More Details Surface About Infamous Lonnie Zamora UFO Case

On April 24, 1964, one of the best-documented UFO sightings of all time occurred in Socorro, New Mexico. Police officer Lonnie Zamora was chasing a speeding car when he heard a "roar" and saw a long, narrow, funnel-shaped, "bluish orange" flame in the sky. The weather was otherwise beautiful. The sound went from high frequency to low frequency for about 10 seconds and then stopped. When he went to investigate, he saw a shiny object that he assumed was a white, overturned car with two people standing next to it. "These persons appeared normal in shape - but possibly they were small adults or large kids." Then, he heard the roar and saw the flame again, but this time the flame was under the object, and the object slowly rose back into the sky and then zoomed off. He radioed into the police station a more complete description of the object while he still had it in his sights: "Oval in shape ... smooth - no windows or doors ... Noted red lettering of some type ... aluminum-white." He also described four structures that resembled slanted "legs" that he took no notice of while the object was on the ground.

Credit: Ray Stanford

Several witnesses independently reported either an "egg-shaped" craft or a bluish flame at roughly the same time and in the same area - some of them within minutes of Zamora's encounter. These witnesses did not know Zamora, and their reports occurred long before Zamora's story had begun to spread. The air force conducted an investigation and concluded that "there [had] never been a strong case with so unimpeachable a witness." A doctoral student at the University of New Mexico later found that near the supposed UFO crash site, the plants were dried, the sand had fused, and there were two organic substances present that she was unable to identify.

Although there has never been definitive proof that this encounter occurred, a great deal of evidence has accumulated (some of which I have listed here and some that I haven't) that is consistent with Zamora's account. Several hoax theories have been definitively debunked.

Today, a correspondence between Ray Stanford, author of the book "Socorro 'Saucer' in a Pentagon Pantry" about the Zamora incident, and Richard T. Holder Jr., the son of Captain Richard T. Holder, who was senior officer when the incident occurred. Stanford alleged in his book that Holder told Zamora not to release details about the insignia to the press at the time of the sighting, as a way to verify future witness accounts. This letter from his son seems to confirm this account:

Credit: Ray Stanford

This letter not only serves to help quell concerns about details about the insignia that may have been hidden at first, but also reinforces the findings of the Air Force that Zamora is an extremely reliable witness. There is no way to know whether this sighting actually happened, but the evidence is certainly compelling.