File 023 · 24 April 1964
Lonnie Zamora, Socorro
Socorro, New Mexico, United States
Opened 9/4/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. New Mexico gully country south of Socorro. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
What was claimed
Officer Lonnie Zamora reported an egg-shaped object on the ground, two figures in coveralls, a roar, and burned brush.
What is on the record
Blue Book carried Socorro as unexplained. Physical traces were photographed. Hynek took the witness seriously. No craft was recovered. The Condon report later treated it as a difficult case, not a solved one.
At about 5:45 p.m. Socorro policeman Lonnie Zamora left a chase after hearing a roar and seeing a flame. In a gully he saw a shiny oval object on slender legs and two figures in white coveralls. They seemed to notice him. He took cover. The object emitted a flame, rose, and moved off in silence toward the southwest.
Captain Richard Holder from White Sands and an FBI agent were on the site that evening. They measured four rectangular prints and a burned bush. Hynek visited, puzzled. No aircraft at White Sands matched. Skeptics later proposed a student prank or a lunar-lander test; neither has a document that fits the time and place.
Zamora was a reluctant witness. He did not want the attention. The landing traces are in the Blue Book photographs. It is the cleanest close-encounter case in the American police record.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
Satellites were already up. The station was not. Starlink was not.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
- Project Blue Book / Condon report
- Project Blue Book / Socorro police
Paper on this file
Official or public documents that belong with this case — not a verdict.
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