Socorro / Lonnie Zamora landing (1964).
documentedclose_encounterLandmark High-Strangeness Cases
[DOCUMENTED] Apr 24 1964, Socorro NM: on-duty officer Lonnie Zamora reported an egg-shaped craft on landing legs with two small white-clad figures + red insignia, departing on roaring blue-orange flame; left 4 wedge imprints + scorched brush. Blue Book classified it UNIDENTIFIED/Unknown.
One of the most thoroughly investigated landing-trace cases and a rare Blue Book post-investigation 'Unknown'. Blue Book staff (T/Sgt David Moody, Maj William Connor of Kirtland AFB), plus APRO (Lorenzens) and NICAP (Ray Stanford) responded. Hynek investigated on-site (and again Aug 15 1964), privately calling it a possible 'Rosetta stone' with 'never...so unimpeachable a witness.' Soil/vegetation lab analysis was inconclusive (ordinary combustion). Competing explanations [DISPUTED]: White Sands Lunar Surveyor + helicopter test (Gildenberg/McAndrew, 1995), a New Mexico Tech student balloon-candle hoax (pres. Stirling Colgate), Klass's tourism-publicity claim, and Steuart Campbell's Canopus-mirage. The case helped trigger the independent Condon review.