Traveling from Albuquerque, he returned to the same place he had been in October. It was a spot overlooking the Archuleta Mesa and marked by a pine tree he had noted several times. On this trip he brought binoculars and the Hasselblad camera (with a 250mm telephoto lens), and a telescope fixed with a camera mount. It was a fairly mild day and he spent the first few minutes observing the area through the binoculars without seeing anything of interest. Soon though, as he scanned north over the mesa, something moving slowly southward caught his attention.
The shape was similar to what his wife had pointed out in the Polaroid snapshot taken after the night ride with Gabe Valdez. Paul claimed to have seen similar objects in other photographs taken in the area. Though he had no idea what they were, for some unknown reason he came to refer to these objects as “Interrogators”. He had apparently begun to suspect that they observed or monitored the area. The description he gave of the one he saw on this trip and the maneuvers that it performed is so concise and detailed that it is hard to imagine he was not observing something real.
I was obviously startled, and followed its movement as it flew southward at about five miles per hour. It was the “Interrogator”, dark brown in color, almost black in spots and appeared to be about six to ten feet in length and about four feet wide. It flew in a very strange manner, first coming to a halt standing almost upright, then tipping to an approximate angle of 45 degrees and moving forward again once in that position. Periodically, it would swing its lower end in my direction, swiveling around as if looking south. Its altitude was about 2000 feet above the mesa top. Near the south end it disappeared from view. During its transition of the mesa top it would appear to fade in and out of visibility, similar in some respects to a fading picture on a television screen. This phenomenon was present throughout the flight though the day was clear and the sky cloudless. Once it disappeared, I scanned back to the north end and lo and behold, there it was again. Either it was the same one, which had made a very swift and unobserved trip back, or another one. I tend to think it was a second unit. This one made the same flight transition in the same curious mode of flight. Due to the extremely odd mode of flight, I tend to believe that each was manned and manually flown.
The observation lasted only a few minutes, after which he decided to try an experiment that, by his own admission, was unusual and unscientific. He had brought along an 8x10 enlargement of the photograph taken on his previous trip that showed the unusual multi-colored swath of light. Paul had decided to test a hypothesis that the intelligences behind what he had seen and photographed were somehow able to anticipate when he snapped a picture.
He held the photograph over his head, turning from southwest to northeast, and performed some movements that he hoped would convey what he was requesting. He was asking whoever was out there to perform for the camera, in effect reproducing the previous picture. He adjusted the settings on the Hasselblad, framed the picture, spoke out loud that he was taking the shot, and snapped the shutter. With that picture taken, he got back in the car and drove away. When he later developed the film, the same bizarre streaking bands of light appeared, but this time he also noted odd shadows in the foreground. One of them he thought was the shadow of the craft as it streaked by. But another looked like the shadow of a mysterious figure. His conclusion: the photograph was tacit proof that the aliens had responded to his strange experiment.
Even with so much time spent near the Archuleta Mesa looking for and photographing strange things, how he became so convinced that an alien intelligence was behind it is still beyond me. By the time I first spoke to him, as far as I could tell he had no reservations about it. Perhaps, in an ironic twist, he was so certain he would have been able to recognize anything man-made that the only conclusion eventually left to him was alien technology. In retrospect, the disinformation and confusion fed to him over the next months and years, specifically intended to bolster his ideas about aliens, may also have reinforced his belief that an alien presence had been responsible in those early days. Without having been there with him and without having all the information, there may never be a good answer. Nevertheless, it seems that by the end of 1979 he not only believed there was an alien intelligence near the Archuleta Mesa, but that “they” were also aware of him. With that in mind, everything he saw and filmed from then on was ripe for an “alien” interpretation. What he believed he had uncovered in northern New Mexico set the stage for later events and became the context within which they were interpreted.
Back in Albuquerque, when his wife described the strange sounds that she thought had been coming from over their house, Paul’s suspicions, as bizarre as they were, were heavily influenced by his experiences of the past few months. He wrote only that his wife had told him about the early morning sounds soon after he had returned from his last trip to the Dulce area. He did not specify a date, which made it difficult to establish exactly when he began stationing himself on the rooftop deck. However, he gave the impression that he had started almost immediately and, fortunately, in the information he gave there were several details that could be cross-checked for dates. Those details narrowed the time period down to the middle of December. (In the interest of accuracy, an Albuquerque Tribune newspaper article dated April 1983 attributes a statement to Paul that he observed the vehicles on February 2nd, 1980. However, this date does not correlate with the time frame, moon phase, and temperatures Paul described (see below), nor a statement by Ernest Edwards. Regardless, as important as the exact date could be, a matter of a few weeks would not substantially change the sequence of events.)
In describing how cold it had been on the nights he spent outside, Paul noted that the temperature had sometimes dropped to as low as 19ºF. A check of historical weather data for that December showed that the temperature in Albuquerque had approached 19ºF on the very first days of the month, then between the 14th and 18th, and finally again in the last few days. But Paul also stated that there was no moon on the nights he had been outside watching. A check of the moon phases during the same time period revealed that the moon rose in the afternoon at the beginning of the month, and by the 12th still rose just after midnight. By the 16th however, it was not rising until after 4am, and by the 18-19th there was effectively no moon during nighttime hours. Comparing the dates of low temperatures with the dates of moonless nights yields a high likelihood that the sightings over the Manzano Weapons Storage Area began sometime between the 16th and the 20th. So, perhaps as early as mid-December 1979, with cameras ready, Paul found himself on his roof and observing the area around Albuquerque, determined to see what he could see. He had already shown that he was willing to stay out in very cold weather if necessary to get the evidence he wanted.
Looking back at everything that Paul described, including what is known of the chain of events that led him to station himself on the roof of his house, there does not seem to me to be any definite correlation between what he had seen near the Archuleta Mesa and what he saw over the Manzano Weapons Storage Area. Neither can I see any logical connection between his experiences near Dulce and the strange sounds his wife reported. Still, there may be no way to totally discount the possibility that these events were related, if only because of the time frame, the subject matter, and Paul’s involvement in both. Paul certainly suspected they were related, and what he saw from his rooftop probably strengthend that conclusion. And yet, though he might have though these events were connected…there is another possibility.
Despite Paul’s suspicions, the vehicles he saw and filmed over the Manzano Weapons Storage Area never showed any apparent interest in him or his home. If, in fact, his activities near Dulce had nothing at all to do with what he saw from his rooftop, then what? Was it simply a miraculous coincidence that he happened to go out on his roof on virtually the exact night that four glowing vehicles flew into the weapons storage area? These vehicles, returning over a period of several days, were clearly there with a purpose, but there is no reason to assume that they had
not been coming and going from the area long before Paul spotted them. Rather than simply being a matter of luck, it seems far more likely that he stumbled into the middle of an on going operation. However it happened, what is clear is that from his roof in Albuquerque, Paul saw and filmed things that he was not intended to see. Over an open plain and past electrified fences, he was soon watching disc-shaped vehicles moving silently in and out of a highly secured military installation less than two miles away.
“A great deal more is known than has been proved.”
—Richard Feynman
From his roof in the Four Hills area of Albuquerque, Paul had an excellent, virtually panoramic view. The location of his home gave him a good view to the southwest overlooking the city and Kirtland AFB. To the south and southeast he could see parts of the Sandia Military Reservation, with an especially good view of the western face of the Manzano Weapons Storage Area. This was the stage those nights in late 1979. The details of how Paul first saw and then subsequently photographed and filmed the strange vehicles was discussed in Chapter 1, so I will only go into it again here when necessary as part of a broader discussion of the events.
The distance from his home to the area where the vehicles were seen covers a gently rising and relatively open desert plain. Figure 1 is an illustration of the view southeast towards the MWSA as it might appear from the roof of the Bennewitz home. The hill near the left side of the image is approximately one mile away. The vehicles Paul filmed, which he estimated were no more than two miles away, would have been to the right of center in this image. Though years ago the outer fence held signs prohibiting photography of the area, it has always been fairly easy to see the heavy concrete bunkers along the lower foothills, and the roads and vehicles used by Air Force Security Police. The entire 3-mile mountain range was surrounded by an electrified multiple fence-line and intrusion detection system48.
With relatively flat and open terrain extending towards the city of Albuquerque a few miles to the west, the activity of the vehicles Paul saw was clearly focused on something inside the weapons storage area. (See Figures 9-11.)
Paul went into great detail describing the vehicles that he saw and filmed, which he generally referred to as “disc-shaped”. At one point, while reviewing the film with an 8mm film editor, he realized that the arrangement of prisms and slits in the film editor could effectively be used as a beam-splitter. By adjusting it carefully he was able to divert much of the light, and in doing so he found he had a much better view of the shape of individual vehicles. (He also noted that this particular arrangement of prisms could serve as what he termed a “reverse spectrum analyzer”, though he did not elaborate on that). Studying the images, something he also did using a binocular microscope, he found that the vehicles were in fact more “ellipsoidal” in shape.
In several small sketches, he also drew a spot centered inside the outline of the vehicle. The spot in these sketches seem to have been significant because he made a point of using the term “glows with dots” in describing the vehicles when they were on or near the ground. It is not clear if these “dots” were brighter or darker than the surrounding glow at the time, but in one image of the larger vehicle in flight, a bright white spot is very apparent against the yellowish glow surrounding it. A breakdown of other descriptive details he gave included:
Resting on or near ground:
•Vehicles periodically brighten for 10-20 seconds, or simply glow faintly.
Prior to lift off:
• Moments before, bright blue-white flash appears to come from beneath vehicles.
At lift off (synchronized):
• Large circular blue halos surround vehicles (Authors note: this was apparently quite an impressive sight.
• Vehicles become brilliant balls of white light.
• Lift off straight up to altitude, make 90º turn, and move rapidly away.
Other descriptive details:
• All four vehicles flew in precise synchronization.
• When one ‘translated’ for a turn, they all did it at the same instant.
• They pulsed during these movements, each pulsing in synchronization.
• Periodically, blue or other colored “spikes” generate next to vehicles.
The images included here are from photographs Paul sent me that he had taken from the screen of his 8mm film editor. Paul was adamant that the original film was much more clear and bright, and no doubt it was, but where the original is now is unknown. Perhaps his films are still with his family and locked safely away. I heard a rumor several years ago that Paul might have given someone a copy of the film, but if that was true I never heard more about it. The copies I have are understandably not the best images to work from, the original film would certainly have been preferable, but the images I was sent still show surprisingly good color and detail. They were converted to high-resolution digital scans and then enhanced using computer software for image processing. As it is, I believe the enhancements will leave no doubt about the significance of what he saw.I hope the accompanying illustrations will add some clarity to the events and how they happened.
Figure 5 shows one of the vehicles immediately after takeoff. Above the disc is a roiling yellow-orange glow, but the lower edge is much more distinct and shows the curvature of the ellipsoidal shape as well as a notable bluish hue. Faintly visible in the upper right of the yellow-orange glow is a brighter area, presumably the “dot” referred to by Paul. This white area is much more apparent in the image of the largest vehicle. The blue “spark” rising from where the vehicle left the ground is one of the most striking details in these images. Perhaps significantly, it is the same hue as the underside of the vehicle. Paul described these strange discharges of energy as appearing when the vehicles made abrupt movements or changes of direction, something he referred to as “translating” movements. Similar “sparks” do appear in other frames showing the vehicles in flight, though perhaps not always the same color.
Figures 6-7 show the largest of the four vehicles, which Paul estimated to be 36 to 40 feet wide. The ellipsoidal shape is much more apparent and the white “dot”, off-center in the upper yellow-orange glow, is much easier to see. Paul pointed out that at different times this white area could be seen to move from one side to the other. While he could have meant that the vehicle itself was rotating, it was my impression he meant the vehicle turnedslightly; perhaps as part of what he referred to as “translating” movements.
Figure 9 is an aerial photo showing the area southeast of the Bennewitz residence. During the hours he observed the vehicles on or near the ground, he had estimated they were about 250 feet apart. A set of time exposures he had taken with the Hasselblad camera apparently showed the four vehicles lined up in a row covering the estimated 750 foot distance. From his roof, looking toward the Manzano Weapons Storage Area, Paul determined that the distance to the hillside behind the objects was no more than two miles. Working from that statement, a two-mile radius is drawn in Figure 9 to indicate where it intersects the hillside. Because he had calculated the sizes of the vehicles using this distance and their angular size in photographs taken using a 6º lens, a field of view of 6º is indicated stretching from the residential area to the two-mile point on the hillside. Inside this field of view and near the two-mile hillside is a small line indicating a span of approximately 750’. Though it is only for reference, I believe it is reasonably accurate based on the available information.
I feel confident that Paul was familiar enough with his area to make reasonably accurate estimates of both where the vehicles appeared to be and the distances involved. A point slightly farther north would have reduced the distance quickly to one mile or less. Slightly farther south would have reached 3 miles and the southernmost tip of the mountains. Paul's determination of where the vehicles were located is important to understand because of the proximity of the fence to the mountainside. If the vehicles were only one mile away, then they might easily have been on either side of t
he boundary perimeter fence, not necessarily inside it and on Air Force patrolled property. However, drawing a line to where he had seen them, and then calculating the angular size of the images on the film, Paul determined that they had to be between 1.5 and 2 miles away. This places them well inside the boundary perimeter of the Manzano Weapons Storage Area.
There are aspects of what Paul saw and filmed that lead to other questions, ones that have haunted me for years. What required four vehicles to come and go over a period of several nights? Was there some significance to them being so far apart? Why risk the exposure? Why this time of year? If this had been simply a demonstration for parties unknown, then what would have required four vehicles, over several nights, and placed so far apart? Could the vehicles have been involved in moving something in or out, something too sensitive to be moved any other way, and was the distance between them necessary so that each could be close to where it would be loaded or unloaded? Interestingly, four bunkers do appear to lie close to the 750' line in Figure 9 that indicates the possible location of the vehicles. Perhaps, for an operation that required the vehicles to enter an extremely sensitive installation and risk being seen, even briefly, from Albuquerque and the surrounding community, it was a practical decision to choose one of the coldest and darkest times of the year. Still, there is no reason to assume that these vehicles had not been slipping in and out of the area for days or weeks before Paul happened to notice them.
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