NARRATOR: One of the most disturbing things
Lue Elizondo studied at the Pentagon
were reports of close encounters with UFOs.
The cases are controversial, but Armed Forces personnel
swear they not only happened, but caused
lasting physical and psychological effects.
If real, Elizondo considers these effects
a kind of sixth observable.
This first account happened over 40 years ago.
MARIO WOODS: My name's Mario Woods.
I served in the Air Force from 1975 to 1983.
And I was in Security Police.
In 1977, I was a team member on a security
response team at Ellsworth Air Force base in South Dakota.
NARRATOR: During the Cold War, Ellsworth Air Force base
formed a key part of the so-called Northern Tier Defense
System, operating hundreds of nuclear-tipped Minuteman
intercontinental ballistic missiles.
I guess it was about 10:30, quarter to 11:00
on this particular night.
And then that's when we got a call
from the launch control officers that November 5 had alarmed.
And it was a sit 4, which was a serious alarm.
It means that exterior alarm is penetrated.
I told my team leader, Michael Johnson.
NARRATOR: Mario Woods and his team leader
were ordered to investigate the disturbance at a missile
silo code-named November 5.
MARIO WOODS: So immediately, we are dispatched.
As we go to Highway 79, the entire atmosphere
was just lit up.
It was just super bright, like the sun was rising.
And as we rounded the bend, this object
was sitting over November 5, about 5-10 feet
off the ground, max.
And it was just huge.
It's as big as any Walmart building I've ever seen.
The atmosphere in the truck got really, really thick,
like, couldn't breathe.
It was a round sphere.
And on that sphere, it looked like the exterior of it
was gaseous.
And the colors were floating around it.
It wasn't a craft, like, with hard edges
or anything like that.
It was completely round.
NARRATOR: The object hovering over the nuclear missile
silo appeared to be exhibiting one of the five observables.
Anti-gravity, the ability to fly without visible means
of propulsion.
You know, when I was AATIP, we--
we were under the presumption that there was
definitely nuclear connection.
Are we once again seeing some sort
of connection between UAP activity
and our nuclear capabilities along the northern tier?
MARIO WOODS: My partner, Michael Johnson,
he was just frozen to the wheel, looking straight
ahead out that windshield.
And I kept hollering at him, Michael, Michael.
And he didn't answer me.
I took my Maglite and I pulled myself out on the windowsill
of that truck.
And I flashed my Maglite at this thing.
But as soon as I did that, the pressure stopped.
It was like, OK, you can breathe now.
And I'm slumping back down into the seat.
Then I remember just blacking out.
And that's the last thing that I remember.
Until that radio came back to life, and all I heard was,
wing security control to November 1.
That was us-- our call sign.
And I heard it three or four times.
And I turned to Michael Johnson.
I said, are you going to get that?
And he's still just frozen in his position.
And I couldn't figure it out because there
was a wall right here.
And it went up as far as I could see.
And it was the backside of Lake Newell reservoir.
We went from November 5 to Newell Lake.
And that's between 5 and 7 and 1/2 miles.
There were no tire prints or anything.
It was just our vehicle in the middle of the mud.
And it started to get light.
NARRATOR: Woods says they had lost several hours,
an unexplained gap in time where they
had no memory of where they were or what was happening to them.
So when I got back on the radio,
I told WSC that there is--
I'm beside a white wall.
So they said, continue to talk, we're
triangulating your location.
Maybe 20 minutes passed.
So this backup alert team came.
And I said, I don't know where I am,
I don't know where we are, and don't know how we got here.
I said, what's happened?
He goes, I can't talk to you about it,
just stay right there.
So I kept trying to communicate with Michael Johnson.
He wouldn't answer me in any way.
He was just frozen in his position,
looking straight ahead.
I had to have another guy help me
slide him over to the passenger seat and seat belted him in.
NARRATOR: Woods and his partner were relieved of their weapons
and told to follow the backup alert team to the main base.
MARIO WOODS: We were taken directly
to the wing commander's office.
And then the wing commander said, Sergeant Woods-- he said,
I need to ask you what happened out there.
I told him what had happened and he asked
me to describe the size of it.
He goes, do you have any idea how you got to where you were?
I said, no, sir.
He said, I'm going to send you over to the base hospital.
We have a doctor wants to take a look at you
and just make sure that you're all right.
The doctor examined my eyes, my ears, nose, all that stuff.
He says, I need to take a skin sample.
And I said, why a skin sample?
He says, because you have some burns on you.
LUIS ELIZONDO: I think most everybody is
aware of the five observables.
But we looked at other things and that sixth observable
was biological effects.
And they can be anything from subtle to severe.
MARIO WOODS: I was burned on my face and on my hand.
And the items that they used to take the skin samples,
they went right into a vial about that big.
And they put a cork on top of it.
And then they were laying on a silver tray.
NARRATOR: Two weeks later, Michael Johnson
showed up at Woods's door.
He said, man, what did you see and what do you remember?
And I went through everything that I had-- that I knew.
And then he described it too.
And he said he was scared to death.
We thought we'd talk about it further,
but that was the last time I ever saw him.
I've been trying to find him ever since.
NARRATOR: Elizondo says he's cataloged reports of burns
in other close encounters.
LUIS ELIZONDO: There are key data points
that we can measure to determine if there
are indeed biological effects.
It's no different than if I were to stand behind the jet
engine of a 747 at take off.
Chances are I'm going to get burned.
These are level-headed, patriotic
people who serve their country.
I've seen some data that suggests, in some cases,
there are real physical effects that warrant some attention.
NARRATOR: The results of the tests on Woods's skin samples
were never shared with him.
And what Woods reveals next deepens
the mystery of these close encounters.
Woods decided to undergo hypnosis to see if he could
recover any memories from the four hours
he lost during the experience.
MARIO WOODS: Just all seem to be like a dream
until the next thing I know, I came to.
And of course, four hours had gone by.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: The incident has left Woods with mental scars
that have yet to heal.
MARIO WOODS: It changed everything.
And it still does to this day.