The Levelland Sightings
Over a few hours one November night, drivers around a small Texas town reported a glowing, egg-shaped object on or near the road that stalled their engines and dimmed their headlights, then let them restart when it left. Project Blue Book blamed ball lightning.
- Date
- 2–3 November 1957
- Place
- Levelland, Texas, USA
- Witnesses
- At least fifteen motorists and Sheriff Weir Clem
- Status
- Disputed
What happened
Beginning around 11 p.m. on 2 November 1957, the Levelland sheriff's office took calls from drivers on roads around the town. Pedro Saucedo and Joe Salaz said a bright blue object passed low over their truck, killing the engine and lights; it was roughly 200 feet long and hot. Over the next two and a half hours, at least a dozen others, on different roads, reported an egg- or oval-shaped glowing object on or beside the road that stopped their engines and headlights. When it rose or moved away, the vehicles worked again. Sheriff Weir Clem and a deputy drove out and saw a glowing red object cross the road ahead of them.
The object
Descriptions agreed on an oval or egg shape, a glow variously described as blue, red or white, a size from a house to a large aircraft, and an effect on engines and lights. No occupants were reported.
Aftermath
The sightings came a day before the launch of Sputnik 2 and drew national coverage. Blue Book sent one investigator for a single day. Similar vehicle-interference reports, from White Sands to Alamogordo, were logged in the following days. Levelland became the classic example of the 'electromagnetic effect' case.
Explanations
Blue Book concluded that the witnesses had seen ball lightning during a thunderstorm, and that wet ignition systems explained the engine failures. Investigators including James McDonald later showed that there had been no thunderstorm that night, and that the witnesses were numerous, independent, and consistent. The ball lightning explanation is widely regarded as inadequate; no better one has been agreed.
Sources
- Levelland UFO case
- Jerome Clark, The UFO Encyclopedia (2018) Find on Amazon
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