Project Blue Book Socorro file

# Girl Says She Was Burned While Watching UFO Here

By JERRY SMOTHERS

Concern over unidentified flying objects continued at a high pitch here today.

Latest incidents include:

-A report from a 10-year-old girl that she was burned while watching a strange egg-shaped thing in the sky yesterday afternoon.

-A report from a truck driver and his wife that they saw two mysterious objects in the sky between here and Socorro

The rash of incidents started Friday when a policeman saw a UFO take off south of Socorro. UFO experts from different parts of the country are in New Mexico to investigate.

Suffering eye, nose and face burns yesterday afternoon was Sharon Stull, one of five children of Mr. and Mrs. Max L. Stull of 1409 Wilmoore SE.

On Lowell School Ground She said she gazed at a UFO for five or 10 minutes

shortly before 12:30 p.m. on length about the incident and the Lowell School ground at had her draw the silvery ob 1809 Ross SE after returningject. there from lunch at home.

After 1 p.m., while in class, she noticed burning sensa tions about the eyes and face. She and her mother believe her burns were inflicted by the thing in the sky. Sharon's doctor said his diagnosis is. conjunctivitis (membrane inflammation) of both eyes and first - degree sunburn under the eyes and on the nose, adding:

Sharon said she was not facing the sun while watching the thing slightly smaller than an airplane and having no windows, speed across the sky and disappear in the distance. Her mother said the child has never had a sunburn and couldn't have gotten one in the few minutes she was outside.

Sharon was treated by a doctor at Bataan Hospital last night and was kept in bed at home today with her blinds drawn to protect her inflamed eyes and eyelids.

Her sister, Robin, 8, says she, too, saw the thing, but paid little attention to it and didn't continue to watch it. Sharon said two other children also glanced at it briefly.

Part of her face and nose appeared to be puffy and red. She continued to complain of burn pains.

Police interviewed her at

"The sun exposure she had yesterday would usually be considered insufficient to cause the burns and inflammation. It appears to be the type of burns and inflammation caused by longer exposure to the sun."

He said he believes there s no permanent eye damage. Mrs. Stull was extremely concerned and frightened over he incident today. She also kept Robin home from school.

"I'm just scared to death," Mrs. Stull said.

Truck driver Napoleon Green, 37, and his wife, 35, of 1805 Walter SE, said they sighted two UFO's traveling at about the speed of jet planes at 5:30 p.m. yesterday as they were driving toward Albuquerque on U. S. 85,.17 miles north of Socorro.

"I wasn't going to report it because I didn't want to believe my eyes." Mr. Green said today. He said his wife dived beneath the truck's dashboard after seeing the egg-shaped things, about half the size of jet planes and shining brightly in the setting sun.

Green said he saw them possibly two minutes before they disappeared over the eastern horizon.

Federal Aviation Agency officials said they have seen nothing unusual in the sky or on their radar screens. Airplanes appear only as small dots on the screens and it is unlikely a UFO could be distinguished from an airplane on radar.

One official said it would be possible in some areas to track a UFO to see where it goes, if they received a report from a responsible agency immediately after a sighting. Radar sightings have to be in a direct line and can be blocked by mountains, making low-altitude radar tracking difficult sometimes, he advised.

The Weather Bureau, FAA and Kirtland AF Base said there were no balloons or other strange - appearing objects in the sky here, to their knowledge, at the time Sharon saw what she did.