One mile southwest of Socorro, New Mexico, investigators in April 1964 documented four distinct depressions in the earth, each measuring roughly sixteen inches by six inches. A newly released FBI file—Serial 438 from the agency’s UFO case files—confirms the existence of these rectangular impressions and provides a concise description of their dimensions and shape. The file, made public on May 8, 2026, does not offer an explanation for the marks, but it records their regular geometry, distinguishing them from vague scorch marks or random vegetation damage.
Special Agent D. Arthur Byrnes Jr. arrived at the scene within hours of the initial report. Byrnes, who was at the Socorro State Police Office on routine business on the afternoon of April 24, 1964, learned of the incident from radio operator Nep Lopez, who relayed Officer Lonnie Zamora’s emergency call. Zamora, a New Mexico State Police officer, had reported that an unidentified object had landed, created the ground impressions, and then taken off.
Byrnes had known Zamora for five years and described him as sober, diligent and not prone to fanciful claims. When Byrnes, along with Undersheriff Jim Luckie, Sergeant M.S. Chavez and Officer Ted Jordan, reached the site at approximately 6:00 p.m., they found Zamora “perfectly sober and somewhat agitated,” according to the agent’s notes. The file does not contain Zamora’s full statement, but it records the agent’s direct observations of the four rectangular depressions.
The document emphasizes that the impressions were tangible, measured features—four regular, sixteen‑by‑six‑inch rectangles pressed into rough terrain. No natural explanation, such as weather, animal activity, or a hoax, is offered in the report. The FBI’s record simply logs what the federal agent saw, the dimensions he measured, and the circumstances surrounding the police officer’s report.
These details are part of the Department of War’s PURSUE archive, a collection that remained classified for 62 years before being released. The decision to declassify the file suggests that the material was not deemed overly sensitive, yet its long‑term secrecy indicates it was not intended for casual disclosure. The PDF version of the file is 7.2 megabytes in size and now resides in the public domain.
While the physical depressions have since disappeared, the documented evidence remains. The record shows that a credible, sober police officer reported an unexplained landing, that a federal agent verified the presence of precise ground marks, and that the incident was formally logged by the FBI. The core question, therefore, shifts from “Did something happen?” to “What caused these specific impressions?”
Socorro is a modest town, not a typical backdrop for extraordinary events. Yet on that April evening in 1964, local law‑enforcement officers, an FBI special agent, and an emergency radio operator converged on a remote stretch of land, observed four exact rectangular holes, and entered their findings into an official case file. The declassification of that file now provides a rare, verifiable snapshot of the incident, preserving the factual details even as the physical traces have faded.
