Menzell, like the Air Force Project Blue Book files and public responses, plays fast and loose with the totality of experiences, facts and conclusions.
The PBB file will state in its summary cover page that only six witnesses were involved and inside will point out that in contrast to accusations by Donald Keyhoe and others, there were not 14 witnesses! Yet in that file are a collection of witness statements that indicate many more people observed or experienced high strangeness in West Texas that night than could be accounted for by "ball lightening."
In addition, there is a document that appears to be a veritable "smoking gun" describing attitudes and methods. Transcribed it reads: "General comments regarding hypothesis advanced by Mr. [Blanked out name]. There is just enough truth in this hypothesis (the existence of charged clouds as cause lightening) to make it appear a reasonable explanation. [emphasis added by blog editor]
However, we have never heard of the "ducting" of ions, and certainly if a sizeable volume of air were to be burned the resulting influx of air, or efflux of gase would create quite a wind, which reports of the incident do not indicate."
Indeed, early reports of the event make no mention of any "wind" only of a loud clap of sound that one driver assumed might be thunder. Other articles, later dated articles, add this interesting feature into the testimony of a farm worker, Korean veteran, Pedro Saucedo (or Saucido).
The mist, rain and other general weather conditions were heralded as a sure sign of the conditions necessary for ball lightening. It was a the equivilent to a bright shiny object to distract the public from the fact that other elements of the story and other stories from the surrounding areas could not be so easily dismissed.
Headlines about the story shot out and made the story national, much to the distress of the Air Force. The summary card of the file reads, with a touch of ire almost, that the UFO incident "triggered" more than 300 similarly described cases because of national publicity and sensationalism caused by the media. (One wonders if the translation of this was that more people noticed than we are used to?)
"Weird 'Thing' To Be Probed by Air Force." Boston Daily Record, Nov. 5, 1957, pg. 5.
"Sun-Like Mystery Object Hovers Near Atomic Bunkers". No sources listed but location was White Sands Proving Grounds, Nov. 4, 1957. Military patrols had seen vivid bright light, object 200-300 feet long, blinking on and off, disappeared into the sky and had been seen hovering over site of an old A-Bomb bunker.
"Inquiry in Air Object." NY Times, Nov. 5, 1957.
"Fiery Object Stops Texas Trucks." Tucson Daily Citizen. Nov. 5, 1957. In this version, Saucido mentions the sound of wind rushing by.
"Blinding Flying Saucer 'Stops' Texas Motorcars." Indionapoils Star. Nov. 4, 1957. Edd-shaped object, red as a setting sun 'streaked' over West, Texas, Clovis, Nm...
The object seen was described as Oval-Round (this is also the egg-shape classification), cover sheet says bluish-white to greenish-white but most newspaper stories will describe the object as a vivid, sunset, red. The sizes varied from a basketball (held at arm's length) to an object 800 feet in length and several measurements in between. All but one, it was noted, mentioned lighting flashes along the rim. The conclusion was: "After extensive checks and detailed observations the Air Force and non-governmental scientists...concluded sighting was a very rare phenomena, ball lightening."
One witness who sighted the object at 0100 saw it from 200 yards away. He described it as being an oval, 200 feet long, and 43 feet wide. The night was cloudy and there was drizzle yet at that distance features would have been discernable.
A message in "8 parts" to ACS/I, Washington att Major Byrne from AFCIN-4E4 dated Nov. 8. 1957 concerned the UFO incidents throughout the US that had been given wide publicity, and the communication was a request for report on immediate conclusions or findings. At the bottom of the form was the name Capt. Gregory. Several specific cases or events were itemized.
1) Kearney, Nebraska "space ship" incident where a "wholly unreliable source" had refused to take a lie detector test.
2) Gulf of Mexico and the Coast Guard Cutter "SABGO", 200 miles south of New Orleans. There had been four separate targets observed ( and not the one erroneously reported) - 3 on radar and 1 sighted visually. Each time target picked up - there was a direct opposite appearance from proceeding target and some distane away. Speeds 250 and 660 mph - suggest propeller aircraft...
Other elements of the Levelland Case:
1. It was not the only similar event reported for the days prior to, same day and day after in distantly related geographic locations. In other words, it happened in many places. See especially the Nov.4, 1957 Elmwood Park, Illinois mentioned by Dr. Hyneck in his work on the Project Blue Book (pg. 166).
2. Drivers miles apart experienced a similar event: a very strange flash of light that stretched across the sky and a loss of radio and electrical current for a brief few seconds in their cars at approximately the same moment. These included Nov. 2 at about 2310-2330, Anton, Texas were driver reported lightening and static on the radio, an intense bolt of lightening to his SW and radio and car lights going out for a few seconds. Nov. 2 south of Shallow Water, Texas at about 2335 were witnesses reported an intense flash of light in the SW that had a white-white-orange color. Lights and radio went out for abour three seconds. . Others saw strange objects:Nov. 3 about 1:15 a.m. on an area called Oklahoma Flats near Levelland an east to west flash, close to the ground that was red to orange-red. Nov. 4 at 2045 near Sunday, Texas a vivid red object the size of a basket at arm's length was seen traveling SE. It appeared to be swinging and was attached by a cable to a larger object that looked like a balloon.
3. The SW direction reported in the two cases from Anton and Shallowater would point back toward the Levelland, Texas site. This creates a witness triangulation of something that happened in the area of Levelland.
3. The AF file and newspaper accounts indicate more than 6 people witnessed events in that time frame. Patrolman A.J. Fowler was quoted saying that "Saucedo" and 14 others had called in reports of the object.
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