michelin man. The one at my right-hand side simply turned the head towards me, but I nevertheless had time to glimpse on his face, partly masked by a kind of helmet."

"Both then turned their backs at me, and there was a flash as violent as that of the electric spark of a welding machine. All became white around me, a strong heat came, then like a blow of air, and a few seconds later there was nothing any more."

"I then approached the place where the machine had been; there was no trace. This object measured 4 or 5 meters in diameter and 2 meters 50 of height approximately. It was of bluish color, white on the higher and lower parts. I told all that to my wife and to the gendarmes, all believed me immediately."

The story was published in the local press, under the heading: "Flying saucer in the Plain of Cafres? Radioactivity slightly higher than the normal noted on clothing of the single witness, a farmer named Luce Fontaine who claims: "Two Michelin men were in the apparatus"." It then came to the press in mainland France, with numerous articles in newspapers like "Centre-Matin", "Le Courier de l'Ouest", "l'Alsace", "Nice Matin", "Le Provençal", "L'Alsace ", "Nice Matin", "Le Provençal": obviously, the fact that the Gendarmerie had investigated, and the traces of radioactivity, made the journalists more comfortable on whether the event was worthy to be reported.

On the very spot of the observation, one of the most famous night clubs of La Reunion was later built, and called "The Flying saucer", and the story is now as much the subject of the gibes in the island as a minor classic of the ufologic literature:

The Flying Saucer: a discotheque in the outer limits It is the last house on the road of the Plains. In 1958, a named Luce Fontaine, cowboy, returning from a party where there was large amounts of alcohol, saw an unidentified flying object crash on its current site. The myth of the "Flying saucer" was born. Today and for forty years, inhabitants of the four corners of the island and all generations have perpetuated the myth while shaking their hips on java, tango and techno music. A dance hall not like any others, where couples form and split, and forget their daily concerns.

Several more times, and notably a few years later in 1975, the Michelin men and their flying saucer came back to visit the island of La Réunion.

ABOVE: Incident at Redlands, California (4 Feb 1968)
http://www.nicap.org/redlands.htm

 This case concerns the reported sighting by some
twenty observers of an object with seven lights on the bottom,
which appeared as jets, and a row of eight to ten lights on top
which were alternating in color.  The object was reported to have
proceeded at a low altitude (estimated about 300 feet) in a
northeasterly direction for about a mile, to have come to a stop
and to have hovered briefly, jerked forward, hovered again, then
to have shot straight upward, stopped, hovered again, then wavered
to the northwest, gained altitude, and then to have shot off to
the northwest with a strong burst of speed.  It was under
observation for about 5 minutes.  The object was estimated to have
been at least 50 feet in diameter.  The estimates of 300 feet
altitude and 50 feet must be considered jointly; only the apparent
diameter can be judged, of course, but on the assumption of a
given distance the estimate of 50 feet was arrived at.  Clearly,
if the object had been several miles away, the unchanged apparent
diameter would lead to an unbelievably large object.

Claremont, New Hampshire-Dome-Shaped Object Hovers 10 ft above Ground

source:
http://www.nicap.org/newlook/section_VI.htm

Early on the morning of July 30, 1968, a couple (names on file at NICAP) finished working on their new house in the Robert's Hill district of Claremont, New Hampshire and were preparing to retire. Some lights in the field back of the house, apparently about 200 feet away, attracted their attention and they went to the window to see what was going on.

To their astonishment, they saw a dome-shaped object hovering about 10 feet off the ground. The underside of the object was illuminated, and the light covered an area about 20 feet in diameter on the ground. Since they were in a fairly isolated area with no telephone (they had just moved into the house), the couple became frightened. They could hear a buzzing sound, like a transformer, coming from the object. The time was about 2:30 a.m.

Mr. and Mrs. John Meloney of the New Hampshire NICAP Subcommittee investigated the report in close cooperation with the Claremont police. In their interview with the couple, they learned that the UFO had remained over the field until about 4:30 a.m. Then the humming became very loud, the light grew to high intensity and the UFO moved away at a low angle upward to the west and disappeared. In the garage, the family dog whined loudly as the UFO departed. Two separate groups of witnesses have been located by the Subcommittee. The reports seem to indicate beyond a reasonable doubt that something unexplained was in the area.

UFOs One Year at a Time: 1964- Lonnie Zamora and the "flying egg."

THE ZAMORA CASE: AN OVERVIEW

by B.J. Booth, UFO Casebook
http://www.ufocasebook.com/Zamora.html

ONE of the most intriguing cases of a UFO sighting with physical trace evidence is that of the 1964 landing of an unknown craft witnessed by policeman Lonnie Zamora. This event has been a mainstay of Ufology for almost 40 years, and is definitely one of those cases which will not go away. The Zamora incident began at 5:45 P.M. on April 24, 1964, in Socorro, New Mexico. Thirty-one year old policeman Lonnie Zamora was on patrol when he was passed by a car which was obviously speeding. Zamora took off in chase of the vehicle, but suddenly heard a loud roar in the distance, accompanied by a bluish, orange flame rising into the air. He knew that there was a dynamite shack not too distant from him, and he thought at first that there had been an explosion there. Abandoning the chase for the speeder, he pointed his police car in the direction of the shack. He radioed his activities to the sheriff's dispatcher.

As Zamora proceeded towards the rising smoke and flame, the aftermath of the explosion seemed to disappear and reappear because of the rising and dipping roads he traveled. The route he was on was a narrow gravel one, and it wound around a small gully. As he approached the location of the shack, he noticed in the distance a shining object, anywhere from 100 to 200 yards away. His first reaction to this sight was that it was an automobile which had overturned, and its gas tank had exploded. Upon a closer look, however, he discovered that it was an oval-shaped object without windows or doors. He stated that the object was about the same bulk of a medium-sized car. He was drawn to an unusual red insignia on the side of the object, and then noticed two beings that he thought at first to be children, dressed in white overalls. He recalled that one of the "children" seemed to jump (become frightened), upon noticing him.

Regaining his composure, Zamora immediately radioed the sheriff's office the details of the incident. He decided to get a closer look at the strange scene before him. He then heard a loud roar, and saw a bluish flame shoot out of the underside of the object. Afraid that it was going to explode, he fell to the ground to protect himself. Next, he saw the object lift off the ground, and head southeast, flying in a straight line for about 10-15 miles. The legs that he had seen earlier had disappeared. Having intercepted Zamora's earlier radio transmission, State Police Sergeant Sam Chavez arrived at the scene just after the craft disappeared into the sky.

The first military investigator on the scene, on April 25, was Army Captain Richard T. Holder, Up-Range Commander of White Sands Proving Grounds, along with an FBI agent, D. Arthur Byrnes, Jr., from the Albuquerque office. Major William Connor from Kirtland AFB and Sgt. David Moody, who was in the area on TDY, investigated for Air Force Project Blue Book on April 26. Dr. J. Allen Hynek arrived on April 28. Hynek also conducted a follow-up investigation on August 15, 1964. Following is an excerpt from Capt. Holder's report:

"Present when we arrived were Officer Zamora, Officer Melvin Katzlaff, [and] Bill Pyland, all of the Socorro Police Department, who assisted in making the measurements. When we had completed examination of the area, Mr. Byrnes, Officer Zamora, and I returned to the State Police Office [at] Socorro, then completed these reports. Upon arrival at the office location in the Socorro County Building, we were informed by Nep Lopez, Sheriff's Office radio operator, that approximately three reports had been called in by telephone of a blue flame of light in the area... the dispatcher indicated that the times were roughly similar..." Zamora told Capt. Holder and Major Connor, according to their notes:

"Noise was a roar, not a blast. Not like a jet. Changed from high frequency to low frequency and then stopped. Roar lasted possibly 10 seconds was going towards it at that time on the rough gravel road... At same time as roar, saw flame. Flame was under the object. Object was starting to go straight up slowly up... Flame was light blue and at bottom was sort of orange color... Thought, from roar, it might blow up..." When the roar stopped, he heard a whining sound going from high tone to low tone, which lasted about a second. "Then," he said, "there was complete silence... It appeared to go in [a] straight line and at same [constant] height, possibly 10 to 15 feet from ground, and it cleared the dynamite shack by about three feet... Object was traveling very fast. It seemed to rise up, and take off immediately across country."

In 1968, Dr. James E. McDonald, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Arizona, said that he had learned of an alleged patch of "fused sand" at the Socorro landing site: "A woman who is now a radiological chemist with the Public Health Service in Las Vegas was involved in some special analyses of materials collected at the Socorro site, and when she was there, the morning after [Apr. 25, 1964], she claims that there was a patch of melted and resolidified sand right under the landing area. I have talked to her both by telephone and in person here in Tucson recently." She had analyzed plant fluids exuded from the scorched greasewood and mesquite plants, and told McDonald, "There were a few organic materials they couldn't identify," but most of the sample was just sap. "Shortly after she finished her work," she told him, "Air Force personnel came and took all her notes and materials and told her she wasn't to talk about it any more." Analysis reports of physical evidence at the site have never been released to the public.

Two additional witnesses, Paul Kies and Larry Kratzer of Dubuque, Iowa, submitted statements to Dr. Hynek on May 29, 1968. In May of 1978 Ralph C. DeGraw, an Iowa investigator, interviewed them. They were driving just southwest of Socorro at about 6:00 p.m. that day when they noticed something shiny and a cloud of smoke near the ground in the vicinity of the town. Later they heard a newscast about Zamora's sighting and the significance of what they had seen became apparent.

Kratzer said he watched as "a round, saucer or egg-shaped object ascended vertically from the black smoke... After climbing vertically out of the smoke, the object leveled off and moved in a southwest direction." He said the object was silvery and had a row of apparent portholes across the side and a "red Z" marking toward one end. At the time he thought it might have been an experimental vertical-lift aircraft. Kies saw only a shiny spot and the smoke. An FBI report dated May 8, 1964, notes that Zamora has been personally known for about 5 years and is "well regarded as a sober, industrious, and conscientious officer and not given to fantasy." The report also confirms the scorched foliage and the imprints, noting that, "Each depression seemed to have been made by an object going into the earth at an angle from a center line [and each] pushed some earth to the far side."

Two years after the sighting, Major Hector Quintanilla, Air Force Chief of Project Blue Book at the time of the sighting, confided to intelligence specialists in a classified CIA publication that the Socorro case remained "puzzling." With the help of many other agencies, he had conducted an exhaustive check of military activities looking for an explanation, but none could be found. As other officers and investigators arrived, they discovered deep landing marks and footprints on the ground. FBI and Air Force personnel soon joined local authorities in the investigation, and found bent and burned brush in several places surrounding the spot where the object had sat. Measurements taken by police verified that there were 4 indentations on the ground; the distance between them formed a quadrilateral whose diagonals intersected at exactly 90 degree angles.

Zamora was known as a well-respected, reliable police officer with no hint of impropriety ihis life, personal or professional. He described the event in detail to all who reviewed this case, including renown UFO investigator J. Allen Hynek, who represented the Air Force at the time of Zamora's sighting. Immediately after the incident, he made a drawing of the insignia he saw on the side of the craft.

Although the Air Force's Bluebook was notorious for either debunking or misrepresenting cases they looked into, I was surprised when I read the CIA evaluation of this incident as provided by the Freedom of Information act. The following document was made available for public inspection on January 2, 1981. It was originally included in the CIA publication, "Studies in Intelligence," released in 1966. The brief, "Policeman's Report," was written by Hector Quintanilla, Jr., the former head of Project Blue Book.

"There is no doubt that Lonnie Zamora saw an object which left quite an impression on him. There is also no question about Zamora's reliability. He is a serious police officer, a pillar of his church, and a man well versed in recognizing airborne vehicles in his area. He is puzzled by what he saw, and frankly, so are we. This is the best-documented case on record, and still we have been unable, in spite of thorough investigation, to find the vehicle or other stimulus that scared Zamora to the point of panic."

The case received a great deal of press, and a lot of attention by UFO groups around the world. The one negative aspect of the Socorro incident, however, is that Zamora, though considered reliable by everyone who knew him, was the sole witness of the event. Naturally, any report is given more weight when multiple witnesses are involved. Zamora took such ridicule and kidding from members of the police force and local community, that he retired only two years after the incident.