The Levelland Sightings Of 1957 by Antonio F. Rullán: Other Possible Explanations for Levelland Sightings

The Levelland objects, unfortunately, did not leave any long lasting physical evidence and were not picked up by radar.  Shortly after the sightings took place, many suggestions were made for the source of the sightings: rockets from White Sands Proving Ground, aircraft from Reese Air Force Base, secret weapons from the Air Force, and advertising planes flying around Levelland.  Most of these explanations were rejected early on by Air Force personnel. 

Bill Haggart, from the Public Information Office at White Sands Proving Ground stated that the mystery object, which glowed and stopped car engines near Levelland, Texas, did not come from White Sands.  He said, “it has nothing to do with any experiments here.”[73]  Moreover, Col. Barney Oldfield of the North American Air Defense said on November 4 that “the object from Levelland… was not picked up by radar.  It did not seem to be traceable.”  He said the provost marshal at Reese had investigated but found nothing.  Other peace officers in this area made a ground search but found no signs.[74]  Sheriff Clem said his office had found no evidence that any plane might have been in trouble[75].  Authorities at Reese Air Force Base outside Lubbock also said they had checked and could offer no explanation.

A.J. Fowler stated in his recent interview that the Levelland PD and Sheriff Weir Clem spent some time searching for an advertising plane that supposedly was flying the night of the sighting, but they found no evidence to back that claim.  Eventually, the Air Force Blue Book investigators rejected all these claims.  This study will not evaluate any of these claims and we mention them here just for completeness.