Report Summary	"At 5:50 PM on the 24th he had been in his cruiser... in hot pursuit of a speeding car.... His attention was diverted by a loud roaring sound, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue flame which disappeared down toward the ground and out of sight.... he abandoned his chase... and headed toward the area where the car disappeared, which was near an abandoned dynamite shack... he followed a trail which led up onto a small rocky hill (often called a "mesa" in the southwest). Since there was no real road, he had to make three runs before his car would make the grade, then he drove across the crest and down the other side. At this point and for only a few seconds, the gully or wash to the south of him was visible; in it he glimpsed a white object which from a distance of 450 feet appeared to be an overturned car standing on end with two children or small adults standing by it. The figures were dressed in white clothing which he thought looked like mechanics uniforms. One of the figures appeared to turn and look at him as if startled. "Zamora... called Chavez and asked for assistance... Zamora then drove his car up and across the next mesa where he stopped it. He heard two loud metallic banging noises. He got out of the car, but in doing so dislodged the microphone, which he picked up and put back in place. Taking three steps toward the gully, he was now in a position to see the object down a short slope and a little to his left. Suddenly an ear-splitting roar filled the air and the object "began to kick up dust". Thoroughly frightened, Zamora threw himself on the ground. Looking up, he saw that the object was rising in a slanting trajectory toward the southwest. He got up, ran and bumped into his car, and in doing so, dislodged his glasses, which fell to the ground. As the object rose, it displayed a particularly brilliant blue flame from its middle underside, which was three or four times as long as it was wide. As suddenly as it had started, the roar ceased and Zamora stopped in his headlong flight and looked around. The thing was headed southwest making a high-pitched whining sound. It was ascending at a very shallow angle approximately 20 feet off the ground when it cleared the dynamite shack [and disappeared into the distance]."[footnote 1] "'There was no noise [as it hovered]' he says, 'It was about 20 feet off the ground [level with the top of the mesa and Zamora's car], just hovering. There were markings in red letters about a foot high on the side. It looked like a crescent with a vertical arrow pointed upward inside the crescent and a horizontal bar beneath that.'... Zamora raced back to the car and tried to call into headquarters but the radio didn't work.... '... it had been okay... It finally came on and I asked the state police to send out Sergeant Chavez.'... "Zamora took a terrific ribbing from his friends. Two years after sighting the UFO he resigned from the police force and went to work in a service station."[footnote 2] Scene of the sighting. Gully is to the right. (Blue Book Photo)
Hynek Classification	CEIII
Original Vallee Classification	Type Ia
Current Vallee Classification	CE3
Minimum Distance	Less than 300 feet, 20 feet above[footnote 3]
Object Appearance	Ellipse with two visible legs, four seen from physical evidence.
Object Behavior	Object landed with blue flame and noise. Occupants seen near object. Subsequently, object rose with blue flame and loud roar. Roar and flame stopped and object departed on a flat trajectory with a whining sound.
Physical Effect	Bushes found to be smoldering, four depressions surrounding it such that the burn mark is in the location of the center of gravity of the object. Smaller "footprints" also found. Estimated force to produce "landing pad" depressions was at least 1 ton per pad. Rocks are piled around the imprint to preserve it. Note that it appears as if dirt was pushed out to the left. Some plant material appears to have been crushed into the impression, and to have sprung back on the left side, while remaining more crushed on the part of the imprint to the right side of the image.
Medical Effect	None
Comments / Conclusion	This is one of the classic cases of all time, and was a seminal case in the acceptance of humanoids by American researchers.

Footnotes

1. Lorenzen, Flying Saucers, Signet, 1966, p 219-220; this interview was done on the next day after the event

2. Look Special Issue "Flying Saucers", LC# 67-17223, p 16; this interview was done 3 years later

3. Look Special Issue "Flying Saucers", LC# 67-17223, p 16