6
Although LaPaz was impressed with Vallee's book, he felt that his
impressive list of references was padded with too many references to
unpublished articles or statements. He feels that it is not really a
scientific book on the subject (I guess that about in the year 1980 I
will have to write a really scientific book on the subject).
Coming now to the Menzel letter, I will consolidate the opinions
of LaPaz, C~ves, and of Raynor. I did not show the letter to Zamora
because I think it ~ul;d~have upset him.
Page 1. I asked Zamora· about the reported ~me when hw first heard
the explosion, when he was still on the highway. He denies eve~ having
said anything about a flame at that time, only at the time when he saw it
rise from the ground. As a matter of fact, he never mentioned anything
like that to me, originally, but this did appear in Captain Holder's
original report, and he purportedly got this in conversation with ?anora.
However, I think this was in the original newspaper writeup. I will have
to agtee with Menzel that this part of Zamora's evidence is very mixed up
and suggests some embt·oidery of the original sighting either by Zamora or
by Captain Holder when excitement was running high.
Page 2. I can't agree with Menzel here. When he wears his glasses,
his vision is okay. He had the glasses on when be saw the flame at the
time the ob,ject was prep3.r1ng to rise. Now this whole question of the
"burning bush": I visited the site again on Saturday,~with Raynor and
~Shrode, the owner of the radio station,· and at no time was any bush
~ grass seen to be burning, and nobody seems to confirm any actual smoke.
All that seem definitely to agree on is that the green snakeweed and the
green greasewood, which are notoriously hard materials to ignite, showed
evldence of having been charred, as though they have been seared by a hot
flam~ and not burned in an ordinary fashion.Rob Mercer