SIGHTING: SHOW LOW (RURAL), AZ

Witness Testimony

"UFO Crash - 1996 - Apache County, AZEVENT: UFO CRASH This event took place in rural Apache County, Arizona (approximately 23 miles east of Show Low), when the visibility of COMET HYAKUTAKE was absolutely magnificent. (Apache County is very close to the New Mexico border). Three other people were staying at my rural home near Concho. I arrived home at about 10 in the evening (the joys of self-employment) and as usual, the three of us sat at the kitchen table, catching up on our respective days. One of my guests, who faced the window, exclaimed "Holy *fill-in-the-blank*! Did you see that!" He and one other, a woman, had seen a UFO streak by, apparently crashing. They said there was fire in the object's wake. I thought at first that they were talking about the comet, but they insisted that it was a craft of some sort. We jumped in my Suzuki (resembling a white jeep), with me at the helm, still wearing high heels and skirt, and raced off in search of the crashed object. We crossed State Highway 61 for a wild ride along an old cattle trail. At the highway, an elderly couple had parked their white travel van and were standing at the highway, staring off into the field. They asked if we had seen the UFO crash and I told them that we were going to try to find the crash site. They had been driving westerly along Highway 61 toward Show Low when they saw the object streak by and appear to crash, and also described the "fire tail" that my guests had reported. They were very exicted about this, and if I had more room in the jeep, I think they would have come with. They pointed to us where they thought the object crashed. This area has few trees -- some scattered cedar and junipers -- and a lot of rock and canyons. I drove about 30-40 miles an hour down the cattle trail and across the rocky fields. Periodically, we would slow down so that my passengers could move rocks out of the way. Driving through these conditions at that speed, with the greenish glow of the comet overhead, was both nerve-wracking and surrealistic. I was quite concerned that I'd roll the Suzuki and kill all of us, but the two who had seen the crash insisted that we keep going on. After about an hour of this, we arrived at a very deep canyon and could drive no further. Deep in this canyon (approximately half a mile down, at the bottom) was the crashed UFO. It was an oblong, egg-shape. The color was strange -- it was the color of a caucasion's skin with a fading tan, and it faintly glowed. The glow was sufficient enough to illuminate the bottom of the canyon. There were two "pillars' for lack of a better word at the "front" of this object (I call it the front because that was the portion that was visible to us). These pillars may have been posted on either side of a door -- although a doorway was not visible. It was about the size of a barn typically seen on a small dairy farm in the midwest. Oddly, there was a helicopter down there and a black pickup truck. We were baffled how that truck could have gotten down the remote canyon so quickly, unless there was some road that we did not know about. In any event, we watched this for awhile and then left. By this time, I had put in a 16 hour work day, hadn't eaten and was simply exhausted. Nothing seemed to be happening; we did not see any people or any activity. Unfortunately, in our haste to find the crash site, we failed to bring a camera along. We were so far out in rough country that we got lost and it took approximately 3 hours to get back home. Later, I went to a local meeting about UFO sightings and sat next to an amiable woman who turned out to be the editor of a magazine that used to circulate here called "White Mountain Sightings." We engaged in small talk while waiting for the meeting to start. She told me she was desperately trying to find a woman who drove a white jeep, who chased after a UFO a few weeks earlier. I told her that would be me, and gave her the same story I just reported here. The elderly couple we had seen at the highway had filed a report with this editor. If this is something worth more information or follow-up, I can try to locate the witnesses and the magazine editor. Most everyone has moved from this area, but I believe that this report can be verified. The witnesses would include the three guests at my home, the elderly couple, and myself. This is not the first UFO I have seen, and I've seen quite a few odd things in Apache County. However, it is the only crash that I have seen and this is the only sighting in which I have had other witnesses.((NUFORC Note: We have sent an e-message to the witness, requesting more information on this case. Date of event is approximate. PD))"