Original subtitles

-Whoa. -Whoa.

Oh, that is so steep. Don't look.

[Josh] My team heads to the deserts of New Mexico,

to investigate one of the most compelling UFO encounters in American history.

This is the case that changed everything. Right here.

[Josh] Where local law enforcement report a bizarre craft.

[Pablo] They saw a great, big spaceship...

[Josh] Piloted by extraterrestrial beings.

One of them turned and faced him and scared him.

I was...

It's steep up here.

[Jessica] Trying not to fall off the edge.

[Josh] And according to some...

...they have returned.

Different nuclear military operations made this kind of a hot-bed

for UFO sightings.

-Jess, get over here. -[Jessica] Let me see, let me see.

Check that out.

[Phil] What the... [bleep]

What is this?

[Josh] UFOs Over New Mexico.

My name is Josh Gates.

In my travels, I have experienced strange things

that defy logic. And made me question everything.

Oh, my God!

Now, I've put together a team to investigate

the stranger side of the unknown.

Let's go.

[Josh] Phil Torres is a scientist

who hunts for rational explanations.

[Josh] Jessica Chobot's paranormal research,

has made her a true believer.

Phil, do you see that?

[whispering] I just saw something right across.

[Josh] Together, we're searching for answers...

[Phil] What is that?

[Josh] ...to the world's most extraordinary mysteries.

This isExpedition X.

Phil and Jess, I hope you're ready. We got a wild one today.

What you got?

Well, Phil, even you, Mr. Science, are no doubt familiar with

-the 1947 Roswell incident, in New Mexico? -Right.

When the poor weather balloon crashed there, it was terrible.

-Are you for real right now? -All right, stay calm, Jess, stay calm.

Well, what if I told you, that there was another

potentially even more significant incident, that occurred

only a 140 miles from Roswell, about 15 years later.

Not a crash, but supposedly an actual landing of a UFO.

And allegedly a close encounter with alien beings.

So, you're talking the Lonnie Zamora incident, Socorro, New Mexico.

Unbelievable. You never fail to impress me, Jess.

Amazing!

Before we dive into it,

Phil, you have gone on record to saying you think that...

extraterrestrials could be out there, somewhere, right?

Out there for sure. I mean, scientists believe that there are

over 400 billion galaxies in our universe.

And in our galaxy alone, they found several hundred habitable planets.

The more controversial debate, of course, is whether any of those extraterrestrials

-have come here. -Right.

That brings us back to the Zamora incident.

When this occurred, the US government investigated this thoroughly,

and they couldn't solve it. It remains unsolved.

Locals in this area believe that the Zamora incident was real,

and they're still having experiences.

Experiences that they say, can end the debate over extraterrestrials,

once and for all.

New Mexico ranks among the states with the most UFO sightings in the country.

With reports nearly doubling in the last two years.

And they're still on the rise.

But if we trace the state's most significant UFO cases,

it begins with the Roswell incident in 1947.

And perhaps, an even stranger event just 15 years later.

The year is 1964, Socorro, New Mexico.

At approximately45 p.m., police sergeant Lonnie Zamora is pursuing

a reckless driver just outside of town.

When he hears a loud roar followed by a large flame rising from the desert

off the highway.

He breaks off the chase to investigate.

When he crests a hill, he claims to see an oval-shaped object,

emblazoned with a strange symbol, resting on four legs,

with two small beings next to what it appears to be, a spaceship.

As he approaches on foot, the craft suddenly lifts into the air,

and races away across the desert sky.

Zamora is shaken, and calls in his encounter to the local dispatch.

The next day, the governments' UFO investigation program,

Project Bluebook, sends their top investigators to the scene

where they record physical evidence.

Charred shrub, indentations in the soil, and even small footprints.

But, Project Bluebook is shut down in 1969, without ever solving the case.

Lonnie Zamora dies in 2009.

Despite a lifetime of scrutiny into his story,

he never wavered that what he saw was from another world.

And just recently, hundreds of declassified federal documents have emerged

about the Zamora incident, reinvigorating the mystery.

On top of that, some say UFOs have returned to Socorro.

Recently, a mass sighting was seen by multiple eyewitnesses,

including pilots, military personnel and civilians,

all claiming to see unidentified objects in the sky

and putting the city of Socorro back under the cosmic microscope.

So, guys, what do you think?

I'll admit, Lonnie Zamora seems like he was a very credible witness.

He wasn't just some random guy with a tinfoil hat.

He was a trained police officer.

Yeah and I think that's a good point

because law enforcement usually aren't

the typical people to come forward with UFO encounters.

That's what makes this case so fascinating.

And the fact that there are new sightings today,

means it is the perfect time to reopen this case.

So, I've been trying to get in contact with some of these eyewitnesses

from this new mass sighting,

but so far they've all been very reluctant to go public.

But I'm gonna keep working those leads,

and I think that where you should start

is to really try to understand the original Zamora incident.

And see if it could be connected to the sightings that are happening today.

You up for this?

Hell, yeah!

-Sounds like a plan. -All right, go have a close encounter.

My team hops on a 2000 mile flight

from New York City to Albuquerque.

Then, drive 76 mile south to the small town of Socorro.

While I try to line up a credible eyewitness

for the recent UFO sighting in the area,

I'm directing Jess and Phil to dig deeper into the Zamora incident.

[Phil] Out of any of the investigations that we do,

I feel like UFOs are the most likely to actually exist.

-Oh my-- -Out of all of them.

Who knew? You are a believer!

But that doesn't mean that every story that you hear is real,

or even the majority of them are real.

There's a lot of aspects of the Socorro story that I'm questioning. Like,

tiny alien people coming out of there. It's a little weird.

I understand. But, keep in mind there was an eyewitness.

And the government took it seriously enough

that they actually sent out people to check out the scene.

So, something must have happened.

I think there's the potential there

that Lonnie Zamora actually encountered aliens.

Well, the fact that they're always conveniently bipedal, upright,

they have eyes, they have hands...

That all just seems a little unimaginative

to what's really out there in the universe.

My opinion, if something is visiting us here,

there is no doubt in my mind, we would be taken over and destroyed.

That's the optimist in you, Jess.

[Phil] We've arrived at the site where Lonnie Zamora

supposedly witnessed an alien craft.

-[Jessica] Is it hailing? -[Phil] What? Oh my gosh.

[Jessica] Oh, that is cold, oh, yeah.

-All sorts of weird things coming out of the sky here. -[Jessica] Yeah.

[Josh] I've arranged for my team to meet renowned UFO investigator, James Fox.

-[Jessica] Hi! -Nice to meet you guys.

[Josh] Two years ago, James and I investigated

another infamous UFO case in Zimbabwe.

Where in 1994, 62 school childrenclaimed to witness a UFO landing.

The details are strikingly similar

to what Lonnie Zamora reported seeing in 1964.

James is a filmmaker, journalist and author,

who has studied every detail of the Zamora case for over five years

and has spent decades pursuing answers to the mysteries of UFOs.

This is the case that changed everything. Right here.

We came out here to check out where the actual landing occurred.

Can you guys show us?

-Absolutely. -Yeah.

-You wanna lead the way? -Oh, sure.

[Josh] With James, is Pablo Lopez,

who arrived at the scene minutes after Lonnie Zamora

reported the incident to the authorities.

He was 20 years old at the time.

[Pablo] This is the spot where it landed.

How did you end up here?

I was at the sheriff's office. My dad was a radio operator.

And I went in to visit with him.

And Lonnie came over there and he was really, really scared.

And he said he saw a great big spaceship.

He said, which had landed right here.

I came up here with the sheriff.

When I got here, there was bushes here, that were smoldering.

They still had smoke coming out of them, and some fire.

And there was footprints.

The footprints were tiny, they were probably three inches long.

And maybe an inch and a half, two inches wide.

-Like a three year old's? -[Pablo] Yes.

Lonnie said they weren't over...that tall.

One of them turned and faced him and it scared him...

...out of his wits.

What do you think landed here?

A UFO.

-Really? -[Pablo] Yeah.

Something like that, something unexplainable.

And officer Zamora was a man's man, okay?

-So, you knew him personally? -[Pablo] I knew him personally, yes.

Officer Zamora wasn't the same person after this.

He saw what he saw and it was for real.

I gotta admit, this is messing with my brain a little bit.

So, James, why this case? Why does this one stand out to you?

This case right here, is what gave Project Bluebook the conclusion that

UFOs were not only real, but the close encounters of the third kind

and that's cases where witnesses report

beings associated with the craft.

So, what are some of the details that you've

gleaned from your investigating?

There was a blue flame that came down from this object,

and it didn't hit the ground and reflect, like a rocket booster would do it,

it penetrated into the ground. And unlike anything you've ever seen,

this object rises to about 20 feet off the ground,

and then it completely shuts off all propulsion, and is absolutely silent.

You look at the Air Force's own files.

And they're saying that what took place here,

defies a terrestrial explanation.

I brought some documents that I personally got at the National Archives

from Project Bluebook files.

You can take a look at some of these here.

-Wow. -[Jessica] These are great--

-[Phil] Look at how charred that is. -[Jessica] Yeah.

[James] So, what I basically want to illustrate here is,

level of seriousness that the Air Force took

when they were investigating this case.

[Jessica] James has meticulously compiled

hundreds of official government files on this case.

And two things stand out.

First, the government investigation was exhaustive.

The site was extensively combed for evidence,

soil samples were taken and scrutinized,

every radar station within a 100 miles was contacted.

They even tried to match the indentations at the landing site

with every variety of plane and helicopter that was operating in the region.

Despite their efforts, the Project Bluebook investigators

could not come up with a rational explanation for what happened.

The other major takeaway, the investigators believed officer Zamora.

Not only did they consider him credible,

but that this incident was, and I quote,

"The best authenticated landing sighting on record".

And, "One of the major UFO sightings in the history of the Air Force".

So, what's your theory on this then?

Why would aliens be interested in this area?

I started looking at sightings in the '40s and '50s and '60s,

and I actually took out a map.

And I was looking at proximity to different nuclear military operations.

You know, Trinity Site 44 miles away,

we got White Sands, Holloman Air Force base.

And I thought, there must be some sort of correlation,

with our nuclear activity, our atomic activity,

that had made this kind of a hot bed for UFO sightings.

[Jessica] Intense UFO activity around our most dangerous weapons

would definitely be an issue of national security.

Thousands of nuclear tests have been conducted in these deserts.

New Mexico still has a stock-pile of 700 nuclear bombs

and over 1,800 active warheads, that could be deployed in minutes.

There are structured craft of unknown origin,

whizzing around with impunity,

under super sensitive military installations.

We don't know who they are, where they come from or what they want.

There are structured craft of unknown origin,

whizzing around with impunity,

under super sensitive military installations.

We don't know who they are, where they come from or what they want.

The military bases are all around here,

so I would just think it's gonna be a military craft.

But you're saying that because the military is here,

that's why the UFOs are interested in this location?

That's one likely scenario.

[Jessica] If Socorro's high concentration of UFO sightings

is due to its proximity to the military installations in the area,

we need to pressure test that theory.

So, after reviewing some topographical maps,

we found the most perfect spot to set up some surveillance.

A mesa, in the middle of the desert, located between

the landing site of the Zamora incident and White Sands Missile Range.

It offers the perfect elevated vantage point to monitor the skies

over Socorro to the north west and White Sands to the south.

Our objective is to reach the mesa before nightfall,

and investigate for any unusual activity.

But getting there? That's the tricky part.

[Phil] Come on.

Oh! Woah.

-Jess, up here? -[Jessica] Yeah.

We need to get to the base of that mesa, try to get up there.

-[Jessica] Hike on up? -Yeah.

Hey Phil, we got a river up ahead.

[Phil] I'm not sure how deep this thing is. Hope these horses swim.

-Looks like there's a passage through here. -[Jessica] Yeah, let's go.

All right, Jess. I don't think the horses are gonna go any higher.

[Jessica] I think you're right.

[Phil] The height of this mesa, which rises 1,200 feet,

makes it ideal for viewing the night sky without any light pollution.

Getting steep up here.

But getting to the top won't be easy.

We're facing a 70 per cent grade climb

over loose shale with the sheer drop off.

-[Phil] You good? -[Jessica] Yeah.

[Jessica panting]

Just looking for snakes, trying not to fall off the edge.

[Phil] Yeah, watch where you put your hands.

[Phil sighs in exhaustion]

Could be a snake hole anywhere.

[Jessica grunts]

[Phil] Jess, watch your step.

Oh... [bleep]

You got this.

[panting]

[Jessica grunts]

Well, look around.

We got sky in every direction here.

Well, if nothing else, aliens will see us and say,

"Who are those two idiots that got to top of that hill?"

That's us, hey, anything it takes.

With nightfall upon us, I'm attaching a low light lens to one of our cameras,

which will amplify the surrounding lights

and allow us to more easily view objects

that would usually be hidden in darkness.

Jess has brought the flare camera,

which has infrared sensors that can detect heat signatures

from any airborne object.

If there are any craft in the sky tonight,

we're gonna see them.

We got 360 view of this entire area.

Because you have such a good lock on the stars in the sky,

I'll search over here with the flare where the military bases are.

Okay.

There's been a big uptake of sightings from people in this area.

So, just look for anything that seems even slightly out of the ordinary.

-I do think between this camera, and your flare... -Mm-hm.

...we should hopefully be able to get whatever that something is

on tape, to help identify it.

[Jessica] Yeah.

[Phil] I'll be facing northwest towards Socorro,

where Lonnie Zamora had his encounter.

While Jess will scan the southern skies towards

Holloman Air Force base and the White Sands missile range.

So right now, I can see...

the Milky Way, and I'm also seeing some movement. So...

So far anything that's moving and blinking, it's a plane.

Anything that's moving really, really steady in one direction

and not blinking, that's a satellite.

What I'm interested is anything that's moving,

that strays outside of those parameters.

Oh, I just saw some lightning down there.

[Jessica] Nothing yet.

What the hell is that?

What the [bleep]

It's glowing, it's spinning.

Ryan, you getting this, you getting this?

Jess, right over that.

-[Jessica] Look at over there! -[Phil] Oh!

[bleep]

[Jessica] Why is this not showing up on my flare?

[Phil] I got it on tape. You seeing that?

Is it showing up on the flare?

[Jessica] No, I can't get it on the flare.

Come on.

[Phil] Holy [bleep]!

Oh, my God. So, it's below cloud level.

Jess, get over here.

[Jessica] All right.

Let me see, let me see.

Check that out.

I could not pick that up on my flare.

It is traveling fast.

[Phil] Really fast.

Oh, that definitely looks...

-...like a disk. -Oh, my gosh.

Holy [bleep], I lost it.

[Jessica] The object appeared to accelerate out of frame

and we were unable to locate it after that,

leaving Phil and I to try to make sense of what the hell we just saw.

-So, it came from the direction of Socorro. -[Jessica] Uh-huh.

[Phil] It pivoted suddenly and started heading towards

White Sands and Holloman Air Force base.

[Jessica] It didn't have a heat signature.

[Phil] So, it's not a plane, 'cause the thermal would've definitely picked up

on the heat coming off it.

The spin is weird. The speed, the height is weird.

I don't know what that is.

We saw a UFO.

An unidentified flying object.

The spin is weird. The speed, the height is weird.

I don't know what that is.

We saw a UFO.

An unidentified flying object.

The shape, speed and rotation of the object we saw tonight,

is similar to the, now famous, video captured by

United States Navy F/A 18 Pilots.

-[on radio] Look at that thing! -It's...

[Jessica] For me the similarities between our UFO and the Navy's

are impossible to ignore.

But what exactly are these objects?

In the case of the F/A 18 sighting, our own government admits,

they haven't got a clue.

-[on radio] See the disk? -[on radio] My gosh.

[Phil] It's not lost on me that Lonnie Zamora claimed to see

a strange egg-shaped craft touch down just ten miles from this location.

But as I replay in my mind what Jess and I experienced tonight,

something happened just before the object appeared.

Lightning lit up the sky.

Oh, I just saw some lightning down there.

I can't help but wonder if that could be a clue to understanding

what is really going on here in New Mexico.

Oh! That was... I wasn't prepared for that.

Oh, that is so steep though. Holy [bleep] don't look.

Oh, my gosh, I'm not gonna look.

Why are you taking me up this road?

[Phil] Oh yeah, get this.

Last year, New Mexico had twice the normal rate of lightning strikes.

The same year that New Mexico is reporting way more UFO sightings.

And last night, lightning struck right before I saw the object.

Maybe it's all connected.

[Jessica] I'll admit that some types of lightning, like ball lightning,

have been used to explain some UFOs. But I don't think that's what we saw.

[Phil] There happens to be a facility at the top of this hill,

that specializes in rare atmospheric phenomena in New Mexico.

Called them up this morning, they're happy to see us.

So, let's see what answers they have.

-[Harald] Hello. -[Jessica] Hi.

How are you?

-We're good. -[Jessica] Good.

-Come on in. The door right there. -Thank you.

[Phil] The door that says, "Danger, keep out"?

Don't worry about it, that's the one.

[Jessica] I'll let you go first. You're welcome.

[Phil] I've arranged a meeting with Harald Edens,

the director of the Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research.

This guy studies lightning for a living.

Yeah, I'm pretty jealous.

Welcome to the top of the world.

[Phil] Here's why we are here.

One theory I've had about UFO sightings around here,

is it could just be lightning.

or some kind of atmospheric phenomenon making people think

-they're seeing a flying aircraft, so... -Right.

...have you seen examples of lightning that could be confused

with something like UFO?

Yes, I have. Let's go check it out.

[Phil] Since 1963, scientists here have been studying

and provoking lightning with ingenious technology.

They've used weather balloons, electric cables

and even rockets shot directly into storm clouds.

I feel like this whole building looks like the coolest movie set ever.

It's a time capsule now. Because nowadays, everything can be done by just,

basically computer right here.

[Phil] The scientists here have managed to capture

incredible footage of all kinds of lightning,

and extremely rare atmospheric phenomenon.

Which could explain the massive number of UFO sightings in the area.

This is intracloud lightning.

[Jessica] Whoa.

[Harald] So, intracloud lightning is

entirely within the thunderstorm.

It lights up. The people see like a flash of light suddenly,

but you may not know there is lightning storm around.

[Phil] Another type of rare lightning takes place about 50 miles

above the surface of the earth.

We have something called sprites.

That looks like an alien invasion.

And that does look like straight out of War of the Worlds.

[Phil] The luminous tendrils in sprite lightning

can spread out for dozens of miles.

Which could easily be misinterpreted as something from another world.

But I am eager to ask Dr. Edens his opinion

about a theoretical type of lightning,

that many people believe could be the answer to the majority of UFO reports.

What about ball lightning? First of all, is it even real?

I think the evidence about ball lightning is so overwhelming

that you basically have to admit

so to speak, that ball lightning probably exists.

[thunder rumbling]

[Jessica] Ball lightning is usually described as glowing orbs of electricity

that have been reported both in the sky and close to the ground.

They appear for a few seconds or even a few minutes.

So, it would be something that would be glowing, in the air.

-Yeah. -Persisting for at least several seconds,

and potentially moving.

It's usually moving.

Based on eyewitness reports.

[Phil] The fact that a top atmospheric scientist believes

ball lightning is a real phenomenon,

means it could easily be misidentified as a UFO.

And after seeing unusual forms of lightning

recorded in the same skies where people are reporting UFOs,

it could explain a lot of sightings.

But I'll admit, these examples don't match what we saw last night

and whatever Lonnie Zamora witnessed in 1964.

With questions still looming, we decide tocheck-in with Josh

to update him on our progress.

-Hey, Josh. -Hi.

Greetings, earthlings.

How goes the search? Any little green men yet?

No little green men, but man, we have seen some weird stuff.

Really?

-Oh, yeah. -Yeah.

We actually went to the top of a mesa

-and sure enough when we were up there, -Yeah.

we saw a weird glowing light.

What the [bleep]!

It was strange.

Wait, Phil, did you see a UFO?

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to tell you.

But for me it still keeps coming down to the fact that there is

so much military activity around here.

To your point, Phil, there are a lot of things flying around up there.

I wanna play something for you actually.

This is a conversation between two commercial pilots

that was captured fairly recently in the area that you are investigating.

Listen to this. You ready?

-Yeah. -[Jessica] Mm-hm, yeah.

Whoa.

-Did he just say UFO? -Oh, UFO!

[Phil] He really said that.

[Josh] Yes, this is literally just one account.

There are several of these that've recently happened.

we're talking commercial pilots,

Air Force personnel, air traffic controllers, all in this area.

They're really credible, and after a lot of work

I have finally convinced one of them to talk with you

about another mass sighting that happened just last week.

[Jessica] Until now, few have gone on record to talk about this

new UFO sighting over Socorro.

But Josh managed to track down a woman that works at a nearby military base.

Who not only witnessed the event,

she caught it on camera.

She's agreed to speak with us, but only on the condition that we obscure her identity.

I know that you didn't wanna have your image on camera,

so I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us.

-Yeah, definitely. -Can you walk us through the night?

Like, what did you see?

[witness] I was driving home from Socorro to Magdalena.

I had my kids in the car.

And I started to hear this rattling in my engine.

So I pulled the car over.

And that's when I noticed a single light coming towards us in the sky.

So, I gave my daughter my cellphone and asked her to film it for us.

[Jessica] When we pull up the footage that her daughter captured,

you can clearly see an unidentified light.

-Whoa. -[Phil] Oh. Wow.

Right there.

There's definitely something in the sky.

It's hard to make out exactly what we are seeing,

but a closer look reveals something even stranger.

There is more than one, oh, my God.

[Josh] My team is reviewing eyewitness footage captured just last week

of unexplained lights in the Socorro night sky,

by a woman who wishes to remain anonymous.

[Jessica] There is more than one, oh, my God.

[witness] You could see it was actually multiple lights.

[Jessica] Oh, my gosh. Look at that.

-I do see multiple lights. -Yeah, me too.

You can see there is what, three, four different lights.

[Jessica] Yeah, like a whole line of them.

Interesting.

So you don't think you saw just a single UFO,

you think you saw, what, a formation of them?

It seemed kind of like the fleet of craft.

Which direction did you see those lights?

I saw the lights to the southeast,

hovering right around South Baldy peak.

Heard stories about UFOs, and aliens but I've always been skeptic.

After this, I don't know what to think.

[Jessica] According to our eyewitness, the strange fleet of craft

were flying over South Baldy peak,

just east of Socorro, and the legendary Zamora landing site.

So, we're heading over 10,000 feet into the Magdalena mountains

And thank God there is a road.

-[Phil] That is really high. -[Jessica] That is like...

-Keeping my eyes on the road. Okay. -[Phil] You got this.

[Jessica] I got it.

This position also offers a direct line of sight

towards White Sands missile range,

and Holloman Air Force base to the southeast.

With no lightning in the forecast, there will be no mistaking

anything we see as atmospheric phenomenon.

And tonight, I'll be deploying a brand new technique to hunt for UFOs.

And it's gonna blow Phil's mind.

[Phil] What is this?

[Jessica] I'll show you.

Three, two, one.

[Phil] What?

[Jessica] Right?

So, one of the theories running around the UFO circles right now

is that aliens are attracted to anything

that has a lot of lights and lasers.

So, I figured we'd bring this out here,

we're out in the middle of nowhere

and try and lure some UFOs in.

So, they're like, space cats in the sky following laser pointers?

Pretty much.

It may sound far-fetched, but a few years ago, an astrophysicist at MIT

proposed shooting a high powered laser into deep space

to attract extraterrestrials to earth.

They have yet to put the plan into action,

so allow me to make some history.

Now, while my setup won't beam into deep space,

it is reaching the outer edges of our atmosphere.

So, if any visitors to earth are in the neighborhood,

maybe this will get their attention.

You know, the other night, when we filmed what we filmed in the sky, I realized that,

that low light IR camera didn't quite have

the resolution I was looking for.

This is the PVS 14.

This is essentially military-grade night vision technology.

This thing is gonna let us see absolutely everything out there.

Well, I'm gonna head out with my night vision.

Are you just gonna sit here and stare at your lasers?

As much as I would like to hang out here and sing Pink Floyd to myself,

you know a lot of people say that when they see these UFOs,

that there is not any sound that they can hear.

But maybe it's just because the sound they do emit

is just too faint for the human ear to pick up.

So, I figured I'd bring the parabolic mic,

you can be the eyes, I'll be the ears, lasers will be the lure,

and any sound that I pick up, I can record,

and we can go back and listen and analyze it later.

All right. Sounds like a plan.

All right. This thing can see anything out here in the dark.

This military-grade scope can amplify any surrounding light

more than any night vision device in the world.

But there's one problem, is that it can't record.

So that's why we 3D printed this.

A mount for the scope that attaches to a smartphone

that we can record on, so we'll get my evidence.

Look at that. There's just lasers.

I don't know if anybody's ever tried to actually record

a UFO sound with something like this.

Maybe we'll get lucky.

Wait, I'm getting something.

[low hum]

So, I'm kinda picking up

a persistent hum in this direction.

A low hum.

There, right there.

What the [bleep]

Phil, are you there?

[Phil] Yeah, I'm here, how's it going?

-[pager beeping] -I keep hearing things.

[Phil] Um, what are you hearing?

[Jessica] I don't know what it is. It's kind of like this low hum.

Are you seeing anything or hearing anything on your end?

[Phil] I'm hearing nothing on my end.

It is completely silent out here.

Okay, I'll let you know if I hear anything else.

[Jessica] After an hour of scanning the skies,

we're definitely not getting lucky.

And then...

Wait.

It's back.

That hum is back.

[low hum]

[Phil] Whoa, whoa, whoa, do you see that? Do you see that?

What the hell is that?

It's traveling south.

It's hard to keep focus on it.

It's starting to disappear behind the clouds.

Jess, you there? Are you there?

-[Jessica] I'm here. -I saw something.

[Phil] I don't know what that was.

It wasn't flashing like a plane and I don't think it was a satellite.

We've been seeing some weird stuff out here, so who knows.

[Jessica] Do you still have eyes on it?

[Phil] No, I lost it. It was heading south, towards White Sands.

[Jessica] I continue listening for any strange sounds,

while Phil keeps scanning the stars with the military-grade scope.

But after scouring the sky for hours, there is nothing else to report.

[Phil] I'm shocked that Jess and I managed to record

not one but two unidentified flying objects in a single week out here.

Both were travelling in the same direction, south,

towards White Sands missile range.

So, as a new day dawns, we work the phones

to try to gain access to this highly secured military base.

Unfortunately, our request for information have so far, been denied.

[Jessica] Yeah, real shocker there. But here's the good news.

We located a fellow investigator who has uncovered a new link

between the White Sands Missile Range

and the 1964 Lonnie Zamora incident.

And he has a paper trail to prove it.

-Hi. -Hey, Dave.

Glad we could finally track you down.

Nice to talk to you.

[Phil] Dave Thomas is a scientist, mathematician,

and president of the investigative group,

New Mexicans for Science and Reason.

And after tireless research and study, he believes

he's finally cracked the Zamora case.

So, you have great new evidence on the Socorro incident,

do you mind sharing that with us?

I think the best explanation is probably is this.

It sounds extraordinary that UFOs visited Socorro, New Mexico,

to keep tabs on our nuclear arsenal.

Unless, of course, it's happened before

and many claim it did, across the pond.

It's called the Rendlesham forest incident dubbed Britain's Roswell.

In 1980, military personnel claimed to spot UFOs near RAF Bentwaters,

an airbase in England that was being used at the time

by the U.S. Air Force.

I've personally investigated this story and met with

former deputy commander of the base,

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Holt.

[man 1] There it is, I see it too.

[man 2] What is it?

[man 1] We don't know, sir.

[Josh] Colonel Holt claimed that an unidentified craft shot a beam of light

into the base's weapon storage facility,

which had long been rumored to house nuclear weapons.

If an alien craft really did visit that base,

maybe now, we know why.

[Josh] Jess and Phil have been investigating unidentified objects

that have been reported over Socorro, New Mexico

since officer Lonnie Zamora claimed to have encountered an alien craft in 1964.

And scientist Dave Thomas might have just discovered hard evidence,

that can finally explain one of the most iconic events in UFO history.

I think that explanation, probably is this.

-Oh, that is interesting. -Oh, wow.

The White Sands Missile Range was testing the lunar surveyor,

on April 24th, 1964.

And we have logs from the range.

[Phil] April 24th, 1964,

the very same day, Lonnie Zamora had his encounter.

And according to the test logs from the White Sands Missile Range,

it's the same day they were testing this highly secretive lunar surveyor.

Keep in mind, this was at the height of the space race.

And five full years before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.

The surveyor had three landing pods,

and then it had four rocket engines.

And yeah, would have been one of the strangest gadgets you can imagine.

One of the things that Lonnie mentioned seeing when you came across the UFO,

was the fact that it had this blue flame shooting up from underneath it

which scorched the earth around it. What could that have been?

I think what they were testing is, there's these rockets,

they were on the bottom of the craft.

Lonnie Zamora did see something strange,

but we think it's probably from White Sands,

not from outer space.

Is there anything else about Zamora's description that you think

matches up to this lunar lander?

The two guys in the coveralls could have been...

...the people in the helicopter.

That is interesting.

Since gravity on the moon is six times less than that on the earth,

the surveyor was suspended from a helicopter

to mimic the conditions of a lunar landing.

And that helicopter was piloted by two people.

The same number of beings that officer Zamora described.

Dave also has an explanation for one of the landing's most puzzling details,

the strange symbol that officer Zamora reported adorning the craft.

Lonnie Zamora actually said he saw some sort of symbol on the side of the craft.

The logo...

...that Lonnie saw, may have been...

...from, uh, Hughes Aircraft Company.

[Phil] The Hughes Aircraft Company actually built

the first lunar surveyor for NASA.

And that actually matches up to a known company at the time?

Pretty close to what's on Howard Hughes's business card.

Man, that's a pretty good match.

[Phil] Yeah, I can see it.

While not an exact match, you can definitely see the similarities,

considering Lonnie Zamora sketched the symbol he saw from memory.

How come Project Bluebook didn't know White Sands was launching,

you know, test equipment that day?

You know, when you work on a classified facility like White Sands Missile Range,

they have compartmentalization and need-to-know.

So, the government might have been keeping secrets from itself, essentially?

Uh, it does it every day.

-Thank you, Dave. -Thank you, Dave.

All right, what do you think?

Well, this Socorro thing, completely unexplainable.

-Mm-hm. -And bizarre. And then we talked to Dave.

I have to say,

what Dave is bringing to the table,

-is tough to ignore. -It makes so much sense.

He actually has solid proof that White Sands military base

had scheduled that lunar test that same day.

But it still doesn't explain away all UFO sightings.

[Josh] Based on this new revelation, the Lonnie Zamora incident

is most likely explained by top-secret testing of a lunar surveyor.

But, as Jess points out, this does not discount

every strange sighting over Socorro.

And, there may be more to this story, than meets the eye.

After further analysis and enhancement of

the mysterious object captured above the mesa...

What is this?

[Jessica] Oh, look at it spin.

...and after isolating the strange sounds collected on the parabolic microphone,

both pieces of evidence remain unidentified.

There's little doubt that life exists beyond earth somewhere in the universe,

as for those who insist they witnessed aliens

flying over the skies of Socorro,

that remains to be proven.

So, keep looking skyward,

because the truth really is, out there.

For more information on Expedition X,

head to DISCOVERY.COM/EXPEDITIONX