As
you all know, I have been looking at the Socorro UFO landing case and in the
last couple of weeks published an article about it. In that article, I mentioned
that a fellow, Kevin Ashley, had heard a solution for the case from an engineer
who had attended school at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in
1964. His story, though a bit hard to believe was that he and a pal had been
responsible for what Socorro Police Officer Lonnie Zamora had found. To recap
for those who might not have seen that post:
He
[Bruno, the former student] said that he and another mining student were bored
and looking for something to do that day. They got their hands on some dynamite
(possibly from the dynamite shack mentioned in Officer Zamora’s account) and
decided to have some fun setting it off under an old overturned metal barrel.
The first time they did this the barrel went flying into the air which they
found very amusing so they did it a couple more times. (It was probably the
third explosion that attracted the attention of Officer Zamora.) Delighted with
the result of the barrel being thrown in the air again, they set about putting
together one more explosion. As they were bending down getting everything set
they were apparently seen from across the arroyo by Officer Zamora. The two of
them, who were wearing white coveralls, were seized with a sudden need to get
the hell out of there because being caught doing a stupid stunt like this with
dynamite would get them both expelled… Evidently the fuse had already been lit
when Bruno and his friend legged it for their vehicle to get away. Office
Zamora started toward the site when the explosion went off and as he dived for
cover he lost his glasses. What he saw the couple of times he glanced up was
the oil drum being projected upwards with flame coming out from the bottom.
As I mentioned,
this seems a little bit farfetched. So, why bring it up again? Tony Bragalia
found, on YouTube, a couple of videos that show people putting quarter sticks
of dynamite under upside down barrels. It does show, to some degree, what
Zamora had reported. You can watch these short videos at:
and
The trouble here
is that the barrels just didn’t disappear. They come back down, though in the
first video, you don’t see that until the very end. In the second, you see it
immediately. No barrel was found at the scene.
 |
| Launching a barrel with dynamite. |
And, the dynamite
would have left residue on the scene. Soil samples were taken, but none found
any evidence of a pyrotechnic detonation. In other words, no evidence of
dynamite being detonated on that site at the time indicated.
Of course, the
barrel wasn’t found, though there was discussion of debris on the scene such as
burned cardboard. Those who were there didn’t believe the cardboard was related
to the sighting.
Anyway, Tony sent
me the links and I thought them interesting enough to post here. This doesn’t
seem to be a viable solution given the other evidence and the number of people
who were there in a matter of minutes, but the videos are fun. If there was any
evidence for this solution, then it might be the answer. Without any sort of
evidence or even a statement or two from Bruno, this is a nonstarter, but as I
say, it is a fun explanation.
8 comments:
Give Socorro and Roswell (and Aztec for that matter) a long rest, please. New Mexico is known as the "Land of Enchantment". Why not leave it at that?
cda -
If it bothers you so much, why do you visit? Tracking the stats tells me that people are still interested in those things... but right now they're mostly interested in the Sacambaya treasure.
I mostly check your site daily for ufo related material. The history channel reality stuff really holds no interest for me. Your years of looking at the unknown are what brings me to your work. I don't buy the hoax theory for the Zamora case, it seems one of the most solid cases from the past. the latest aatip info from former dod people seems to me a very good indicator that there are still questions to be answered, skeptics be damned. Keep looking colonel , for all your long time fans.
Thanks for the article. If you know New Mexico, then you know it is almost perpetually windy, at least at dawn or dusk. Springtime? Forget about it: wall of dust all day. I once had a wood fence with 4x4 pressure treated posts 2' in concrete snapped at the base by our wonderful NM winds. A barrel stands no chance. Not that I have an opinion on this story either way.
Well aside from the obvious lack of pyrotechnic evidence, surely if that barrel went up as claimed it would have been found at the scene or close to it. But it wasn’t. So clearly it wasn’t a barrel.
"The two of them, who were wearing white coveralls ...". The Socorro 'event' (it's way beyond just a 'case' ) simply gets crazier. It's Alice in Wonderland down the rabbit hole crazy. Is this Bruno story totally made up? I listened to Art Bell for a number of years at night, and many callers could spin good tales - but that's what they were. Are we really to believe there were two people who for some reason were wearing white coveralls, decided it would be fun to "play with dynamite" and were seen by Zamora? I have to vote *completely made up story*.
Was listening to a podcast the other day that focused on the very bizarre 1967 Potoshi Sheep Slayer encounter, and for some reason my thoughts went to the Socorro case. Of course, there are some very big differences between the two, but both involved sightings of humanoids in coveralls that fled in unusual VTOL aircraft. I sensed there were parallels. Probably not connected, but it's always fun to speculate.
As intriguing as ET visitors might be, a mundane explanation such as this is much more likely. Ultimately its almost assured that this case will never reach a satisfactory conclusion.
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