The UFO landing at Socorro has been wrapped in controversy almost from the moment that police officer Lonnie Zamora watched a craft descend and land. Zamora saw alien beings near the craft and a symbol on its side but was told that he shouldn't mention either. Encounter in the Desert reveals--for the first time--exactly what he saw in that arroyo in 1964 and what an examination of the landing revealed to investigators. Socorro wasn't a stand-alone case. Other sightings, some of them nearly as spectacular as Zamora's, were reported at the time. A study of the Air Force investigation of this case reveals an effort, at first, to learn the truth that mutated into a clever attempt to hide the information from the public. Encounter in the Desert reveals all this and much more, including: The first new, in-depth look at the Zamora UFO landing in more than three decades. - Other reports of alien creatures sighted around the country at the same time. - An examination of the physical evidence found on the landing site. - The revelation that there were other witnesses to the craft and the landing. Kevin D. Randle is a retired Army lieutenant colonel who served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and an intelligence officer in Iraq. He studied anthropology and journalism at the University of Iowa and holds advanced degrees from the American Military University and California Coast University. He has been studying UFOs for 50 years and has published dozens of books about the subject, including Crash: When UFOs Fall from the Sky. He hosts a radio show on the X-Zone Broadcast Network and a blog, A Different Perspective. He has appeared on dozens of television and radio shows, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, and many others. Encounter in the Desert The Case for Alien Contact at Socorro By Kevin D. Randle, Jodi Brandon Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC Copyright © 2018 Kevin D. Randle All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-63265-113-6 Contents Introduction, Chapter 1: The Beginning, Chapter 2: The World of UFOs, Chapter 3: The Other Witnesses, Chapter 4: The Investigation, Chapter 5: Other New Mexico UFO Reports, Chapter 6: Other "Unidentified" Occupant Sightings, Chapter 7: Psychological Solutions, Chapter 8: UFO Symbols, Chapter 9: What Symbol Did Zamora See?, Chapter 10: Socorro as a Hoax, Chapter 11: Other Landings, Chapter 12: Project Blue Book and Socorro, Chapter 13: Physical Evidence, Conclusions, Notes, Bibliography, Index, CHAPTER 1 The Beginning In April 1964, the U.S. Air Force still investigated UFO sightings as required by regulation and military mission. The command structure — those who worried about such things — weren't happy about the UFO situation, wished that it would just go away, and hoped that civilians would forget about flying saucers as they became bored with the topic. Unfortunately, as had happened several times since 1947, a UFO report would gain national attention, renew interest in flying saucers, and in this case result in a large-scale investigation that would eventually involve an Army captain and others from the U.S. Army, an FBI agent, the Air Force scientific consultant to Project Blue Book and one of the sergeants assigned there, members of the Socorro, New Mexico, police department, and the New Mexico State Police. There would be physical evidence that included landing gear traces and damage done as the craft lifted off, and the description of an insignia on the craft that would become a hot point of debate in the years that followed. The main player was Socorro police officer Lonnie Zamora, a veteran of the Korean War who would serve for 23 years in the New Mexico National Guard and who remained a police officer for 10 years after the sighting. He would eventually be chased from his job on the police force by the ridicule directed at him after his "flying saucer" sighting became public. He remained in Socorro and took another job with the city as a landfill supervisor until he retired. He was reluctant to speak with anyone about the sighting because of the pressures he felt but seemed to have been a kindly, friendly man with a good reputation in town and who hosted barbeques at his home — with the only requirement that they not talk about UFOs. It could be that he still thought he might have observed a black project from either Holloman Air Force Base or the White Sands Missile Range, but the more likely reason was that he resented the way he had been treated by those who did not know him, by the news media that was too sophisticated to believe in alien visitation in any form, and by many of those who came to investigate the sighting in the weeks, months, and years that followed. The event began innocently enough late in the day of April 24, while Zamora was on routine patrol. He spotted a new, black Chevrolet driven by a teenager he thought he recognized and who he thought was speeding. He followed that car, keeping his dist