1957: Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico Sighting

THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date:  October 16, 1957

Sighting Time:  

Day/Night:  Day

Location:  Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico

Urban or Rural: – Rural

No. of Entity(‘s):  

Entity Type:  

Entity Description:  

Hynek Classification:  DD (Daylight Disc) Metallic or whitish object seen in the day.

Duration:  

No. of Object(s):  1

Height & Speed:  at least 10,000 feet.

Size of Object(s):  

Distance to Object(s):  

Shape of Object(s):  a glowing white flattened egg-shaped object

Color/Description of Object(s):  glowing white

Number of Witnesses:  1

Source:  

Summary/Description:  On the 16th of October 1957, Miss Ella Louise Fortune, Welfare Nurse at the Mescalero Indian Reservation, photographed an unconventional aerial object which was hovering over the Holloman North Test Range. Her camera, a Kodak Pony 135, was loaded with color film’ but she didn’t think of a picture when she first saw the object.  Nurse Fortune tooled her little station wagon up the railroad overpass Just north of Tularosa, and when she reached the top and angled down the decline, she saw the object to the WNW, a glowing white flattened egg-shaped object Srinrt a clear blue sky. She continued to drive’ watching as much as she could without taking unnecessary chances with her driving. At about 6 miles north of Tularosa, she decided to snap a picture so that she would have pictorial evidence of what she had seen. She stopped, made one exposure, then continued on her way to the Three Rivers Settlement where she checked and visited an Indian patient. The object had appeared to be motionless at all times, with a clearly defined edge. There was little or no wind. The picture first appeared In the Portales, New Mexico paper and the editor seemed to think the object might probably be a parachute or balloon with the linen trailing to the south. The object did not  reflect light, and according to Ella Fortune, it had density, and appeared to emit its own light. The absence of wind precludes the possibility that the object might have been either balloon or parachute, as there was no billowing of the object, so characteristic and obvious in a balloon or parachute flight. When Miss Fortune was interviewed by Mr. and Mrs. Iorenzen, she was very positive about the impression that the object was a dense object-not nebulous and filmy like a cloud. The high-lying wind-blown clouds in the sky which are also obvious in the picture indicate wind at high altitude, at least 10,000 feet. When asked whether she felt the object night have been a lenticular cloud, Miss Fortune said that she was very familiar with lenticular cloud structures, and was positive the object in question was not a cloud of any kind. A preliminary analysis was done by Mr. Brown. He found, in heightening the contrast, that a rim and other contours on the object were brought out, but that the “trail” faded almost to nothing. The apparent distance between the object and the mountains is about 15 miles, or approximately hallway between Highway 54 and the San Andreas Mountains, seen in the background. Miss Fortune felt that the object was about halfway between her position and the mountains. It is regrettable that she did not take other exposures of the object at several points along the road; they would have been invaluable for the purpose of triangulation to gain some knowledge as [o size. Professional mathematicians and analysts in the Alamogordo membership, who are employed at Holloman and familiar with current missile, balloon and parachute research projects, have admitted that their evaluation must conclude that the pictured object is an unconventional aerial object. A more detailed and intensive analysis is being exerted by Mr. Hopf, our photographic consultant, and we hope to include the results in the July Bulletin.t