X Descending (20 page)

In several small sketches, he also drew a spot centered inside the outline of the vehicle. The spot in these sketches seem to have been significant because he made a point of using the term “glows with dots” in describing the vehicles when they were on or near the ground. It is not clear if these “dots” were brighter or darker than the surrounding glow at the time, but in one image of the larger vehicle in flight, a bright white spot is very apparent against the yellowish glow surrounding it. A breakdown of other descriptive details he gave included:

Resting on or near ground:

•Vehicles periodically brighten for 10-20 seconds, or simply glow faintly.

Prior to lift off:

• Moments before, bright blue-white flash appears to come from beneath vehicles.

At lift off (synchronized):

• Large circular blue halos surround vehicles (
Authors note: this was apparently quite an impressive sight.

• Vehicles become brilliant balls of white light.

• Lift off straight up to altitude, make 90º turn, and move rapidly away.

Other descriptive details:

• All four vehicles flew in precise synchronization.

• When one ‘translated’ for a turn, they all did it at the same instant.

• They pulsed during these movements, each pulsing in synchronization.

• Periodically, blue or other colored “spikes” generate next to vehicles.

The images included here are from photographs Paul sent me that he had taken from the screen of his 8mm film editor. Paul was adamant that the original film was much more clear and bright, and no doubt it was, but where the original is now is unknown. Perhaps his films are still with his family and locked safely away. I heard a rumor several years ago that Paul might have given someone a copy of the film, but if that was true I never heard more about it. The copies I have are understandably not the best images to work from, the original film would certainly have been preferable, but the images I was sent still show surprisingly good color and detail. They were converted to high-resolution digital scans and then enhanced using computer software for image processing. As it is, I believe the enhancements will leave no doubt about the significance of what he saw.I hope the accompanying illustrations will add some clarity to the events and how they happened.

Figure 5
shows one of the vehicles immediately after takeoff. Above the disc is a roiling yellow-orange glow, but the lower edge is much more distinct and shows the curvature of the ellipsoidal shape as well as a notable bluish hue. Faintly visible in the upper right of the yellow-orange glow is a brighter area, presumably the “dot” referred to by Paul. This white area is much more apparent in the image of the largest vehicle. The blue “spark” rising from where the vehicle left the ground is one of the most striking details in these images. Perhaps significantly, it is the same hue as the underside of the vehicle. Paul described these strange discharges of energy as appearing when the vehicles made abrupt movements or changes of direction, something he referred to as “translating” movements. Similar “sparks” do appear in other frames showing the vehicles in flight, though perhaps not always the same color.

Figures 6
-
7
show the largest of the four vehicles, which Paul estimated to be 36 to 40 feet wide. The ellipsoidal shape is much more apparent and the white “dot”, off-center in the upper yellow-orange glow, is much easier to see. Paul pointed out that at different times this white area could be seen to move from one side to the other. While he could have meant that the vehicle itself was rotating, it was my impression he meant the vehicle turnedslightly; perhaps as part of what he referred to as “translating” movements.

Figure 9
is an aerial photo showing the area southeast of the Bennewitz residence. During the hours he observed the vehicles on or near the ground, he had estimated they were about 250 feet apart. A set of time exposures he had taken with the Hasselblad camera apparently showed the four vehicles lined up in a row covering the estimated 750 foot distance. From his roof, looking toward the Manzano Weapons Storage Area, Paul determined that the distance to the hillside behind the objects was no more than two miles. Working from that statement, a two-mile radius is drawn in Figure 9 to indicate where it intersects the hillside. Because he had calculated the sizes of the vehicles using this distance and their angular size in photographs taken using a 6º lens, a field of view of 6º is indicated stretching from the residential area to the two-mile point on the hillside. Inside this field of view and near the two-mile hillside is a small line indicating a span of approximately 750’. Though it is only for reference, I believe it is reasonably accurate based on the available information.

I feel confident that Paul was familiar enough with his area to make reasonably accurate estimates of both where the vehicles appeared to be and the distances involved. A point slightly farther north would have reduced the distance quickly to one mile or less. Slightly farther south would have reached 3 miles and the southernmost tip of the mountains. Paul's determination of where the vehicles were located is important to understand because of the proximity of the fence to the mountainside. If the vehicles were only one mile away, then they might easily have been on either side of the boundary perimeter fence, not necessarily inside it and on Air Force patrolled property. However, drawing a line to where he had seen them, and then calculating the angular size of the images on the film, Paul determined that they had to be between 1.5 and 2 miles away. This places them well inside the boundary perimeter of the Manzano Weapons Storage Area.

There are aspects of what Paul saw and filmed that lead to other questions, ones that have haunted me for years. What required four vehicles to come and go over a period of several nights? Was there some significance to them being so far apart? Why risk the exposure? Why this time of year? If this had been simply a demonstration for parties unknown, then what would have required four vehicles, over several nights, and placed so far apart? Could the vehicles have been involved in moving something in or out, something too sensitive to be moved any other way, and was the distance between them necessary so that each could be close to where it would be loaded or unloaded? Interestingly, four bunkers do appear to lie close to the 750' line in Figure 9 that indicates the possible location of the vehicles. Perhaps, for an operation that required the vehicles to enter an extremely sensitive installation and risk being seen, even briefly, from Albuquerque and the surrounding community, it was a practical decision to choose one of the coldest and darkest times of the year. Still, there is no reason to assume that these vehicles had not been slipping in and out of the area for days or weeks before Paul happened to notice them.

It has been possible to digitally enhance the photographs Paul gave me to bring out more detail. I believe Paul may have diverted some of the excess light prior to taking the photographs (perhaps by adjusting the rotating prism) because several of the photos show much less glare and quite a bit more detail. In particular, the images of the largest vehicle reveal intriguing details and patterns.

When I first heard that Paul’s films had been taken at night I had no idea what he had used or what the conditions were. Nighttime photography, though not necessarily difficult, still requires sufficient light and sometimes timed exposures. When I learned that he had used 8mm film and that the vehicles were quite some distance away, the combination seemed to suggest that the vehicles must have been extremely bright. The first person I met who had been in a position to see any of Paul’s pictures or films was a writer by the name of William (Bill) Moore. Moore, co-author of the book “The Roswell Incident”, had been in close contact with Paul since late 1980 or early 1981, and sometime in the mid-1980’s I happened to attend a presentation he gave. Afterward, I had an opportunity to speak to Moore and I made a point of asking if he had seen Bennewitz’s films and, if so, what the images showed. At the time it was a little disappointing to hear him describe them as, “just little lights”, a description that I would later come to think of as a major understatement. When I heard Paul’s description of the events and how the pictures were taken and finally saw some of the images for myself, it was obvious that what was shown in Paul's images were
not
just little lights.

The equipment Paul used those nights on his rooftop included binoculars, the Hasselblad camera with a 250mm telephoto lens, a Canon 35mm camera mounted on a 3” Unitron refractor telescope (using either a 25mm or 18mm eyepiece), and an 8mm motion picture camera. The make and model of the 8mm camera was never specified. The only references to it that I found implied that it was usually handheld, that the lens angle was estimated to be 6 degrees, and, at the time of the Dulce trips and the December films from his rooftop, it was loaded with ASA 25 Kodachrome film.

In the weeks and months after he filmed the “takeoffs”, Paul was busy documenting the events, including a fairly descriptive analysis of what he saw in the images.

“…one can observe the origination of the power spike poled off center to the saucer edge
opposite
its direction of travel while in almost the same instance in the next frame, approximately 1/20th of a second later, the beam or spike has been poled dead center to the saucer. Knowing the approx. diameter of the saucer to be 18’ based upon optical measurements discussed, it can be extrapolated to find that the spike extends 300’ below the craft, which at that instant is both supporting the craft and probably propelling it upward.”