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◆ CASE FILEThe facts, corroborated

The Lonnie Zamora / Socorro Landing

In April 1964, a police officer near Socorro, New Mexico reported a landed egg-shaped craft with two figures beside it, then watched it depart with a roar. Physical traces were found at the site, and Project Blue Book logged it as an "unknown." It remains a benchmark single-witness close encounter.

◆ THE SHORT VERSION

  • The Lonnie Zamora / Socorro Landing is a reported UAP case in the USA, 24 April 1964.
  • The record describes small humanoid figures, physical traces on the ground, a landed craft and a police witness.
  • For this case Fractured Realities holds 15 distinct sources, 3 corroborating primary documents and 7 distinct claimants on its resolved list.
  • The archive grades it L4 · DOC-CORROBORATED — the testimony is corroborated by primary government documents, the top of our scale.
  • The nearest nuclear-weapons site is 57.3 km away, which the archive records without inferring a link.

Counts are resolved totals of what sources say, computed 2026-10-03; the reported details above are claims in the record, not findings. A record of reports, not a verdict on what happened.

The Lonnie Zamora / Socorro Landing
From the case file · released government record
EVENT DATE
24 April 1964
LOCATION
Socorro · USA
COORDS
34.06°N 106.89°W
INDEPENDENCE
L4 · DOC-CORROBORATED
SOURCES
15 distinct
CLAIMANTS
7
NUCLEAR PROXIMITY
57.3 km
STATUS
Government primary · DoW UAP Release
NUMBERS COMPUTED 2026-10-03 · RESOLVED COUNTS, NOT A VERDICT
VIEW ON ATLAS →

On 24 April 1964, Socorro police officer Lonnie Zamora broke off a pursuit when he heard a roar and saw a flame in the desert. Investigating, he reported an egg-shaped object standing on legs in a gully, with two small humanoid figures nearby. As he approached, the object rose with a loud roar and departed.

What was found

Zamora reported the encounter immediately. Responding officers and investigators found physical traces at the site: scorched brush, and four impressions in the ground arranged in a pattern consistent with landing legs. Those traces were photographed and documented while fresh — the element that distinguishes this case from a purely visual report.

Project Blue Book investigated, and J. Allen Hynek travelled to the site to look at it; by one account he left more puzzled than when he arrived. Blue Book classified the case as an "unknown" — one of the relatively few it never explained. Our archive links it to two government-primary documents from the Department of War's UAP release, which is what carries it to the top of the corroboration ladder.

Why it endures

Zamora was regarded as a level-headed, reluctant witness with no interest in publicity, and no explanation offered since, including a disputed lunar-lander test, has accounted for both his account and the physical marks together.

The record holds a credible single witness, physical trace evidence documented at the time, and an official "unknown" that has stood for sixty years. What landed in that gully, it does not say. Reports, not reality.

◆ CORROBORATION
✓65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_9 (government primary)
✓65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Serial_438 (government primary)
✓BB Unknown 8766 · 1964-04-24 · Socorro, New Mexico, New Mexico, USA (government primary)
✓15 independent video sources across 3 channels
✓7 resolved claimants
◆ SOURCES

Everything this file draws on, in the open — reports, not reality. Check us.

Watch — the tellings

Each plays the source video — right here, cued to the exact moment this case is covered.

Documents & published sources

Government records, papers and journalism the archive links to this case.

government records · 3
DoW UAP Release · 2
65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Section_9corroboration
65_HS1-834228961_62-HQ-83894_Serial_438corroboration
The public conversation

How this case is reported elsewhere — encyclopedias, press, independents. Not evidence we rely on, and it counts toward no grade. We show the full spread, bias and all, so you can judge the framing yourself.

LANDING TRACEPOLICE WITNESSBLUE BOOK UNKNOWN1964

CASE FILES STATE THE RECORD AS OUR ARCHIVE HOLDS IT — FACTS, NOT OPINION. REPORTS, NOT REALITY.

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The Lonnie Zamora / Socorro Landing — Case File · Fractured Realities