Below is an extensive compilation of UFO reports in New Mexico and surrounding areas for June/July 1947 gleaned primarily from a review of over two dozen New Mexico newspapers, two El Paso newspapers, about 20 Arizona newspapers, plus a few miscellaneous sources. Many new cases from Colorado have been added in 2007 from Ted Bloecher's massive nationwide review of the 1947 newspaper UFO reports.
The most sightings in this compilation were 20 on July 8, the same day as the Roswell base press release and Ramey's telegram and debunking. Other "hot" days were July 6 with 13 sightings, June 27 with 12, July 4 with 8, and June 29 and July 7 with 7 each. Altogether there are over 110 sightings, about 40 from June (or before) and about 70 from July. Of these, about 70 are directly from New Mexico or areas immediately adjacent (e.g., El Paso and SE Arizona). The concentration of sightings surrounding the immediate White Sands area was especially heavy, making up approximately 50% of all N.M. sightings even though this was only about 10% of the state by area. Over 90% occurred during the two week period between June 25 and July 10. A complete review of Texas and Colorado newspapers would probably turn up many more sightings from the immediate New Mexico area.
In some cases, when reports published in different newspapers were brought together, some interesting patterns emerged. E.g., on June 27, at 9:50 am, two witnesses in widely separated locations (Albuquerque and San Antonio, N.M.) seemed to observe the same event -- a ball of light, initially high in the sky, diving straight down towards the ground and disappearing from sight in the distance. The approximate location of this event can be determined by triangulation from the directions given by the witnesses (southeast of Albuquerque and east of San Antonio). This would be near the towns of Carrizozo and Capitan (and also near the Brazel debris field). Also at 9:50 am, a railroad worker at Pope Siding, N.M., about a dozen miles south of the San Antonio witness, likewise reported a flame or white, light bulb-like disk high in the sky and falling towards the ground.
Perhaps simultaneously (though reported as happening about 10:00 am) were two other reports from Capitan of a shiny object streaking through the sky and possibly headed downward. At possibly the same approximate time, a Cpt. Detchmendy reported an object traveling southwest over the White Sands Missile Range. Also, at about the same time, was a report from south of Las Cruces of a ball of light streaking in from the northeast, which would be in the direction of Capitan and White Sands.
These newspaper reports were scattered over a seven day period in six different newspapers from Gallup, Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Hobbs, and El Paso. Only when they are compiled and compared does a possible correlation between the various sightings emerge. Another case that might be connected to this was the widely reported incident of a Capt. Dyvad from the Alamogordo base who had a ball of fire disintegrate beneath his plane while he was flying near Tulerosa. This happened on the same day (though the time wasn't specified), and Tulerosa is on a straight line between Capitan and Las Cruces.
[The same Capt. Dyvad was probably also involved in the demonstration of weather balloons and radar targets at the Alamogordo base on July 9 used to debunk the saucers and the Roswell incident and was probably an intelligence agent of some sort. (click here for more information) Dyvad tried to dismiss his encounter as a meteorite, as did the commander of White Sands Proving Ground, but this is scientifically implausible.]
Another relatively famous and widely reported incident involved 4 witnesses, 3 of them being Naval rocket experts, at White Sands Proving Ground two days later (June 29) who saw a bright, shiny, elliptical object traveling at high speed overhead and then suddenly vanishing. This event was reported nationally on July 8. The Air Force eventually tried to debunk this sighting as a balloon, though one would think expert witnesses like this would know the difference.
Another ironic example of the Air Force debunking their own people involved a sighting by a Project Mogul observer in late August while he was watching a test balloon carrying a radar target through binoculars. He spotted an object streaking at high speed over the Sacramento Mts., only to have it explained away that he was observing false radar targets on radar, even though this was a visual sighting! Amazingly the same sighting report notes that Mogul at some time had picked up multiple objects on radar at an altitude of 200 miles!
White Sands Proving Ground was involved in another sighting on July 4 (also July 8 -- see below) when the El Paso building inspector said that he and a carload of people saw two glowing disks hovering over WSPG before they suddenly dashed away.
UFO sightings at WSPG may date back to May 1947 during two V-2 launches in which the missiles went seriously off course. In the first launch on May 15, a military witness claimed an unknown object suddenly appeared on radar near the missile just before it malfunctioned. He also claimed to see a photo of a flying disk taken by one of the V-2 cameras. In the second instance on May 29, the editor of one of the Las Cruces papers said he saw two bright, starlike objects near the missile as it headed down to crash near Juarez, Mexico. The embarrassing Juarez crash received national front-page coverage. (See first two cases)
Objects diving at high speed were again reported on June 30 by a Naval pilot flying near the Grand Canyon. This report was considered among the most credible by military intelligence and comes from declassified Air Intelligence files.
Another object diving at high speed was reported over Phoenix the next evening (July 1). According to one witness, the object then stopped suddenly before taking off at incredible speed to the east. Two independent sets of witnesses from two different parts of the city probably witnessed the same object moving rapidly eastward at the same time.
An unusual clustering of sightings spread over a month-long period starting June 10 also occurred in sparsely populated southeast Arizona, adjacent to the Mexican border, near Douglas and Nogales, Arizona. There are about 17 such sightings listed here, 7 of these being of multiple objects, some maneuvering in unusual ways or traveling at high speed. Another half dozen cases could be added if nearby Tucson was included, with 3 more multi-object sightings.
One multi-witness sighting over Nogales on July 8 is noteworthy because an attempt was made the next day (called "unofficial reports") to debunk it as an Army radar target, just like the one they said had caused all the ruckus near Roswell. This seems to have been part of the nationwide military debunkery campaign to explain away all saucer reports as coming from radar target sightings.)
Denver, Colorado had a mass sighting on the morning of July 8 when many residents all over the city reported multiple discs (formations of up to 10 at a time) for a period of several hours. This compilation lists 5 such sightings from Ted Bloecher's review.
Another interesting cluster of sightings occurred the night of July 8 starting at about 9:30, when an El Paso man claimed that a thin, disk-shaped object came straight at his car. Ten minutes later, three witnesses in two different parts of El Paso reported a round and a "silver-dollar"- shaped object streak over the city and disappear to the north. Possibly not too long after this, a group of witnesses in Las Cruces 30 miles north of El Paso reported a large light approach rapidly from the south and break into three pieces when it was between Las Cruces and the Organ Mountains, about a dozen miles to the east. Immediately, it was reported, searchlights went up from the White Sands Proving Grounds on the other side of the mountains and searched the skies for an indefinite period of time. In this case,the reports came from 4 groups of witnesses published in 3 newspapers from 2 cities.
Another cluster of reports also happened in El Paso the previous evening (July 7) between 8:45 and 9:00 p.m. Overall, there was a very heavy concentration of reports from the El Paso region, including two from the neighboring Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez reported by the Mexican press.
At dusk, on July 7, William Rhodes took some famous photos of a heel-shaped object north of Phoenix, published July 9 in the Arizona Republic and some other newspapers. This incident got a lot of attention from military intelligence who immediately confiscated all prints from the newspaper and Rhodes' negatives soon afterwards. (This is well-documented from documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.) It is perhaps notable that one of the Denver witnesses the next morning described one of the discs spotted there as being similarly half-moon shaped, a description also used by pilot Kenneth Arnold from his sighting on June 24, the first sighting to get mass media attention. Also, according to some Roswell witnesses, the recovered crash object was similarly heel-shaped with a concave trailing edge.
Shortly after the Rhode's photos, up in Kingman, Arizona, at 10 p.m., two pilots had an encounter with two orbs of light on a collision path with their plane. When they maneuvered to avoid a collision, the lights separated, then rejoined over the city and continued on their way.
Again in Phoenix, on July 9, a neighborhood watched 3 disk-like objects maneuver overhead, moving against the wind, and passing through the clouds. The reporting witness said he ruled out birds and weather balloons, and also said he observed them through binoculars.
Another important sighting was made by Dr. Lincoln LaPaz and his family on July 10 about 80 miles north of Roswell. In his report to the Air Force, LaPaz insisted that what he saw wasn't conventional, since he observed it rise at a rate incompatible with a conventional aircraft. This sighting did not make the newspapers since LaPaz didn't report it to them. However, it did first appear in a rather famous 1952 LIFE Magazine article on the UFO phenomenon, though LaPaz remained anonymous.
LaPaz was a well-known astronomer and meteor expert and was employed by the Air Force on a number of occasions in secretive New Mexico UFO investigations, including the New Mexico green fireball phenomenon that started in late 1948. According to some military intelligence people (see, e.g., affidavit of Earl Zimmerman), LaPaz was also called in immediately after the Roswell incident and asked to determine the trajectory of the crash object.
The important point here is that the Roswell events of early July didn't occur in a vacuum. A large number of baffling aerial phenomena were reported occurring over the skies of New Mexico and neighboring areas at the same time.
(Note: Reports marked with an asterisk * involved former or active military personnel, police officers, pilots, scientists, or were special cases in some other way, such as the Rhode's photographic case in Phoenix on July 7, or the Roswell sighting on July 2 by the Wilmots. These cases are also marked on the graphical plots with an asterisk.)
Tuesday, April 29, 1947, (or the Tuesday before or after)
Tucson, Arizona, just after noon (New -- 2007)
Mrs. H. G. Olavick was in her kitchen and Mrs. William Down was out in the backyard patio. Suddenly Mrs. Down called her out excitedly. Somewhat north lay an unusual, isolated, "steamy-fleecy" cloud at an altitude which Mrs. Olavick estimated at or below 10,000 feet. The sky was otherwise completely cloudless. In and out of the cloud moved a number of dull-white disc-like objects that rose and fell in an erratic manner, occasionally disappearing into or above the unnatural cloud. The objects were round but not spherical, for they frequently tipped a bit, exposing a flattened-sphere form. She estimated that they watched the objects cavorting near the cloud for perhaps 5 or 6 minutes before the entire group suddenly disappeared within the cloud or perhaps above it. After about a minute, a new object, perhaps three or four times as large as the little objects, came out of the cloud on its east side followed by the the small objects, taking up a V-formation pattern behind it: 4 abreast directly behind, then 3, and 2 abreast in the rear, or 9 small objects in all. Immediately the formation shot off to the northeast, climbing out of sight in two to three seconds. She did not recall what happened to the cloud after the objects departed.
She and Mrs. Down thought they had witnessed some new secret American military vehicles and therefore didn't report it. Later she heard of the "flying saucers;" she and Mrs. Down, told their husbands, but they made such a joke of it that they stopped talking about it. Ted Bloecher, who collected the report 20 years later, said Mrs. Olavick contacted him because she thought she had seen the same 9 objects that Kenneth Arnold had seen on June 24 after reading an article about it. (Ted Bloecher 1947 review)
Thursday, May 15
*White Sands Missile Range, Tularosa Basin, N.M., 4:11 p.m. [possibly related to Roswell crash]
--A V-2 rocket went 40 degrees off course and crashed 6 miles east of Alamogordo, N.M. According to the Las Cruces Citizen, Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner, Whites Sands Proving Ground Commander, blamed the erratic flight on "peculiar phenomena." (Later the official explanation was a defective fin. Click here for more Commander Turner comments on White Sands' sightings from June 27.) Former N.M. State Representative Andrew Kissner interviewed a former officer from WSPG. According to Kissner, the "peculiar phenomena" was "a radar target that instantaneously appeared next to the ascending V-2 missile." Immediately afterwards, the missile changed course. Included in the V-2's instrumentation were 4 gun cameras in the tail and 2 midsection cameras. The military source also claimed to have seen a photo of a "flying disk" taken from one of the cameras. The object was of great concern to high-ranking officers at the Pentagon and civilian scientists within the Joint Research and Development Board, chaired by Dr. Vannevar Bush (alleged head of supersecret "MJ-12" saucer control group). Allegedly it was declared hostile and a "shoot down" order was issued that led to a series of flying disc crashes in New Mexico, including the well-known crash near Corona, N.M. in early July. [Las Cruces (N.M.) Sun Times, 5/16/47; Las Cruces Citizen 5/22/47; San Diego Union 5/16/47; Linda Howe's Earthfiles report (includes pictures of Las Cruces newspaper stories. Bush and the JRDB did in fact meet with acting AAF Chief of Staff Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg in a hastily called meeting on July 8, just a few hours before Roswell AAF issued its famous recovered flying disk press release. ]
Monday, May 19 (New -- 2007)
Manitou Springs, Colorado (near Colorado Springs, 100 miles north of N.M.), 12:30-1:00 p.m.
Seven employees of the Pikes Peak Railway, including Navy veteran Dean A. Hauser, mechanics Ted Weigand and Marion Hisshouse, T. J. Smith and L. D. Jamison, were having lunch when Weigand noticed a bright, silver-colored object approaching rapidly from the northeast. It stopped almost directly overhead at an estimated alitude of 1000 feet. Hauser said the object approached in a straight line, then “began to move erratically in wide circles. All this time it reflected light, like metal, but intermittently, as though the angle of reflection might be changing from time to time.” It was difficult to get a clear idea of its shape, and even viewing it through binoculars did not appear to “bring it any closer.” The group watched it perform more wild gyrations for 20 minutes as it climbed, dived, reversed its flight course, and finally moved off into the wind in a westerly direction. “It disappeared in a straight line in theWNW in a clear blue sky,” Hauser reported. At no time did anyone hear any noise. An account of the sighting appeared in the Denver Post of June 28. The next day the Post reported that the witnesses had been interviewed by representatives of the 15th Air Force headquarters and the results of the investigation would be sent on to Washington. It was written off by the Air force as “possible birds.” (Ted Bloecher 1947 review)
Thursday, May 29
White Sands Missile Range, ~7:30 p.m. [possibly related to Roswell crash]
Secret modified V-2 (Hermes B-2) goes 180 degrees off course and crashes in a massive explosion one mouth south of the border near Juarez, Mexico, generating front page news stories. WSPG Commander Turner blamed a faulty aged German gyroscope for the mishap. The editor of the Las Cruces Sun-News, who watched the launch, said he saw two "first magnitude stars" near the missile before it headed down to crash. According to the El Paso Times, Maj. Gen. John L. Homer, Commander of Ft. Bliss (north of El Paso), witnessed another explosion 25 miles north of the Juarez crash and 10 minutes before. Homer dispatched troops to look for missile wreckage 10-15 miles NW of Ft. Bliss towards WSPG. Kissner claims this second explosion was really due to a surface-to-air missile fired at one or more radar targets hovering to the southwest of WSPG (see alleged "shootdown" order generated by May 15 V-2 incident above). Further, allegedly, the many fatal plane crashes that immediately followed represented retaliation for the attempted shootdown. Pres. Truman appointed an Air Safety Board two weeks later to investigate the sudden upsurge in severe accidents. (Linda Howe's Earthfiles; El Paso Times, Las Cruces Sun-News, many other newspapers reporting Juarez crash such as N.Y. Times and L.A. Times, 5/30/47; wave of plane accidents documented in many front page stories on 5/30/47 and 5/31/47..Although Kissner's theories are interesting, they are mostly conjecture. E.g., the spike in fatal plane crashes might just be a statistical fluke with no connection to N.M. events.)
Tuesday, June 10
Douglas, Arizona (SE Arizona, Mexican border), 11:00 p.m. (Updated -- 2007)
--While meteor watching, Mrs. Coral Lorenzen saw a light glowing at the foot of the hills to the south in Mexico, "which soon took the shape of a tiny but well-defined ball, then rose into the air very quickly and was lost to sight among the stars." It was perfectly clear and the air was steady. The sighting lasted 4-6 seconds. She dismissed conventional explanations such as research planes, balloons, or missiles, writing this was traveling much too fast. (Coral Lorenzen, The Great Flying Saucer Hoax; p 4, also Jacques Vallee, Magonia Files) [In 1952, Lorenzen and her husband Jim started and headed the UFO organization APRO, Aerial Phenomenon Research Organization]
About Tuesday, June 17
Nogales, Arizona (Mexican border, 60 miles west of Douglas), unspecified time
-- On July 8, Louis Cefola, a Nogales watchmaker, reported that he first saw what he thought were "discs" three weeks before over the Washington Camp mountain range, about a dozen miles east of Nogales. He gave the matter little thought until the publicity about the discs broke out. He described the objects (number not specified) as sort of a reflection against the sky, circular in shape, and about a foot in diameter. (Nogales Daily Herald, 7/9)
Friday, June 20
Hot Springs, N.M. (probably present-day Truth or Consequences, N.M. ), unspecified time
--Mrs. Annabel Mobley and daughter Luanne traveled expressly to Albuquerque to report seeing three groups of three discs moving from south to northeast. At first they thought they were huge balloons. The discs "seemed to be fastened together by invisible cords" and were "turning in a wheel-like circle all at the same rate of revolution." (Albuquerque Journal, 7/2)
Sunday, June 22
El Paso, Texas, 3:30 p.m.
-- Dr. Oliver Dickson, an optometrist, his daughter, and W. A. Beck saw an object shaped somewhat like a blimp but pointed at both ends, like two pie-pans face to face, very bright and shiny like chrome but not reflecting the sun's rays and traveling south in an absolutely straight line over Mt. Hamilton. It disappeared in about 15 seconds over Mexico. Dickson estimated it traveled about 5 or 6 miles in this time period (or 1200+ mph). There was no smoke or noise. Comparing it to aircraft at the same distance, he estimated that it was about 30-40 feet across, 5 feet thick, and 3000 feet above the mountain top. (El Paso Herald-Post, 6/28; El Paso Times, 6/29; Gallup N.M. Independent, 6/28; Carlsbad Daily Current-Argus, 6/29; Hobbs N.M. Daily News-Sun, 6/28, Albuquerque Journal, 6/29) New! Photo
Tuesday, June 24
Near Mineral, Washington, 3:00 p.m., 23 miles WSW of Mt. Rainier
--The famous Kenneth Arnold sighting, the first widely reported UFO sighting in the U.S. press. While flying his private plane, Arnold said he saw 9 flashing, blindingly bright, disk- or saucer-like objects flying in a chain formation at high speed past Mt. Rainier, weaving and maneuvering in unison. Arnold also said they weren't perfectly disc-shaped, but were chopped in the back and came to a point. Arnold further determined the distance of flight south of Mt. Rainier and timed it, arriving at the then astonishing speed of at least 1200 mph. Arnold's sighting resulted in the coining of the popular terms "flying saucer" and "flying disk."
Wednesday, June 25
East of Pueblo, Colorado (about 70 miles north of N.M.), afternoon (New -- 2007)
--Driving home to New Orleans, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd M. Lowry "suddenly observed a strange, oval-shaped missile approaching at a high rate of speed. It was first seen first at an estimated 2,000 feet altitude, but descended rapidly, swooping down to 500 feet above their car. Following this object was another similar one, approaching on the same course. Said Mr. Lowry, "We were alarmed. As the first one approached, we could see it revolving at tremendous speed on its axis, even faster than its forward flight." As it reached a point just above and ahead of the car, "it suddenly veered off sharply to the right, and at the same time its companion did likewise." The objects then disappeared to the south in a matter of seconds. Mr. Lowry hesitated to report the incident because he was afraid it would not be believed. (Ted Bloecher 1947 review, originally New Orleans Times-Picayune, 7/7)
Navajo Reservation north of Gallup, N.M., 6:30 - 7:00 pm
-- Mrs. B. A. Tillery and her mother saw an object that looked like a large, glowing star, but it was still broad daylight. It disappeared in a short time in the southeastern sky. (Gallup Independent, 6/30; Las Cruces Sun-News, 6/30; El Paso Herald-Post, 6/30; Santa Fe New Mexican, 6/30; El Paso Times, 7/1; Albuquerque Journal, 7/1, 7/2)
Silver City, N.M., 8:00 pm (Updated -- 2007)
-- Dr. R. F. Sensenbaugher, a dentist, his wife and her sister, Mrs. C. B. Munroe saw a "luminous disc" approach from the north for 6-7 seconds before it disappeared over the southern horizon. He said it appeared to be "about half the size of the full moon", "very brilliant, giving off a green light", "far-distant", and not moving at an excessive speed. (Albuquerque Journal, 6/28; Roswell Morning Dispatch, 6/29) Sensenbaugher reported his sighting to meteor expert Dr. H. H. Nininger, who concluded that the object was "definitely a meteor and probably landed 200 miles south of Silver City, in Mexico." However, the Sensenbaughers could not connect the phenomenon with anything they had experienced before. (Ted Bloecher 1947 review), also Santa Fe New Mexican, 6/28, Los Angeles Times, 6/28)
Thursday, June 26
Grand Canyon, Arizona, unspecified time
-- While visiting the Grand Canyon en route to Berkeley, CA., Mrs. Leon Oetinger of Lexington, KY said she saw a large silver ball, looking something like an airplane, but falling too swiftly to be an airplane. She said it was in sight for one minute, but by the time she called her son's attention to it, it had "swooshed to almost the horizon point" and disappeared. She said her son Dr. Leon Oetinger, Jr., and Miss Carol Street of Winston-Salem, N.C. saw it too. (Phoenix Gazette, 6/30)
Friday, June 27
Albuquerque, N.M., 9:50 am
-- Albert J. Beevers, general yardmaster for the Santa Fe railway, saw a pale blue ball to the southeast drop rapidly from an angle of about 45 degrees and disappear within a few seconds behind some trees and buildings. (Albuquerque Tribune, 6/27) [This appears to be the same object in the next reports spotted dropping rapidly to the east or SE of Socorro at the exact same time.]
5 miles South of San Antonio, N.M. (near Socorro), 9:50 am
-- While driving south on the main highway , Mrs. W. B. Cummings saw a falling silver object, blindingly bright and shiny. It was too bright to make out the shape. It dropped in the east starting at a 1:00 o'clock position, fell for about 3 seconds, and then disappeared behind some trees at a considerable distance on the east side of the highway. It left a short white trail. She thought maybe it was something fired from White Sands Proving Ground (WSPG), but they denied any recent rocket firings. (El Paso Times, 6/29)
Pope Siding, N.M., 9:50 am
-- W. C. Dodds, track inspector for the Santa Fe Railroad, saw a flame or "white disc like an electric light bulb" "high in the sky" ("in the southeast portion" according to one story) when he was one-half mile south of "Pope", N.M., (probably Pope Siding, along the SFRR tracks, about 18 miles south of San Antonio, 40 miles south of Socorro, and about 80 miles north of WSPG). In an El Paso Times' story, Lt. Col. Harold Turner, commanding officer at WSPG, said he had received the report about Dodds' sighting and the object was reported as falling. According to the papers, Turner eventually equated it to the Detchmendy sighting below and attributed both to a meteorite. He also said he received the report of the Dyvad sighting below of something also falling from the sky and sent out search parties from White Sands in attempts to locate the objects or secure additional information. The Dyvad sighting was also explained away as a meteorite. (El Paso Times, 6/28, 6/29; El Paso Herald-Post, 6/28, Hobbs N.M. Daily News-Sun, 6/28, Albuquerque Journal 6/29, Las Cruces Sun-News, 6/29)
Capitan, N.M., about 10:00 am
-- Hollis O. Cummins said his mother noticed a shiny object streak through the sky. Later a neighbor, Erv Dill, said he saw a similar object going in the same direction (unspecified) at the same time, and believed it landed on Wilson Hill left of the "C" (possibly to the west or SW). (Albuquerque Journal, 7/2)
*Near Tulerosa (cited by one source as Oscuro), N.M., about 30 miles west or WSW of Capitan, unspecified time [Roswell related witness]
-- According to newspaper accounts, while flying in a private plane at 8000 feet, Capt. J. Dyvad (probably actually L. Dyvad) of the Alamogordo Army Air Base reported seeing a "ball of fire with a blue fiery tail" disintegrate about 2000 feet beneath him. Earlier, Lt. Colonel Harold Turner, C/O at WSPG had reported that Dyvad had seen "an object falling from the skies near Tulerosa." Dyvad attributed the sighting to a meteorite, as did Turner. Turner also made the rather bizarre claims that the meteorites were "coming closer to the surface of the earth" making them "appear much larger" and they "might look like a shiny disc if caught at a certain angle in the sun's rays." . (El Paso Herald-Post, 6/28; El Paso Times, 6/29, Hobbs N.M. Daily News-Sun, 6/28, Albuquerque Journal 6/29, Las Cruces Sun-News, 6/29) [Tulerosa is on a straight line between Capitan and Las Cruces.] (Click here for more on Capt. Dyvad, a possible Army counterintelligence agent, also working.with Project Mogul.)
*St. Augusine Pass, N.M., unspecified time
--Capt. E. B. Detchmendy of the Ordnance Dept. at White Sands, was said to have also seen "a ball of fire" while driving through St. Augustine Pass, east of Las Cruces and near WSPG, which he thought was a meteorite. (One source has the object traveling SW over WSPG and minutes after the Dodds sighting above.) Commanding Officer Turner at WSPG equated the Dodds and Detchmendy sightings and attributed them to yet another daytime meteorite. (El Paso Herald-Post, 6/28; El Paso Times, 6/29, Hobbs N.M. Daily News-Sun, 6/28, Albuquerque Journal, 6/29, Las Cruces Sun-News, 6/29; Berlitz & Moore, The Roswell Incident)
Mesilla Valley, San Miguel, N.M., 8 miles south of Las Cruces, 10:00 am
-- Mrs. David Appelzoller reported seeing a white object looking like an electric light bulb, only larger, with a yellow flame streaming out the rear, coming out of the northeast in the direction of White Sands Proving Ground and disappearing in the southwest. It appeared to be very low and traveling at a high rate of speed. (Las Cruces Sun-News, 7/2; Gallup Independent, 7/3) [Note: WSPG, Tulerosa, and Capitan are all NE of this position.]
Near Shiprock, N.M. (northwest N.M.), unspecified time (New -- 2007)
--Dr. R. L. Hopkins reported seeing something to friend and meteor expert Dr. H. H. Nininger. Nininger said he believed that what Dr. Hopkins saw "could have been a meteorite falling somewhere in southeast Arizona." No other details. (Note following possibly related reports, including from SE Arizona.) However Nininger also thought Kenneth Arnold (June 24) had seen mechanical objects. ( Bloecher 1947 review, originally Denver Post, 6/28/47)
Gallup, N.M. (90 miles south of Shiprock), 10:30 pm
-- Art Roberts, Gallup barber, reported seeing something sweep from the northeast and disappear quickly over the southern horizon. (El Paso Times, 7/1, Gallup Independent, 6/30; Las Cruces Sun-News, 6/30; Albuquerque Journal, 7/1, 7/2)
Tin Town, Arizona (near Bisbee in SE Arizona), 10:30 am (Updated -- 2007)
--John A. Petsche, an electrician/electrical worker at Phelps-Dodge Corp., and at least five other witness independently reported a disc-shaped object overhead and seeming to come to earth near Tin Town. Petsche said it was mirror-like and moved "like a flash of light." The disc wobbled as it moved but made no sound. A mile and half away, John C. Rylance, electrician, I. W. Maxwell, and Milton Luna observed the object come out of the northwest at an angle of 75 degrees. As it came into view, it was clearly outlined against one of the hills. Like Petsche, they were positive it was a material object and not an illusion or reflection. It did not look very large, was more oval-shaped than round, and seemed to be elongated at the rear. Vernon C. McMinn, electrician gang boss for Phelps-Dodge told reporters that several other employees also saw the object and descriptions tallied. (Coral Lorenzen, The Great Flying Saucer Hoax, p. 6, quoting Bisbee Review & Douglas Dispatch); Berlitz & Moore, The Roswell Incident; Jacques Vallee, Magonia files, who gives wrong date of June 17)
*Warren, Arizona (also near Bisbee), unspecified time
-- George B. Wilcox, a retired Army major, reported seeing eight or nine discs. "I saw they were perfectly spaced one behind the other and traveling at terrific speed. They passed over in intervals of three seconds. They were all the same size. They would flash and then disappear with the speed of lightning." (Flagstaff Arizona Daily Sun, 7/8; Phoenix Gazette, 7/8; Prescott Evening Courier, 7/9) [Very similar to June 24 Kenneth Arnold sighing]
12 to 15 miles east of Van Horn, Texas, between Pecos and El Paso, unspecified time
-- J. E. Shelton, Jr. of El Paso said he saw a silver disc that was "so bright it blinded you." (El Paso Times, 6/29)
Saturday, June 28
30 miles northwest of Lake Mead, Nevada, 1:15 pm PST [Air intelligence case]
--Lt. Eric B. Armstrong, Air Corps pilot of Brooks Field, San Antonio, left Brooks at 2:00 p.m.
CST for Portland, Oregon. An hour and 15 minutes later, at 1:15 PST, over Nevada wasteland, he saw a formation of five or six objects streak by his plane. He described them as white and circular and said they were in close formation in the four o'clock position off his right wing, at about 6,00 feet, flying a southeast course at an estimated speed of 285 miles an hour. They flew in a straight, horizontal path and seemed to be about three feet in diameter. They quickly flew out of sight in the opposite direction, behind the pilot.
The Air Force explanation for this sighting is "balloon cluster." (Ted Bloecher 1947 review)
Appleton, Colorado (near Grand Junction), daytime (New -- 2007)
--H. E. Soule, of the western Colorado farming community of Appleton, told Grand Junction authorities that he saw a two-foot disc of "non-shiny aluminum" color sail out of the northwest sky at an altitude of about 200 feet. The object "swooped" over his home, narrowly missing the roof, veered eastward and gained altitude quickly as it followed Highway 6 for about a mile, then turned southeast and disappeared from sight. Soule described its speed as "amazing," and said he heard no motor sounds nor saw any vapor trail. [ Bloecher 1947 review, originally Salt Lake City Deseret News, 7/5; St. Paul Pioneer Press (UP, Chicago), 7/5; Cleveland Plain Dealer (UP, Chicago, 7/4), 7/5]
Santa Fe, N.M., 5:00 pm
-- Former Santa Fe school superintendent Mrs. Alda Sheets and Mrs. K. L. Bickel and daughter saw two objects traveling West to East at a high rate of speed soon followed by a third. The Bickel daughter called their attention to the objects, at first thinking she was seeing the moon. (El Paso Times, 7/1)
Roswell, N.M., Nighttime
-- Aubrey Gregg of Roswell and some friends were driving along Border Hill, when "they observed a brilliant bluish light flashing off and on at regular intervals, high in the sky." Gregg said the light was moving very fast, but not as rapid as a falling star. The party witnessed the object for about five seconds before it disappeared over the horizon. (Roswell Morning Dispatch, 7/4) [Compare to July 4 Roswell fireball sighting.]
Sunday, June 29
Cliff, N.M. near Silver City, late morning
-- Rancher Arthur Howard reported seeing a shiny object fall in broken country. A search by two pilots found nothing, but they reported passing through a layer of "stinking" air. (Albuquerque Journal, 6/30)
*Tucson, AZ, 1:20 pm
-- Charles O. Weaver and his wife reported seeing 9 or 10 objects, very shiny, "like metal." They were moving in a southwesterly direction, two of them faster than the others, and were out of sight within a few minutes. Weaver, who had a pilot's license, was unable to estimate the objects' height. (Tucson Arizona Daily Star, 7/6, 7/7)
Camp Little, Arizona (just NW of Nogales, 50 miles south of Tucson), afternoon
--:Luis Bazurto and Armando Macias were sitting with their families in their front yard, when they saw about six disks fly in at great speed from the west and disappear toward the northeast. Macias said the objects looked about the size and shape of a large dinner plate and flew in circles, first in one direction, then another, before fading out of sight. He wasn't sure if they made a sound because of the noise of neighborhood youths who first attracted his attention. Golfers at nearby Nogales golf course said they saw nothing unusual. (Nogales Herald, 7/3; Phoenix Gazette, 7/3)
*15-20 miles ENE of Las Cruces near White Sands Proving Ground, N.M., 1:15 p.m. [nationally reported]
--Dr. C. J. Zohn, Curtis C. Rockwood, and John R. Kauke, all Naval rocket experts, and Rockwood's wife, were driving towards WSPG from Las Cruces when they spotted a bright, silvery disc in the east traveling straight and north at 10,000 feet at speeds estimated to be faster than sound. Zohn said it had no projections and appeared to be flat and elliptical in shape. Kauke managed to briefly see a vapor trail after he stopped the car, not reported by the others. They watched it for nearly a minute and then, said Zohn, it "simply disappeared" in mid-air in a clear blue sky. "It was clearly visible and then it wasn't there. It didn't go behind a mountain range." Zohn was sure it had nothing to do with V-2 rocket experiments. While not discounting a missile, he said it was unlike any missile or anything else he had ever seen. (Albuquerque Journal, 7/8; Clovis New Mexico Press, 7/8; Silver City Daily Press, 7/8; L.A. Times, 7/8; Washington Times-Herald, 7/8; Washington Post, 7/8; Washington Times, 7/8; Brad Sparks list of unknowns ) [Zohn was in Washington DC when he reported his sighting. Because of the background of Zohn and companions, this was a nationally reported case. The Air Force later claimed they.had seen a balloon.]
Smyer, Texas (near Lubbock), unspecified time
-- A Lubbock couple, who would not give their names for fear of ridicule, said they saw a disc "about the size of the moon" moving in a southwest direction. (El Paso Times, 7/1)
El Paso, Texas, soon after 4:00 pm
-- Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Burgess said they saw a silver-colored, top-shaped object, something like a balloon, and blindingly bright. It traveled north at high speed and seemed to "melt into the sky" in about 10 minutes. (El Paso Herald-Post, 6/30)
San Angelo, Texas, unspecified time
-- Mrs. Victor L. Salter and her 13-year-old son saw a disc-shaped object revolving slowly and slowly descending, looking the size of a washtub. Suddenly it shot upward at "an unbelievable speed." (El Paso Times, 7/2/47, Roswell Morning Dispatch, 7/2)
Monday, June 30
*Grand Canyon, near Williams Field (Arizona), 9:10 am [important air intelligence sighting]
-- Navy Lt. William G. McGinty was flying a P-80 at 30,000 ft toward the south when he saw two circular objects diving at "unconceivable" speed. They were gray, about 10 ft, in diameter, and appeared to land 25 miles south of the Grand Canyon. They were written off by the Air Force as probable meteors.Jacques Vallee "Magonia" files, Brad Sparks list of unknowns; Ted Bloecher 1947 review, from Air Technical Intelligence files)
Albuquerque,N.M., unspecified time
--A railroad worker named Price saw 13 silvery, disk-shaped objects traveling one another over Albuquerque. Initially they were headed south, but abruptly changed course to the east then reversed to the west before disappearing. Price alerted the neighborhood, who also watched the objects maneuver overhead. (Berlitz & Moore, The Roswell Incident; original source??)
Tucumcari, N.M., 11 pm
--Mrs. Helen Hardin reported on July 8 seeing a flying saucer from her front porch traveling east to west at high speed. It was slightly yellowish and looked about half the size of the full moon. She watched it for about 6 seconds. It was low in the sky and appeared to go down to the ground outside of town. She thought it might be a meteor, but it didn't fall as fast as meteors, and she also noticed a whirling motion as it neared the ground. (Originally Tucumcari, Daily News, 7/9; reported in Bertlitz & Moore, The Roswell Incident)
Late June or Early July, just before Roswell Incident
*Roswell, N.M., about 11:30 pm [important Roswell related witness]
-- In interviews in 1979 and 1981, Lt. Col. Jesse Marcel, Roswell AAF chief of intelligence in 1947, said that there had been many reports of flying saucers in the area just before his involvement in the Roswell Incident starting July 6 or July 7. One night, about 11:30, the base provost marshal, Major Edwin Easley, called him up and told him to get out to the base in a hurry. On his way, south of town, he saw six bright lights in a perfect V-formation flying north to south, from overhead to the horizon in maybe 3 or 4 seconds, much faster than any plane. (New!) When he got to the base, Easley told him he had just seen them too. Marcel said a GI also told him 2 or 3 days later that he had seen the same thing. (Interviews with Linda Corley and with Bob Pratt, Prattt interview reprinted by Karl Pflock in Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe) [Note: What Marcel described sounds similar to the famous "Lubbocks Lights" from 1951. Click here for a description in a famous 1952 LIFE Magazine UFO article; photos here. See also Marcel testimony on Wilmot Roswell sighting on July 2.]
Tuesday, July 1
Pima Indian reservation, just south of Chandler, Arizona, 9:30 am MST
--Robert E. Johnson, juvenile probation officer of Chandler county, reported seeing a lone silver-colored, discus-shaped object traveling at a "great rate of speed", headed north in a fairly direct way, and visible for two to three minutes. He estimated its height at 5000 to 10,000 feet. (Tucson Daily Citizen, 7/7)
Phoenix, Arizona, 9 pm
--Mr. and Mrs. Frank Munn reported witnessing an object moving east at great speed over Phoenix. Nunn stated, "It was moving too fast for an airplane and not fast enough for a falling star. It was larger than a star and appeared in the moonlight to be yellow in color." It didn't seem to leave a smoke or vapor trail. (Phoenix Gazette, 7/2, 7/3) [See also report immediately below.]
Phoenix, Arizona, 9 pm
--Mrs. Earl Tutt had her attention called to an object by her son Harold Nice, 14. It was a "bright object streaking earthward. It didn't waver a bit. When it seemed to be not far above the earth, it stopped suddenly, paused a second, and then took off eastward at incredible speed." Given the unusual description of motion, a local astronomy instructor ruled out a natural astronomical object. (Phoenix Gazette, 7/3) [The paper thought the two sightings were of the same object.]
Albuquerque, N.M., night
-- Max Hood, an Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce executive, reported seeing "a disc-like bluish object following a zig-zag path in the northwestern sky" for about half a minute before it disappeared in the vicinity of Volcano Peak. (Albuquerque Journal, 7/2; -Roswell Daily Record, 7/2; Portales Daily News, 7/2; Gallup Independent, 7/2; Santa Fe New Mexican, 7/2)
Wednesday, July 2
*Roswell, N.M., 9:50 pm [Important Roswell incident related sighting]
-- Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot saw a large glowing object zoom out of the southeast and head toward the northwest at a high rate of speed before disappearing over the treetops. The entire object glowed as if showing through from inside. Wilmot estimated it was in sight less than a minute, perhaps 40 to 50 seconds. It looked oval in shape like two inverted saucers or two old type washbowls faced mouth to mouth. Wilmot guessed it was 5 feet thick and 15 to 20 feet in diameter, 1500 feet high, and traveling 400 to 500 mph. He said he heard no sound, but Mrs. Wilmot claimed to hear a swishing sound. Wilmot was called "one of the most respected and reliable citizens in town." (New!) In a 1981 interview with Linda Corley, former Roswell intelligence officer Jesse Marcel added that Wilmot's son Paul told him (around 1980) that his parents had actually seen the object explode. (Roswell Daily Record, 7/8; part of story reporting the Roswell base press release of a recovered flying disk) [The Wilmot object has sometimes been attributed to the Roswell crash object; Marcel in the Corley interview seemed to think so too, and added that rancher Mack Brazel came to town a few days later to report something exploding over his ranch during a lightning storm.]
Early July (unspecified dates)
Ciudad Juarez (across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas), unspecified times
--In a July 7 AP story out of Mexico City, it was reported that 7 flying disk-shaped objects had been sighted over northwestern Mexican border cities in "recent days." Five were seen over Mexacali and two over Ciudad Juarez. No other details. The source was Ernesto Ruran, announcer for radio station NEFI of Chihuaha City, who reported this Monday, July 7. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7/8)
Friday, July 4
12 miles north of Carrizozo, N.M., morning
-- John Martinez and wife, and Father John Hallihan, all of Vaughn, N.M., were driving to Carrizozo when they saw an object in the sky below the summit of a small mountain range at a distance of about one half mile. Martinez judged it to be about 20 to 30 feet across, metallic in color, and shaped like a plate or saucer. Though they watched intently, it did not rise above the mountains nor stir up dust for a possible landing. Father Hallihan said he did not see it as long as his companions and would not venture to say what it was, but they had seen something. (Santa Rosa N.M. News, 7/11)
El Paso, Texas, noon
-- E. E. Polk said he saw a disc about a thousand feet high and traveling very fast in a westward direction. It was visible for less than 15 seconds. He described it as "the size of a pie plate with ragged edges." It was an off-white color. (El Paso Herald-Post, 7/9)
Near Organ, N.M. and White Sands Proving Ground, unspecified time
-- Harve Mokler, El Paso City Building Inspector, and four others in his car reported seeing two "flying discs" just above White Sands Proving Ground while driving back to El Paso. Mokler said he happened to look back while driving through the Organ Mountain pass to see them hovering over the Proving Ground. They appeared almost to be almost stationary for a minute, then darted out of sight. He added, "They were shiny and appeared to be about as large as an office desk." White Sands officials said they had no disc experiments there. (El Paso Herald-Express, 7/7; El Paso Times, 7/8)
Near Santa Fe, N.M., unspecified time
-- The Moises S. Sanchez family of Santa Rosa, N.M., were participating in a family get-together and picnic when they saw an object "going at such a speed it was soon lost to view." No other details. (Santa Rosa News, 7/11)
*Colorado Springs, Colorado, late afternoon (New -- 2007)
--A Colorado Springs Air Base pilot, who did not want his name to be quoted, reported that he had seen a disc-shaped object near the field after he had completed a flight and landed. While standing next to his craft, he glanced toward the east and saw a disc, "about the size of a dime" and about the same shape, making a rapid ascent into the sky. He said that the disc must have been extremely large, for it disappeared into clouds that were later estimated to be about 20 miles distant. He turned to several other pilots standing nearby to call their attention to it, but when he looked back, the disc was no longer visible. The ceiling was estimated to be at 20,000 feet at the time the disc vanished into the clouds. No official report seems to have been made. [Bloecher 1947 review, originally Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph , 7/6; Denver Post (AP, Colorado Springs, 7/5), 7/6; Casper (Wyoming) Tribune-Herald (AP, Colorado Springs, 7/5), 7/6]
Denver, Colorado, probably around 9:00 - 10:00 p.m. (New -- 2007)
Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Walgren, of 1574 Eliot Street, were sitting on their lawn watching the fireworks at the stadium at Denver University during the late evening when they were startled to see a group of objects fly overhead in an extended V-formation. They disappeared quickly in a northerly direction at a high rate of speed before the Walgrens could even get to their feet. The witnesses described the formation of discs as giving the appearance of a "rippling, V-shaped cloud." The undersides of the objects appeared to reflect the citylights. As they passed over, the Walgren's described hearing "a hollow, rustling sound, like an air blast in an empty barrel." ( Bloecher 1947 review, originally Denver Rocky Mountain News, 7/6/47)
Denver, Colorado, 11:00 p.m. MST: (New -- 2007)
--While driving home at from a holiday party, Mrs. John Perrin saw "an aluminum-colored saucer do a flip-flop over the Union Depot." She said the object had "a big dome," and "a tail of flame." She was certain she hadn't mistaken it for a roman candle, or other fireworks. ( Bloecher 1947 review, originally Denver Post, 7/6)
*Roswell, N.M., 11:15 - 11:30 pm [possible Roswell incident related sighting]
-- A very bright fireball with a long tail was seen by several witnesses arcing across the sky and dropping below the horizon north of Roswell. William M. Woody, who lived south of town and east of the base, recalled it coming out of the southwest and heading north [affidavit]. It had the color and intensity of a blow-torch flame. It moved fast, but not as fast as a meteor, and was visible for 20 to 30 seconds. A few days later, he and his father went to look for a possible meteorite, but access was blocked by a military cordon north of Roswell. Another possible witness was Corp. E. L. Pyles, who remembers a bright light streaking downward and disappearing over the horizon. He remembers this probably occurred before midnight and a few days before the news of the crashed disk broke in the local newspapers. The fireball incident does not seem to be recorded in any newspapers. However, two Franciscan nuns at St. Mary's Hospital, Mother Superior Mary Bernadette and Sister Capistrano, are supposed to have documented the sighting date and time in the hospital log, though this hasn't been made publicly available by the Catholic Church. (originally from The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt, who assigned the Roswell crash object to this fireball.) [Note: It is conceivable that the dates and sighting were confused with the Roswell object sighted June 28, with a similar description.]
Saturday, July 5
*Denver, Colorado, around 9:00-10:00 a.m. (New -- 2007)
--Ed Zimmerman, a veteran and rocket-motor experimenter, spotted a disc from his back yard. The object was directly over the dome of the capitol building, moving in a northeast direction. He was able to observe the disc with binoculars and described it as being shaped "flat, like a pie-pan," with "a bulge, or knob on top, like a pilot's cockpit." It was dull-aluminum in color and from it trailed a cloud of vapor, suggesting to Zimmerman some kind of jet propulsion or rocket power. He estimated the height of
the object at between 5,000 and 6,000 feet, its diameter at about 20 feet, and its speed between 1,100 and 1,200 miles an hour. ( Bloecher 1947 review, originally Denver Post, 7/6 