Wednesday, August 6, 2008

'UFO Hunters' invade Socorro

History Channel crew films episode about "big case" in 1964

T.S. Last El Defensor Chieftain General Manager

TSLAST The story of the 1964 Socorro UFO landing is about to get even more attention.

A crew with the History Channel was in town this week to document the incident for its series "UFO Hunters." The Socorro segment is scheduled to be televised in October as the sixth episode in the show's second season.

Pat Uskert is one of the show's hosts. He said it was only a matter of time before they came to investigate the Socorro sighting.

"This is such a big case, we had to visit Socorro," he said. "We want to touch on the best UFO evidence and the best cases, because people want to know about this UFO thing. So we're looking at the best evidence, and every book since 1964 — from Project Blue Book to the Condon Report — talks about this incident. We wouldn't be very good UFO hunters if we didn't come here."

The Socorro UFO sighting occurred April 24, 1964. Lonnie Zamora, a respected Socorro police officer, broke off a chase with a speeder after hearing what he described as a blast or a roar. Thinking that perhaps an explosives storage building might have blown up, he investigated and came upon an object in an arroyo. He got to within about 50 feet of the object when it took off and flew away, leaving burned brush and impressions in the soil.

A traveler passing through town on U.S. 60 also observed a UFO about the same time. Other law enforcement officers observed the marks the craft left behind minutes after Zamora called the dispatch center to report what had happened.

The History Channel crew visited the landing site with Socorro Police Chief Lawrence Romero, who arranged for the crew to rendezvous with Zamora at the site Monday morning.

Uskert said Zamora told the story of what happened that day, and that it should make for an intriguing episode.

"There's a lot of compelling circumstantial evidence in this case," Uskert said. "Police officers were on scene soon after it happened to verify what Lonnie Zamora saw. Everyone is unanimous about Lonnie's integrity as a police officer and citizen. One of the things that makes it such a great case is Lonnie."

Uskert said the Socorro incident has similarities to another famous UFO case: the 1980 Bentwaters Incident in England. Both were reported by extremely credible sources, he said, and in both cases there was evidence of singed foliage and impressions in the earth.

Uskert also interviewed local historian Paul Harden, who has become a bit of an authority on the sighting. His thoroughly researched account of the incident and what transpired afterwards appeared in the Aug. 2 edition of El Defensor Chieftain.

The Socorro landing site has also been in the news lately because the city is considering placing a marker at the site, which is on property owned by Katherine Richardson.

Uskert said the History Channel doesn't draw any conclusions from its investigation. When asked what he thought about the Socorro UFO landing, he said, "I don't think we can really know what happened, but something happened. Any theory would be speculation, and that's what the show is about. We just focus on the facts and let the audience decide what really happened."

tslast@dchieftain.com

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