A Sergeant Goes Missing at a Nuclear Testing Range

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Speaker 6 You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Speaker 7 Yes, Paulie, what is Paul?

Speaker 8 Say, what happened to the music?

Speaker 7 I quote, at 11.04 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, both our distant early warning line and ballistics early warning line reported radar evidence of unidentified flying objects flying due southeast.

Speaker 7 As of this moment, we have been unable to determine the nature of these objects.

Speaker 1 With the manifestation of atomic weaponry taking place during the Second World War, the world as we know it has never been the same.

Speaker 1 The threat of a disastrous nuclear war has now loomed over the heads of every man, woman, and child for over half a century.

Speaker 1 But nowhere was this threat more visceral than during the 1950s and 60s, a time when intercontinental ballistic missiles meant that schoolchildren routinely practiced diving under their desks, preparing for the inevitable.

Speaker 1 While this worldwide threat seemingly abated over the following years, however, a strange phenomenon seems to have come about during this same period of time.

Speaker 1 The proliferation of reported UFO sightings.

Speaker 1 And nowhere have these sightings been more prevalent or caused more alarm than in close proximity to locations involved with nuclear weaponry.

Speaker 1 New Mexico, ground zero for America's nuclear weapons development programs, is the site of a remarkable number of baffling, unsolved UFO incidents.

Speaker 1 In late 1948, for example, dozens of pilots, defense personnel, and scientists associated with the famed Los Alamos and Sandia nuclear weapons programs began seeing mysterious green fireballs in the sky.

Speaker 1 Such objects were frequently observed flying on a perfectly horizontal trajectory, often moving directly toward nearby aircraft.

Speaker 1 The nature of these objects, their origin, their purpose, all of this remains an unsolved mystery.

Speaker 1 Is it possible possible that our nuclear weapons have attracted the attention of something we have yet to understand?

Speaker 1 And far from the benign behavior exhibited by floating green orbs of light, what if some, among these unidentified objects, posed a greater threat to humanity?

Speaker 1 The fact of the matter is, whether we believe these stories or not, This desert region of New Mexico and the U.S.

Speaker 1 Army's White Sands Missile Range appears to play host not only to countless strange aerial phenomena, but to at least two cases of human abduction.

Speaker 1 And one of them is among the most grisly and unnerving UFO encounters in documented history.

Speaker 1 This is the story of the mutilation of Sergeant Lovett.

Speaker 1 I'm Luke Lamana,

Speaker 1 and this is Wartime Stories.

Speaker 1 On December 7th, 1941, the United States found itself thrust into the raging inferno of World War II.

Speaker 1 As the country's workforce was mobilized, so too were some of the world's most renowned scientists and engineers.

Speaker 1 Assigned to a secretive location deep within the heart of the New Mexico desert, they were tasked with developing a new kind of weapon, one capable of inflicting unparalleled death and destruction.

Speaker 1 On July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic weapon was detonated over the gentle dunes of the White Sands Desert.

Speaker 1 In a blinding flash, the world was propelled into an age of looming dread and uncertainty.

Speaker 1 With weapons of mass destruction now the focal point of the post-war standoff between East and West, the White Sands bombing range, accompanied by the nearby Holloman Air Force Base, found itself at the heart of a rapidly evolving arms race.

Speaker 1 As nuclear weapons became more and more sophisticated, so too did the methods in which such a warhead could be delivered.

Speaker 1 Drawing on the wartime research of Nazi scientists and by building upon the premise of the revolutionary V-2 rocket, came the creation of ballistic missiles.

Speaker 1 As these new warheads were now capable of transporting nuclear or conventional payloads over hundreds of miles, they soon became the desired method of choice for both Soviet and Western militaries.

Speaker 1 The White Sands Missile Range, with its seemingly endless expanse of barren desert, was the perfect place to test such volatile, often unpredictable weapons.

Speaker 1 During the early 1950s, dozens of missiles were fired into the skies above the city of Alamogordo. And on one calm night in March of 1956, Another one of these tests was slated to take place.

Speaker 1 But this would be different.

Speaker 1 As As the missile disappeared into the star-filled sky, no one could have imagined that this particular test would be the catalyst of a truly bizarre and otherworldly encounter.

Speaker 9 All right, it looks like we're on the right track, Sergeant. She should have been on course, but the blockhouse says she was broken up in mid-flight.
We should be getting close now.

Speaker 9 Keep your eyes peeled.

Speaker 6 Roger that.

Speaker 6 Forgive me for saying so, Major, but

Speaker 6 this is usually a job for the liaison pilots, yes?

Speaker 6 I mean, there's no telling where this thing could have landed.

Speaker 9 Pilots only fly during the daylight, son, and these orders come from top-down. But between you and me, I think there's something cooking on our end with respect to Khrushchev.

Speaker 6 Russia, huh?

Speaker 9 Yep. President Eisenhower is likely trying to keep the upper hand.
And these missile tests are being pushed ahead of schedule.

Speaker 6 Here we are, the shit end of that stick.

Speaker 9 What's the matter, Sergeant? Not much of an early bird? Frankly, I just love the smell of desert air at this time of night. Don't you?

Speaker 6 Yes, sir.

Speaker 1 With ballistic missile technology still in its relative infancy, catastrophic malfunctions, whether on the launch pad or in flight, were to be expected.

Speaker 1 This night's test proved to be no different, with the prototype missile disintegrating in mid-flight before plummeting into the vast desert below.

Speaker 1 As was the usual protocol for any test launch, successful or otherwise, a thorough post-mortem examination of the impact site and the remains of the malfunctioning rocket was in order.

Speaker 1 The knowledge gained from even the most mangled wreckage could still be instrumental in preventing a repeat of such malfunctions, ensuring the success of future prototypes.

Speaker 1 Despite it being so early in the morning, around 0300 hours, Air Force Major William Cunningham, an officer with the United States Air Force Missile Test Command, was feeling restless.

Speaker 1 Whether he was simply a man driven by professionalism or several cups of coffee, he was eager to get eyes on the debris field and begin his inspection.

Speaker 1 Behind the wheel of their jeep, Sergeant Jonathan Lovett accompanied Major Cunningham. as the two of them set out into the barren desert landscape to find the wreckage.

Speaker 1 This wearisome sergeant did not entirely share the major's caffeinated enthusiasm.

Speaker 1 With only a rough approximation of where the missile had crashed, it seemed to him that he was in for a very long and tedious night.

Speaker 1 And little did either of them realize how strange that night was about to become.

Speaker 9 Yep, this looks like it, Sergeant. At least the bulk of it.

Speaker 9 No doubt she's spread out around the area I'll start with these pieces and see how much of the recording equipment is here you think we should have asked for more hands on deck for this major Be able to cover more ground.

Speaker 9 No, not necessary. We're just here to locate the parts and run our initial checks.
I'll pass the grid coordinates back to command and the recovery team will be out here after daybreak with the crane.

Speaker 6 Right, right

Speaker 6 At least somebody's getting a good night's sleep.

Speaker 9 What's that, Sergeant?

Speaker 6 Nothing, sir. I'm gonna go check out the other side of that ridge.
See if the rest of the fuselage might have landed over there.

Speaker 8 All right, go ahead.

Speaker 9 Just don't go too far and stay away from any bushes.

Speaker 6 Why's that?

Speaker 9 Haven't been in the desert long, have you, Sergeant? Rattlesnakes like to coil up around the base of the shrubs.

Speaker 1 Oh, wonderful.

Speaker 6 I'll be sure to steer clear.

Speaker 8 Okay,

Speaker 8 let's see.

Speaker 9 Let's see.

Speaker 9 Get those mountains over there.

Speaker 9 That's...

Speaker 9 That looks like a saddle.

Speaker 8 And that would put us

Speaker 8 right about...

Speaker 9 Kill Tim the Bar when he was only three.

Speaker 9 I bet Davey Crockett was better at

Speaker 9 terrain association than I am.

Speaker 9 Okay, let's see.

Speaker 9 Let's see, north.

Speaker 9 Okay, let's orient the map first. North.
North. Which wing is north?

Speaker 9 Ah, crud, I left my compass.

Speaker 1 Okay, we'll figure this.

Speaker 9 What in the hell?

Speaker 9 Sergeant Lovett.

Speaker 9 Ah, hell.

Speaker 9 Sergeant, you all right?

Speaker 9 You didn't get bit, did you?

Speaker 9 I told you to stay away from the bushes. Just hold up.
I'm coming. I'm coming.

Speaker 1 According to the testimony of Major Cunningham, he and Sergeant Lovett set out into the bombing range around 0300. After a painstaking search, they finally came across a small debris field.

Speaker 1 As Cunningham sifted through the wreckage, Sergeant Lovett, wanting to gain a better vantage point of the area, made his way towards the ridge ridge of a sand dune a short distance away.

Speaker 1 Engrossed in his work, Cunningham paid the sergeant little attention as he wandered off into the desert and disappeared out of sight behind the sand dune's peak.

Speaker 1 It was then that Lovett screamed, a chilling mix of terror and agony piercing the eerie stillness of the night.

Speaker 1 While alarming, the major's immediate thought was that Lovett had simply stumbled upon a rattlesnake. He was not at all prepared for the reality of the situation.

Speaker 1 As he clambered his way over the dunes, spurred on by the frantic, pained cries of his sergeant, Cunningham was greeted by a surreal, nightmarish scene.

Speaker 1 A large, flying disc loomed 50 to 20 feet above the ground. From the bottom of this strange craft extended a long, snake-like object, reaching all the way to the ground.

Speaker 1 appearing to have taken hold of the legs of Sergeant Lovett, who was violently thrashing around as he was dragged along, trying to break free.

Speaker 1 The major, stunned and paralyzed by fear, could only watch as the helpless Lovett, screaming for his life, was then dragged upward into the unidentified craft.

Speaker 1 Once he had disappeared up into the underside of the disc, it then quickly rose upwards high into the night, shooting off into the stars, leaving Major Cunningham alone in the desert.

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Speaker 1 Have a great day.

Speaker 1 All right, Major. We're going to go through this one more time.

Speaker 1 You were the last one to see him.

Speaker 1 We just need to know the approximate location that you last saw him because it's gonna be a hot day and he doesn't have any water.

Speaker 7 So, whatever you can tell us,

Speaker 7 now is your chance.

Speaker 7 Look,

Speaker 7 I've told you everything.

Speaker 7 I know it sounds crazy.

Speaker 9 You have to believe me. I don't know where he is.

Speaker 1 He could be off in space for all I know.

Speaker 1 If I could think up a better story, I would.

Speaker 1 I don't even believe it myself.

Speaker 1 It's like I told you.

Speaker 1 Following the craft's departure, Major Cunningham ran to the Jeep's radio and reported the incident to Missile Control, whereupon Missile Control evidently did confirm a radar sighting of an unidentified object moving through the area moments before.

Speaker 1 When Cunningham's superiors at Holloman Air Force Base took note of the Major's frantic, bizarre testimony, they were, unsurprisingly, more than a little bit skeptical.

Speaker 1 What was beyond the realm of doubt, however, was that one of their own was missing and possibly in great danger, stranded somewhere in the vast expanse of the White Sands Desert.

Speaker 1 With the major confined to the White Sands Base Dispensary for observation, every available man and resource was mustered to comb all 3,200 square miles of the bombing range, a daunting task even with an entire base worth of airmen having been mobilized to help in the search.

Speaker 1 For two days, despite looking in all directions, no trace of the missing sergeant could be found.

Speaker 1 As the search extended beyond the 72-hour mark, the command feared that their chances of finding Lovett alive were now growing ever slim. But later, on that third day, they finally found him.

Speaker 6 I ever tell you

Speaker 6 how much I hate sand.

Speaker 6 Coarse, rough, irritating, gets everywhere.

Speaker 6 Yeah, Andy, you've told me plenty of times. Aren't you from California? They have sand there.

Speaker 6 Yeah, but

Speaker 6 I'm not from that part of California. I grew up in the city.

Speaker 6 Less sand and cactus.

Speaker 6 More sidewalk and beatniks playing bongos.

Speaker 6 Not sure which is worse, though.

Speaker 8 Man,

Speaker 6 my feet are barking.

Speaker 6 How long are they gonna keep us out here in the sticks anyway?

Speaker 6 I mean, what kind of lame-brained idiot wanders off into the desert? Anyone bother checking his bunk?

Speaker 6 No idea.

Speaker 1 But I'm with you.

Speaker 6 Maybe

Speaker 6 he got a dear John and just went AWOL.

Speaker 6 I'm giving it ten more minutes. We blow this popsicle stand.

Speaker 1 Oh, please.

Speaker 6 Don't even mention popsicles right now. What I wouldn't give for a.

Speaker 6 Stupid vultures.

Speaker 6 Oh, that's scared.

Speaker 9 Wait a minute. Oh, God.

Speaker 6 Wait, is that? Get the lieutenant. Get the lieutenant.
Right.

Speaker 7 Right.

Speaker 1 About 10 miles further downrange from his last known position, two airmen finally located the body of Sergeant Jonathan Lovett.

Speaker 1 His corpse, however it had wound up there, had been exposed to the harsh desert elements for quite some time, the region's local predators and scavengers now helping themselves to the poor sergeant's remains.

Speaker 1 It was clear to the men who later investigated the grisly scene, however, that Lovett's demise was far from natural. The sergeant's body, it seemed, had been expertly mutilated.

Speaker 1 Lovett's tongue had been removed from the lower portion of his jaw. An incision had been made just under the tip of the chin and extended all the way back to the esophagus and larynx.

Speaker 1 Also, his eyes had been removed, along with his reproductive organs and rectum.

Speaker 1 There were comments in the autopsy report on the apparent surgical skill of the removal of these items, including the genitalia, which had been neatly extracted like a plug.

Speaker 1 And yet, despite the extensive wounds to the airman's body, not a single drop of blood had stained the desert sand around him.

Speaker 1 This was because, more perplexingly still, Lovett's entire body had no blood in it. He had been entirely drained of it.

Speaker 1 And despite this chilling chilling factor, his autopsy would conclude that the sergeant didn't meet his end as the result of excessive blood loss.

Speaker 1 There appeared to be no evidence suggesting vascular collapse.

Speaker 1 A subcomment in the autopsy report added that this was unusual because anybody who dies or has complete loss of blood, there is always vascular collapse.

Speaker 1 Further adding to the odd, disturbing scene, a number of predatory birds, having feasted on the sergeant's remains, were found nearby, now dead from apparent poisoning.

Speaker 1 Whoever or whatever had done this to Sergeant Lovett clearly had a familiarity with human anatomy and was no rookie with a surgical knife.

Speaker 1 But the logistics surrounding what was plainly obvious were simply baffling.

Speaker 1 How could Major Cunningham or anyone else pull off such a complex abduction, killing, surgical mutilation, and subsequent disposal right under the nose of the U.S. Air Force.

Speaker 1 As one could imagine, in the days that followed, this question of when, why, and how is just what military investigators endlessly bombarded Major Cunningham with.

Speaker 1 Regardless of whether or not they believed the bizarre sequence of events that Cunningham stuck to in his testimony, the fact remained that he was the last known person to see Jonathan Lovett alive.

Speaker 1 It certainly didn't help that the events leading up to Lovett's supposed abduction were undeniably suspicious.

Speaker 1 Two men, alone in the desert, during the early morning hours, not a single soul for miles around. Certainly the ideal setup for anyone looking to get away with such a heinous crime.

Speaker 1 But the circumstances alone weren't enough to pin Cunningham with the killing, and the otherwise complete lack of forensic evidence left investigators entirely stumped.

Speaker 1 As swiftly as he was said to have been abducted by an unidentified flying saucer, the case of Sergeant Lovett quickly went cold, leaving investigators with a baffling array of dead ends and unanswered questions.

Speaker 1 Who or what had visited the White Sands Desert that fateful night? Perhaps more chillingly, was it still out there?

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Speaker 1 If one were to dive into the mystery of Sergeant Lovett's strange abduction and subsequent murder, they would almost certainly find themselves becoming acquainted with a series of Air Force reports known as Project Grudge.

Speaker 1 Beginning in February 1949, Grudge was one of the first true attempts made by the United States Air Force to formally study the wave of UFO sightings that had gripped the nation ever since the 1947 Roswell incident.

Speaker 1 Over the course of the following year, Air Force investigators would compile a series of 12 monthly reports and two special reports, breaking down and debunking a number of well-reported UFO sightings.

Speaker 1 Ultimately, the study would conclude that the vast majority of supposed UFO sightings could be chalked up to the public's general unfamiliarity with aircraft models or atmospheric phenomenon.

Speaker 1 Regardless of its many grounded findings, Project Grudge would indeed pave the way for further UFO studies under the guise of the infamous Project Blue Book.

Speaker 1 The Grudge reports are formally declassified and available for anyone to read at their leisure. However, there is an oddity worth noting.

Speaker 1 While reports 1 through 12 were released, as well as the final 14th special report, a mysterious 13th report appears to be missing from the archives.

Speaker 1 Enter William English, a former Green Beret serving in the U.S. Army as a captain before his assignment to the former Royal Air Force Base in Chicksands, England, as an analyst.

Speaker 1 According to him, Report 13 supposedly details the darker, unexplained side of extraterrestrial encounters. English stated that this now missing grudge report was given to him in 1977 for analysis.

Speaker 1 He recorded his memories of the report onto two cassette tapes. These were later transcribed into letters, which were circulated amongst the UFO community in the 1980s.

Speaker 1 His testimony about the report indicates that Unlike the other 13 much shorter reports containing about 20 pages each, this this 13th report contains 624 pages.

Speaker 1 Broken up into respective chapters, these pages are evidently full of information regarding close encounters, captured alien craft and live specimens housed at various Air Force facilities, and, most chillingly, evidence of animal and human mutilation.

Speaker 1 Jonathan Lubbitt's abduction and murder, alongside grisly photos of his mutilated remains, are supposedly contained within this missing report.

Speaker 1 So what evidence do we have, if any?

Speaker 1 It is undeniably true that the American government, foreign governments, and many among the wider population of the world have long considered the existence of UFOs credible, if not worrisome, the elusive crafts being seen as a potential enemy threat, whether extraterrestrial or not.

Speaker 1 Beginning with the Air Force's Project Sign in 1949, succeeded by Projects Grudge and then Blue Book, and now the ongoing present-day investigations, the subject of UFOs has, for decades now, remained a topic of discussion and thorough investigation.

Speaker 1 Within the United States, their repeated sightings in close proximity to sensitive sensitive defense sites connected to the nation's most powerful weapons has, of course, heightened the question of whether they might originate from adversaries, known or unknown.

Speaker 1 These crafts and other things are now widely called UAPs in official documents, unidentified anomalous phenomena, a catch-all term to describe objects detected not only in the air, but also in sea and space, objects that defy immediate and simple explanation.

Speaker 1 But unidentified objects and orbs of light zipping through the sky or under the ocean's surface, those are one thing.

Speaker 1 The kind of disturbing close encounter described here in this episode is something else entirely.

Speaker 1 To be fair, though, startling testimonies are still being offered even today by current military officials regarding their knowledge of the existence of both UAPs and even alien creatures that purportedly pilot these ships.

Speaker 1 But nonetheless, Sergeant Lovett's gruesome tale certainly begs some amount of speculation with respect to believing its legitimacy.

Speaker 1 Once again, this particular story appears to center itself around the singular testimony of one man, William English. Project Grudge's Report No.

Speaker 1 13 is cited by him as the key source material, which is now mysteriously unavailable for reading, despite public access to the other declassified reports.

Speaker 1 English's own transcribed transcribed testimony about Report 13 is also available online. In 2014, a man by the name of Curtis L.

Speaker 1 Collins had the opportunity to speak with Bill English over the phone, in which the subject of his involvement with the report was addressed.

Speaker 1 Curtis is the author of an online blog titled Blue Blurry Lines, a website focused on the UFO mystery, as well as its legends and hoaxes.

Speaker 1 In an article he posted following his conversation with Bill, he stated the following, quote, Bill is aware of his controversial reputation and feels that he's been misrepresented.

Speaker 1 He said to me, On the web, there's all kinds of stuff written about me, and 90% of it is bullshit.

Speaker 7 For example, he said, I was a captain in the Army, not the Air Force, and there was a B-52 that went down.

Speaker 1 Most significantly, he stands by his claims of having seen the Project Grudge Blue Book number 13 report, but he did not discuss any details of it with me.

Speaker 7 So much of what is said is like the game of Chinese whispers.

Speaker 1 And clearly, things get distorted while being repeated again and again as gossip and rumors. End quote.

Speaker 1 While the documented evidence of his death remains a mystery, if indeed it exists, The case of Sergeant Lovett likewise offers intriguing parallels to other reported mutilations, both past and present.

Speaker 1 In 1988, 1988, a man's body was allegedly found at the Guaraparanga Reservoir in Brazil. According to the reports, the victim had been dead for 48 to 72 hours, but there was no sign of decomposition.

Speaker 1 The eyes, the ears, tongue, and genitalia had been removed, as had the digestive organs. Officials were never able to identify the victim.

Speaker 1 Photos of this man's mutilated remains can be found online if you have the stomach for that sort of thing. Other than humans, widespread reports of livestock mutilation also contain similar details.

Speaker 1 Since the early 1970s, incidents of mutilated cattle, sheep, horses, rabbits, deer, bison, and elk have been recorded, with the similarly bloodless corpses often lacking jaw flesh, their ears, eyes, tongue, lymph nodes, and genitalia.

Speaker 1 In 2009, the Denver Post reported four calves were found mutilated in in similar ways.

Speaker 1 NPR reported a 2019 incident in Colorado in which five young purebred bulls mysteriously showed up dead, drained of blood, and with body parts cleanly excised.

Speaker 1 Among the baffling circumstances, one primary unanswered question is how the 2,000-pound animals were able to be subdued and transported without leaving a trace.

Speaker 1 No tracks were found anywhere around where the animals had been dropped, and the animals themselves hadn't been shot.

Speaker 1 Because of the high value of the animals, especially considering they were breeding bulls, their loss was devastating to the ranch that owned them, with the subsequent loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of future calves.

Speaker 1 At the time the NPR article was published, it stated that the Harney County Sheriff's Office was continuing to field calls on the killings, and the Sylves Valley Ranch had put up a $25,000 reward for information that could solve the case.

Speaker 1 Taking all this into consideration with respect to Sergeant Lovett's case, we are similarly left with just as many new questions as we are provided anything close to sensible answers.

Speaker 1 While the whereabouts of Report No.

Speaker 1 13 or any other significant evidence of his abduction and subsequent death remain a mystery, It is otherwise noteworthy that the horrific tale of Sergeant Lovett is just one of many odd, unexplained accounts that have come out of the nuclear testing range that is the White Sands region of New Mexico.

Speaker 1 It won't be a part two,

Speaker 1 but stay tuned for future episodes.

Speaker 1 Wartime Stories is created and hosted by me, Luke Lamana. Executive produced by Mr.
Bollin, Nick Witters, and Zach Levitt. Written by Jake Howard and myself.

Speaker 1 Audio editing and sound design by me, Cole Acascio, and Whit Lacascio. Additional editing by Davin Intag and Jordan Stiddam.
Research by me, Jake Howard, Evan Beamer, and Camille Callahan.

Speaker 1 Mixed and mastered by Brendan Kane. Production supervision by Jeremy Bone.
Production coordination by Avery Siegel. Additional production support by Brooklyn Gooden.

Speaker 1 Artwork by Jessica Cloxen Kiner, Robin Vane, and Picada. If you'd like to get in touch or share your own story, you can email me at info at wartimestories.com.

Speaker 1 Thank you so much for listening to Wartime Stories.