X Descending (38 page)

What about the choice of the unusual name “ScorpWorks”? It was one of the questions I addressed to the AFRL Public Relations Office and, as expected, they acknowledged that the name is a play on the infamous Skunkworks, the secretive advanced aircraft division of Lockheed. The reference to a scorpion is supposed to reflect the Southwest flavor of their New Mexico location. But a scorpion being selected to symbolize the types of weapons the ScorpWorks develops, directed energy beam weapons with painful effects, also brought to mind what Paul Bennewitz complained about. It is what scorpions do. When a scorpion strikes…it stings.

As of this writing I am still waiting for a reply to any of several emails and FOIA requests to the Air Force Research Lab for information on the history of the ScorpWorks. Reportedly in existence since 1992, I am curious what research efforts might have preceded the organization of a group specifically tasked with developing highly targetable, man-portable directed-energy weapons. What work might have been going on specifically in the area of Kirtland AFB in the early 1980s? As sensitive as the issue of directed-energy weapons and human targets has become, we can only guess what more lethal designs exist within other classified programs.

Unfortunately, there is probably little chance the public will ever know whether the bizarre incidents that occurred in the Bennewitz home had any connection to the directed energy programs discussed here. Is it possible that classified research going on at Kirtland AFB in the early 1980s, perhaps a precursor to a group like the ScorpWorks, could have played a role in the strange things Paul Bennewitz experienced? How can we even hope to answer such a question? Perhaps Paul was the unwitting target of an operation to make him appear delusional that made ingenious use of a classified technology being developed nearby. He was certainly in the right area for it. But the idea that anyone in a position to protect citizens would stoop to something like this is almost too troubling to believe. Maybe that was the point.

Appendix C

The Socorro Sighting

The experience of Lonnie Zamora, on April 24, 1964, stands as one of the most profound UFO events in the modern history of the phenomenon. To this day, it remains a case in which all the facts involved support the witnesses’ claims, and is the kind of case that makes the UFO phenomenon such an enduring mystery. Lonnie Zamora saw a highly unusual device of unknown origin, what can only be described as a “craft” of some kind, and he reported seeing what he believed were occupants. Despite the controversy that often surrounds the subject of UFOs, the incident at Socorro remains a classic example of what the UFO phenomenon is all about.

The following is based on information I have personally gathered from various sources, including conversations in person and by telephone with Mr. Lonnie Zamora. This is not intended to be a complete report on Lonnie Zamora’s experience. It is intended to provide some fresh details about the case and to clarify others. More than anything else I have made every effort to ensure that what is here is the truth.

I owe a great deal of gratitude to Mr. Ray Stanford, one of the most thorough and knowledgeable investigators I have met. He arrived in Socorro within four days of the incident and authored the definitive book on Zamora’s experience and the subsequent investigation. I recommend it to anyone seriously interested in this case and in the subject of UFO’s in general. “
Socorro Saucer” in a Pentagon Pantry
can be obtained directly from the author
⁹²
, though copies can also be purchased online and are often found in major libraries.

Socorro is a small town located about an hour’s drive south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. In April 1964, Lonnie Zamora was a police officer with the City of Socorro. Late in the afternoon on April, 24th, he had begun to follow a speeding car when, hearing a loud roar, he dropped his pursuit to go check on what he thought might have been an explosion on the outskirts of town. Thinking that a small dynamite shack in the area may have exploded, he turned his police cruiser up a rough embankment and, after some difficulty, began moving slowly along a narrow gravel road that ran beside a small arroyo just west of town. Pausing where he had a clear view farther to the west, he saw in the distance what he thought, at first, was an overturned car down in the arroyo. He radioed back to his headquarters, telling them he was going to check on what he was seeing. It was from this vantage point that he saw what he described as either two children or small adults near the vehicle, and later he would specifically say that one of them had appeared startled on seeing him approach, and seemed to jump slightly.

He drove further along the gravel road and finally stopped his car at a position that he thought was close to where he had previously seen the vehicle and two small figures in the arroyo. It was at this time that he heard what he would later describe as several loud thumps or slamming sounds, like metal hitting metal. Upon leaving his patrol car and walking towards the arroyo, Zamora had not taken more than a few steps before he had a full view of an elongated oval-shaped object on girder-like legs. At that instant, there was a loud roar as a bluish flame shot out of the underside of the object. Zamora did not hesitate...he hit the ground fearing the vehicle was about to explode, and then got up running and took cover on the other side of the gravel road. From there, he heard a whirring noise and watched the object rise up out of the arroyo; the girder-like legs he had seen moments before were no longer apparent. He watched the object rise perhaps 20 feet above the bottom of the arroyo and, suddenly, all sound stopped. The blue flame was no longer visible and, as he watched, the silent vehicle moved off, traveling parallel to the ground, picking up speed as it left the area. He kept watching it as it moved farther and farther away until it eventually disappeared from view.

Almost immediately Zamora got on his car radio and excitedly called the dispatcher hoping that someone else might be able to see the object. Just as quickly, State Police Sergeant Sam Chavez, who had heard Zamora’s frantic call, arrived on the scene. Together, Zamora and Chavez noted the evidence left in the arroyo...a half burned bush, four angular impressions in the sandy soil where the “legs” had been, and several small footprints and other impressions.

Figure 17
is an oil painting based on photographs taken of the actual landing site. The image portrays the object just as it began to lift off, as seen from a point near where Mr. Zamora stood. Mr. Zamora did help me with details as I worked on this painting, and when it was finished he stated it is a good representation of what he observed. He did feel that the “legs” may have been extended slightly farther than is portrayed, but the dimensions are taken from both the witnesses’ description and the exact measurements of the impressions in the soil as provided by investigators.

Ever since the first report that Zamora had seen some type of symbol on the side of the craft, there has been some confusion about just what that symbol was. He had drawn and described this symbol to several people soon after the incident, and what appeared to be discrepancies in his description arose from various sources. There does appear to be some support for believing that the symbol widely circulated early on may have actually been a variation of the true one. The idea that investigative personnel from the Air Force or other governmental agencies may have circulated a substitute as a way to guard against copycat reports has some merit. Though the actual shape may ultimately be unimportant to the overall case, I did make an effort to try to obtain from Zamora an honest description of what he saw. In one of our telephone conversations, he clarified to me that he had never been told
not
to relate the actual shape.However, he then gave me a description that I realized was slightly different from any I had heard or seen before. I was curious about this and, shortly afterward, I sent him several pages of small sketches that covered various details of his sighting. I included several variations of this symbol, along with one that matched what I had seen in other places, and another that matched what I thought he had described to me. I asked him to place a check mark by whichever sketch matched his recollection.
Figure 18
shows several sections of the sheets I sent him, and his check marks are visible. However, in the section showing variations on the symbol, he was nice enough to actually redraw what he had seen.

There was one other fact Zamora revealed to me during one of our telephone conversations, something he said he had never mentioned before to anyone: there was another witness. A couple of days after the incident, in the midst of the media frenzy going on in Socorro, he received a call from a woman he knew who lived within eyesight of where the incident took place. She had apparently watched him pass by as he was chasing the speeding car, and had actually seen the object during it’s descent. She even described seeing the difficulty he had getting his patrol car up the steep rise onto the gravel road. What she told him was enough to convince him that she really had seen the events unfold. She simply wanted to offer him her support, and had called to let him know that she knew he was telling the truth. He gave me her name but requested that I not repeat it because she had asked to remain anonymous.

Of all the evidence that could be presented to support the contention that what Lonnie Zamora saw was something totally unexplainable (even to those who were officially responsible for finding an explanation), nothing is more compelling than a brief article that appeared in the formerly classified CIA publication
Studies in Intelligence
. Published in the fall of 1966, the article, titled “UFO Investigation”, was written by none other than Hector Quintanilla, Jr., the former head of the Air Force’s Project Blue Book. Beginning with a history and methodology of the Air Force’s investigation of UFO’s, and after presenting many of the prosaic explanations that had been encountered, he concluded his article with a synopsis of a “Policeman’s Report” in which he described the Socorro incident. One short quote, from this article on a phenomenon that officially does not exist, makes a profound statement about the reality of some UFO reports. Under the heading “Diagnosis: Unsolved”, Quintanilla writes:

“There is no doubt that Lonnie Zamora saw an object which left quite an impression on him. There is also no question about Zamora’s reliability. He is a serious police officer, a pillar of his church, and a man well versed in recognizing airborne vehicles in his area. He is puzzled by what he saw, and frankly, so are we. This is the best-documented case on record, and still we have been unable, in spite of thorough investigation, to find the vehicle or other stimulus that scared Zamora to the point of panic.

During the course of the investigation and immediately thereafter, everything that was humanly possible to verify was checked. Radiation in the landing area was checked with Geiger counters from Kirtland AFB. The Holloman AFB Balloon Control Center was checked for balloon activity. All local stations and Air Force bases were checked for release of weather balloons. Helicopter activity was checked throughout the state of New Mexico. Government and private aircraft were checked. The reconnaissance division in the Pentagon was checked. The White House Command Post was checked. The commander at Holloman AFB was interviewed at length about special activities from his base.”