Lonnie Zamora Incident

Overview

ASSESSMENT: The Lonnie Zamora incident (April 24, 1964) is one of the BEST-DOCUMENTED UFO landing cases — a police officer witnessed an egg-shaped object on legs with two beings, left physical trace evidence, and was listed as 'unknown' by Project Blue Book. April 24, 1964, ~5:45 PM. Socorro, New Mexico. Sgt. Lonnie Zamora — Socorro police officer, 5 years on force. SIGHTING: 'Pursuing speeding car.' 'Heard roar, saw flame in sky to southwest.' 'Believed dynamite shack exploded.' 'Observed shiny object, 150-200 yards away.' 'Initially thought overturned car.' 'Closer: oval-shaped, no windows or doors.' 'Same bulk as medium-sized car.' 'EGG OR OVAL-SHAPED, SUPPORTED ON GIRDERLIKE LEGS.' 'Roar, smoke, flame from bottom.' 'TWO BEINGS — thought at first to be children, dressed in white overalls.' 'One seemed to jump (frightened) upon noticing him.' 'RED INSIGNIA on side of object.' 'Object rose to 15-20 ft, flame and smoke ceased.' 'Roaring 10 more seconds, then stopped.' 'Object risen and departed.' PHYSICAL TRACES: 'Burning brush, smoldering grass.' 'SHALLOW HOLES in ground — from object landing.' 'Ground landing impressions.' 'Burned vegetation and soil.' 'METAL SCRAPINGS on broken rock in one impression.' INVESTIGATION: 'Immediately investigated by US Army, US Air Force, FBI.' 'Considerable mass media coverage.' PROJECT BLUE BOOK LISTED AS UNKNOWN. 'One of cases that helped persuade Hynek.' 'One of best documented and most perplexing UFO reports.' WITNESSES: 'Several primary witnesses.' NM State Police Sgt. Chavez confirmed burning brush. 'Other officers noted smoldering grass and brush.' SKEPTICS: 'Lunar lander test by White Sands.' 'Hoax by NM Tech students.' CRITICAL: Police officer = trained law enforcement observer. Egg-shaped on legs = specific landed craft. Two beings = Close Encounter 3rd Kind. Physical traces = multiple types. Blue Book 'unknown' = highest classification. Helped convince Hynek = key case in skeptic-to-advocate evolution. Multi-agency investigation = Army + Air Force + FBI. 'Best documented' = high assessment.

Entity Type: Assessment — Lonnie Zamora Incident (April 24, 1964, Socorro NM, Police Officer, Egg-Shaped Object on Legs, Two Beings, Blue Book 'Unknown') is an analytical assessment synthesizing multiple data points.

Source Documents

Intelligence derived from 4 source documents:

• en.wikipedia.org — Lonnie Zamora incident
• cufos.org — 1964 Socorro CUFOS Zamora Files
• theblackvault.com — Project Blue Book Socorro UFO Landing
• theblackvault.com — FBI Files on Socorro UFO Landing