◆ SpookStack

pervisor, Police Chief Polo Pineda defines as “a good guy,” which, among police officers, can cover a lot of ground. Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, Director of the Institute of Mete- oritics at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, has known Patrolman Zamora for 15 years. His summa- tion: An honest and reliable man. That sums up the pronouncements of all who know the officer professionally and socially. What did he experience? At 6:50 p.m. on the evening of April 24, 1964, Patrol- man Zamora, who had been on duty since 2 o'clock that afternoon, was pursuing a speeding motorist along Socor- ro’s South Park Street when he heard a loud roar and saw a flash of blue flame off in the southwest. There was a dynamite shack in that general neighbor- hood and the officer’s first thought was that someone had been fooling around there and had set off an explosion. He headed out toward the flash which took him to a small rocky hill over which there was no road and which required three runs with the car before Zamora could breast the steep incline and start down the other side. To the south of him he could see a white object that, from the distance, 450 feet, appeared to be an overturned car with two figures moving about. Zamora could not make out the figures well; children? small adults? mechanics, possibly, since they seemed to be dressed in white cover- alls, From where he was, Zamora gathered the impression that the “persons” were experiencing some difficulty with their machine and had been inspecting the underpart of . it, but there were too many puzzling and even startling aspects to what he saw for him to want to close in alone on the disturbing situation. He picked up his mike and called Sergeant Sam Chavez, of the State Police, advising him of the peculiar circumstances, the location, and asking him to come out alone to lend assistance. The request that Sergeant Chavez come alone gave rise later to speculation, query and puzzlement, but in view of the remarkable scene to which Zamora says he was witness there can be small wonder that he preferred the audience of a single and reliable friend to that of a large group of col- leagues who might, logically, make him an object of ridi- cule if what he were seeing was gone before confirming witnesses could arrive. The call completed, Zamora drove across to the next mesa, hearing, as he went, some loud metallic banging. By this time he was close to the edge of the gully. He stopped his car, got out and walked to the edge of the slope. His nearness appeared to startle the two “white figures,” who clambered into the craft and, with “an ear splitting roar,” took off toward the southwest with a flash of brilliant blue flame, making a piercing whining sound. Zamora, thoroughly frightened, had thrown himself to the ground, but he looked up in time to see the ascent and direction in which the object was headed. He phoned head- quarters to alert people there to watch for the brilliant phe- Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010002-9 nomena that he believed was headed their way. Just then Sergeant Chavez arrived, took one Jook at Za- mora and announced: “You look like you’ve seen the Devil.” “Maybe I have,” Zamora replied, and briefed the trooper on what had transpired. Together they examined the gully. Clumps of range grass and one mesquite bush were burning and the officers found four wedge-shaped depressions forming a rough rec- tangle. Near one of these were four small circular indenta- tions. In answer to a call from Chavez, Captain Holder of the Army contingent at White Sands Stallion Site and an FBI agent who lived in Socorro, arrived, took measurements of the depressions, outlined and protected them with rocks, and asked Zamora for a thorough rundown on what he had witnessed. Meantime Chavez, who was supremely skeptical of all flying saucer stories, had examined Zamora’s car to see if it contained any equipment with which the depressions could have been made or the fires set. He had the highest regard for Zamora’s reliability and unquestioned integrity and knew him to be a sober man dedicated to his work. But he had to be certain that this was not a practical joke. He was completely convinced after this examination that with the time element involved, the lack of any evidence of a hoax and Zamora’s own stunned reaction, the patrolman had experienced exactly what he claimed. Zamora supplied every detail he could recall, and there were several. His description of the object suggested a long oval from which depended the landing legs, about 21% feet in length. The feet of these legs were what was be- lieved to have left the four wedge shaped depressions and it was theorized that the circular depressions might have been made by a ladder which, in seeking firm footing, had been placed twice -in position. There were markings on the side of the craft, an erro- neous description of which appeared in the papers. But Mr. and Mrs. Lorenzen, APRO’s directors, who arrived at the scene not too many hours after it was reported, having been alerted by their on-the-spot correspondent, secured the ac- curate description from Captain Holder and it was reported by Mrs. Lorenzen in her book Flying Saucers (Signet). “The markings were in red, consisting of a vertical line topped by two slanting lines that gave the impression of an arrow. This was surrounded by a horizontal line on the bot- tom, a vertical line on each side and a semicircle over the top of the arrow.” The theory was advanced that this may have marked a double door. The Lorenzens interviewed Zamora that afternoon, but in his talk with them he first denied having seen any “little men.” Then he admitted he had seen what Jooked like “small adults,” about one-third the size of the craft. His reluctance to discuss them stemmed from Zamora’s wish to cooperate with FBI men who had advised him against mentioning this aspect. He also refused to discuss continued on next page 25 Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010002-9