Official · Document · FBI
Officer Saw Silver Craft and Two Figures Nearby
He went to investigate a flame in the sky. Near the craft, where two figures stood, he heard thumps and a loud roar.
Released to the public May 8, 20262 min read
In brief
A police officer pursuing a car saw a flame, a silver craft, and two white figures. When he exited his patrol car, he heard thumps and a roar, but the account of the incident cuts off before revealing what happened next.
Summary
FBI Albuquerque field office report dated May 8, 1964, documenting the Socorro, New Mexico UFO incident of April 24, 1964. Special Agent D. Arthur Byrnes, Jr., who happened to be at the Socorro State Police Office on business that afternoon, responded to the landing site and recorded physical-trace observations (four rectangular ground depressions, three burned grass clumps, three smooth circular marks). The file also contains a multi-page verbatim narrative attributed to Officer Lonnie Zamora describing the object, its two white-coveralled occupants, the flame and roar at takeoff, and the insignia he later sketched. Multiple near-duplicate carbon copies of the same memorandum and narrative are reproduced in the file, plus what appear to be two pages of sketches at the end.
Incidents in the document
- 1964-04-24 · Approximately one mile southwest of Socorro, New Mexico, USA · Page 9
While pursuing a speeding black Chevrolet south of the Socorro courthouse around 5:45 P.M., Officer Lonnie Zamora heard a roar and saw a bluish-orange funnel-shaped flame descending in an isolated area. He abandoned the chase, crossed a rough hill, and observed at 150-200 yards a shiny aluminum-white oval object resting on two leg-like supports, with two figures in white coveralls nearby; one appeared startled and 'jumped somewhat.' After hearing two or three loud thumps, the object emitted a rising-frequency roar and a blue/orange flame from its underside, lifted off, cleared a dynamite shack by about three feet, and departed at high speed toward the southwest, clearing Box Canyon / Six Mile Canyon Mountain. Special Agent Byrnes arrived around 6:00 P.M. and observed four rectangular indentations (~16 x 6 inches, ~2 inches deep) angled from a center line, three burned grass-clump patches inside the depressions plus one outside, and three smooth circular marks ~4 inches in diameter. Zamora, described by Byrnes as a sober, conscientious officer 'not given to fantasy,' was sober but agitated, sweating, and pale. Zamora drew a sketch of a red insignia (~2.5 ft tall x 2 ft wide) seen on the side of the object before Sergeant Chavez arrived.