Unsealed: Alien Files (2012–…): Season 3, Episode 24 - Triangle Terror - full transcript

[narrator] UFO sightings
happens almost everyday.

But not all sightings are equal.

In the court of public opinion

the most credible witnesses come from
the military and law enforcement.

Men and women trained
to observe and investigate.

Powers of observation in police officers
are orders of magnitude,

what you'll find in most witnesses
and this is why when it comes to UFOs,

the police witnesses are so important.

[narrator] If hard evidence
of the existence of extra terrestrials

is out there,

the military and the police
will likely find it first.



And perhaps...

they already have.

Join us as we investigate
the most important

police sightings of UFOs.

[narrator]
A global effort has begun.

Secret files hidden
from the public for decades,

detailing every UFO account
are now available to the public.

We are about to uncover the truth
behind these classified documents.

Find out what the government
doesn't want you to know.

Unsealed Alien Files,

exposing the biggest secrets
on planet Earth.

[narrator continues] Communities around
the world rely on policemen and women,

to ensure safety and security.

And if an extra terrestrial threat
were to suddenly occur,



they would almost certainly
be the first to respond.

Police officers
are very important witnesses.

They are highly trained to be visual.

Observe and essentially document
their daily routine.

[narrator] But what happens when
they witness a close encounter

of the third kind?

Unsealed case file:
The Zamora Incident.

April 24th, 1964.
Socorro, New Mexico.

New Mexico state police officer
Lonnie Zamora,

is in hot pursuit of a speeding car,
when something catches his attention.

He saw a strange light in the sky
and heard a roaring sound,

rather like a rocket.

[narrator] Zamora breaks of his pursuit
of the speeding car,

and is concerned that the roaring sound
is a local dynamite shack exploding.

But then, he sees an object above him.

He broke off his pursuit and decided
to follow this strange object.

He lost sight of it for a while
and then when he came over a hill,

he encountered this most extraordinary
scene of what looked like

a spherical or oval shaped silver object
actually on the ground.

He stops his patrol car,
gets out of his car

and actually starts to approach the object

He sees it and describes it
as this white in color,

spherical or saucer-shaped craft.

It had definitely landed on the ground,

and then he sees bodies actually
exit the craft, walk out into the field.

As he approaches,
whatever these, uh, beings were,

he describes it as like he's startled them
or kind of scared them.

And that they got back
into the craft and took off.

[narrator] The craft accelerates
out of sight at an incredible speed.

As the craft was taking off,

uh, he remembered
that there was some type of flame

or maybe, uh, an engine of some kind,

uh, that was underneath the craft
as it took off.

And as he approached
where the object was,

he saw that there was
actually trace evidence

or evidence that was left behind
that something was there.

[narrator] Zamora's training takes over.
He gets on the radio and calls in.

This really was almost a perfect storm
of what makes a UFO case compelling.

A police witness, a landed UFO
and physical traces.

His testimony about the flame
underneath the craft was backed up

by the evidence
that was left in the field,

so we had scorched ground,
scorched vegetation,

that something was definitely there
and something altered the vegetation

in the field.

[narrator] The Zamora's sighting
quickly becomes one of the most

heavily investigated
UFO sightings of its day.

The Army, Air Force's
Project Blue Book,

NICAP and the FBI,
all tried to understand it's implications.

There was an area of the desert which
seemed to be, uh, kind of more glassy

as if, there really had been something
with a high heat source present there.

And when the US government
looked at this,

they said, "We really don't know
what to make of this."

[narrator]
Noted Project Blue Book astronomer,

Allen Hynek, arrives on the scene.

Hynek has years of experience
investigating not only aerial phenomena,

but the people who witness them.

Hynek called Officer Zamora
an unimpeachable witness

and I think there are
a couple of reasons for that.

He was a very honest
and trustworthy police officer.

But on top of that you also had
physical trace evidence

that you could touch, feel,
and back up his testimony.

[narrator] Critics find it hard
to dismiss Zamora's testimony.

When he didn't know something,
he said, "I don't know."

When he didn't see something,
he said, "I didn't see it."

This was a man who did not guess,

and Hynek said, "Witnesses don't get
any better than this."

[narrator] There are also
other eye witnesses,

who describe seeing and hearing
the same object,

in the same area, at the same time.

[Nick] People higher up
the chain of command,

would look at case like this
and still dismiss UFOs,

as just misidentifications and hoaxes.

Famously, Hynek, went on to say,

"The Air Force doesn't know
what science is."

[narrator]
But the Air Force's formal public report

rejects some elements
of the testimony,

and attempts to discredit
the other eye witnesses.

Even Zamora, himself.

There were some theories that were
put around about Zamora,

uh, they were pretty insulting actually.

Maybe he'd been
the victim of a practical joke.

Maybe he'd been in on some hoax to try
to, uh, bring tourism into the area.

None of these theories stood up.

He had nothing to gain by this
and probably everything to lose.

[narrator] But a secret report
prepared for the CIA states,

"There is no questions
about Zamora's reliability."

Later years, Zamora,
became so disillusioned

with both the Air Force,
and indeed with the UFO community,

that he really dropped out
of the whole scene.

He just wanted an explanation
and he never got one.

[narrator] Most UFO sightings are plagued
by contradictions and inconsistencies.

But police UFO sightings are
comprehensive, critical and scientific.

In a word, they are credible.

But what happens when
over two dozen Police Officers

witness something
unexplainable in the sky.

Unsealed case file:
The Cosford Incident.

March 30th and 31st, 1993.

Devon, England.

The Cosford incident,
from the UK in March, 1993,

is one of the best evidenced waves
of UFO sightings in recent years.

There were several dozen UFO sightings.

Many of which were from serving
police officers and military personnel.

[narrator] The high point
of the Cosford wave

saw two Air Force bases directly overflown
by an unknown craft.

And the UK Ministry of Defense's
very own UFO investigator,

Nick Pope, was on the case.

The UFO was seen by a patrol
of military police officers and they said

that this thing passed directly overhead
and was triangular in shape

and of immense size.
But at the second base,

Shawbury, the Meteorological Officer,
reported to me the following morning

that he had seen
a huge triangular-shaped craft

flying maybe no more than 200 feet
above the ground.

[narrator] But what the officer sees next,
shakes him to the core.

He saw a thin beam of light fire down
from this UFO to the ground

and then track backwards and forwards,
as if looking for something.

And then, he said from a very slow speed,
maybe no more than 50 miles an hour

the beam of light retracted
and the UFO from the slow speed

accelerated away to the horizon
just in an instant.

His voice by the way was still shaking as
I interviewed him the following morning.

[narrator]
Nick Pope digs deeper into the case

and his reports reach the leaders
of the Ministry of Defense.

We were all completely baffled,

there was nothing tracked on RADAR

there were one or two
possibly vague pings,

but-but nothing,
nothing that we could say

with any certainty were-were any kind
of aircraft that we were familiar with.

[narrator] Police officers were
instrumental in convincing authorities

that something violated UK airspace.

Police officers played a huge part in
bringing the Cosford incident to light.

It was a report from a patrol
of Air Force police officers

at RAF Cosford, that really was

one of the key incidents
of that whole night.

Police officers in the surrounding area
were able to say that

civilians had seen this too.

So, it was the police that drew together
the strands of this.

[narrator] One of the key factors
in gathering evidence

was the UK's implementation
of a standardized Police form.

[Nick] Every single police station
in the United Kingdom

had a standard operating procedure
and indeed a form whereby

we in the Ministry of Defense
had given them the questions

that we wanted answered.

So, this came to us
in a strictly regimented format,

so that we had all the raw data
that we needed,

in terms of date, time, location, height,

speed, description, sound, et cetera.

[narrator] The quality of the police
testimony played a critical role.

I interviewed many of the police,
civilian and military.

[Nick] Their testimony
was second to none.

These people were trained observers.

When they relayed this to me, I was able
to say with a high degree of confidence,

this is exactly the way
that this happened.

[narrator] After such
an in-depth investigation,

the UK government comes
to a stunning conclusion.

For the first time that I can recall,

we put in black and white
in our assessment that,

"An uncorrelated target,
uh, an unidentified craft,

penetrated the UK's sophisticated
Air Defense network and flew

with apparent impunity
for hours over the United Kingdom."

So it's arguably the only
government assessment of UFOs

that directly contradicts the party line,
the official line.

[narrator]
Civilian extra terrestrial sightings

are often greeted with skepticism.

However, eye witness reports
filed by police personnel

can elevate UFO case files.

If they see something strange
and unusual, chances are you're gonna get

a very detailed response from them.

But in some cases highly coordinated
efforts by multiple police officers

can yield more questions than answers.

Unsealed case file:
The St. Clair Triangle.

[narrator] January 5th, 2000,
SOUTHERN Illinois.

Officer Ed Barton responds
to a 4 AM call from dispatch.

Witnesses claim that they have seen
a UFO in the night sky.

When Officer Barton
arrives at the location,

he witnesses a black triangle
beaming powerful light to the ground.

He claims the triangle emits no noise

and does not behave
like conventional aircraft.

Suddenly, the triangle
accelerates out of sight

and it is picked up by another
police officer in the next town.

Here you got many of these
police witnesses

describing a vast triangular-shaped craft
just hanging there in the sky,

and then suddenly accelerating away
to the horizon at high max speeds.

What really made this, uh, compelling
was that not only were some

of the witnesses police officers
out on patrol,

but these police officers were radioing
back to their dispatchers

what they were seeing,
and they were also coordinating

the investigations when it came
to the sightings from the public.

And they were able to actually document
where this craft was heading

and then have other police officers
essentially pick up the chase

and follow this craft
wherever it was going.

[narrator]
Five police departments spanning

a large area of Southwest Illinois
tracked the triangular UFO.

And it was that type of communication
which ultimately became

a very powerful tool for them

to essentially track this UFO
to try and figure out what it was.

When you have multiple police officers
that are able to essentially track a UFO

and they can stay with each other
through radio contact,

that brings another level
of credibility to this.

I can't say with any certainty
that this was extra terrestrial

we have no-no definitive proof
but sometimes with a sighting like this

you're really left with the feeling
there was not much else it can be.

[narrator] But some experts believe
The Illinois Triangle can be explained.

I think at the end of the day
it's that probably a military aircraft.

Because when you look at our technology,
when you look at the F-117 stealth fighter

and you look at what
we have flying in the skies,

or what ultimately could be a top secret
aircraft it is very similar in design.

So, I think the Black Triangle
UFO phenomena, what we're seeing

is maybe a peek into technology
that's being developed,

but the military hasn't told us yet.

[narrator] Whatever it was,
some experts believe

that even the most credible testimony

will always be met with
a certain degree of skepticism.

I think there's another factor
at play here, this is human variation.

Different witnesses
have different memories.

They have different belief systems,
different perceptions,

I think almost everyone is going to see
and perceive something

particularly something exotic

outside their normal frame of reference
in a different way.

The irony is that this is something
every police officer will tell you.

[narrator]
Police accounts of UFO sightings

can elevate the study
of unknown objects in our skies.

I think a police officer,
when they see something like that,

that level of credibility is really raised
for a particular case.

Because you do have
that level of honesty and reliability

and essentially training,
that if they saw something

that they cannot explain, I think
that's something we have to look at.

[narrator] However, even the most
highly trained police personnel

are not immune to skeptics.

Something that officers involved
in the St. Clair Triangle incident

know all too well.

In the aftermath of the Illinois UFO
sightings, many of the police witnesses

many of the police officers
who investigated this

and saw things themselves,
they had headaches, they had anxiety,

depression, they became
the butt-end of jokes.

If you start getting made fun of, or,

somebody completely
discounts what you saw

the next time you see something like that,

my guess is you're gonna
be pretty apprehensive

to coming out and explaining what you saw.

So, I think you're looking
at the tip of the iceberg.

There are whole bunch
of other police sightings out there

that never see the light of day at all,

because the people think,
"Well, what's in it for me?"

Are only a whole bunch of heartache.

[narrator] Along with ridicule
comes a culture of suppression.

[John] And I think we see this
time and time again.

We see this with military,
commercial aviation pilots.

We see them come out with a story.

And what happens? They get made fun of.

There's always a joke
in the end of a news broadcast.

Higher up the chain of command
you clearly have as you have,

for example, also with pilots,
people saying,

we really don't want you
talking to the media about this.

[narrator] But at the end of the day,
the most credible witnesses

just may be the people we trust
to keep us safe.

I think that UFO investigators recognize
that if you have two cases,

one of which has a police officer
backing up and one doesn't,

chances are, the case with
the police officer is gonna rank

just a little bit higher
than all the others.

[narrator]
This is Unsealed Alien Files,

exposing the biggest secret
on planet Earth.

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