In this day and age as it seems police are undergoing an unprecedented number of attacks from government as well as criminals and even rioters supported by the Democrat Party even advocating their defunding, an even more bizarre history of encounters has taken place. The legacy of UFO’s and being called upon to investigate them by terrified witnesses are also a part of a lawman’s duty it seems. Although it seems fantastic, police and UFO confrontations are more common than one might think. As if the men and women in blue didn’t have enough to deal with already.

Texas sized UFO

November 5, 1957 Levelland, Texas is host to a local wave of UFO sightings all centered around a rocket shaped UFO that caused motorist’s engines to die when the object was present. It all began when Officer A. J. Lowry received a call from two men driving a truck who claimed to have seen an intense flash of blue light then were nearly struck by a low flying rocket while losing power to their motor. Minutes later another local man spotted a bright object streaking across the sky causing his radio and headlights to die. A Texas Tech college student called saying that there was a egg shaped craft sitting in the middle of the road also causing his car’s motor to quit until it finally took off at tremendous speed into the night sky.

Until the hour of almost 2:00 AM a fire chief, a married couple, and several other townspeople called into police headquarters at Levelland to report a glowing blue object shaped like an egg or rocket flashing across the sky, landed in the road and lifting off and even causing the police who were actively investigating to take cover behind a squad car when the unknown objected buzzed them. Sheriff Weir testified that he also saw a bright red object streaking across the sky. In each case of the UFO sighting either people’s engines cut out completely or their radio and headlights died indicating a powerful electromagnetic field was being generated by the unknown aerial invader.

A sighting in the Land of Enchantment

April 24, 1964 Officer Lonnie Zamora is pursuing a speeding motorist near Socorro, New Mexico when he sees what he thinks is a plane crash. Breaking off the chase he heads off road to the scene of an egg shaped silvery object with two suited humanoid figures standing close to the ship. When the apparent occupants of the bizarre craft see Officer Zamora they quickly re-enter the metallic craft. Having driven to within a short distance from the UFO, Zamora is startled by the roar of rocket motors as the egg shaped vessel lifts off leaving a fiery thrust that ignites a bush and causes a small fire. Taking cover behind his car door Zamora can only look up into the sky as the other worldly appearing craft climbs into the sky. Zamora is joined by a captain of the Socorro PD just minutes later and the two policeman examine the indentations left in the ground and the smoking and charred earth from where the UFO had landed. NASA will arrive the following day and their technicians will perform a forensics examination of the site.

A policeman abducted?

December 3, 1967 2:30 AM Officer Herbert Schirmer is on routine patrol having just checked two gas stations when he sees an unidentified object. At the intersection of Highways 6 and 63 a football shaped craft is hovering about 40 feet off the ground. The policeman stops his car as the UFO lands. He becomes paralyzed and can only watch as two humanoid beings emerge from the strange craft One being asks if he is the watchman of the town and Schirmer answers, “Yes.”

The alien replies, “Then come with us, Watchman.”

Officer Schirmer claims he is led into the space ship and it has three levels. He is allowed to watch an apparent demonstration of power being extracted from a telephone pole as a colorful display dazzles his senses. Schirmer says that the aliens communicate telepathically to him. After some time, he is returned to his car and the bizarre visitors inform him that he will one day be allowed to visit their planet. The officer experiences lost time much like others who have been abducted but is left unharmed. He immediately returns to the police station and tells everyone there what he can remember but it will take a hypnotic regression for him to recall all the details.

The police chief stands behind Officer Herbert Schirmer’s story as he explains to the media that he is an excellent officer, a non-drinker, and Vietnam veteran. Schirmer later passes a lie detector test to further add to his credibility. Sadly, Schirmer’s wife abandons him due to the unwanted publicity over his experience. He will go on to give testimony over his close encounter to audiences all over the US but as time goes on he begins to lead a reclusive existence and can no longer be located to this day by a Google search. At one point Schirmer was promoted to Police Chief of his town of Ashland, Nebraska, but is apparently fired when the mayor appoints a new replacement. As John A. Keel pointed out when it came to abductees it seemed that life did not go well for most in the aftermath of their experience and then going public with their story.

The Val Johnson Incident

Preserved in the Marshall County Museum is a 1977 Ford LTD police car driven by Sheriff Val Johnson. In 1979 on night patrol August the 6^th the sheriff was driving on a country road when he saw a ball of light about 12 inches in diameter with well-defined edges hovering 3 feet off the ground. The object apparently struck Johnson’s patrol car and he then lost consciousness. When he came to, Sheriff, Val Johnson, found his car in a ditch with the windshield smashed, radio antenna bent backwards, one headlight blown out, and his wrist watch running 14 seconds slow. When he told his story to the public and his car was examined the sheriff became a local celebrity, his patrol car was preserved and eventually became a museum piece with a plaque that reads, “U.F.O. Car”. He quickly tired of the deluge of interviews he was asked to give and resigned from his position moving out of state. To add to the mystery, Ford Engineers examine the car and find that the windshield was broken by pressure exerted from within the car not from external forces. This encounter is considered one of the top 10 UFO experiences.

Aftermath

Living in Wisconsin now, the former sheriff has not kept in contact with his former comrades in law enforcement, but maintains that he is comfortable with his mental stability. Once again, many who have endured this weird phenomenon tend to withdraw from the public limelight in order to seek normalcy once again. Officers of the law have to endure a form of stress that often leaves them with a form of PTSD only soldiers are aware of who have been subjected to combat, but among all those pressures there is also the UFO enigma to make their lives a bit more unusual.