Amy Hebert's take on Socorro (and Lonnie Zamora's vision), from our archive

I don't know if this has already been mentioned but Zamora never actually saw the two beings go into the object before it took off and no one knows what materials the object was made of.

Zamora heard two loud slams, no longer saw the beings and the object took off (according to Ray's book and other accounts). Therefore, no one really knows if the beings were in the object when it took off.

Since we don't know if the beings were actually in the egg-shaped object when it took off, we don't know if their weight was included in the take-off load.  Neither do we know what the object's hull or interior was made of (the word "metallic" is used repeatedly, almost excessively, in references to the object but Zamora only made a visual observation).

If the beings were not in the object when it took off and the object was not made of any kind of metal, perhaps the object itself was some form of balloon/UAV (patentsdo exist that include these features).  The two loud slams Zamora described hearing could have just as easily been the slamming of two car doors as the "beings" got in a car and drove off beyond Zamora's view and while hewas focused on the object as it launched (they may have only appeared small from a distance). Like the LEM, the object may have had small thrusters for maneuverability (going against the wind).

The description of the object emitting flames and a roaringsound while landing and taking off makes it sound more like something man-made - from the '60's - than something from another planet.

A. Hebert

PS: Please excuse this intrusion. I have been studying this case for some time - from the point of view it was man-made and usingforms of CC&D. Patents do exist, past and current, with various technologies that resemble what Zamora saw. However, any time I try to reference patents on the Updates list, they never get posted so I stopped making these references. They are included in the book I'm writing.

Many of the aerostat patents that utilized thermal and/or gas with thrust from the 60's and 70's were either egg-shaped or saucer-shaped.  Doesn't mean they were actually built.  Only meansthey were being considered.  Later versions, however, were built and some licensed by the U.S. government or associated agencies.

My hypothesis is the object Zamora saw was an LTA using a sort ofjet engine for initial lift with hot air containment and helium reservoirs for sustained buoyancy, thrusters for maneuvering.  May have been manned or unmanned.  No stereos or boomboxes, too heavy. [Grin]