Officer Lonnie Zamora and “The Socorro Case”
by William J. Grabowski (*) April 5, 2013 in Podcast UFO.
On the evening of April 24, 1964 Socorro, New Mexico police officer Lonnie Zamora drove to the scene of what he believed to be a dynamite shack explosion. Instead of an accidental explosion he found an object which he described as an oval shaped device with a red insignia and two people in white overalls nearby. When the object began to emit flame from underneath Zamora retreated to behind his squad car, fearing an explosion. After taking shelter he saw the object lift off and managed to call in to the station as it roared off.
The Socorro Case was investigated by Dr. J. Allen Hynek for Project Blue Book and was officially listed as “Unidentified.” Recently it has been alleged that students from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology were behind the incident, but this explanation is controversial.
From Hot Pursuit to Close Encounter
According to the report later given later in the night by Socorro police officer Sergeant Lonnie Zamora, at approximately 5:45 PM (local time) on April 24, 1964, he was pursuing a new black Chevrolet from the area of the courthouse towards nearby rodeo grounds. Upon hearing a roar and seeing a flame to the southwest, approximately one-half to one mile away, Officer Zamora feared that a dynamite shack in the area had exploded. He abandoned the pursuit of the Chevrolet, which was merely speeding, and headed for the dynamite shack. As he drove towards the flame he attempted to observe it, although he was also obliged to keep his eyes on the road. In his later report he stated the flame was “about twice as wide at bottom than on top, and about four times as high as top was wide,”* and that the noise he heard was not an explosion or blast but a roar. The flame and noise were located behind a steep hill and Zamora had to try multiple times before he got his patrol car to travel the gravel road leading over the crest. By the time his car got up the hill he no longer saw the flame or heard the accompanying roar.
After climbing the hill the officer reports slowly proceeding on the gravel road while scanning the area because he could not remember the exact location of the dynamite shack. A shiny object approximately 150 to 200 yards to his south, and well off the road, caught his attention. His first impression was that it was perhaps an overturned car. Two people in white overalls were nearby the shiny object and Zamora felt that one may have jumped a bit, as if startled by the police car’s appearance. In his report he writes that he did not notice anything unusual about the figures, although they may have been the size of large children or small adults. Still thinking that this was a possible vehicle accident he called in to the police station to report he was stopping to investigate. He turned his attention away from the figures and object to pay attention to safely parking his vehicle while making the radio call. He states that he was on the radio while exiting his car and dropped the radio microphone. Retrieving and seating the microphone in its holder diverted his attention further.
There was then a new roar, very loud, and flame under the object, which started to rise. Fearing an explosion Zamora retreated to behind his vehicle. By now he knew the object was not an overturned car. He describes it as a white, ovular object that appeared to be aluminum or something similar. It was smooth and, except for a red insignia, featureless. Sketches made by the officer show that the object was wider than it was tall and the insignia was a T or cross-like character inside an inverted U.
(Ray Stanford maintains that this symbol was not the actual one sighted by Zamora, but a deliberate ruse designed by an Army captain sent by White Sands to help identify hoaxers hoping to gain credibility by borrowing details from the Socorro Incident). From his position well behind his patrol car Zamora saw the now silent object traveling over the ground and it passed only about a yard over the eight foot tall dynamite shack. It was traveling quickly and suddenly rose up and away as he returned to his car and again called the police station his radio.
Dr. J. Allen Hynek wrote of The Socorro Incident in his book The Hynek UFO Report. He includes the text of Zamora’s report and mentions that an FBI agent was in town. The agent heard of Zamora’s encounter and alerted White Sands. This garnered a high level of attention so Zamora was immediately interviewed and had completed a written report by 1:00 AM (local time) on the 25th. Soon after Dr Hynek himself was sent to Socorro to investigate on behalf of Project Blue Book. He himself saw impressions on the ground and burnt bushes in the vicinity, but nothing similar in the surrounding area. The incident was also investigated by Ray Stanford, who later wrote a book on the case, for NICAP as well as APRO, reporters and Air Force personnel. Hynek thought highly of the case and it officially was listed as “Unidentified” in Project Blue Book reports. He wrote that even Blue Book head Major Hector Quintanilla believed the case involved a real, physical craft but that it must have been some type of experimental vehicle such as a moon lander design.
Socorro Aftermath
New Mexico, of course, is no stranger to UFO sightings and encounters. It is home to Roswell, Dulce and Kirtland Air Force Base (which was central to Paul Bennewitz’s experiences). In the files of Project Blue Book there are many reports from New Mexico, including multiple 1949 and 1950 green fireball sightings in the Socorro vicinity. Zamora’s encounter gets more attention than most, probably because of his credibility as a police officer and later due to its official “Unidentified” status. There were other witnesses to the incident as well, including Larry Kratzer and Paul Kies, who were hauling a boat back to their home in Iowa. They were interviewed by a Dubuque paper in an April 29, 1964 article and again by investigators Patrick Crowley and Ralph DeGraw in 1978. Stanford notes other witnesses as well in his book Socorro ‘Saucer’ in a Pentagon Pantry.
Lonnie Zamora passed away in November of 2009 and although he was reluctant to speak about his experience, he never recanted his story.
* Quotes from Zamora’s report as recorded “The Hynek UFO Report”
For Further Reading:
* Dr. J. Allen Hynek, “The Hynek UFO Report“
* Ray Stanford, “Socorro ‘Saucer’ in a Pentagon Pantry“
* Ralph C. DeGraw, Socorro Witness Interviews, MUFON Journal, October, 1978.
(*) William Grabowski, Writer/editor, is the author of 7 books (ghost-writer of many more) and over 300 short stories, articles, interviews, and reviews. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, his writing career began in the early 1980s when publisher David B. Silva offered a position as book reviewer/interviewer with World Fantasy Award-winning "The Horror Show" magazine. The young Grabowski published interviews with Ray Bradbury, Peter Straub, Robert Bloch, Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, Dennis Etchison, John Skipp and Craig Spector, Dean R. Koontz, Bentley Little, Joe R. Lansdale, Robert R. McCammon, and Grabowski's friend and mentor, J.N. Williamson, as well as many others.
Grabowski's work was lauded on syndicated radio show "Coast To Coast AM" by Emmy Award-winner George Knapp, investigative journalist with KLAS/CBS-TV. Other work (for NYC's John Kluge) is on Forbes.com, 2 Paragraphs (under Joseph Mackin, original Internet editor for "The Paris Review"), Magonia Blog, Hellnotes, Horror World and elsewhere; in magazines "Cemetery Dance", National Public Radio-associated Wireless, and Daniel Howard's new anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and horror: "Voices of Imagination". Currently he reviews books for UK magazine "Beware the Dark" and "Hellnotes"; is a prolific ghost-writer of novels, novellas, and short stories, and has recently published a nonfiction book, "Black Light: Perspectives on Mysterious Phenomena". A new, "epic" novel, is also in the works.
Grabowski's work was lauded on syndicated radio show "Coast To Coast AM" by Emmy Award-winner George Knapp, investigative journalist with KLAS/CBS-TV. Other work (for NYC's John Kluge) is on Forbes.com, 2 Paragraphs (under Joseph Mackin, original Internet editor for "The Paris Review"), Magonia Blog, Hellnotes, Horror World and elsewhere; in magazines "Cemetery Dance", National Public Radio-associated Wireless, and Daniel Howard's new anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and horror: "Voices of Imagination". Currently he reviews books for UK magazine "Beware the Dark" and "Hellnotes"; is a prolific ghost-writer of novels, novellas, and short stories, and has recently published a nonfiction book, "Black Light: Perspectives on Mysterious Phenomena". A new, "epic" novel, is also in the works.
( From Wikipedia: The Lonnie Zamora incident was a UFO close encounter of the third kind which occurred on Friday, April 24, 1964, at about 5:50 p.m., on the southern outskirts of Socorro, New Mexico. Several primary witnesses emerged to report stages and aspects of the event, which included the craft's approach, din, conspicuous flame, and physical evidence left behind immediately afterward. It was however Lonnie Zamora, a New Mexico State police officer who was on duty at the time, who came closest to the object and provided the most prolonged and comprehensive account. Some physical trace evidence left behind—burned vegetation and soil, ground landing impressions, and metal scrapings on a broken rock in one of the impressions—was subsequently observed and analyzed by investigators for the military, law enforcement, and civilian UFO groups.
The event and its body of evidence is sometimes deemed one of the best documented, yet most perplexing UFO reports. It was immediately investigated by the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and FBI, and received considerable coverage in the mass media. It was one of the cases that helped persuade astronomer J. Allen Hynek, one of the primary investigators for the Air Force, that some UFO reports represented an intriguing mystery. After extensive investigation, the AF's Project Blue Book was unable to come up with a conventional explanation and listed the case as an "unknown" ).
