The Lubbock Lights

The Lubbock Lights, 1951

At 9:10pm, on Aug. 25, 1951, Dr. W. I. Robinson, professor of geology at the Texas Technological College, stood in the back yard of his home in Lubbock, Texas, and chatted with two colleagues. The other men were Dr. A. G. Oberg, a professor of chemical engineering, and Professor W. L. Ducker, head of the department of petroleum engineering. The night was clear and dark. Suddenly, all three men saw a number of lights race noiselessly across the sky, from horizon to horizon, in a few seconds. They gave the impression of about 30 luminous beads, arranged in a crescent shape. A few moments later another similar formation flashed across the night. This time the scientists were able to judge that the lights moved through 30 degrees of arc in a second. A check the next day with the Air Force showed that no planes had been over the area at the time. This was but the beginning: Professor Ducker observed 12 flights of the luminous objects between August and November. Some of his colleagues observed as many as 10. Hundreds of nonscientific observers in a wide vicinity around Lubbock saw as many as three flights of the mysterious crescents in one night.

On the night of Aug. 30, an attempt to photograph the lights was made by 18-year old Carl Hart, Jr. He used a Kodak 35-mm camera at f3.5, 1/10 of a second. Working rapidly, Hart managed to get five exposures of the flights. The pictures exhibited by Hart as the result of this effort show 18 to 20 luminous objects, more intense than the planet Venus, arranged in one or a pair of crescents. In several photographs, off to one side of the main flight, a larger luminosity is visible...like a mother craft hovering near its aerial brood.

The photographs were taken at 5:30pm and 10:37pm. The three Texas Tech professors examined the 18-year-old's photographs, but could find no explanation for the photos. Witness Roger Dods heard a slight rustling or whooshing sound as the objects passed over head. He reported seeing them at 10:37pm.  In late September, a report on the Lubbock Lights reached the Air Force. The Air Force examined the pictures in great detail and could neither prove nor disprove their authenticity. Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, the Air Force officer who became the first director of Project Blue Book, traveled to Lubbock to investigate the case. Ruppelt later wrote a very good book about his experiences as a UFO investigator, called "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects."

It was Ruppelt who interviewed an elderly rancher in Brownfield. The rancher claimed to have heard the "unmistakable call of the plover," a water bird with a one-foot wingspread and an oily white breast that "could easily reflect city lights." But game wardens said that the phenomenon could not have been plovers (birds about the size of a quail) since these birds never fly in flocks larger than three. T. E. Snyder, Jr. reported, "I saw something like people have been seeing and it definitely was ducks." Although not accounting for the unbelievable speed, a reflection from the Westerner drive-in theater caused some ducks to be illuminated. Everything seemed to point to flights of birds as the explanation of the mysterious phenomenon that came to be known as the "Lubbock Lights," and yet there are those who disagree.

Witnesses said they saw "dots" of lights flying in "U" and "V" shapes, passing in two and three-second intervals. The number of dots reported in the formations ranged from eight to nine to 20 to 30. The lights appeared in the northeastern part of the sky and proceeded in a straight line to the southwest. The color of the lights was "about like the stars, only brighter," while others said they were either a blue or white with a slight yellow tinge to them. Others described them as appearing "as a string of beads," moving roughly in a semi-circle, and were "soft, glowing, bluish-green."

 

Dr. J.C. Cross, head of Tech’s Department of Biology, examined the 35mm photographs, and asserted, "It definitely wasn’t caused by birds." In Matador, reports were made of a "noiseless aircraft flying at a low altitude, without aid of propellers or wings." They said it was different from any aircraft they had ever seen.

Professors at Texas Tech who saw Lubbock Lights (left to right), Dr. Oberg, Prof. Ducker, and Dr. Robinson, discuss them with Dr. E. L. George.

To this day, there are those who contend that Lubbock was visited by UFOs, while others say that it was merely a natural phenomenon. No one really can say for sure, but as is stated in the History of Lubbock, "Lubbock’s reputation is greater in scientific circles for the Lubbock Light Sightings (and flying saucers) than for any economic or civic reason."

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Thanks to http://ufocasebook.com/lubbocklights.html

First seen over Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1951

One of the most impressive UFO sightings ever took place in the town of Lubbock, Texas, in August and September of 1951. The sightings were photographed (above) and reported by hundreds of eyewitnesses, many of whom claimed to be able to make out a wing-like outline of a craft that was flying overhead. The first reported sighting took place on August 25 by an employee of the Atomic Energy Commission in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Both he and his wife stated they had seen a huge object with bluish lights on its rear edge pass overhead. The lights seemed to be about 800 feet overhead, and the pair could make out the vee-wing shape of the craft. That same evening, several college professors sitting on a porch in Lubbock noticed a semi-circular formation of lights move quickly across the sky. Several hours later, the lights suddenly appeared again, this time glowing with a bluish color.

Another Lubbock resident claimed to have seen the same lights on the same evening, clearly being able to make out once again the same vee-wing shaped object with bluish lights on the rear or trailing edge. The sighting was identical to the earlier Albuquerque sighting, and was reported only minutes after the latter was, so it is highly unlikely the eye witness had any prior knowledge of it. Over the following two weeks, hundreds of people saw the fast moving lights in and around the town of Lubbock. Most of the witnesses agreed that they first noticed the lights appear at about 45 degrees above the horizon, pass over and disappear at about the same angle. Many of the observers could offer no "rational" explanation for what they were seeing, including those with extensive experience of the night sky and atmospheric phenomena.

On the evening of August 31, amateur photographer Carl Hart, Jr. managed to capture the "nocturnal lights" on film. He took five pictures in all, the best being published in the local newspaper and presented above. The lights were clearly in the formation that had been reported, tracing the outline of a vee-wing shaped object. The Air Force conducted a thorough investigation into the sightings and the photographs, but never reached a satisfactory conclusion, which as we know really means they were unable to debunk the sightings. The shots taken by Carl Hart, Jr. were completely examined, as well as the negatives, and were found to be untampered with. To date, the Lubbock Lights sightings remain one of the best documented unexplained UFO sightings in history.

Thanks to  http://www.subversiveelement.com/LubbockLights.html