New Mexico’s UFO incidents you’ve never heard of

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – You probably already know about the Roswell UFO incident, but New Mexico’s history of unidentified flying objects is far richer – and weirder – than just that one event.

To explore that history, KRQE News 13 spoke with David Marler, the executive director of the National UFO Historical Records Center. He has access to a massive collection of UFO reports from New Mexico and around the world. Here are a few incidents you might not have heard of.

1957 Albuquerque Radar Incident

“When you look at the history of UFO sightings in New Mexico, admittedly, we don’t have a large population compared to some states, but what we do have is a wealth of military operations areas and scientific and research development areas,” Marler said. The state has “a rich history of UFO sightings going back to 1947 by trained and qualified observers – military, civilian, and pilots.”

On November 4, 1957, military radar operators tracked an unknown object straight out of a science fiction magazine. Marler tells the story from the original military reports from Kirtland Air Force Base.

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“The object actually violated the base perimeter at Kirtland Air Force Base and two seasoned personnel were observing the object from the control tower at Kirtland, with binoculars,” Marler said.

“The object was described as looking like a car standing vertically on end, with a white light at the bottom,” Marler said. “The flight characteristics were highly unusual.”

The report said the object could hover, change direction, and move rapidly. And that’s not the only report of odd flying objects in the state.

1959 Super-speed Incident

“This didn’t involve a sighting, but rather a radar tracking,” Marler said. “We have the original ‘Unknown Track Report’ from Kirtland Air Force Base from September of 1959.”

“What’s unusual about this is that it wasn’t just one radar, or two radars, or three radars. It was four separate radar stations strategically placed throughout New Mexico. All four were tracking this unknown object.”

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The object came in from south of the border then flew towards Hobbs, then towards Levelland, Texas (near Lubbock), and then flew back towards Tucumcari, New Mexico.

The original radar report estimated the object’s speed at 2,200 miles per hour and showed the object making sharp, angular turns.

“We didn’t have aircraft that could move that fast,” Marler said.

“Now, we do have other radar track reports that could be chalked-up to radar interference, system malfunction, or atmospheric phenomenon. But having four separate stations detecting this . . . they considered this to be of a ‘serious’ nature’.”

The military took some of the UFO reports seriously not because they thought there were aliens, but because they were concerned about Russia or other countries during the Cold War.

“They were of concern that this could be Soviet technology,” Marler said. “When the Air Force got involved . . . they weren’t there to prove aliens existed. They weren’t thinking ‘aliens,’ but they were thinking ‘Russians’.”

1964 Hobbs Burn Case

Sightings are one thing, but contact with a UFO – that raises new questions, as was the case for a 1964 incident in Hobbs, New Mexico. It reportedly happened to an eight-year-old boy outside of a laundromat.

“The boy’s grandmother was standing just feet from him when the incident occurred. What they both described was seeing this black, top-shaped object that hovered over a nearby building. And he looked at it, and he stood up, and he moved to the left, and the object mimicked his maneuver, and it moved to the left and hovered. He moved to the right, and it replicated his maneuver,” Marler said. Eventually, “it made a beeline course directly toward him.”

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“A column of fire emitted out of the bottom of this object, set his hair on fire, and burned his face,” Marler said. “He had burns from the jawline up.”

After being rushed to the hospital, the boy was treated and made a recovery, Marler said. The odd thing, however, was that the report from Hobbs matches another event in Georgia.

“In Lavonia, Georgia, there was a gentleman by the name of Beauford Parham, who was a salesman coming home late one night around 1:00 a.m. in the morning,” Marler said. “He was suddenly accosted by this black, top-shaped object flying around his car emitting flame out the bottom.”

For a few weeks after that, others in Georgia reported similar sightings, Marler said. “Police, business leaders, housewives – all manner of people were describing these.” And all the sightings, including the Hobbs incident, occurred on Tuesdays, Marler adds.

1950 Farmington Incident

“This incident, which was extremely dramatic in nature, occurred not over one evening or one day, it occurred over two and a half days,” Marler said.

It happened during broad daylight. People in Farmington, New Mexico began reporting seeing a group of flying objects in the sky.

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“It was described in Farmington, but at the same time it was being described on the other side of the state, in Tucumcari. People were describing disc-shaped silver objects there as well,” Marler said.

Some also described a larger, red disc-shaped object that seemed to be leading the silver objects. The LA Times said 50 people in Farmington, including some pilots, reported seeing the objects. The Farmington Daily Times ran the headline: “Huge ‘Saucer’ Armada Jolts Farmington.”

So, were they aliens or something else?

“I employ the terminology much in the same way the military does. We’re not saying ‘extraterrestrials.’ We’re not saying ‘aliens’,” Marler said. “What we are simply saying is there are unidentified objects that do not conform, apparently, to conventional aircraft or any type of prosaic explanation.”

For Marler, the point is not to make people “believers.” Rather, his goal is to help preserve the history and record.

“I think we have to keep an open mind. ‘Extraterrestrial’ and ‘alien’ should be at the bottom of the list if we’re going to be practical in looking at the UFO subject,” Marler said. “Some of these documents weren’t declassified until 20 or 30 years after the event. But . . . as we start bringing these [records] together, we can now start painting a clearer picture of what transpired.”

Marler continues to bring those records together, curating an ever-growing collection for the National UFO Historical Records Center. You can read more about Marler and the collection at this link.