Lubbock Lights - from the history of UFOs

World ufology calls the "Lubbock Lights" a series of UFO sightings in the states of New Mexico and Texas, reported in September and August 1951.

Lubbock Lights – another famous UFO sighting

This event began with the fact that at the end of August 1951, a married couple living on the outskirts of the city of Albuquerque, witnessed an unusual phenomenon: about 21:00 over the house in which they lived, flew an object that looked like the wing of a passenger liner, it was at an altitude of 900-1200 m. Both spouses later indicated that they noticed about eight pairs of lights and a dark stripe that was on the object. The UFO flew away in a southerly direction without making a single sound.

After the incident in Albuquerque, no more than 20 minutes passed and eyewitnesses from the city of Lubbock began to report one by one a chain of green-bluish lights in the sky. On the same day, the staff of the Texas Tech College (Professor W. L. Ducker, Professor of Chemistry A. G. Burt, Professor of Geology W. I. Robinson) conducted observations of meteorites near the city of Lubbock.

Suddenly, the three of them saw about 30 lights of a bluish glow in the sky, which were moving at high speed and did not make any sounds. Scientists noted that the brightness of the glow of UFOs were similar to ordinary stars. When they saw the lights for the first time, they moved in concert, in one formation. An hour later, when the scientists began to observe the objects in the sky again, they moved chaotically. Over the next 3 weeks, employees of the Texas Tech College witnessed the appearance of UFOs in the sky 12 more times. One evening, UFOs appeared twice. Each time the objects appeared from the north and flew to the south, for all the time of observations, it was not possible to accurately determine the height of the UFO flight.

Fixing UFOs in Lubbock with radars and photographic equipment

Approximately six hours after the first report of a UFO in Lubbock, 26.08.1951, radar equipment in Washington recorded an unidentified object that was at an altitude of 13 thousand feet. Its speed was about 1000 km / h, which was almost twice as fast as the speed of the most powerful fighter, which was in service with the base in Washington.

A fragment of an article about Lubbock lights in the local press

During the observations of the Lubbock Lights, several photos were obtained, which later became the subject of study by UFO researchers from around the world. They were made by the student K. Hart. On the evening of August 31, he saw a whole group of flying fiery glowing objects in the sky. When the UFOs returned in the opposite direction, the student was already waiting for them with a Kodak camera and was able to take 5 photos. After these pictures got to the military, experts from the US Air Force could not prove that the photos are fake. 

Simulation of UFO images

Skeptical ufologist D. Menzel in his publication in the magazine "Look" questioned the truth of the photographs of the Lubbock Lights. The article posted a photo showing similar lights in the sky, but Menzel himself said that he made them in a laboratory. The main reason for the forgery of Hart's photos for Menzel was the high speed of objects – the ufologist himself was engaged in photography and claimed that it was impossible to shoot such objects in the night sky with a conventional camera.

Photos of the Lubbock Lights by Carl Hart.

What did Edward J. Ruppelt learn?

From late August to mid-September, dozens of Texans watched the mysterious lights. Lieutenant Edward J. Smith was sent to Lubbock to investigate the nature of the unexplained phenomenon. Edward J. Ruppelt, who would later become the first head of the secret American project "Blue Book" for the study of UFOs. By the way, it is he who owns the term "unidentified flying object", which replaced the "flying saucer".

Ruppelt interviewed all the witnesses who observed the mysterious unidentified object in the Texas sky and established a pattern. The lights always appeared in pairs, from 4 to 16, moved strictly from northeast to south-west and flew absolutely noiselessly at high speed. There were many versions, but Ruppelt did not find an unambiguous answer to the question "what was it". A few years later, in his book about unidentified flying objects, he will write that there are no rational explanations for the Lubbock Lights.

What do other rationalists think about the phenomenon?

The sensational phenomenon has been trying to explain for almost 70 years. Skeptics versions:

• An attempt to attribute the effect to the reflection of light from the wings of geese or ducks broke down on the speed of movement: birds are not able to overcome one and a half thousand kilometers per hour.
• It is believed that the observers could see a new type of aircraft "Flying Wing". But the US Air Force does not admit to conducting test flights of this aircraft over Lubbock, and the Flying Wing program was already officially closed at that time.
• An attempt to explain the anomalous effect by the visible exhaust of jet engines of aircraft is also no good. All the witnesses of the lights in one voice say that the flights were silent. Has anyone seen a silent jet plane? And the engines of the only jet bomber in the United States at that time were only 4 or 6. While the number of lights varied from 6 to 30.

YB-49 Stealth Bomber

Reasonable explanations for the "Lubbock Lights" have not yet been found. In his book about UFOs, Edward Ruppelt vaguely mentions a certain group of government officials who carried out a special mission in 1951 to search for mysterious objects in Texas. There is only evidence that the group actually worked for at least six months. In the declassified materials of NASA, its activities are not mentioned. Maybe in fact, in August-September 1951, Texas was visited by alien ships. Whether this is the case is still unknown to the general public.

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About author:

Serg Toporkov Ufologist, Ph.D., blogger, I go on my own expeditions for UFOs. I use scientific methods to investigate the UAP phenomenon. Write to me

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UFO  Lubbock Lights  UFOs  New Mexico  USA  Texas  1951  UFO sightings