Was the Zamora UFO incident a hoax ?

[UM-Bot]

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/images/newsitems/ufo5.jpg

One of the world's most well known UFO incidents is now believed to be a hoax. The "Zamora Incident" involved a policeman in New Mexico who reported sighting a landed oval-shaped craft with two humanoids outside it.

"After 45 years the truth is now revealed- one of the most famous UFO sightings in history was a hoax. The recent confession of an elderly College President -and a newly discovered document- indicate that the 1964 sighting of a landed UFO by Socorro, NM policeman Lonnie Zamora was the result of an elaborate school prank. "

View: Full Article | Source: UFO Iconoclast(s)

[Voyager10]

Why wouldn't it have been typed in instead of scribbled as a long P.S.? I think somebody found an old letter and scribbled the P.S. over it:

[IronGhost]

I'm wondering which is more fantastic -- the original Zamora story, or that these students could have pulled off a hoax this elaborate.

A helium balloon coordinated with pyrotechniques all designed to sucker a "dumb cop"? And one student even volunteers to drive like a maniac to lure the cop out to the site where the magical helium balloon performs exactly as it was supposed to? Then going back to "salt" the region with chemical evidence ...? Please!

This would have taken the coordination of the best Hollywood stunt and special effects coordinators -- and even they would have had to gotten extremely lucky to make a number of events all happen at key times ....

Nice try, but I think this article is bulls**t.

[Space Commander Travis]

Basically an elaborate version of that modern all-purpose "rational explanation", lanterns. And about as convincing.

[promKing]

Come on. Year ago they had "once and for all" explanation on many TV stations claiming it was experimental USA space craft for Apollo missions. They even had a document that confirmed it. So what happens to thoes "evidences" now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NeM0GJZrCM

[8ball936]

I remember seeing the cop telling his story on TV...damn...I hope this is not true. what IronGhost said makes sense.

[village_idiot]

I'm not convinced either way...need more evidence...

[Archer1945]

I would love to have a good forensic analysis done on that letter. From the text which has bled through at the top of the letter I would say it was copied off the back of something else so as to get the UCSD letterhead that was being used at that time. Then the top part was typed in and Dr Pauling's signature forged, which isn't that hard to do if you can find something you know has his actual signature on it. Though the top section could be legit.

Then you have someone hand writing in the middle section. Now why wouldn't Dr Pauling just have included these questions in the typed section? Even more interesting is if you take a close look at the second signature it is subtly different from the original signature. It is close enough to pass a cursory exam but differences are very apparent when more closely examined.

An even bigger question is why would Dr Colgate have scribbled his answer on the bottom of the letter then re-mailed it back to CA? This is the kind of thing that was done back in the days of inter-office memos and then either handed back to the originator or stuck in the inter-office mail.

No, I think the hoax here is the one being perpetrated by the person who produced this letter.

[BeastieRunner]

Looks fake, that document. Poor guy either way.

[Roswellian]

Looks fake, that document. Poor guy either way.

Good heavens! Say what you will about the story- but the document is most certainly real!!! Just google keywords: Pauling Archives. You will be taken to the Oregon State University Special Collections site. Its on there!

And Colgate is still at Los Alamos. His email to Bragalia (40 years after the letter to Pauling) confirms that he knows its a hoax; who the pranksters are (one is his friend) and that they still likely "do not want their covers blown." This email (and Colgate's contact info) have been shared with leading researchers.

If you doubt Colgate, I suggest you look him up on Wiki. He is one of the most famous astrophysicists in the world- he was a friend of Oppenheimer's.

And we should also believe Colgate because he was found- he did not come forward. He is likely ashamed of the event. He was very cryptic and sparing in his words- and still doesn't want to say much. This tells me he knows much more.

And two other world-famous scientists associated with NM Tech corroborate Colgate...