Levelland UFO case

UFO incident in Texas, United States in 1957

The Levelland UFO case occurred on November 2–3, 1957, on the highways around the small town of Levelland, Texas. Levelland, which in 1957 had a population of about 10,000, is located west of Lubbock on the flat prairie of the Texas South Plains. The case is considered by ufologists to be one of the most impressive in UFO history, mainly because of the large number of witnesses involved over a relatively short period of time. However, both the US Air Force and UFO sceptics have described the incident as being caused by either ball lightning or a severe electrical storm.

On the evening of November 2, 1957, two immigrant farm workers, Pedro Saucedo and Joe Salaz, called the Levelland police department to report a UFO sighting. Saucedo told police officer A. J. Fowler, who was working the night desk at the police station, that they had been driving four miles (6 km) west of Levelland when they saw a blue flash of light near the road. They claimed their truck's engine died, and a rocket shaped object rose up and approached the truck. According to Saucedo, "I jumped out of the truck and hit the dirt because I was afraid. I called out to Joe but he didn't get out. The thing passed directly over my big truck with a great sound and rush of wind. It sounded like thunder and my truck rocked from the flash I felt a lot of heat." Additionally, Project Blue Book believed that "Saucedo's account could not be relied upon – he had only a grade school education and had no concept of direction and was conflicting in his answers in view of the stormy weather conditions, an electrical phenomenon such as ball lightning or St. Elmo's fire seemed to be the most probable cause." Hynek wrote that "as the person responsible for the tracking of the new Soviet satellite Sputnik, I was on a virtual around the clock duty and was unable to give it any attention whatever. I am not proud today that I hastily concurred in [the Air Force's] evaluation as 'ball lightning' on the basis of information that an electrical storm had been in progress in the Levelland area at the time. This was shown not to be the case. Observers reported overcast and mist but no lightning." Hynek also noted that "had I given it any thought whatsoever, I would soon have recognized the absence of any evidence that ball lightning can stop cars and put out headlights."

In March 2002, Dallas based television station KDFW aired a report about the Levelland UFO case in which reporter Richard Ray (now retired) interviewed Sheriff Weir Clem's widow and friends.