Socorro / Zamora Blue Book Investigation Report
Date
May 1964
Document Type
Investigation Report
Pages
76
Authentication
Declassified / FOIARedaction Status
✓ Fully ReleasedIssuing Authority
U.S. Air Force, Project Blue Book - Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla, Director; scientific consultant J. Allen Hynek
Summary
The official Project Blue Book investigation file for the April 24, 1964 Socorro, New Mexico landing incident - Case 8766. Patrolman Lonnie Zamora of the Socorro Police Department reported observing an egg-shaped metallic craft on the ground with two white-suited beings nearby at approximately 5:45 PM. Upon his approach, the object rose with a roar, hovered briefly, then departed rapidly to the southwest. Physical evidence - four landing gear impressions, four circular burn marks, and scorched vegetation - was documented at the site. The case was investigated by Blue Book Director Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla, scientific consultant J. Allen Hynek, Army Captain Richard Holder, and FBI Agent Arthur Byrnes Jr. No conventional explanation was identified. Hynek personally investigated and declared it the most credible physical-trace close-encounter case in the entire Blue Book archive. The case remains officially classified 'Unidentified' - one of only 701 out of 12,618 Blue Book cases to receive that designation.
Significance
The Socorro case is regarded by aviation and intelligence researchers as the strongest physical-trace close-encounter case in all 22 years of Project Blue Book. J. Allen Hynek's personal on-site investigation and unambiguous endorsement of Zamora's credibility - combined with documented physical trace evidence examined by multiple independent investigators - made this case uniquely resistant to the debunking methodology that characterized most Blue Book analysis. The official 'Unidentified' classification, despite multi-agency investigation, is cited as one of the strongest historical arguments for genuine anomalous phenomena in official government records.