During
the interview with Robert Sheaffer on A Different Perspective, I
mentioned the Levelland UFO case as one that seemed to have quite a bit of
evidence. Here was a case with multiple, independent witnesses who reported the
close approach of the UFO that stalled their car engines, dimmed their
headlights and filled the radios with static. It is a case that fascinates me
and seems to suggest that there is no plausible, terrestrial explanation for
it. Robert suggested that four of those
independent witnesses had been
discredited and it might have been just one or two guys calling the Levelland
police or sheriff’s office and making multiple reports. Frankly, I had not
heard about that, and given the nature of the show, just didn’t have the time
or ability to explore the claim then. For those who haven’t listened to the
show, you can find it here:
Actually,
during the show, Robert sent me a link to a website that provided the
information. I just couldn’t get to it then, in the middle of the show, but
have, of course, looked at it since. (I will note here that we take short 30
second breaks between segments so that the commercials can be inserted later.) You
can find that link on Levelland here:
The
relevant comments, from the site provide four names and a little about their
importance to the case. It says:
Their names were James Long, Jim Wheeler, Jose Alvarez and Frank
Williams. For some reason, they are considered witnesses of the highest
caliber; any analysis of the Levelland case is likely to refer to them with
words such as honest, sincere, truthful, sober or reliable. The fact that
prisons are filled with honest, sincere, truthful men notwithstanding, the UFO
enthusiast neglects to mention that all we know about what happened to these
men comes from a phone call each of them placed to a UFO investigator.
They were never interviewed by the police, the Air Force or other
reputable sources; we have but their claims, telephoned to a single UFO
investigator, on which to hang their veracity. Let me call forth all of my
powers of understatement and say that I feel this is insufficient justification
to take their word for it.
These
men aren’t the only ones who reported an encounter with the object that night
but it was these four who had been singled out. Although it appears, as
mentioned, that those four were not interviewed by the Air Force, they were
interviewed by law enforcement. It is not true that UFO researchers have
referred to them as “witnesses of the highest caliber.” Please note here the
use of the word, “likely” when mentioning that any analyst “is likely to refer
to them with words such as honest, sincere, truthful men…” In my survey of
various sources including those that I have written, I did not find any such
praise. Just the raw facts of their sightings.
I’m
not sure of the relevance of suggesting the “fact that prisons are filled with honest,
sincere, truthful men.”
I’m actually not sure how you can claim that prisons are filled with honest,
truthful men. This seems an inappropriate comment and wonder if a better
analogy might have been used rather than this somewhat oblique smear.
The
“official” investigation of the sightings lasted for most of a day (seven
hours) and was conducted by Staff Sergeant Norman P. Barth, a mid-level NCO
with the 1006th Air Intelligence Service Squadron stationed at Ent
Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. Barth did interview a couple of the
witnesses including Pedro Saucedo, the first man to report the UFO stalling the
engine of his truck.
Barth
was unimpressed with Saucedo and the passenger in his truck, Joe Salaz (though
his last name is spelled several different ways in the various reports). Barth
reported that the “source,” that is Saucedo, had no concept of direction and
gave conflicting answers. He also reported that Saucedo’s truck had been
recently repaired and a piece of the distributor rotor in the ignition system
had broken off, possibly causing the truck to stall.
There
were those interviewed by Barth that did corroborate Saucedo’s claims.
According to Newel Wright’s statement found in the Project Blue Book files:
I
was driving home from Lubbock… at approximately 12:00 p.m. [I’m sure he meant
midnight] when the ammeter on my car jumped to complete discharge, then it
returned to normal and my motor started cutting out like it was out of gas.
After it quit running my lights went out. I got out of my car and tried in vain
to find the trouble. When I found nothing I closed the hood… It was at this
time I saw the object. I got back in my car and tried to start it but to no
avail. After that I did nothing but stare at the object until it disappeared
about five minutes later. I then resumed trying to start my car and succeeded
with no more trouble than under normal circumstances.
Although
it seems that Ronald Martin was not interviewed by the Air Force, he did report
some of the same things as did the other witnesses. He said he saw an orange
ball of fire hovering in the sky. At about a quarter mile, the lights and motor
of Martin’s truck failed. Once it was gone, he was able to start his truck.
Martin then, is another witness to the object and it’s EM effects.
Ray
Jones, the local fire marshal was one of those out chasing the object. He said
that he saw a “streak of light” and his headlights dimmed and his engine
sputtered. This is not the most dramatic report, but it does, to a point, help
corroborate Saucedo’s earlier claim. And there might be more to that story than
is first seen.
 |
| Sheriff Weir Clem |
The
Levelland Sheriff, Weir Clem, told his family, contrary to what the Air Force
reported, he had been closer to the object than it was claimed and had his
engine stalled and his headlights dim. Don Burleson collected that information
in 2002, nearly fifty years after the fact, and given that it is second hand,
could be rejected outright, if there wasn’t additional information.
In
1975, Don Berliner interviewed the sheriff. Clem said the object was shaped
like a football and had bright white lights. This suggests that Clem was closer
to the object than the Air Force had reported and that he saw something more
than a streak of light in the distance.
On
November 4, 1957, the Indianapolis Star provided some additional
information. Clem is quoted in the article saying, “It lit up the whole
pavement in front of us for about two seconds.” He said it was oval shaped and
looked like a brilliant red sunset.
To
be fair, there is other documentation about what the sheriff had to say. In a
radio interview conducted shortly after the sighting, Clem told the reporter, “I
did not see the object. I seen (sic) the lights, I will say the beams from the
object.”
Although
Clem did not fill out the official Air Form, a sergeant at Reese Air Force
Base, took his telephone call early on November 3 and filled out the form based
on what the sheriff said. There was nothing particularly illuminating on the
form, other than the names of two of the witnesses and a reference to Saucedo.
While
this all provides information from others who were involved and who were
interviewed by the Air Force, this doesn’t validate the information provided by
Long, Wheeler, Alvarez and Williams. The Lubbock Morning Avalanche
reported on what each of these men said, which removes it from the idea that
they can be dismissed because a UFO investigator also found them. The article,
written by Bill Wilkerson, said, “Others who reported sighting the object were
Jim Wheeler of Levelland, Jose Alvarez of Levelland, Frank Williams of Kermit
and James D. Long of Waco.”
Wilkerson
also wrote, “Wheeler, Alvarez, Williams and Long, all traveling in separate
cars, each said their car engines died and their lights went out when they drove
near the object. They all described it as being ‘egg-shaped, and about 200 feet
long.’”
It
is also clear, from interviews conducted with Sheriff Clem, that he had spoken
to several of the witnesses. In a radio interview conducted on November 3,
1957, Clem said this:
Clem:
James D. Long, a colored [I left the reference intact, though I fear it might
offend some… I thought the original flavor of the sheriff’s statements required
accurate reporting] male from Waco, Texas, working here in the cotton harvest,
he drove up on it settling in the highway, on the farm to marker road, we call
the Oklahoma (word missing) [Flat] Road. Runs north and a little west of
Levelland. And he said, just as he drove up to this object, turned his car
lights and drove up. It was sitting in the road, (word missing) his car lights
shined on it, just as plain as could be, and he had made his stop, and
presumably to get out, and this thing lit up, and when it did, to take off, why
his lights went out and his motor died.
Clem:
… And he said it was egg shaped (words missing) the best he could figure it
looked like a big egg.
Interviewer:
Was it spherical – I mean by that, was it a solid object or did it appear to
have windows, or openings in it?
Clem:
That he did not give us at all. He said it just looked like an egg shape, big
oval egg-shaped object.
Clem
was also asked about other witnesses and he did mention Frank Williams.
Although not as detailed as the information about Long, Clem said this, “Mr.
Frank D. Williams, from Kermit, Texas. He said he done him the same way on
highway 51, about 9 miles north of Levelland.” He added, “He didn’t report the
noise. By this time, I was out there trying to find it and he called in to the
dispatcher and they did not report any noise to me. I am trying to locate Mr.
Williams on the phone at this time.”
There
was another man who reported the object and was interviewed by the Air Force.
J. B. Cogburn is important because he was the fourth person whose name appeared
in the Blue Book files to say he had seen an object. The Air Force, in their
press statements said that only three people had seen an object. The others
reported lights or streaks of lights, according to the Blue Book files.
There
is one other factor to mention here. At the end of the Air Intelligence Report,
it was noted, “Prime sources could not be located for interview or
interrogation by USAF investigator.” That means, of course, that Barth didn’t
talk to some of the witnesses, but given that he only spent seven hours in his
investigation, and given that the witnesses were scattered all over west Texas,
it’s not surprising that he failed to interview some of them.
In
another report, the Air Force officer writing it suggested, “Other witnesses
reported in newspaper accounts as having observed an object had either
disappeared or returned to their homes leaving no forwarding addresses.”
At
least two of those witnesses lived in Levelland and another in small Kermit,
Texas, not all that far away. Long lived in Waco, Texas, but given the Air
Force mission, all these witnesses should have been simple to find had any one
wanted to do so. This suggests that the Air Force investigator didn’t try very
hard to gather additional information and no one in his chain of command did
anything to reverse that decision.
Also
found in the Air Force files are a number of notes about the cost of conducting
the investigations. An Associated Press story mentioned a figure of ten
thousand dollars (which is in 1957) for these investigations, using the cost as
a reason that not all witnesses were interviewed.
What
we know is that of the four men mentioned on the skeptic’s site I found
information suggesting at least two of them were interviewed by members of law
enforcement. It is clear from the documentation in the Air Force files and in
the newspaper articles that all four acted independently and were reporting, as
best they could, what they had seen. There is no evidence that they were
reacting to the news media reports with the exception of Long from Waco.
It
seems that this was a series of sightings of something strange seen around
Levelland, Texas, for a couple of hours during the night of November 2 and the
early morning of November 3. It seems, based on the documentation, that those
calling into the police department or the sheriff’s office, or who walked into
those facilities, had no knowledge of what the others had seen. The skeptical
posting that began this has been shown to be in serious error. And the Air
Force attitude to this series of sightings as well as the whole of the UFO
phenomenon has been less than candid. Although, by regulation, they were
required to investigate the sightings of UFOs, it is clear that they rarely
followed those regulations other than to do as little as necessary so they could
claim compliance.
