ETAMU and the Mystery Above: A History of UFOs on Campus and Beyond

When I was 12, I saw an unidentified flying object (UFO). Or maybe I was 14-I don't quite remember the year, and neither does my dad.

We were on our way to a plot of public land near Honey Grove, about 25 to 30 miles from Commerce, planning to do some deer hunting. It was early yet-not long past 7 a.m. As we cruised along the country highway toward our destination-with Dad driving, myself riding shotgun and my younger brother, Phil, asleep in the backseat-I remember hoping we would stop somewhere for a snack before we set out on our hunt.

But then something caught my eye, and caught my dad's eye too. A green fireball zoomed across the sky in front of the car, from east to west, lighting up the clouds an eerie turquoise shade. It soared out of sight in probably no more than a second or two. Dad and I were both amazed. My heart pounded with excitement as my mind sorted through all the possibilities. Surely, we'd just seen an alien spacecraft! And poor Phil missed the whole dern thing.

Green meteor passing through the sky. | Photo: Adobe Stock

In retrospect, what we saw was likely a meteor. Green fireball meteors are common, it turns out, and their color is caused by the elements in their makeup. Still, I find it odd that the meteor was going across the sky rather than down from it toward the ground.

But…perhaps my memory is wrong about that.

"The fundamental principles of memory that apply to eyewitnesses of crimes would also apply to eyewitnesses of UFOs," said Dr. Curt Carlson, professor in the Department of Psychology and Special Education, who has conducted research into eyewitness memory for over 20 years. "For example, if reporting a UFO sighting from many years ago, memory has become too contaminated since the original event to be trustworthy any longer."

My father and I puzzled over that sighting for a long while, and it still comes up in conversation on occasion. Whether what we saw was a meteor or a visitor from another world will likely never be known for certain. Like many others, we're left to wonder.

As it turns out, the discussion of UFOs is not a rare occurrence in these parts-certainly not at East Texas A&M University.

UFOs and Students

As early as 1950, "flying saucers" were being talked about on campus in Commerce.

Snippet from "Students Offer Explanations For Flying Saucers" | The East Texan, Mar. 31, 1950

In March of 1950-before the term "UFO" was widespread-the university student newspaper, The East Texan, published an article titled "Students Offer Explanations For Flying Saucers," authored by Betty Parmely, in which several students gave their opinions on the topic. Theories ranged from government experiments to visitors from another solar system. One student's reply was simply, "They're watching us."

Less than a month later, in April of 1950, The East Texan published another article on the subject, this one titled "Saucer Theories Include 'The Impossible'" written by A. Lane Lewis. Joining the government experiment and alien visitor explanations were thoughts that perhaps Hollywood was to blame, or carefully thrown hubcaps, or "Texas mosquitos fitted with neon lights and radar screens," or that they were all hallucinations.

The article even mentioned a Texas farmer who claimed flying saucers were spraying his land with kerosene to help keep the bugs away. How kind of the aliens to turn the man's farm into a blazing inferno waiting to happen…

The suggested explanations for UFOs by East Texas students were varied in 1950. That continues to be the case in 2025. We took a stroll around campus and asked students their thoughts on the matter:

UFOs and Education

It's not just students who have speculated about UFOs over the years at East Texas A&M. There have also been educational pursuits with links to UFOs and alien life.

• In 1967, an ETAMU freshman sociology class taught by Ross Henderson conducted a "seek the truth" experiment in which they interviewed a woman who claimed the peculiar and rather gruesome death of her horse was related to UFO sightings around her farm.
• In 1972, a chemistry course taught by Dr. Denis J. Quane sought to find the probability of intelligent life outside of Earth by combining the disciplines of astronomy, geology, biology, physics and chemistry.
• In 1978 and '79, the university employed a physics professor named Dr. Arlen R. Zander, who gave several public lectures about UFOs. His thoughts varied on the topic but, judging from the articles from The East Texan that covered the events, he was very open to the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors.
• Even today, East Texas A&M offers Astronomy 120 - Life in the Universe, a course taught by Assistant Professor Billy Quarles. "We start off by studying the scientific and philosophical background of life existing elsewhere," said Dr. Quarles about the class. "We study how our views of the universe have changed over time. We study biology-how cells work and how life evolved here on Earth. We cover the search for habitable environments elsewhere, including in our own Solar System."

UFOs and Experts

Like any field of study, ufology (the study of UFOs) has its share of experts. In this age of easy media, when documentaries and clickbait videos about UFOs are as common as hot days in a Texas summer, the experts can be hard to differentiate from the charlatans. But East Texas A&M has, in fact, been visited by a few prominent figures from the world of ufology.

Nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman. | The East Texan, Oct. 20, 1972

• In 1972, Stanton Friedman, a nuclear physicist turned UFO researcher, gave a presentation on the subject to the Forum Arts Assembly on campus. Friedman was one of the first scientists to publicly advocate that some UFOs could be extraterrestrial. He was a leading proponent of the Roswell incident investigation.
• In 1973, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a noted astronomer and professor who worked several years with the U.S. Air Force on Project Blue Book, spoke with East Texas physics students about UFOs. Dr. Hynek began his career as a skeptic but later concluded that some UFO reports merited serious scientific study. He founded the Center of UFO Studies (CUFOS) and coined the classification system of close encounters.
• In 1990 and again in 2005, Robert Hastings, a researcher and author best known for documenting UFO activity near nuclear weapons facilities, gave lectures on campus. His work, particularly through witness testimony from military personnel, argues that UFOs have shown sustained interest in nuclear programs.

UFOs and Texas

Though Roswell, New Mexico has long been the site of the most well-known UFO incident, the Lone Star State is no stranger to happenings of a similar nature.

In fact, according to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), there are 6,583 UFO report entries for Texas alone. Four of those reports come from Commerce, the most recent one in 2013, when someone reported watching two stars flying side by side as they lounged in their swimming pool one night.

Here are some of the more prominent UFO cases in Texas:

• Aurora UFO Incident (1897) - A cigar-shaped flying craft reportedly crashed on a farm in Aurora. The wreckage was said to contain a small humanoid body, which was buried in the local cemetery. Some say the incident was a hoax, but it remains a cornerstone of Texas UFO lore.
• Lubbock Lights (1951) - Dozens of witnesses, including Texas Tech professors, reported seeing strange V-shaped formations of lights moving silently across the sky. Photographs were taken, and though skeptics suggested birds reflecting light, the incident remains unexplained to this day.
• Cash-Landrum Incident (1980) - Near Huffman, three witnesses (Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Vickie's grandson) reported encountering a diamond-shaped UFO emitting flames. Soon after, they all suffered radiation-like symptoms, like burns, nausea and even hair loss. Dozens of helicopters were allegedly escorting the craft, leading the women to believe the Air Force was involved. Cash and Landrum even brought a lawsuit against the U.S. government for damages relating to their health, but the case was eventually dropped.
• Stephenville Lights (2008) - Hundreds of Stephenville residents reported massive, silent objects with bright lights moving quickly across the sky. Radar later confirmed the unknown objects. The story was widely covered by the media, even making its way into The East Texan in an article written by Cody Giles. Dr. Kent Montgomery, who is still with the university, now as department head for the Department of Mathematics, commented in the article, "There's no doubt they saw something, but the chances of it actually being something that cannot be explained are very slim."

UFOs and Reality

Whether in Texas or elsewhere, people are clearly seeing things in the sky they do not understand.

Even today there is regularly testimony in front of Congress from former military personnel about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)-the latest hot term in this field of study. Why would someone choose to go before Congress if there wasn't something to it?

As Carlson pointed out, memory can be a sketchy thing after a decade or two-or five, for that matter. But not all these reports are coming decades after they occur.

"As for an eyewitness reporting a UFO sighting from just a day ago, false memory is not as significant of an issue," Carlson said. "But misperception of common objects as UFOs certainly is."

UFO hovering motionless in the air. | Photo: Adobe Stock

Indeed, many of the reports on the NUFORC website come in mere days, if not hours, after the alleged events occurred. So, is it possible that so many people are just misinterpreting the things they're seeing in the sky?

Quarles thinks there may be another explanation besides misidentification.

"Sure, some of the sightings are probably misidentified natural phenomena," he said. "And some are going to be satellites and drones. But I suspect much of it is secret military projects. Obviously, for something secret, the military can't just come out and say it's us."

If some, maybe even all, UFO sightings can be explained by misinterpretation, the fog of memory and secret government projects, does that mean aliens don't exist?

Not necessarily.

"Microbes of some kind probably exist elsewhere in the universe," Quarles said. "But aliens up and around talking like us…who knows. It's possible, but communication across vast distances would be so difficult, we're not even sure it can be done. The closest star outside of our Sun is four light-years away. We'd be better served, for now, looking for evidence of life on Mars."

UFOs and You

So, what do we do with this information?

The question of UFOs and aliens has been something people have wrestled with for many years. Even at East Texas A&M, the topic has arisen from time to time for at least three-quarters of a century, and likely longer.

The discussion will most assuredly continue for many more years, at least until the flying saucers land on the White House lawn-in grand, cliché Hollywood fashion.

Until then, continue to ponder and watch the skies. What do you think is up there? Have you ever seen anything? And what do you think my dad and I saw in the autumn clouds on that morning long ago?