The Week All Hell Broke Loose, November 1957

Summary

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UFO Headquarters: “The Week All Hell Broke Loose, November 1957”

Hosts: Linda Zimmermann & Michael Worden
Episode Date: January 12, 2026
Podcast: UFO Headquarters (Hudson River Radio)

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Overview:

In this episode, Linda Zimmermann and Michael Worden recount one of the most intense waves of UFO activity ever recorded: the first week of November 1957. Focusing on extraordinary cases in Texas, Alabama, and New Mexico, they detail sightings by civilians, law enforcement, and military personnel, as well as the perplexing official responses. The episode contextualizes these sightings within the heightened anxieties of the Sputnik era, drawing connections between Cold War fears and UFO hysteria.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Why November 1957 Matters

• Linda intended to do a “dustbin of ufology” segment but was overwhelmed by the sheer volume and intensity of incidents from just one week in November 1957.
• The period coincided with the space race and heightened Cold War fears, in the wake of Sputnik and Sputnik 2’s launches by the Soviet Union, raising public anxieties about threats from the sky.

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2. The Sebago Incident: Gulf of Mexico, Nov 5, 1957

[03:24–06:45]

• Event:

  • On the Coast Guard Cutter Sebago (off Alabama), at 5:10 am, radar tracked an object at 1,000 ft moving N/NE at speeds between 1,000–3,300 mph—far exceeding the speed of sound.
  • The object stopped mid-air for about a minute, then continued with sudden shifts and erratic movements.

• Eyewitnesses:

  • Multiple named Coast Guard crew members, including Cmdr. C.H. Waring, Lt. Donald Shaffer, Quartermaster Kenneth Smith, Radioman Thomas Kirk, and Ensign Wayne Shotley.
  • The object was silent, shiny, and circular, visible for roughly 5 seconds but described as “brilliant.”

• Official Explanation:

  • Government described it as “nothing more than a conventional piston engine plane.”
  • Michael: “Piston engine plane. Above this. Flying above or faster than the speed of sound. Stopping in midair.” [07:01]
  • Linda quotes researcher Frank Edwards: “The statement was perhaps more asinine than usual.” [07:17]

• Importance:

  • Radar, multiple named witnesses, and corroborated visual and radar data underscore credibility.
  • Even three Air Force pilots in nearby Selma, Alabama saw a similar object. [08:44]

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3. The Levelland, Texas UFO Wave (Night of November 2–3, 1957)

[12:05–24:44]

• What Happened:

  • Dozens of independent witnesses (at least 15 very close) reported a bright, oval/egg-shaped craft that killed car/truck engines and headlights when approached.
  • The event stretched over several hours, with calls flooding police and news offices.

• Patterns:

  • Object would land or hover, cause engines and lights to cut out, then rise vertically and depart at high speed.
  • When the craft left, cars started up—sometimes spontaneously, as if unaffected.

• Quotable Accounts:

  • Jose Alvarez: “There is a thing circling a cotton field and if you get too close to it, it'll cut your headlights out and stop your motor.” [13:26]
  • Tim Wheeler: “I've never seen anything like it at all. It was just sitting there all lit up... It looked like it was lit with neon lights.” [13:53]
  • Newell Wright: “Looked like an egg, only it was flat on the bottom, bright as neon, motionless, 75ft long with a white greenish tint.” [15:22]
  • Ronald Martin: “Big ball of fire hovering... turned a bluish green, landed in the road about 350 yards away. At that point the truck engine quits and the headlights go out.” [15:56]

• Physical/Mental Effects:

  • One witness (James D. Long) approached within 200 ft, lost consciousness briefly, and experienced missing time. [20:26]
  • Another (Mrs. Gladys Fennell, Plainview TX) heard a “big strong wind,” saw a “brilliant light,” and her husband dreamed of “visitors from Mars” after. [22:28]

• Law Enforcement Response:

  • Police cars from neighboring towns converged, officers and civilians alike were among witnesses.

• Hosts’ Analysis:

  • Michael: “There was no clout to be gained… in fact, it was probably the opposite. The ridicule factor... it'd be a great way to lose your job, your credibility.” [24:28]

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4. White Sands Proving Ground, NM: Military Police Encounter

[25:54–27:38]

• The Incident:

  • Two MPs, Cpl. Glenn H. Toy & Pvt. James E. Willibanks, saw a massive bright object descend toward the ground, halt 50 yards up, extinguish its lights, flare “brilliant as the sun,” then fall to earth and go out.
  • Estimated at 100 yards (football field) in diameter, egg-shaped.

• Significance:

  • At one of America’s most secure, nuclear-capable military facilities.
  • Michael: “Military policemen are almost never the witnesses in these cases.” [29:45]
  • Linda: “The object was around 100 yards in diameter. That's big... the mother egg.” [27:09]

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5. The Cold War Context: Sputnik & Global Anxiety

[31:16–39:17]

• Sputnik Timeline:

  • Sputnik I launched Oct 4, 1957; Sputnik II (with dog Laika) launched Nov 3, 1957—the exact night of the Texas wave.
  • The beeping of Sputnik, constantly circling overhead, symbolized worldwide vulnerability and stoked nuclear fears.

• Quotes:

  • Linda: “Suddenly the thought that the Soviets could get you wherever you were was terrifying. This was huge, huge news.” [33:23]
  • Michael: “It almost was an escalation of propaganda… what else are we capable of doing?” [37:49]

• Hosts’ Theories:

  • Did the dramatic surge in UFO activity coincide with human activity in space—or was it a response to us sending a living creature (Laika) beyond Earth?
  • Michael: “I think they [the aliens] were probably less concerned about the dog and more like, 'Oh no, we've left the children unsupervised—what are they into?'” [40:03]

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6. Further Cases in the November 1957 Wave

[40:11–48:17]

• Other Sightings, November 3rd:

  • Midland, TX: Bill Bacon saw a bluish-white object drop from clouds.
  • Cincinnati, OH: Leonard Stringfield’s phone “would not stop ringing” as huge craft reported over Indian Hill.
  • Scotia, NE: 10-year-old Roger Grotzinger paralyzed while approaching a “revolving oblong craft.” (No TV/radio at home—couldn’t have been influenced by media.) [43:03]
  • Lubbock, Amarillo, Deming, El Paso—all report similar egg-shaped, glowing, color-shifting craft, many causing cars to stall and even physically bending TV antennas.

• Project Blue Book’s Official Explanations:

  • Dismissed witnesses as “unreliable” or “psychological.”
  • Main excuse: “Ball lightning.”
  • Michael: “Oh, my goodness. That's just... mass hysteria. Ball lightning. It's all consistent with what we come to expect from Blue Book.” [48:04]

• International Component:

  • Sightings reported in Brazil, South Africa, and elsewhere, many with similar descriptions of craft and effects.

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7. Reflection: Ufology Then and Now

[49:23–54:44]

• On Studying Old Cases:

  • Linda: “When people say we don't need to look at old cases, what are you crazy?... If you're a serious student of this, or even mildly interested, you need to know about these cases.” [50:00, 51:38]

• History & Disclosure:

  • Michael: “They're breadcrumbing us today... ignoring such a significant history. It's almost like they want you to look over here, not at decades of cases.” [52:04]

• Conclusion:

  • The further back the case, the less plausible human technology as an explanation.
  • The timing and quantity of cases show the importance of evaluating the historical context, not just modern footage or reports.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Frank Edwards (as quoted by Linda):

  • “[The government’s] statement was perhaps more asinine than usual.” [07:17]

• Linda on witness bravery:

  • “No one's figured out the mechanism for how this happens... but you could see, you know, what do you do as a police department when dozens of calls are coming in?” [16:45]

• Michael on ridicule & risk:

  • “There was no clout to be gained at this point in time from seeing UFOs or making claims like this. In fact, it was probably the opposite.” [24:28]

• Michael reflecting on official excuses:

  • “Ball freaking lightning.” [48:04]

• Linda on human space endeavors and UFOs:

  • “Was it a coincident that Sputnik 2 took off... maybe they were like, okay, you humans think you can do this? Wait till you see what we can do. Don't mess with us.” [48:42]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | | --- | --- | | 01:12 | Episode introduction, theme, and context | | 03:24–06:45 | Sebago radar/visual UFO incident (Alabama) | | 12:05–24:44 | Levelland, TX: detailed witness statements | | 25:54–27:38 | White Sands Proving Ground MP sighting | | 31:16–39:17 | Sputnik context and Cold War anxieties | | 40:11–48:17 | Additional regional/Nebraska cases & Blue Book excuses | | 49:23–54:44 | Host reflections, history of ufology, need to study the past |

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Episode Tone & Final Thoughts

Lively, educated, and occasionally wry. Linda and Michael bring both incredulity and insight, sharply critiquing official dismissals while maintaining focus on the evidence and witness credibility.

Linda’s closing point:
“If you're a serious student of this or even mildly interested, you need to know about these cases. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg...” [51:38]

Michael’s closing thought:
“They're breadcrumbing us today… but we're ignoring such a significant history.” [52:04]

Final signoff:
“If you learned something new, shoot us a line… And once again, until next time, keep your eyes on the sky.” [54:44]

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Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Michael Warden]

And now get early access to our biggest sale of the year. Save 25% on the new Comfort Next luxe for a limited time only at a Sleep number store or sleepnumber.com

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Hudsonriverradio.com your mom likes us. This is Kathleen Martin. You're listening to UFO Headquarters.

[Michael Warden]

Welcome to UFO Headquarters. Thank you, Kathleen Martin, for that amazing intro. As always, one of our guests on the show, wonderful person and an amazing personality in the UFO field. Good evening everybody. Good afternoon, good morning wherever you are on this wonderful globe of ours. I'm Michael Warden with Lindsey Zimmerman and you are at UFO headquarters on Hudson River Radio. It is now, depending on when you're listening to this, it doesn't matter, but it is now 2026. Linda 2026.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

I, I can't comprehend this yet.

[Michael Warden]

Is this the year we make contact finally?

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Well, we've, you know, this whole when's disclosure, you know. Yeah, we don't need no stinking disclosure.

[Michael Warden]

That's right.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

It's happened. Just open your eyes and which fits in great with tonight because I was going to do another dustbin of ufology. People love those episodes. But the first one I decided upon was from November of 1957. And I quickly realized that week, the first week of November was insane for things going on and I quickly shifted gears to, I mean I could talk many episodes on just then. So yeah, the things were wait till you hear what was happening in 1950.

[Michael Warden]

I'm excited about this because, you know, I knew you were going to do the dustbin and then right before the show started that people don't get to see this behind the scenes part was you then dropped the new title on us and it was like, yes, this is awesome because I can't wait I have no idea what we're talking about tonight.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yes.

[Michael Warden]

So this is going to be a wonderful surprise and I don't think our listeners quite appreciate the behind the scenes part of this. We need a behind the scenes behind the scenes podcast.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

There we go.

[Michael Warden]

Yeah.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Well, for those who did come to our live presentation at the podcast Pine Bush Museum, they saw a little bit of our antics before, before, during and after. But yeah, I've got a lot to cover, so if you're ready, let's, let's jump in. We're going to the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Alabama. November 5, 1957. On the Coast Guard Cutter Sebago, Commander C.H. waring reports at 5:10am that their radar is tracking an object at about the elevation of 1,000ft. It is traveling north to northeast at speeds between 10 3,300 miles per hour. Okay, for those of you who wonder, the speed of sound is 767 miles. So. Wow.

[Michael Warden]

Yeah. I'm curious now. What is this thing?

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yes. So this object that can go that fast was also stopped in midair for about a minute. Okay, right.

[Michael Warden]

Just like, like hovering, just. Or just stop.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah, just, just, just hovered. Stopped, stopped in place after going between a thousand and three thousand three hundred. I don't know how sudden that stop

[Michael Warden]

was, but of course that's showing off in my opinion. But yes,

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

precisely. Continued to change course all over the place at 5:21am So 11 minutes later, there is a visual sighting on the deck of the Sebago. Lieutenant Donald Shaffer, Quartermaster Kenneth Smith, Radioman Thomas Kirk and Ensign Wayne Shotley all see a silent, shiny, circular, brilliant object. It's only going through the sky in the span of about 5 seconds, but that's all you need to be really, really impressed with. This huge brilliant object traveling west to northwest. It continued to be tracked on radar until 5:37am and as commander Waring said, it was kind of like 27 minutes of hide and seek on the rad radar. So he wasn't certain that this was one object zipping all around, or was it several high speed objects zipping in and out? Which makes it even more amazing to have one craft like this, but possible many. Okay, are you ready for this official government explanation of the incident?

[Michael Warden]

I'm putting on my imaginary seatbelt as we speak.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yes, it was, quote, nothing more than a conventional piston engine plane.

[Michael Warden]

Piston engine plane. Above this. Flying above or faster than the speed of sound. Stopping in midair.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yes. And silent.

[Michael Warden]

Okay, I. Sounds completely believable to me.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yes. Researcher and author Frank Edwards, he made the most brilliant comment on that explanation. He said, quote, the statement was perhaps more asinine than usual.

[Michael Warden]

Yes, excuse me, that's.

[Commercial Announcer]

Ah.

[Michael Warden]

And when you look at the context of who the witnesses are. Yes, we have, and we don't have just anonymous, a Coast Guardsman, a sailor, alleged radio or radar operator. We have names. Again, we go back to the time of this happening. This is not a usual thing where people were identified and put themselves out there as having seen these things.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

That is why I'm glad you picked that out. That's why I went to the trouble to name these people. It's not a bunch of guys on deck saw it.

[Michael Warden]

Yeah, this is named people. We have eyewitnesses, you have radar confirmation, you have all these things. And asinine is probably a nice way of putting that excuse. I think that was diplomatic because again, it just goes to the level of insult that is geared towards witnesses, especially military witnesses who you would assume you're on a Coast Guard cutter. You're going to rely upon their observations to kind of know if they can recognize an aircraft versus something that's not necessarily identifiable.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Right. And also about the same time, three US Air Force pilots in Selma, Alabama saw a very bright object flash from the south to the north. So they thought it was unusual, you know, not a meteor or something. And happening right after this. So now we can also throw three Air Force pilots into this mistaking this exceedingly fast piston engine plane.

[Michael Warden]

Yeah, that's technology that I did not know existed.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah.

[Michael Warden]

At the time.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah. So we are going to then go to the Night of Nights November 3, 1957 in Levelland, Texas, the famous Level and case. But why don't we take our first break Because I'm not going to want

[Michael Warden]

to stop and I need a break after that excuse.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

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[Michael Warden]

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[Lindsey Zimmerman]

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[Lindsey Zimmerman]

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[Michael Warden]

So right before the break there, Linda, I had said it was a good time because we, I really needed a break. And I'm not sure that was a long enough break after that horrifyingly bad government explanation. And we talk about this all the time, how bad these explanations usually are. But this one just really maybe it's the beginning of the new year. I had optimism, I had high hopes. My dreams and hopes have been dashed.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

I've been shattered already.

[Michael Warden]

Five minutes of the episode.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah. So you see what these people were up against. You have the guts to go on record and say what you saw and you're insulted. I mean, this is an absolute insult of an excuse. But let's get into what I consider one of the best documented and one of the most amazing cases in the history of ufology. Can't believe I haven't. We haven't covered this before, but now's the perfect time. So two days before that Sebago incident, November 3rd. Well, actually, it started the night of November 2nd into the early morning of November 3rd. Level in Texas is about 140 miles east of Roswell, New Mexico. Just so it's on the eastern to the west of Lubbock, so it's out that side of Texas. Okay, it's November again. I said early morning police get a call from a very excited man named Jose Alvarez. There is a thing circling a cotton field and if you get too close to it, it'll cut your headlights out and stop your motor. Okay.

[Michael Warden]

It's not a call you want to get as a cop, right Brian could probably agree with you on this one.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah, so he said the thing's lights went out, it disappeared and the car's motor started and the headlights came on again. Okay. No one's been able to quite figure out the mechanism for how this happens with head. I saw somebody do a very scientific deep dive into what it takes to stall a motor and cut out headlights. So that's call number one. Right away the phone rings again. This time it is Tim Wheeler at the intersection of Highway 51 and Farm and a farm road about 8 miles north of town. I've never seen anything like it at all. It was just sitting there all lit up. You get close to it and it shuts off your lights and kills your motor. It looked like it was lit with neon lights. It lit up the whole area. He starts, Wheeler starts getting out of his car and I have to ask the question, is that brave or stupid or a little bit of both?

[Michael Warden]

Yeah, both definitely.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

As he's approaching this object just sitting there, lit up like neon lights. It rose straight up, shut off its lights and the car engine and lights came back on. All right, two, two down. We have a pattern here already. The police are answering the phones as fast as they could. Cars are shutting off, headlights are going off. Fifteen people at least got a really close look at it. There was 19 year old college student, Newell Wright. His car died when he got too close to this object. He said, quote, looked like an egg, only it was flat on the bottom, bright as neon, motionless, 75ft long with a white greenish tint. He could see no propellers, no windows, no portholes, nothing. He watched it for a solid five minutes. It rose straight up into the clouds. And then his car started again. This is interesting.

[Michael Warden]

Yeah.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Okay, we've got another truck driver. 18 year old truck driver, Ronald Martin. He's on Highway 6, 12:45am he saw what he described as looking like a big ball of fire hovering in the sky. It lit up the interior of his truck. It turned a bluish green, landed in the road about 350 yards away. And at that point the truck engine quits and the headlights go out. Okay, 350 yards away. That's a. If. If whatever this object was was doing that to you, car engine and headlights, what was it doing to human Anat of me?

[Michael Warden]

Yeah, I was just thinking that actually that's pretty close and not where I would want to be.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah. And. And people got closer. He said, I guess I sat there in the truck for about 15 minutes too astounded to Move the craft, then turned back to a whitish color again, went straight up. Everybody's saying the same exact thing. Straight up. The truck started by itself. He didn't have to turn the key or turn on the headlights. So after all that, he told the newspaper later on, one thing I can't understand is how it could stop that combustion engine and then start it again when it took off. That's not the only question I would have. But you could see, you know, what do you do as a police department when dozens of calls are coming in of this huge neon egg shaped craft that's stalling trucks and then goes up and takes off and lands and does this to someone else.

[Michael Warden]

Especially considering the time frame and the limited technology and resources that most departments. I mean, even today, I mean, if we were getting cloth like that, what would we do? We try to go out and hopefully, I mean, I'd go out and probably be like, hey, you know, I've been looking for you. But you know, it's. I'm not afraid of that. Well, I am actually, but we'll discuss that another day.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

That's another, that's another episode. So word spreads, you know, phone the car radios. Fire marshal Roy Jones, he wants to get in on the action. 1:00am he goes out looking for it. At one point, his car headlights dim. The car almost stalls as a streak of light passes overhead. Apparently not close enough for the full effect. So this is. I would love to make a chart of how close each witness was at what point their cars died. It's amazing. It's another truck driver. 1:15am James D. Long on Oklahoma Flats Road. He also referred to it as a thing. This thing was sitting in the middle of the road with the lights off. He got within 200ft. That is damn close. That is scary close. Suddenly the lights come on. He said it's a long oval craft about 200ft long. Soon as the lights went on, truck engine cuts out, headlights out. He gets out and starts walking towards it. Some brave guy. There are some brave or foolish or both men. Okay. At this point, the object shoots straight up again. This is not like a plane taking off. This just goes straight up with a roaring sound. And he said he lost consciousness for a moment. Oh, we need a red flag to wave.

[Michael Warden]

Yes.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Hey, you're with a two. Yeah, yeah.

[Michael Warden]

Missing time maybe.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah. 200ft of this object and you, you lose consciousness just for a moment. Nothing to see here.

[Michael Warden]

We know where this is going to go.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah, well, he did. He didn't. He thinks that's all there was to it. But this time the craft stops in midair a couple of hundred feet in the air. The lights go out again. He gets, I think I better get back in my truck. He gets back in his truck car. The truck started right up. The headlights came on and he took off and then reported it. These are people who had no. It wasn't like somebody got on Twitter and said hey, you know what I and everybody starts copying it. These are all independent witnesses and we can track, you know, 12 o', clock, 12:30, 12, you know, 12:45 1. You can probably track where this was going, how close you have to be for these effects to take place. That last one, 1:15am Around 2am 50 miles north in Plainview, Texas, Mrs. Gladys Fennell said she heard something that sounded like a big strong wind and a brilliant light filled her bedroom. She ran to the window, but all she got by the time she got there, she just saw a bright flash of light. Now the newspaper article I read had at the very end of the article describing this said incidentally, her husband dreamed about visitors coming down from Mars that night.

[Michael Warden]

That's very interesting.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Oh I think Mr. Fennel and maybe Gladys maybe a little more happened.

[Michael Warden]

I think so.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Dreaming of things coming down. Well everyone's, you know, we're even in 57. Word is spreading. Everybody's out looking at just in leveland 14 police cars, state highway patrol cars, police, law enforcement from neighboring towns are all, they're all want to get in on this. And there were dozens and dozens of witnesses. I mean these descriptions, as I said, each one so similar to the other one, all independent. Nobody's saying it was a purple box and you know, it did the oval egg shaped whitish green stalling cars and trucks going straight up.

[Michael Warden]

Yeah, it's very interesting that they're so consistent in their descriptions. And you mentioned which I just wanted to kind of touch on was this is long before people did stuff for clout, you know, like today Twitter and Instagram, like people make this stuff up just to get the likes and the clicks. As you and I know, it's a thorn in the paranormal ufology side that it's so easy to fake stuff or just make these outrageous claims today. And people do it just unfortunately for that social media clout. But there was no clout to be gained at this point in time from seeing UFOs or making claims like this. In fact, it was probably the opposite. You know, the ridicule factor that we always talk about every, you know, when it comes to These, to me it just lends credibility. They had nothing to gain from making reports.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Great way to lose your job, lose your credibility. If you're a pilot reporting this, maybe you're going to end up with a desk job now, right? Cops.

[Michael Warden]

Yeah, there's a lot to lose. People have a lot to lose. Not, not gain from making this stuff up.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah, well, White Sands proving ground at 3am so we had the last, we had the last level in sighting. I talked about 1:15am then 50 miles north in plain view at 2:00am Now White Sands is about 100 miles to the west of Roswell. But you know when you're a craft that can zip off at remarkable speeds, or maybe it was a different craft. But so for those who are like, what the heck is White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico? They, they tested 67 different V2 rockets between 1946 and 52. There was missile operations base and they had nuclear weapons tests which we know the ETs are always very interested in what we crazy humans are doing to kill each other. This report very unusual because it came from military policemen on base who usually don't talk.

[Michael Warden]

No, that's unusual for sure.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Corporal Glenn H. Toy and Private James E. Willibanks were making the rounds in their jeep on the range area when a very bright. Saw a very bright object in the sky coming down towards the ground. You never want to. You're on a base with nuclear capabilities and high tech weapons testing. You don't want to see an unknown object either going to crash or land in your.

[Michael Warden]

No, that's not what you want to see.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Highly classified range. However, the object stopped 50 yards from the ground. That's a good trick for conventional aircraft, unless you're a helicopter, which it was not. Then the lights went out. A few minutes later, the object became real bright like the sun and then fell in an angle to the ground and went out. The object was around 100 yards in diameter. That's big.

[Michael Warden]

That's a football. A football field. Yeah. That's incredible.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yes. And guess what? Shaped like an egg. That is one big ass egg. 100 yard egg. Now the ones in Levelland were eggs, but not, you know, 75ft, 100. This was the, this was the mother egg.

[Michael Warden]

Yes.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

So this caught. This was big news locally and nationally that White Sands MPs, you know, went to the press on this. I don't know what happened to their careers afterwards, but at this point. Let' swhat the hell was going on in the world at this time. Well, a Little thing called Sputnik and Sputnik 2. And why don't we take our second break? And for those who have no clue what I'm talking about, we'll get into that when we get back. This is HudsonRiverRadio.com, your local Rockland county station.

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[Lindsey Zimmerman]

I'm here on the job site with Dave Dale, who's a framing contractor.

[Michael Warden]

Hey, good morning.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

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[Michael Warden]

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[Lindsey Zimmerman]

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[Michael Warden]

It's all right.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

We're so far up here.

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[Michael Warden]

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[Lindsey Zimmerman]

I'm good. So good.

[Michael Warden]

Get a commercial auto insurance quote [e-mail] and see how much you could save. It feels good. To geico Hudson river radio.com. And we're back. Linda, this is really got my attention on so many levels and not just the fact that military policemen are almost never the witnesses in these cases. But I'm wondering at the time period because of all the testing of the V2 rockets, the missile testing, the nuclear weapon capabilities, what was the clearance required to even be stationed at White Sands at the time? Like, so that when you were in that position, it made it that much more risky to come forward. That just stuck out because I'm sure you had to have a special clearance at any level to just work on that base. So the, to come out and say, you saw this. That again, the significance is not, Is not lost on, on me, at least, you know.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

No, no. And like you said, you don't. It wasn't, you know, it had to be the best, the best military policeman you would hope they could have, and they, they had to have clearance because, you know, they're seeing things.

[Michael Warden]

Yeah, and this is the, The Cold War is kicking off. You know, we're. Nuclear Armageddon is around the corner here between us and the Russians.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

So, yeah, so speaking of nuclear Armageddon, the Sputnik was. Now, if you lived in the cabin in the Rocky Mountains, remote farm in Kansas or the swamps of Louisiana, you're like, oh, those damn Russians. But they can't get me. Well, then, on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched their first satellite, Sputnik, which means satellite. It was a highly polished metal sphere, only 23 inches long with four big radio antennas. And Brian, I have to ask you, at this point, maybe you've looked this up. What, what frequencies was Sputnik do you know? Here's a trivia question for Mr. Hudson River Radio. No, I don't. It was just an audible beep, but

[Michael Warden]

I don't know what frequencies they were Transmitting on.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

At 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, it was transmitting for 22 days and nine, excuse me, seven times a day. Sputnik went over your head. If you lived in the United States, and suddenly the thought that the Soviets could get you wherever you were was terrifying. This was huge, huge news. I remember years ago when I used to do a lot of astronomy presentations. I was speaking to one astronomy group and one older guy. He said he was probably around 10 years old in 1950, and he said he had radio sets and ham radios and all that. And he would, you know, it was in the paper when it was. He'd run and he'd listen to it and how exciting, but how chilling it was. It didn't do anything.

[Michael Warden]

It just beeped.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

They didn't have capabilities to do anything. The psychological impact. Oh, yeah, yeah, they're in space. Yeah, they're in space. Over your head. They were there first, but they, you know, Sputnik wasn't capable of doing anything other than beeping and saying, we got there first. Yeah, but isn't there the next step to putting a nuclear weapon over your head? I mean, that was the whole point, to terrify the world. We're the Soviet Union and we can Reach anywhere. But I sent you that clip if you can. This is what people would listen to if they tuned in to 20 or 40 MHz. If you can play that. I mean the impact was tremendous because no one was safe anymore because they were in, they were in space. And the whole implication what they made sure they made the orbit. So they covered the earth every 96 minutes. They orbited the earth. This was for 22 days. It did this. Okay, then guess what date. November 3rd. When all hell broke loose and level in Texas they put up Sputnik 2. This time it had a passenger, the first living creature in space, the poor dog Laika, which in Russian means barker. I think we know it was a part Samoyed Husky Terrier, £13, cute little dog.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Unfortunately it was a one way ticket for Laika from the get go. They put him in the, they surgically attached telemetry wires for monitoring his respiration, heart rate, blood pressure. They had video monitoring, they had food and water to see if he would, he would eat. They said he was very. She, she. First woman in space, female in space. Very agitated, but ate a little before dying. On the fourth orbit, about five to seven hours in. Unfortunately the, the little capsule it was in overheated and poor Leica, the dog was cooked. But again there's, here's, now they're putting living beef. You can put a dog into space. You can put a person into space. This one was bigger. This was 1100 pounds. You can certainly shoot a nuclear weapon into space. And where's the US in all this? Well, Wernher von Braun, you know, the brilliant German scientist we snatched after the war, he wanted to send up, he had a Jupiter C rocket and they're like no, no, no, let's go with the Vanguard TV3. We'll show them. Yeah. On December 6, 1957, the Vanguard rose a few feet off the pad. The engines cut out and it smashed into a big fiery ball. And instead of Sputnik, they were calling it Flopnik and Kaputnik.

[Michael Warden]

I like that.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Finally, January 31, 1958, von Braun got the go ahead and he launched Explorer 1, which for you astronomy nerds was the first time the Van Allen belts were. Radiation belts were detected. So then the space race was really on because we were finally in it. But you cannot underestimate the psychological impact that Sputnik had on the whole world.

[Michael Warden]

To me, I'm thinking about it now and I never thought about it in terms of that until as you're describing it and how it almost was an escalation of propaganda. Like, look, we could put this in the, in the, in space and communicate with it. Look, we could put a living creature in space, not only communicate, but we can monitor its vitals. We can have a video. Like, we can actually monitor this in real time. So what else are we capable of doing? And then it just pops in my head, you know, a year ago, a little over a year ago this time there was the wave of unidentified drones that people were freaking out about. And we're quite well aware of space travel and drones and people were on nerve by thinking there's so many flying drones and we don't know who they are. Now imagine going back to where no one could do any of that stuff at a time when all of a sudden I'm thinking just how vulnerable that people really think. Like, what can the Soviets do to us now? Can they drop things on us? Bombs, missiles? No, no one is safe. And yeah, it really is unnerving if

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

you go and look up the Duck and cover videos that all school children because you didn't know one minute from the next was the bomb going to land in your hometown. And like, like it really helped if you hid under your desk.

[Michael Warden]

It seemed, it seemed to help. Burt the turtle in the videos.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

That's right. Oh, that's right.

[Michael Warden]

Turtle never got hurt.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

So one per. Some people were suggesting, did I love this, did the aliens do something dramatic because of the mayhem that Sputnik caused? And maybe they didn't like the idea that we, we heartless humans launch this dog into space to, you know, to cook there. I thought that was a very interesting take on it, that all this happened the day Sputnik was launched. And like the dog, first human, excuse me, first Earth creature died in space. And maybe they were like, what the hell people? You know, I think they were probably

[Michael Warden]

less concerned about the dog and more like, oh no, we've left the children unsupervised. What are they into?

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yep, yep.

[Michael Warden]

Oh no, they haven't.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

And all the media coverage that the leveland case got in view of Sputnik, they were calling it the whatnik. So the level, everything had to be neck, you know, the leveland Whatnik. But let me go over some of the other things that were going on. I have several more quick, quick cases again. November 3rd. This time in the afternoon, broad daylight. 2:50pm Bill Bacon of Midland, Texas, which is 122 miles from Levelland, sees a bluish white object dropped down from a heavy overcast sky about midway between Odessa And Midland was visible about 15 seconds, then disappeared into the fog. So it's continuing that Same day again, November 3rd. Now in Cincinnati, Ohio. Leonard Stringfield, who had just started a UFO group in Ohio, said that a huge object was seen over Indian Hill, then swooped away in a fast angular vertical climb to the west. And he said our phone has not stopped ringing. So an enormous amount of witnesses up in Cincinnati, Same day, Scotia, Nebraska, 6pm so we're now many hours into this, this wave of sightings. The Lincoln Journal reported a strange revolving aircraft that paralyzes boy. 10 year old Roger Grotzinger and his sister Dina were milking the cows and a craft circled the barn and seemed like it was going to land and it had a loud hum. Well, Roger, being a curious 10 year old boy, runs over to the pasture where this long oblong flat bottomed craft is landing. Sounds very similar to the others. It was revolving very fast, had a thick antenna. This is interesting. He said it looked like a dark blue plastic with silver on it. I don't know what that is, but he wants to get close to it. So he grabbed the top of the pasture fence to climb over it and he realized he couldn't move. He said it was like he was asleep. Uh oh, Roger,

[Michael Warden]

Yes.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Let's wave that red flag. It hovered just above the ground over the pasture, suddenly took off and he could move again. He runs to the house, tells his mother. The mother comes out, she doesn't see anything but describes what she said was very strong exhaust like fumes. So some sort of chemical or petroleum, some, some sort of fumes. So she knew something was there. Now Roger's father later explained they didn't even have a TV or radio on their farm in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska. So there's no way their son could have been listening to the UFO reports all day on the radio. So he knew nothing about it. So that I think is, is an important thing. Many other sightings in Nebraska. This is interesting. A lot of people were complaining this craft was bending their TV antennas. That's low. That is low flying. Did you ever hear of such a thing?

[Michael Warden]

No, no.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

The. Little more digging. November 1st and 2nd. Had a bunch of sightings that week in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. We all know, we, we Civil War buffs know where that is. This sounds familiar. Egg shaped craft with a greenish glow. Okay.

[Michael Warden]

Wonder where that came from.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah, a whole group of people. And this is prior to the levelin sightings. More sightings in Lubbock, in amarillo, Texas, ridgeway, Virginia. Mrs. Ruby Harrison. Sunday night again. November 3rd, 6:50pm she's near the North Carolina border. She sees an eerie light for about 10 minutes, quote, an immense oval red glow that went on and off. It faded from bright red to a pale amber pink, then brightened again. It seemed to be moving ahead of us at an angle of 45 degrees. So she didn't quite see a craft. She just saw, well, oval red glow, maybe. That's all the light was so bright, all she could see was the. The shape of the lights. Few more. November 3, Deming, New Mexico. 7:30pm Large, brightly lit object swept over the area. Radio station owner Robert Toby and CBS cameraman Russell Day filmed it. They got 35ft of film. That's very quick. But where's that film today? I would love to.

[Michael Warden]

Oh, that'd be amazing.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah. El Paso, Texas. November 4th. The next day, 7:30pm Another blue egg. This one's a blue egg, not a green egg. Some seeps, we're seeing it as blue. Some green, some blue green. Couple of days earlier, a Border Patrol agent said that he saw a blue egg which stalled his car. Okay. Sound familiar? It had a sound like an artillery shell. Okay, so that was a green flag, that. Okay, good witness. Man probably in World War II or Korea knows what the hell an artillery shell sounds like, right? Not many of us could make that comparison. And as in all the other sightings, the craft lifted straight up. Texas Congressman TJ Rutherford, by the end of that week, said he was getting calls all day and all night. He sent a telegram to the head of the Air Force. Said, I request confirmation or denial of a ufo. Okay, I don't know that the congressman got a specific personal excuse, but are you ready for this? Blue Book said these were unreliable witnesses. Another excuse was psychological. The hell does that mean? Where they're all crazy, they're hallucinating. Psychological. But the main excuse was ball lightning. Ball freaking lightning.

[Michael Warden]

Oh, my goodness.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yes.

[Michael Warden]

That's just. Yeah. Mass hysteria. Ball lightning. It's all consistent with what we come to expect from Blue Book. The Blue Book we know and love.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Some of the clearest, best articulated independent sightings. And it's ball lightning. Unreliable, psychological. Within days of this, more sightings were in Illinois, Wisconsin, Arizona, all over Brazil and South Africa. Same thing.

[Michael Warden]

A lot of mass hysteria.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah, mass hysteria. So this is why I said, the week that all hell broke loose. This is. You could spend a career just studying. This week in you. This week in ufology, maybe. We have to have a new show. So. Yeah. Was it a coincident that Sputnik 2 took off, that in the midst of all this, maybe, maybe it was like, okay, you humans think you can do this? Wait till you see what we can do. Don't mess with us. I, I don't know. What do you think?

[Michael Warden]

I, I, I think the timing is a little odd to be just as a coincidence. Yeah, you know, we're putting, you know, humans are, are breaking the atmosphere going into space here for the first time. We're putting not only a satellite with just radio equipment, but the capability of sustaining life, even for a short period of time, a dog. And clearly demonstrating that we can put something up in the atmosphere and make it do something more than just beam radio signals. And it triggers the space race. I think it's coincidence. I think not. I'm just gonna say it. I gotta do it.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah, yeah. That was the thing that as I was docu, you know, writing all these out, it didn't, you know, in my back of my head, I, I knew, you know, Sputnik, but that was October. I didn't realize November 3rd was when Laika the dog went up. The late Lyka the dog. Yeah. So I think this is stupendous. And when people in committees today say we don't need to look at old cases, what are you crazy? I mean, right?

[Michael Warden]

I mean, you have to go back and look at the history and the evolution of this from, I mean, we could, how far back have we gone? But if you want to just take the Post World War II era, you have to, you have to start and look at these. Especially when the space race starts to kick off. How do you dismiss them and just think, well, we're going to ignore all this stuff that's been happening for 75 plus years and focus on what's happening now? Well, you can't explain what's happening now without going back and looking at the history that leads up to that. It's all related. Nothing happens in a bubble or a vacuum.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

But no, and even that first one, the Coast Guard cutter, you know, the Sebago in the Gulf of Mexico, 27 minutes, its radar is following something going up to 3,300 miles per hour.

[Michael Warden]

That's significant.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

So yeah, you have to, So I think this, this is very important. If you're a serious student of this or even mildly interested, you need to know about these case, this case that week. And, you know, I could have gone on and the Brazilian cases were crazy. The, you know, all these others, that's just probably the tip of the iceberg for that week.

[Michael Warden]

And I think it shows just how they, they're, they're piecemealing and breadcrumbing us today with disclosure. Oh, look at, we're gonna, here's a TikTok video or a Tic Tac we could put on TikTok. Look at, see, and that's great. Those footages are amazing. But we're ignoring such a significant history. It's almost like they want you to look over here. Don't look over here. Just look at this. Here, look at this. Here's the breadcrumbs. But, but don't look at the big bakery over here full of stale bread for 75 years. Just take this little breadcrumb over here. And it's, it's frustrating because we're preaching, we're preaching to the choir. We know that. But it's just, we bang our heads against the table and our fists against the table and say, why look at this. There's so much information and evidence.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yeah. You dismiss it and you know, of course a lot of the critics today will say, oh, it's our own, you know, it's our own high tech. Or maybe it's the Russians or the Chinese. It's all that, well, whose was it in 57 doing this?

[Michael Warden]

Right, right. You know, who was it in the earlier 50s, in the late 40s and the right after World War II.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Right.

[Michael Warden]

Because no one could do it.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Right.

[Michael Warden]

So.

[Commercial Announcer]

Right.

[Michael Warden]

You know, the, the more, the further back you go, the less likely it was a human responsible or man made aircraft that were doing this. Now I'd say it's a lot easier to claim that because we know what the capabilities are. So today if you said that, well, how do we know? Yeah, you're right. We don't know for sure. I guess there's always that. Is it classified? But you go back far enough. We didn't. The technology wasn't there yet. But we're not looking at that. We're not looking at really what's the most common or the most basic explanation to me is if we weren't capable of doing it and people were seeing it, then what was causing it? Something's behind it.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Yep, yep, yep. And if anybody out there remember is old enough to remember Sputnik and was freaked out by it, I'd love to hear. All you have to do is look at the newspaper articles from then. No one felt safe. And not just the space race, but it was really nukes in space was what the nukes coming to your hometown was, was the big concern. And how we dodged that, I don't know. Almost didn't. But that's.

[Michael Warden]

We're still not out of the woods, I don't think.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

No, no, no. Unfortunately, there's still way too many nuclear

[Michael Warden]

weapons in the world and.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

All right, well, take us out.

[Michael Warden]

Well, on that depressing note, we're gonna thank you for joining us here on UFO Headquarters on Hudson River Radio. Hope you learned something new. And if you did, shoot us a line. Tell us what you think. If you have been with us for a long time, we thank you for your continued listening. If you're new, binge, listen to us on your favorite platform. And once again, until next time, keep your eyes on the sky.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Hudsonriverradio.com A favorite among shut ins and

[Commercial Announcer]

dogs, Granger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building, you're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and a around corners, lights about to fail, filters ready to clog H Vac on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering and 24. 7 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

I'm here on a job site with Tim, who owns his own electrical contracting business.

[Michael Warden]

Three employees and two work trucks.

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

Tim traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance. We're positively here where he needs us most.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Lindsey Zimmerman]

With step by step help on all his insurance needs. All for shockingly low rates. Shockingly low, huh? Just a little bit of electrician humor.

[Michael Warden]

Do you get it?

[Lindsey Zimmerman]

I got it. You know, it feels like we have a real connection. All right, I'll stop.

[Michael Warden]

Get a commercial auto insurance quote [e-mail] and see how much you could save. It feels good to Geico.