Eisenhower Holloman AFB Alleged Contact Meeting

In February 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower allegedly traveled to Holloman AFB in New Mexico for a second contact meeting with non-human intelligence — distinct from and considered better-evidenced than the 1954 Eisenhower–Edwards disappearance claim. The entities described in this account differ from the "Nordics" of the Edwards lore; they are described as "Grays" and the meeting is said to have produced a formal agreement.

The Reported Sequence of Events

Approximately 300 base personnel reportedly witnessed the following sequence:

• Air Force One landed at Holloman and taxied to the far end of the runway
• The pilot instructed the control tower to shut off all radar
• Three disc-shaped craft appeared in the sky
• One craft landed approximately 200 feet in front of Air Force One; a second hovered overhead as if standing watch; a third disappeared from view
• A figure presumed to be Eisenhower descended the stairs of Air Force One
• He was observed shaking hands with a figure at the door of the landed craft, then entering the craft
• The meeting lasted an undisclosed period before Eisenhower returned to Air Force One

The Entities

In lore, the group at Holloman is identified as distinct from the "Nordics" allegedly encountered at Edwards in 1954. They are described as the "large-nosed Grays" — shorter than humans, gray complexion, vertical-slit eyes, thin mouths, no visible chin. They reportedly identified their origin as a planet orbiting Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion, and stated their planet was dying.

The Alleged Treaty

The Holloman meeting is said to have produced a basic agreement — the foundational event in the "alien treaty" thread of UAP lore. The general terms attributed to it in various whistleblower accounts include: non-interference in human affairs in exchange for permission to conduct limited biological study of humans (abductions), with humans returned unharmed and a register maintained. The U.S. government allegedly received technology assistance in exchange. These specific terms rest on extremely weak sourcing and should be treated as speculative.

Documentary Trail — The Emenegger Connection

The most substantive adjacent evidence is the Emenegger–Sandler Holloman film case. In 1971, a UFO landing at Holloman was reportedly filmed from three vantage points (two ground crews, one helicopter) on 16mm film. In 1973, USAF officials — including Colonel Bill Coleman (former Project Blue Book spokesman) and Colonel George Weinbrenner (former ATIC Commander) — approached documentary filmmaker Robert Emenegger and producer Allan Sandler and promised them access to this footage for a DoD-backed documentary.

The footage was described by Paul Shartle, the Norton AFB security manager who claimed to have personally viewed it, as showing three disc-shaped craft arriving, one landing on tripod pods, a ramp extending, and three entities emerging. The entities were described as roughly human height, gray complexion, defined nose, vertical-slit eyes, wearing tight coveralls and communication headgear.

The promised footage — reportedly 3,200 feet — was withdrawn at the last moment, with Colonel Coleman citing the Watergate scandal as making the timing politically inappropriate. The resulting 1974 documentary UFOs: Past, Present, and Future (narrated by Rod Serling) used animation instead. In a 1988 national television broadcast, Shartle and Emenegger stated that approximately 8–12 seconds of the actual landing footage had been embedded in the film's reconstruction sequence without their initial knowledge.

The Emenegger case is analytically distinct from the broader Holloman lore because it involves named, on-record government officials making documented claims — not anonymous witnesses. Key figures: Robert Emenegger, Paul Shartle, Bill Coleman, George Weinbrenner; documentary: UFOs: Past, Present, and Future (1974).

Competing Hypotheses

The Emenegger operation in particular raises the perception management hypothesis seriously: he was selected at least in part because his UCLA thesis was titled The Influence of Motion Pictures on Public Behavior. Whether the footage existed or not, the operation itself — DoD courting a behavioral-influence filmmaker, promising classified UFO footage, then pulling it — is documented and anomalous.

Epistemic Status

Low confidence on the Eisenhower contact claim specifically. Medium confidence that something anomalous was filmed at Holloman in 1971 given Shartle's named, on-record testimony. The full Emenegger case deserves its own investigation thread.

Sources

[S1] Gaia, "Did President Eisenhower Meet Aliens at Air Force Bases?" URL: https://www.gaia.com/article/eisenhower-meets-aliens-holloman-afb Accessed: 2026-05-19 Claim: Holloman 1955 witness accounts, radar shutdown, landing sequence

[S2] Paul Shartle, interview on UFO Cover-Up...Live (1988, national broadcast) Claim: Personal account of viewing 16mm Holloman landing film; entity description

[S3] UFO Insight, "The Emenegger-Sandler UFO Landing Film Conspiracy" URL: https://www.ufoinsight.com/ufos/cover-ups/emenegger-sandler-ufo-film Accessed: 2026-05-19 Claim: CIA clean room briefing, footage promise, Watergate withdrawal, courier surveillance

[S4] howandwhys.com, "Actual 8-Second Film of UFO Landing at Holloman AFB Used in 1974 Documentary" URL: https://howandwhys.com/actual-8-second-film-of-ufo-landing-at-holloman-afb/ Accessed: 2026-05-19 Claim: Shartle quotes, footage description, Emenegger account of 8-second embed

[S5] Wikipedia, "UFOs: Past, Present, and Future" URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFOs:_Past,_Present,_and_Future Accessed: 2026-05-19 Claim: Film production history, Golden Globe nomination, Holloman sequence description