Growth Spurst After Seeing Egg Shaped Object? High Strangeness from 1964.

A woman from Albuquerque, Bernalillo County,  New Mexico - one Mrs. Max Stull - claimed that her ten year-old daughter, Sharon, had grown 5 1/2 inches and gained 25 lbs. since seeing an "egg shaped" object in April of 1964.  The wire story was dated June of 1964. No follows up stories have been found.

This family had previously been in the news following the Socorro case. The daughter, Sharon, had been returning to the school grounds after going home for lunch when she saw an odd egg shaped object according to an article in the local paper, "Girl Says She Was Burned While Watching UFO Here." (Albuquerque Journal, April 28, 1964). The date was April 27, 1964 just days after the Socorro event.

She observed object - that seemed to bounce up and down about three times in the sky, for an estimated 5-10 minutes. Later, back in class, she suddenly began complaining of burning sensations about her eyes, nose and face. The doctor diagnosed her with conjunctivitis of both eyes (membrane inflammation) and first degree burns under the eyes and on the nose. He noted that an exposure such as was reported would d not be considered sufficient to produce such burns or inflammation.

Sharon stated she was watching the object in the NE and the sun was behind her; apparently ruling out negative impact from staring at the sun or sunburn per se.  In fact, the temperature between Noon and 1:00 p.m., on that date in that place, was listed as 64 degrees at noon and 66 degrees by 1:00 p.m. The high was 70 reached at 3: 00 p.m.

One newspaper article, "'Infra-Red' Burns Suffered by Girl who 'Saw' Object " (copy in the PBB file but without citation) said she saw it hovering near her Lowell Elementary School grounds. She termed the egg shaped object "queer looking" to police Lt. C.K. Jolly. She watched it cross the sky and disappear into the distance.

She described the object as a little smaller than an airplane. It had no windows. Her younger sister, age 8, also saw it but was not as interested so did not watch it as long. She, according to one newspaper account, was able to draw an image of the object and may have described in a picture she drew as silver in appearance.

Both Sharon and her mother felt the burns were the result of watching the object cross the sky. Mrs. Stull kept her daughter home the next day and admitted to newspapers, she was "scared to death."

The story was also carried in APRO Bulletin and a less than complimentary account that accused the mother of soliciting support, sympathy and cast the entire family in less than fond terms. The APRO Bulletin (May 1964) was posted into the "Edgewood New Mexico Case File" for April 27, 1964 where a man alleged to have been drunk, fired some 14 rounds into a "flying saucer" and heard them hit the object. He was charged by police for disorderly conduct and discharging a firearm and the Air Force filed is as a probable attempt at a hoax.Not much is there about the event. Yet, inside the 13 pages of report were numerous clippings concerning the same day events of Sharon Stull. Some sources allude to there being an PBB file on the Stull case, that they investigated it but dismissed it as a hoax. The online files do not reflect any coverage of that case but do have clippings as part of other cases.

Taken in a broad historic context, the case, despite what some may have attempted to make of it, has at its heart something unusual occurring that left evidence in the forms of burns. If that was a singular occurrence it might be easier to sweep it aside and agree with it being a bid for attention or sympathy. 

This would be classed as one of several where reports of radiation readings, burns, and other side effects were alleged in UFO sightings reported to Project Blue Book or Mufon (NICAP or other early groups).  It is also apparent from the undated article that there was an attempt made to bring the event into question. Note the use of the marks around the word 'Saw'.    Children, youth and women were often immediately cast into the unreliable classification in UFO research - due both to the subject matter and to the prejudices/biases of the era. Women were hysterical, flighty, emotionally unstable by nature. About their children they could 'overprotective'.  Many of these cases involving women happened when a woman was unable to do many things taken for granted:  open a bank account, get a credit card, etc. They made an excellent scapegoat for shifting a report into the unreliable category.

It should be recalled that on April 24, 1964 in Socorro, Socorro County, New Mexico, (central New Mexico) a patrolman observed  an egg shaped object on "feet" or "landing gears."

Attempts to tie the object the officer saw with moon landing module vehicles being tested in the southwest proved unsuccessful.  Some creative illustrations of the object seen have the egg shape upright. The sketch of Officer Zamora, however, shows it on its side, with a strange red marking on it. Two small sized occupants were reported at the time as well.

The sketches made by witness Zamora in Socorro, New Mexico:

The symbol itself has become a point of controversy with claims of false symbols to throw off the millions of hoaxers waiting to jump on the band wagon and weed them out of any future investigations. Problem was - no more such symbols were seen (apparently) and the point became moot.

That egg shape? It was not as unique as might be supposed. Close examination of other witness sketches finds the same "oval" or elliptical shape a most common one in sightings. I will address the lack of a common language in investigations in an upcoming entry.

Indeed, fear of hoaxers and confabulations seems to have always been the monster in the closet of the Air Force and government types. The number of genuinely authentic hoaxes and hallucinations is minuscule in the 10 k + files of Project Blue Book. Is the story of strange influence on a ten year old child just one of those "hoaxes" or was it something more?

For more on the symbols see Kevin Randle's blog.