Trinity UFO Case



The Trinity UFO case is an ostensibly-true crashed spaceship story set in August 1945 near the Trinity test, where the first atomic bomb had been detonated five weeks prior. The legend was first published in 2003 and was widely publicized in a 2021 book by longtime Ufologist Jacques Vallée and Paola Leopizzi Harris.

According to José Padilla and Remigio Baca, when they had been small boys, they saw a bright light, accompanied by a crashing sound. According to their reports, they found a crashed device nearby, "in the shape of an avocado", with a protrusion at one end, manned by insectoids. According to the men, the object and its occupants were later removed by the US Army.

By 2024, demonstrated anachronisms and falsehoods in the legend led skeptical writer Brian Dunning to characterize the legend as "a literal hoax, made up by people who knew they were making it up".

Background
In 1947, the Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting kicked off the 1947 flying disc craze, which included stories of crashed discs in both near Roswell, New Mexico and in Twin Falls, Montana. The following years saw a hoax of a crashed saucer with diminutive bodies in Aztec, New Mexico.

Jacques Vallée, a French astronomer and computer scientist, has since 1965 published books on the UFO topic. He served as advisor on the 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and a character loosely inspired by Vallée was portrayed by French filmmaker François Truffaut in the movie.

Trinity UFO legend
About 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Trinity there was the Padilla family's ranch house, a traditional adobe house with a well in the front yard and a  pickup  truck that their nine-year-old son, José Padilla, drove,  since at the time the men in the family served in the armed forces.

José's father, Faustino Padilla, worked for the WPA (Work Projects Administration of the Civilian Conservation Corps). The family raised cattle on a large ranch leased to the Bureau of Land Management,  and much of the daily work on the property was handled by José, often helped by his friend Remigio Baca, two years younger than him.

Remigio Baca's family lived in conditions very similar to those of José Padilla. Remigio's father, who had once been a tenant farmer, was an assistant at the Veterans Hospital in Albuquerque. The Baca family was descendant of the original Spaniards who established the government of New Spain. As for José Padilla, he was of Apache  descent on his maternal side; on his father's side he was of a recent Spanish origin.

When the first atomic bomb exploded, the two families, like many other inhabitants of the area, were taken by surprise by the flash, the tremendous sound and the heat wave: Inez Padilla, José's mother,  lost sight in one of her eyes. Other serious consequences for the residents of the area would follow over the years, with the contempt and negligence of several governments of the United States of America.

First day
According to the testimonies of the involved, during the day of August 16, 1945, José Padilla, then nine years old, and Remigio Baca, seven years old, were searching on horseback for a lost cow, which was about to give birth, when they heard a loud bang and the subsequent shaking of the ground. Looking around, they saw smoke nearby and headed to the location.

There was a huge groove in the ground, about 30 cm deep and 30 meters wide. The ground was hot and nearby bushes had caught fire. At the end of the groove was an object, "avocado-shaped", with a hole on one side. There were several pieces of metallic debris on the ground. The boys watched the device through binoculars where they witnessed small creatures moving back and forth. A sharp sound was heard, which Remigio compared to that of an animal in pain, or the first cries of a newborn baby.

The size of the object was calculated by José Padilla to be seven and a half to nine meters long, and about four meters high. It was gray, metallic in appearance, and had probably collided with a nearby radio tower about 15 meters high. The creatures, three in number, were about one and a half meters tall, had large eyes, and very thin and long arms. Their appearance was described as similar to a praying mantis, or a Jerusalem cricket, with pear-shaped heads. The nose and mouth area of the beings resembled that of small holes. Despite the description, José considered them human and said he felt their fright and suffering.

The boys were tempted to get closer to the crash site, but with the sun setting and darkness encroaching, they decided instead to return to their homes, where they told their parents what had happened.

Third day
The day after the sighting, the two boys were unable return, as they had too many tasks that day that needed to be done. On the third day however, the boys returned to the crash site, accompanied by José Padilla's father, Faustino Padilla, and Eddie Apodaca, a state police officer and family friend.

Once there, the two adults entered the object. After five or ten minutes inside, they exited the craft, visibly disturbed, without talking about what they had seen; whatever it was, the situation seemed to have worsened. Addressing the two boys, they said: "Don’t tell anybody about this, not your brother, not your cousin, not your mother, not your father, that’s our business. (...) And the reason for this is, that you can get in trouble". The strange occupants of the object were nowhere in sight, and seemed to have disappeared.

On the same day, the two boys were able to slip away, returning to the crash site alone. Some soldiers were already there, collecting debris from the ground.

Fourth day
On the fourth day, Sunday, the 19th, the Padillas received a visit from a military man, Sergeant R. Avila. On behalf of the American army, he came to obtain permission to enter the property, cut the fence and install a wide gate, in order, in his words, to recover a "experimental weather balloon" that had crashed there. They would also need to bring road construction equipment, some motor graders, and more material to clear a path for a truck.

Sergeant Avila added that it was important that no one knew about the matter, and that no one approached the scene.

The fifth and the following days
According to the reports, work began on August 20th. A road and a wide gate were built at the scene of the incident, and a truck with a trailer for heavy loads, a lowboy type,  with around eighteen wheels, was brought in. A structure was then mounted on the trailer to secure the object, which had been lifted with a huge crane. José and Remigio, hidden by the vegetation, surreptitiously observed the military's preparations every day.

No special precautions were used: the soldiers wore their usual work uniforms, and after their tasks, they usually went to the Owl Bar and Café, in San Antonio, where they socialized. Around the 25th day, everything indicated that the object would soon be transported to wherever its final destination was.

On the last day, the truck was driven outside the gate, with the strange device tied up and covered by a tarpaulin. José says he told his friend: "I think they're going to take him tonight." Remigio replied "Yes, how about a souvenir?"

The two boys waited for some time until the soldiers left. José pulled back part of the tarpaulin, exposing the opening in the side of the object. While Remigio kept the tarpaulin open, José went up to the interior.

The inside of the object was metallic, similar to yellow brass, but without shine. The floor was flat, and the curved walls appeared to be made of panels, without any rivets. There were no signs of furniture. On top of the object there was a transparent, plastic-like dome measuring about 70 cm, which let in daylight. On one side there was a panel measuring about 30 by 24 inches, and attached to this with some pins was a metal piece, which José loosened with a crowbar: it was the souvenir.

After the recovery
The boys had returned home; the device had been taken to an unknown location and the site of the crash was cleared of all traces by the soldiers. The so-called souvenir was a "decidedly earthly" piece about 30 cm long, (perhaps any kind of support) weighing 425g and containing a number of holes for pins of some kind.

The two boys hid the piece from everyone, even naming it "Tesoro", meaning treasure. Thus, it has survived to this day, unlike other materials found at the crash site, which have been lost over the years — such as the memory metal  strips, and a large quantity of silver wires similar to those used in Christmas decorations. The souvenir was donated to a University according to the wishes of José Padilla.

The San Antonito incident fell into oblivion without much difficulty. The young soldiers involved in the episode had returned to their civilian lives; the Air Force had buried the matter long ago; José Padilla and Remigio Baca had lost touch with each other. Warnings to remain silent had been prudently accepted. The Second World War was followed by the Cold War. Remigio Baca even recalls that if someone talked too much about the affairs of Point Zero, or remembered too many details, the government could send them for a "long and restful cure" in a nearby insane asylum.

Vallée points out the obvious similarities between this case and Roswell. As with the later Roswell incident, the army had no idea of what had happened until a local farmer alerted them. The Army had lost nothing, and they were not lacking any experimental devices. The explanation of the weather balloon does not fit with the need to remove it using a heavy load truck. Also intriguing is the fact that the military searched for "anything of significance" in the days following the recovery of the flying device, searching the Padilla's house. Jacques Vallée comments: "Let’s make sure it [the case] does not turn into a circus, as Roswell did, with all the hoaxes, all the exploitation by every group, including the blatant lies of the military. It has been so hard for the real witnesses to have their story heard! (...) this case is unique."

Publication
In 2003, journalist Ben Moffett became the first to publically report on the case, writing an article in a local New Mexico newspaper. In 2004, a piece of metal supposedly taken from the crashed object was analyzed, it was found to be primarily aluminum. In 2016, a new analysis further classified the material as silumin, composed of 87.06% aluminum, 10.45% silicon, 1.97% copper and 0.53% magnesium. Propopent of the case suggest perhaps this souvenir was not part of the vehicle's original equipment, but a tool used by the soldiers, or a shattered piece from the destroyed Marconi radio tower.

Timothy Good in 2006 mentioned the incident in his book Need to Know. In May 2009, the incident was discussed in an italian newspaper, where Paola Harris became aware of it.

Criticisms and responses
Skeptical writer Brian Dunning states that "the Baca and Padilla story had always been well known as a hoax — a literal hoax, made up by people who knew they were making it up — not a distorted memory, not an honestly misinterpreted experience — but a straight-up hoax." Dunning bases this claim on details first published on May 1, 2023 by independent journalist Douglas Dean Johnson and followed by several further reports in a series. Dunning states "There are other problems with the whole story too, such as [Eddie/Eddy] Apodaca, supposedly the state trooper who picked through the wreckage with the family, had actually been in Europe fighting in World War II at the time; and Johnson discovered that he didn't become a state trooper until 1951." Dunning concludes "The evidence that does exist proves that Reme Baca pitched multiple different versions of a story to multiple UFO authors until finally getting one published. The constantly changing story elements, the total lack of evidence or of any corroborating sources, and both Baca and Padilla's histories of lying about themselves, leave little reason for anything in the Trinity UFO story to be taken seriously."

On May 15, 2023 Jacques Vallée published on the website of Paola Harris a response to various facts reported by Douglas Dean Johnson, and addressed various criticisms of the Trinity UFO case. In a section titled "WHY THE TRINITY CASE STILL STANDS", Vallée states regarding "Mr.Padilla’s life story, injuries and records" that "some of the uncertainty" is due to various life events that happened to Padilla, and to lost or forgotten documents. "In other words, he’s human." Addressing the discrepancy regarding Eddy Apodaca, Vallée states "The real question should be « Was there only one policeman named Apodaca in that region of New Mexico at that time? »". Vallée cites various statistics to show the surname "Apodaca" is common in the region, but also states that his "investigation into the « Eddy Apodaca » matter will obviously continue." Vallée closes the response by saying "At a time when Congress is looking for historical data about direct observation of UFO phenomena [...] The answer remains buried at Trinity."

On September 23, 2023, Vallée published on the website of Paola Harris a second response to Johnson. In the second article Vallée does not take issue with the facts and inconsistencies previously reported by Johnson, but that "Mr. Johnson does not address the patterns we discovered within this trilogy." Vallée states that Johnson approached the Trinity case "not as a scientist, as he promoted himself in his critique, but as a skilled prosecutor who attempts to select weak points in the record, ignoring the rest to cast doubt not only on the accuracy of the research presented, but on the competency and, by implication, the honesty of our investigation."

However, Vallée acknowledges "Several statements we presented as factual or truthful in our book have been rightly questioned by Mr. Johnson, and on that point, we do concede that his method of investigation is valuable [...] and we are making the necessary changes in our record, with full credit to him." Vallée offers a possible explanation for why Reme Baca may have fabricated details of the story, saying "The two kids had solemnly sworn to each other NEVER to tell that story. If that pledge was broken, then shouldn’t the older José, not Reme, have the leading role, or at least half the earnings? Hence Reme’s possible motivation to tell a different story, which the newspapers are likely to accept because it is colorful and even believable… if you don’t know the real facts." Vallée absolves José Padilla of wrongdoing, saying "José Padilla was on-site and willing to help us. Contrary to what Mr. Johnson implies, he was seeking no glory or compensation. He did not conspire with Reme Baca". Vallée concludes saying "Mr. Johnson’s big claim–that the two men are guilty of conspiring to create a major hoax–is not based on reality. It appears to be an extrapolation of his deep interest in negating the entire episode of the crash, an interpretation with which we still strongly disagree. [...] As for us, we will fix the few inaccuracies Mr. Johnson has noticed, and quietly resume the analyses of the patterns that continue to shape our present concept of the phenomenon." <!-- On September 29, 2023, Johnson reported on public access police reports, police dispatch audio and body-cam recording involving José Padilla's 61 year old son, Sammy Padilla, and the New Mexico State Police during events that occurred on July 23, 2022. In a conversation with a police dispatcher, Sammy is heard making a complaint regarding death threats and threats of violence, and associates them with his father's recent public fame due to the Trinity case.

"Dispatcher: You said that the death threats started last year in February, correct?

Sammy Padilla: Some have been death threats. Others have been threatening to hurt me, but they weren't death threats. And it started in February of last year [2021]. This is when--okay, go ahead, you want to...? Can I tell you what happened at that time period?

Dispatcher: Yes, of course.

Sammy Padilla: Okay. That is when a cousin of mine got involved with this situation, and she's been egging him on and things. And I told you that my dad has, I would say, a form of narcissism. He builds himself bigger and bigger. Well, the cousin who got involved loves to instigate things and is always looking for a handout. So she started getting involved and started feeding him garbage. But how she got involved, is my dad– oh, it really doesn't– there's some people that my dad got involved with, because he claimed to see a UFO. And now this woman– it's not my cousin, but this other woman, who is writing a book about him, and telling him that this book is going to become a movie, and he's going to be famous. And so he's going on this stuff. And I can tell you, that from what I have heard from he has told other people, they're not true."

When a police officer was dispatched the same day, Sammy told him on body-cam footage that he did not believe his father had been honest regarding the Trinity UFO case nor other facts his father had told researchers.

"My dad claims he saw a UFO when he was small. Well, there's these people from Europe. There's a woman especially named Paola Harris, and she has gotten him to back things up. And now they wrote a book about it, and now she's writing a life story about him, and it's going to be made into a movie, supposedly, and all this stuff. A lot of people knew it was bullshit what he's saying.

[...] But he's also been telling people he was a police officer in California, which he never was. He's talking to people about, he's a war veteran. He was never in the-- because he's deaf in one ear. Oh, he's telling people-- do you know, when the atomic bomb went off? My dad's claiming--because my dad grew up in San Antonio--he's claiming now that the bomb made him go deaf in one ear, which I know he was three years old, a doctor was drunk, trying to get something out of his ear, punctured it. And my brothers can verify this. I mean, family can verify. He's just saying a lot of stuff that's not true." -->