UFOs Over New Mexico

Preston Dennett
UFOs over New Mexico is the first book to present a comprehensive history of UFO encounters in the Land of Enchantment. The fifth largest state in the U.S., New Mexico has an incredibly long and complicated history of extraterrestrial encounters, reaching back to the 1880s and continuing to the present day. Many of the encounters have had a profound effect on how we view the UFO phenomenon today.
Sightings, landings, UFO-car chases, abduction, even UFO crashes…New Mexico has them all. While cases stretch back more than 130 years, it wasn’t until 1947 when a gigantic UFO super-wave swept across the nation that people began to take notice. New Mexico, in particular, seemed to be targeted by the phenomenon. In 1947, many
of the state’s military and atomic bases experienced a series of dramatic low-level fly-overs by mysterious objects. The following decades brought hundreds of cases, including the incredible Farmington UFO wave, an incredible flap of anomalous green fireballs, a sighting by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh (discoverer of Pluto), a series of UFO/car-stalling incidents that caused concern at high levels of ourgovernment, and much more.
New Mexico has also produced many dramatic landings, including perhaps the U.S.’s most famous and best verified such case, known as the Socorro UFO landing – just one of many cases. Many cases of abductions or contacts have also occurred in NM,
including such well-known cases as the contacts of scientist Daniel Fry or Air Force Sergeant Charles Moody.
New Mexico is also the location of what may be the most well known and well-verified UFO incident of All Times – known as the
Roswell incident. The state has produced literally dozens of UFO crash/retrieval cases – more than any other state by far. Widespread cases of cattle mutilations and the unique phenomenon known as the “Taos Hum” provide a unique twist.
UFOs over New Mexico covers all these cases and more. Firsthand eye witness testimonies, official Air Force Project Blue Book
cases, and vivid color photographs will leave you searching the skies.
UFOs Over New Mexico
A True History of Extraterrestrial Encounters in the Land of
Enchantment
By Preston Dennett
Introduction
Chapter One: The Arrival
Chapter Two: The Roaring Fifties
Chapter Three: Sightings: 1960-1969
Chapter Four: Sightings: 1970-1979
Chapter Five: Sightings: 1980-1989
Chapter Six: Sightings 1990-1999
Chapter Seven: Landings and Humanoids
Chapter Eight: Onboard Encounters
Chapter Nine: UFO Crash/Retrievals
Chapter Ten: The Cattle Mutilations
Chapter Twelve: The Taos Hum
Chapter Thirteen: UFOs Over New Mexico Today
Epilogue
Appendix
“The sheer number of [UFO] reports from credible civilian, law enforcement and military witnesses from New Mexico cry for a serious investigation and a release of all evidence and material collected therein.”
Dr. Steven Greer MD (UFO Researcher, author)
“New Mexico has always been a ‘hot spot’ for UFO sightings…It would be hard to find a city, town or village anywhere in New Mexico without a reported UFO sighting.”
--Linda Kerth (journalist, UFO researcher)
“I saw a disk up in the air,
“A silver disk that wasn’t there.
“Two more weren’t there again today –
“Oh how I wish they’d go away.”
(Graffiti on a bathroom at White Sands Missile Range, 1967)
“WHEREAS, New Mexico has a unique and dynamic mosaic of cultural anomalies; and WHEREAS, extraterrestrials have contributed to the worldwide recognition of New Mexico through their many and ongoing visitations, sightings, unexplained mysteries, attributed technological advances, experimentations, expeditions, explorations, intrigues, provision of story lines for Hollywood epics and accomplishments of alien beings throughout the universe; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE HOUSE OF NEW MEXICO that the second Tuesday of February be designated “Extraterrestrial Culture Day” in New Mexico to celebrate and honor all past, present and future extraterrestrial visitors in ways to enhance relationships among all citizens of the cosmos known and unknown; and BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted into space with the intent that it be received as a token of peace and friendship.”
--Bill passed in 2003 by NM State Legislature
Introduction
Human remains from the stone age (more than 10,000 years ago) found near Folsom in the northeast part of the state make New Mexico the location of the oldest known civilization in the United States. The earliest identified culture in the area was the Anasazi Indians, which flourished in the San Juan River Basin in the first millennium. From the 12th to the 14th century, the Pueblo Indians (descendants of the Anasazi) lived peacefully in numerous towns along New Mexico’s largest river, the Rio Grande. In the 15th century, nomadic Navajo and Apache tribes arrived, bringing four centuries of conflict between the groups. In 1539, Spanish Franciscan priest, Marcos de Niza led an early expedition to the area, followed one year later by Spanish explorer, Francisco Coronado. In the 1560s, the area was named Nuevo Mexico by a Spanish explorer. By 1598, Spanish colonization of the area had
begun, and one century later, by 1696, the Spanish conquered the entire state.
In the 1800s, the state had a population of about 30,000, consisting of Pueblos, Navajos, Comanches and Spanish. In 1821, Spain
gave up claim of the area to the new nation of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the borders became opened for the first time to Americans, attracting merchants, trappers and others. In 1841, the new Texas Republic tried unsuccessfully to lay claim to the area. Then, in 1846, war broke out between the United States and Mexico. On August 18, 1846, New Mexico officially became a part of the United States. It was denied statehood, but instead, in 1850, became the Territory of New Mexico (which also included the area of Arizona.) In 1863, the two territories were divided.
For the next 62 years, New Mexico remained a territory, in part because Congress feared that democracy would not work in a Spanish speaking community and because residents feared higher taxes. However, in 1898, public schools began teaching English, and fourteen years later on January 6, 1912, New Mexico officially became the 47th state. By this time, the population hovered just above 200,000.
The fifth largest state, New Mexico has an area of 121,593 square miles, approximately one-third of which remains owned by the federal government. Its lowest elevation is 2817 feet at Red Bluff Lake, and its highest elevation is 13,161 feet at the summit of Wheeler Peak. The eastern third of the state is part of the Great Plains. The state is also very mountainous. The north central part of the state includes an extension of the Rocky Mountains. In the east are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and to the west are the Nacimiento Mountains. There are numerous mountain ranges and desert basins in the central and southwestern part of the state, while the northwest quadrant is part of the Colorado Plateau. The climate is mild and arid, with low humidity and a wide temperature range.
New Mexico contains more than 6000 species of plants, and 23% of the state is forested. The state is rich in natural resources, containing large reserves of coal, petroleum and natural gas. It is also extremely rich in minerals including resources of gold, silver, copper, iron ore, lead, manganese, molybdenum, zinc, potash, and perhaps most importantly uranium. The state ranks second in uranium production and contains half of the country’s known reserves of uranium.
In part because of its rich uranium reserves and because of its isolated location, New Mexico was chosen as a location for highly
classified United States’ Government research into nuclear energy. In 1943, the secret city of Los Alamos became the birthplace of the Atomic bomb. Later came White Sands Missile Range, Kirtland Air Force Base and nuclear research installations in Albuquerque. These new developments, and a fast-growing tourist industry soon caused the state’s economy to boom. By 1970, more than one million people lived in the state. And so New Mexico’s prominent position in the United States became assured.
Of all the state’s in the United States, New Mexico has one of the most complex histories of UFO and extraterrestrial encounters.
Sightings began early as 1880. However, it wasn’t until the arrival of the Atomic Age in 1945 that UFO activity exploded. Perhaps because of its research into atomics, the state of New Mexico – perhaps more than any other state – became the focused target of the UFO phenomenon. New Mexico’s UFO history is rich with high-profile UFO cases that have had a profound affect on how the phenomenon is perceived and understood.
The first sightings to gather attention occurred in 1947, when a wave of sightings swept across the United States. In New Mexico, most of the activity was concentrated over military and atomic installations. 1947 was also the year of the now-famous Roswell UFO crash, forever putting New Mexico on the frontlines of UFO research.
In 1949-1950, New Mexico was uniquely targeted by a wave of mysterious green fireballs – causing great concern at high levels of the Air Force.
The 1950s and 1960s brought dozens of “classic cases” including the Farmington UFO display, the Socorro Landing, continuing visitations over White Sands, Holloman AFB, Kirtland AFB and other sensitive installations, dozens of car-stalling cases, the abduction of Sergeant Charles Moody, the contacts of Dr. Daniel Fry, and a growing number of civilian cases. From 1948 to 1965, Project Blue book investigated scores of New Mexico cases, more than two-dozen of which remain unidentified.
The 1970s brought a new twist with the arrival of cattle mutilations, a phenomenon which was initially focused largely on New
Mexico and surrounding areas, but was later discovered to be widespread.
The 1980s brought more sightings, landings and abductions, and rumors of underground alien bases, the unique “Taos Hum” and the deepening mystery of animal mutilations.
The next two decades continued to produce virtually the entire
range of the UFO phenomenon. New Mexico, although it is one of the
lesser populated states, ranks 8th in terms of UFO sightings. Clearly, this
area is of great interest to the UFOs.
Some come along as we explore a true history of UFOs in the Land
of Enchantment.
The Incredible Wave of November 1957
(Excerpted From UFOs Over New Mexico)
The year of 1957 proved to be extremely active. In fact, what
happened in the month of November 1957 changed the way many
people viewed the UFO phenomenon, particularly regarding the UFOs’
ability to affect electromagnetic machinery.
The first hint of what was to come occurred on October 16, 1957
(twelve days after the launch of Sputnik). At 1:00 p.m., Miss Ella
Fortune was driving adjacent to the north range of the White Sands –
Holloman Air Force Base test complex when she saw a large, cigarshaped
white glowing object scoot across the sky, leaving a slight
contrail. She quickly snapped a remarkably clear color photograph of
the object, as it flew a few hundred feet alongside the highway.
However, events had only just begun. Two weeks later, at 6:20
a.m. on November 1, 1957, a secretary in the Sandia Mountains
observed a red, glowing cigar-shaped object hover overhead. After a few
moments, it rose out of sight. This sighting marked the first of a series
of events across New Mexico (and Texas) involving close-up UFOs that
caused vehicles to stall. These series of sightings, researchers later
learned, caused great concern among military officials investigating the
cases.
The first of the car-stalling cases occurred around 8:30 p.m. on
November 2, 1957, when an anonymous motorist driving through
Seminole claimed that a light swooped down from the sky ahead of him
on the road, dove at his car, causing it to stall briefly and the headlights
to fail, at which point the object rose up and zoomed off into the
distance. On that same night, at 8:00 p.m., Odis Echols, owner of Radio
Station KCLV, saw an unidentified “yellow object” traveling at high
speed over the town of Clovis.
The next day the UFOs were back. At 3:00 a.m. on November 3,
Corporal Glenn H. Toy and PFC James Wilbanks were on Army Jeep
Patrol at White Sands when they saw a “very bright light” high in the
sky. The object, which was described as egg-shaped and about 100
yards in diameter, then descended to about 100 feet above the old atomic
bunker used in the first atomic explosions. After a few moments, the
light blinked out. A few minutes later, it flared up again becoming
“nearly as bright as the sun.” It then began to descend towards the
ground at an angle and disappeared. Said Toy, “It looked like a
completely controlled landing.” A search party was sent to the area, but
was unable to find any traces of the object
About eleven hours later at 1:56 p.m., still on November 3, a test
pilot flying from Texas to Roswell, New Mexico landed at Holloman
AFB and told Base Operations that he had just encountered a large,
oblong, glowing object which had passed over his aircraft. It moved so
quickly, that it left what appeared to be a streak of light.
About four hours later, military police at White Sands made a
second sighting of a brilliant, vermillion-colored object an estimated 300
feet in diameter, over the range. At the same time, a Deming resident
claimed to see a UFO fly overhead.
Finally, at 8:00 p.m. on November 3, SP 3/C Forest R. Oakes and
SP 3/C Barlow were on another two-man Army Jeep patrol at White
Sands when they saw a glowing object hover above the test base, again
directly over the old atomic bunker. Oakes described the object as being
“200 or 300 feet long [and] very bright.” They were about two miles
away when the object suddenly began to ascend at a 45-degree angle.
During this time, its lights pulsated on and off. It moved slowly,
sometimes stopping, but continually ascending upwards until it had the
appearance of a bright star. After a few moments, it became a pinpoint
of light and disappeared into outer space. Again, the soldiers concluded
that the object made a controlled landing and ascent.
One day after that, at 1:10 p.m. on November 4, 1957, James
Stokes (a Holloman AFB high-altitude missile engineer and a Navy
veteran) was driving south from Alamogordo near Orogrande at the
southeast corner of the Proving Grounds when first his car radio faded
and then failed. Seconds later, his car engine stalled. As he rolled to a
stop, he noticed that several other cars were also stopped. Some of the
drivers were outside of their cars, pointing and looking at something to
the northeast. Looking in that direction, Stokes saw a glowing,
pearlescent egg-shaped object of “huge proportions” – he estimated
about 300-500 feet – performing incredible maneuvers. The object had
no visible portholes or external features. As he watched, it passed
overhead twice, sending down a strong wave of heat. It performed
several dives and sharp turns, finally moving at very high speeds, which
Stokes estimated at 2500 mph.
Stokes describes what happened in his own words, “I saw a
brilliant egg-shaped object making a shallow dive across the sky. Then it
turned and made a pass at the highway and crossed it not more than two
miles ahead. Then it moved away towards White Sands Proving
Grounds. As it passed, I could feel a kind of heat wave, like radiation
from a giant sun lamp. There was no sound and no visible portholes.
When I got back to my car and checked the engine, I found it intact but
the battery was steaming.”
There were also other witnesses, including Allan Baker, who
worked at White Sands Proving Grounds and Mr. Duncan, a resident of
Las Cruces, who said that when the object appeared, he took
photographs of it with his 35 mm camera. The witnesses noticed that as
the object maneuvered, the low-level clouds around it dissipated in its
path.
After the object departed, everyone’s vehicles performed normally,
and they departed the scene. Afterwards, James Stokes discovered that
his face had been sunburned by the object. He reported his sighting to
his military superior at Holloman AFB who told him it was all right to
talk publicly about his sighting. Air Force officials did request that
Stokes receive a physical examination from the Base doctors.
During a later interview with Coral and Jim Lorenzen, Stokes
seemed more reticent to discuss his sighting, and tentatively advanced a
theory that perhaps he had seen “some kind of atmospheric
phenomenon.”
Coral and Jim Lorenzen believed he had been pressured by his
military superiors. Writes Coral Lorenzen, “It was generally agreed
later that Stokes had changed his story somewhat after his interview with
the military authorities.” They met with Stokes again two months after
the incident. By this time, his case had been widely printed in
newspapers, and had in some cases, been viciously attacked as a hoax.
Stokes told the Lorenzens that he was quite upset about the hoax
accusations, and said that if he ever saw anything out of the ordinary
again, he wouldn’t tell anyone. In a taped interview on station KALG,
Stokes did say that what he saw was “definitely a solid object.” He
refused to elaborate and said only, “I just hope we’re ready for whatever
it is.”
Interestingly, Air Force public information officer Lieutenant
Colonel John McCurdy at the Missile Development Center revealed that
he had questioned Stokes extensively regarding the incident and was
convinced that Stokes had, in fact, had a genuine sighting.
Later Coral learned of additional witnesses to the event. One
witness was reportedly located by an officer at Holloman, however, the
witness declined to come forward. Lorenzen also spoke with a nurse at
the local hospital who told her, “I know a couple who were on the
highway near Orogrande when that engineer saw that saucer last
November.” The couple refused to come forward for fear of ridicule,
but told the nurse that the thing they saw was a machine of some kind,
and a real flying object, not a “natural phenomenon” as some
newspapers had reported.
There were also other sightings on the day of Stokes encounter.
Albuquerque housewife, Mrs. Dale Van Fleet said that at 7:00 p.m. that
evening, she observed a gold colored object larger than the full moon
hover at 45 degrees elevation in the western sky for about five minutes.
A few hours later, at 10:45 p.m., nearby Kirtland AFB was tracking
another (or the same) object on radar.
One day after the Stokes’ sighting, at 4:24 a.m. on November 5,
1957, Don Clarke (an electronics and radar technician employed by a
civilian contractor at Holloman) was at his home on east Alamogordo
when he saw an orange-red cigar-shaped object hover at fifteen degrees
elevation in the western sky. The object appeared to be directly over
Holloman. He ran to get his camera, but when he returned, the object
was gone.
Five minutes later, Lyman Brown Jr. was in his home also in
Alamogordo when he saw a yellow-orange light at 45-degrees of
elevation. The object moved quickly eastwards, then winked out above
Dog Canyon in the Sacramento Mountains. Seconds after the object
disappeared in the mountains, he saw a powerful searchlight beam rise
up and start “looping” where the object had disappeared.
Later that day, two reports came in (which were later reported to
NICAP), each involving bright objects that paced motor vehicles down
the highway near Hobbs. In each case, the objects passed directly over
the cars causing the car lights and engines to fail.
Yet another sighting occurred fifteen minutes later at 7:45 p.m.,
when bus driver Delbert Boyd observed a mysterious light about five
miles southwest of Albuquerque. The light would flare up in brilliance
and then become dim, eventually appearing to land outside the city.
On the very next day, yet another car stalling incident occurred to
two other witnesses. Just after midnight November 6, 1957, Santa Fe
residents J. Martinez and A. Gallegos were driving their car when they
saw an egg-shaped object with “red and green and yellow lights”
approach them from a low altitude. Although it moved slowly, it was
soon directly over their car, illuminating the entire area around them in
“a great glow all over.” At the same time, it emitted a loud humming
noise. As soon as the object was overhead, the car engine suddenly
died, and both their clock and wristwatch ceased to function. Seconds
later, the object shot off to the southwest and disappeared off into the
distance.
Later that day, at 6:15 p.m., an anonymous tourist reported his
sighting to policeman Erwin de Oliviera at Tucumcari. The tourist said
that he had seen a “huge red object” just outside of Vaughn on U.S.
Highway 54.
On the same evening, two additional residents from Santa Fe told
police that they saw a “huge ball of fire” which was traveling in a
southwest trajectory as they drove through the southwestern section of
Santa Fe.
One day later, on November 7, 1957, the UFOs were back. At
1:45 a.m., a group of five airmen (including Bradford Rickets, James
Cole, Dennis Murphy, Wayne Hurlburt and Harry Ulrich) were on duty
near a salvage yard at the north side of the base when they observed a
cigar-shaped object appeared overhead. The object made a whistling
noise, and as it moved overhead, it changed from white to orange to
red.”
About six hours after the above encounter, yet another case
involving bizarre electromagnetic effects in automobiles occurred in
Orogrande. A mere 20 miles from the above encounter involving James
Stokes, Mr. and Mrs. Trent Lindsey and their 22-year-old son Byron
were driving south on Highway 54. It was exactly 9:20 a.m. when
Byron noticed that the speedometer on their 1954 Mercury was behaving
strangely. Although the speed of their vehicle was steady, the stick on
the dial began to weave erratically back and forth between 60 miles per
hour (the speed they were actually traveling) up to the 110 miles per
hour mark. Not overly concerned, the three of them discussed the
problem and its possible causes. Unable to account for the anomaly,
they forgot about it until shortly later, when they spotted a strange object
in the southwest sky.
Byron Lindsey describes what happened, “The needle kept
skipping back and forth between 60 and 110 and making a clattering
sound. While the needle was jumping around, dad pointed toward the
southwest and said, ‘I suppose you think that is something.’ And it was
something. It was cylindrical in shape, silvery and moving…we traveled
some 15 miles before the speedometer corrected itself, and we had no
trouble during the rest of the trip. Strangely the needle kept wavering to
the side where the object was instead of toward the zero mark on the
speedometer.”
Byron Lindsey described the object as being made of highly
polished metal, with sharply defined edges, no visible means of
propulsion, no apparent controls and no lights or glows. The object
moved in an arcing trajectory at a high altitude towards Organ
Mountains to the southwest.
Around this time, so many sightings were being reported that,
although the Air Force tried to debunk the sightings, documents now
clearly show that they were aware of the situation. That same week a
group of similar close-up sightings caused numerous cars to stall in
Levelland, Texas. By this time, the media was beginning to notice. On
November 7, 1957, an article from the El Paso Times printed the
following editorial: “Some of the nation’s top scientists are ‘pretty
shook up’ about the mysterious flying objects sighted in New Mexico
and West Texas skies this week, said Charles Capen (a scientist at White
Sands). ‘This is something that hasn’t happened before.’”
Two days later, at 7:20 p.m. on November 9, a Tularosa housewife,
a college student and several others observed a large, brilliant fastmoving
light which approached their car as they drove along U.S.
Highway 54 (70 miles north of Alamogordo near White Oaks), causing
their vehicle’s lighting system to fail. The object approached from the
south, flew over their car, then change course to the southwest,
accelerating at a high rate of speed into the distance.
At the same time as the above sighting, investigators Jim and Coral
Lorenzen were in the area, traveling east on Highway 380, ten miles
from Carriozo, when they spotted “a bright light silhouetted against the
mountains to the east and which moved erratically until it appeared to
move south.
The Air Force was apparently dismayed that a number of their
employees were talking freely with the media about their encounters.
After the above wave of sightings and subsequent media coverage, the
following item was published in the official section of the Holloman
AFMDC Daily Bulletin, which is mandatory reading for all base
personnel, both military and civilian:
“Unidentified Flying Objects: On November 7 six airmen claimed
they sighted an unidentified flying object and did not report this to
proper Base authorities. They did, however, give this information to the
local press. Request that each member of the military and civilian
employed at this center, refrain from any public statement on political,
diplomatic, legislative or scientific matters or any controversial subjects,
such as UFOs, without first contacting the Center Information Services
Officer. This request is in accordance with AFR 190-6. Disciplinary
action may be taken against the offender.
Signed: Lt. Col. McCurdy, HDN
Coral Lorenzen writes that this regulation “restricts individuals at
Air Force installations in relating the details of UFO sightings” and that
“this regulation is a violation of the constitutional rights of civilians and
should be challenged.”
“NORAD Confirms Pilot Sighting”
(excerpted from UFOs Over New Mexico
On May 25, 1995, the crew of an America West Airlines flight was
flying from Tampa, Florida to Las Vegas, Nevada when they had a
dramatic encounter with a large unknown object which raced by their
plane. Piloted by Captain Eugene Tollison and First Officer John
Waller, America West Flight 564 was at 39,000 feet over north Texas
when – at 10:25 pm – the pilots observed a strange-looking craft just
below them at 30,000 feet. The object appeared to be about 400 feet
long. It was thin, cylindrical and had blinking pulsating strobe-lights
flashing in sequence along its length. As Flight 564 was just about to
enter New Mexico, they radioed Albuquerque Air Traffic Control and
asked them if there was any other traffic in their area. The following
conversation ensued:
Albuquerque: Cactus 564, say again.
Flight 564: I said, there’s nothing on their radar on the other centers at
all in that particular area, that object that’s up in the air?
Albuquerque: It’s up in the air?
Flight 564: Affirmative.
Albuquerque: What’s the altitude about?
Flight 564: I don’t know, probably right around 30,000 or so. There’s a
strobe, it starts from going counter clockwise. And the length is
unbelievable.
Flight 564 reported that the object flew by them and off into the
distance over New Mexico. As the object was not appearing on radar,
Albuquerque controllers decided to contact Cannon AFB radar
operations in Clovis, New Mexico. The following conversation ensued
between Cannon AFB and Albuquerque:
Cannon AFB: Cannon, go ahead.
Albuquerque: A guy at 39,000 says he sees something at 30,000. The
length is unbelievable and it has a strobe on it.
Cannon AFB: Uh-huh.
Albuquerque: This is not good.
Cannon AFB: What does that mean?
Albuquerque: I don’t know, it’s a UFO or something. It’s that Roswell
crap again.
The only other known traffic in the area at the time – other than
Flight 564 – was an Air Force F-117A Nighthawk stealth-fighter jet
from the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman AFB. Immediately after
Captain Tollison made his report, controllers alerted the fighter pilot of
the situation. The following conversation ensued between Albuquerque
and the Nighthawk stealth-fighter:
Albuquerque: Hawk 85, in the next two to three minutes be looking off
to your right side. If you see anything about 30,000 feet, one aircraft
reported something. It wasn’t a weather balloon or anything. It was a
long white-looking thing with a strobe on it. Let me know if you see
anything out there.
Nighthawk: You got any traffic off our left wing right now?
Albuquerque: I’ve got something passing off your 9:00 o’clock in about
12 at 31 westbound.
Nighthawk: It actually looks like something about a little lower than
us…just went off our left wing.
The object sped by the Nighthawk and disappeared off into the
distance. A few moments later, Flight 564 radioed Albuquerque again
and told them that the UFO was back, only this time the object began to
approach dangerously close to the airplane. Flight 564 reported:
Flight 564: We’re all huddled up here talking about it. With the
lightning, you could see the dark object. It was like a cigar shape from
the altitude we could see it and the length is what got us sort of confused
because it looked like it was three to four hundred feet long. So I don’t
know if it’s a wire with a strobe on it, but the strobe starts going left then
goes right counterclockwise, and it was a pretty eerie sight.
At this point, the object accelerated off into the distance and was
gone. However, Albuquerque control was concerned about the
unidentified craft, and decided to contact NORAD to see if they had any
information about the incident. The following conversation ensued
between NORAD and Albuquerque Air Traffic Control.
Albuquerque: I’ve got something unusual, and I was wanting to know if
you all happened to know of anything going on out here. I had a couple
of aircraft reported something 300 to 400 foot long, cylindrical, in shape
with a strobe.
NORAD: Oh?
Albuquerque: At 30,000 feet.
NORAD: We don’t have anything going on up there that I know of.
Albuquerque: This guy definitely saw it run all the way down the side of
the airplane. It’s right out of the X-files. It’s a definitely UFO or
something like that.
NORAD: And oh, you all are serious about this?
Albuquerque: Yeah, he’s real serious about it too and he looked at
it…saw it.
NORAD: Holy shit!
NORAD denied knowing anything about the craft. However,
thirteen minutes later, Albuquerque control called NORAD again to see
if they were able to locate the unidentified craft. NORAD replied:
NORAD: We had someone call earlier about a pilot spotting an
unidentified flying object?
Albuquerque: Yep, that’s us.
NORAD: Okay, well, hey…we’re tracking a search-only track kind of
up where that might have happened. We’ve been tracking it for about
three or four minutes now.
When UFO researchers later obtained copies of the live recordings
of the conversations from Albuquerque, they contacted NORAD who –
on December 16, 1995, responded with an official letter denying that
they have any information about the incident. They claimed tha there
was no correlation to any space debris. They wrote that they had “no
reports and no recordings” of the alleged incident and then asked
investigators not to attempt to use the FOIA to get records from
NORAD, as they were exempt from the FOIA.
These and hundreds of other cases are included in the book, UFOs Over
New Mexico, available at bookstores near you, and at online
bookstores.