Trinity: The Best Kept Secret by Jacques F. Vallée and Paola Leopizzi Harris (book review)
Trinity is a location in Nevada, close to the Manhattan Project and 30 miles from the first nuclear detonation with no real warning of dangers to the local population. In the map in this book, ‘Trinity: The Best Kept Secret’ by Jacques F. Vallée and Paola Leopizzi Harris, it’s also interesting to note various other UFO hot spots if you know your subject matter were that close together. What makes the place even more significant is in 1945, a UFO crashed there, predating Roswell and even before Kenneth Arnold saw what he described as saucers floating in the air. In the introduction, Vallée apologises for neglecting this event and together with Harris, checked out the area for any material they could find and test so many years later.
Reading the transcripts of observers Jose Padilla and his pal, Reme Baca, who were pre-teens back then and were just caring for the land and ensuring the fences kept their family’s cattle on their land is interesting from several aspects. They heard a crash and investigated, seeing a long groove into a hill and some occupants out, who were small and had insectoid heads. Their father, who was connected to the military contact them and who were determined to clear the site but didn’t send many people in to do it and called it a weather balloon. Material from which the kids retrieved a sliver of what appears to be memory metal long before it was commercialised and used it to repair a weathervane which stayed that way. This was all before UFOs reached the media and they kept quiet about it because they thought it was something to do with the military. It wasn’t until 2003 that they approached a local journalist and word got out. The discovery that there was a reference from other sources around the time of Roswell and ignored shows people were distracted at the time. It does make me wonder how many early cases like that are out there, especially as foo fighters were already appearing over aircraft in World War Two.
What makes Padilla’s account more credible is he’s now a retired police officer and his attention to detail when young was there from the start. It’s rather interesting that the artefact they took from the UAP was most aluminium when, considering the speed it travelled at, you would think something tougher like titanium would have been in order. Then again, Vallée believes one piece might have been of human origin, unlike the thinner piece that was used to repair the weathervane.
The boys had also found a lot of thin strands, commonly referred to today as ‘angel hair’ which they collected up at the time and spread around to the local communities for Christmas decoration. It’s a shame that is all lost now, especially as they found it couldn’t be ignited. These strands glowed in different colours and at night.
Something I share with Vallée is to look for existing patterns. Here, he has a definite UAP shape, an ovaloid, NOT a saucer. The closest was the Sirocco incident and it makes an interesting point at the ineptness of the military on Project Blue Book and helping Dr. Hynek in his investigation. If you thought police officer Lonnie Zamora was the only witness, the discovery of several more, including another police officer. Interestingly, the people involved in the cover-up were more efficient in removing any evidence that had been collected. I mean, they even scrapped rocks of any metallic deposits. A similar vehicle was also seen over the French town of Valensole. This particular alien species seemed to have a lot of problems with their vehicles.
In the last chapter, Vallée addresses the radioactivity that affected the local population, which might have contributed to some of the population moving elsewhere. Certainly those who stayed had various terminal cancers and still-borns. A reminder of the lack of safety in those days.
I doubt if the UAP was affected by this but does add an environment attraction as to why the UAPs concentrated there for a while even before they were recognised as a phenomenon. As such, this is probably if not more significant than Roswell, more so as we are seeing an earlier action by the military to take the downed vessel away. You do have to wonder if even those soldiers knew what they were actually doing other than obeying orders.
It’s interesting seeing Vallée’s part in this book in comparison to Harris’ interviews, ensuring as much as possible that the witnesses were interviewed separately and both examining the site several times. I’m less sure about the poisonous weeds in the area of the landing. With the radioactivity from the nuclear fallout, it might well have been the only plant to get grow first. The passage of over 50 years means any remains is long gone or 20 feet below ground. I can see some similarities between Trinity and Roswell, both having samples of memory metal using aluminium long before we could use it as such has to be significant. I doubt if anyone seeing thin metal being bent in any shape and then flatten itself could be forgotten by anyone.
If you’re into UAPs and, like me, missed out on Trinity, then this book is well worth reading and will make you think that cover-ups were going on before they had that name.
GF Willmetts
September 2026
(pub: Starworks, 2022. 353 page indexed hardback. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-38771-079-9)
