TRINITÉ: le Secret le Mieux Gardé

by Jacques F. Vallée

Une équipe de chercheurs révèle un cas d’OVNI récupéré par le gouvernement US dès 1945.

Les preuves de l’existence des OVNIs – et de leurs occupants –existent dans les dossiers officiels américains depuis 1945. Deux chercheurs expérimentés – Paola Harris et Jacques Vallée – ont reconstitué l’histoire de l’accident qui a causé la découverte d’un engin endommagé sur un ranch du Nouveau Mexique un mois après l’explosion de la première bombe atomique et deux jours après la reddition du Japon qui mit fin à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale.

Leur analyse, basée sur des interviews détaillées avec trois témoins et sur des éléments extérieurs qui démontrent l’authenticité des rapports, explique comment le cas a pu rester secret pendant 65 ans. Son étude sur le terrain et en laboratoire conduit à une profonde révision de l’histoire contemporaine. Elle invite à de nouvelles interrogations sur les intentions de nos « visiteurs » et la nature de leur extraordinaire technologie.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Paranormal, Science, Conspiracy Theories, Aliens, Mystery

396 pages

First published May 13, 2021

About the author

Excerpted from wikipedia: Jacques Fabrice Vallée (born September 24, 1939 in Pontoise, Val-d'Oise, France) is a venture capitalist, computer scientist, author, ufologist and former astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California.
In mainstream science, Vallée is notable for co-developing the first computerized mapping of Mars for NASA and for his work at SRI International in creating ARPANET, a precursor to the modern Internet. Vallée is also an important figure in the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), first noted for a defense of the scientific legitimacy of the extraterrestrial hypothesis and later for promoting the interdimensional hypothesis.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best of the book are the narratives from Reme and Jose Padilla. They sounded genuine with a profound impact in their lives. The chapter on the Socorro's case is also well covered and contain, arguably, credible witnesses. The last chapter of the book is equally interesting with multiple references to other unexplained cases.

On the other hand, the authors spend too many pages in interview excerpts that not always add value to the case. I found Paola's interview style a bit too much biased on what she would like to listen. Also, I did not think Sabrina's participation helped in increasing the veracity of the case. Apart from witnessing people coming around and the burning effects in the vegetation and soil years after the incident, she did not have any first-hand participation in the case, thus no added value.

Overall it is an entertaining reading, with repetitive and boring moments, but I don't believe it justifies the title of the best kept secret.

[Peter A. Lio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid

I love Jacques Vallée and have read all his books— over a half century of wonderful thoughts and prose! This was a solid book with some new ideas, but I was hoping for more…

[coffee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that reads like a French Essay Film a’la Chris Marker, Agnés Varda, or even JP Gorin. Enjoyable with many personal asides, reminisces, talks about WW2 and even a few mentions of COVID19.

[Declan L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible investigative reporting, this story is flying under the radar now but is truly insane and def will blow up in the future~ (And the author Jacques Vallée has worked for NASA and Stanford University)

[Andrew Heitman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excellent first 100 pages, goes downhill fast. No new physical evidence, only conflicting accounts and some weird logic. Also, the author states some bits as fact that are more of an unfounded opinion. For example he talks about how a 7 and 9 year old could NOT misidentify crash dummies with aliens. I teach this age group and YEA kids could mistake the two. This is my first Valle book and potentially last. I saw The Phenomenon and really wanted to like this. Unfortunately, this book was not what I was hoping for. I will reevaluate my current thoughts on the book if more evidence is produced.

Edit: Also, if I missed something or need to reread a bit feel free to let me know, like I said I want to like Vallee.

[Mark Tallen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. Not only is this book the definitive study of the 1945 San Antonio NM case, but it provides a history lesson concerning the development & detonation of the 3 Atomic bombs, 2 of which were dropped over Japan. The book is co-authored but it reads primarily like Jacques Vallee, with the witness transcripts conducted by Paolo Harris. This is not a criticism, it works exceptionally well & both of them have to be commended for their input & research. This is one of the best books I've ever read on the subject matter & it ties into present day ufology. I can't recommend this book enough. I purchased the revised September 2021 Hardcover edition from Amazon.

[Joris Hendrickx · Rating 5 out of 5]

A meticulous investigation.

Mr. Vallée and Ms. Harris have left no stone unturned in the pursuit of bringing the complete story of this UFO event.

[George Kanakaris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't want to waste your time so all I have to say is that the story featured in this book is a hoax.
It is very disappointing that the giant Jacques Vallée, of all people, falls for this.
He should have known better when he believed Paola Harris of all people.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very light on the science and nothing terribly enlightening regarding the phenomenon in question.

[Cynthia Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The door is open, and we now have a handle on the 1945 UFO crash

Vallee and Harris combine their considerable investigative skills to summarize and detail the body of noteworthy related events surrounding the 1945 crash of a UFO in San Antonito, New Mexico.  Through analysis of materials found on and at the site of the crash, and interviews with witnesses who observed the 'little men' moving around after the vehicle cut and burned a wide swath through the desert countryside, Vallee and Harris provide penetrating insight and clarity to what will surely be acknowledged as one of the most significant and most meaningful UFO incidents in recent history.  

Trinity provides the best of both UFO worlds through careful attention to details pertaining to the "nuts and bolts," while giving equal attention and care to metaphysical insights evident in remarkable synchronicity.  I love the way Trinity provides background information about some of the primary witnesses who were first on the scene at the time of the crash, including how these two young boys boldly obtained a physical souvenir from the spaceship itself, as well as other types of material from the craft.  Thanks to thorough interviews conducted with these young boys, Harris succeeds in bringing the reader to events that  occurred one month after the world's first atomic bomb blast, within the blast range.  

Vallee illuminates key questions, identifying both areas of fruitful investigation, as well as providing tips on how to recognize red herrings, bogus distraction strategies, and positive lines of thought by which we can best maintain clear rational inquiry.  

We are truly blessed that Vallee and Harris teamed up to investigate this 1945 Trinity incident and write such a beautiful description of one of the iconic, significant UFO events in American history.  Thanks to the authors' cumulative breadth and depth of decades of UFO investigative experience, some deeper levels of meaning begin to shine through.  

Imagery from Trinity will stay with this reader long after the book is read and closed--with a sense that humanity has been given a message that "the door is open," and we now "have a handle" on this.  And thanks to Trinity: The Best-Kept Secret, we do. 

[Jack Pramitte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le cas passionnant d’un crash d’ovni à 30 km du point de l’explosion de la 1ʳᵉ bombe atomique sur le site de Trinity aux environs de Los Alamos, le 16 août 1945, soit 1 mois après ce test grandeur nature et 2 jours après la capitulation du Japon.
L’armée US n’avait alors aucune expérience de la récupération de ces épaves. Deux enfants ont assisté au crash et observé les opérations de nettoyage de l’armée pendant une semaine. Quelques détails amusants : l’armée a demandé l’autorisation au père de l’un des enfants témoins de construire un nouveau portail sur sa propriété afin d’accéder au lieu du crash avec l’engin de levage nécessaire pour récupérer le « ballon » qu’elle avait perdu (le portail existant n’étant pas assez large). Ironiquement, le propriétaire conservait également dans sa grange quelques vrais ballons qu’il avait récupéré sur son terrain et que l’armée avait oublié de récupérer.
Les enfants ont ramassé aux abords du crash une étrange matière filamenteuse luminescente qui a servi de décoration de Noël dans plusieurs maisons pendant plusieurs années avant d’être jetée. Et une autre pièce d’un étrange matériau à mémoire de forme a servi à rafistoler le mécanisme d’un puits : le bricolage fonctionne à merveille depuis 70 ans !
Mais le plus ironique sans doute c’est qu’Enrico Fermi lui-même venait manger dans un bar-restaurant de la ville du crash. Peut-être est-ce là même qu’il a formulé son fameux paradoxe sur les extraterrestres.
Plusieurs décennies après les faits « quelqu’un » est venu planter une végétation vénéneuse à l’exact point du crash, et finalement tout a été enseveli sous 6 m de terre peu après.
L’enquête de Jacques Vallée et Paola Harris est minutieuse, même trop par moment pour la patience du lecteur. Le rappel des événements historiques à Trinity et la mise en perspective du crash avec ceux-ci donne matière à réflexion.

[roy · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone with a non-obsessive interest in the UFO/UAP phenomena I was expecting this book to contain, as the rumours implied, some startling results from the metallurgical analyses of samples that Valle has collected. Then there was an unannounced lengthy delay in the release of even the (hideously overpriced) Kindle version. I immediately suspected that the anticipated revelations hadn't materialised. They had not.
Overall the book suffers from the sort of credulousness that I wouldn't have suspected Vallee to suffer from - but unfortunately it's almost as bad as the bulk of the "UFO" material out there. I don't have the inclination to list all the absurdities that these authors swallow whole but anyone taking the trouble to watch one of the YT interviews with the authors released to puff the book will quickly see just how gullible they're capable of being - particularly Ms. Harris.
In the latter stages of the book I recall thinking that Vallee hasn't completely gone off the rails - he has some valuable observations - but overall the book is only worth reading to re-confirm the utter credulousness of the "UFO community" in general.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first modern UFO Crash, 1945

As a writer of SciFi novels this is one of the best accounts of a UFO crash I have read. I gave this story five stars because it confirms many of the ideas I published in my latest book POSTLUDE. Having read one of the journals of Jacques Vallee, most of the book was written by him, with only quotes from the co-author.
What I liked was his open mind about the whole incident. In his conclusion he questions if the bracket could have come from a part of the damaged Marconi tower, that might have been used by the Army to help recover larger pieces of equipment inside - we just don’t know. Vallee even considers that the craft was a human device, as he says “What kind of Aliens would come from the other end of the galaxy, only to bump into a radio relay and crash in a shrubbery?”
What if the target was at a different level? What if it contained an existential warning to humanity?
It’s a most useful read, about UFO crashes, that may not be what most people think they are.

[Federico · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the modern myths I find most fascinating is the relationship between UFOs and nuclear bombs. Everyone knows that UFOs used to show up frequently in places where nuclear weapons were kept, even disarming them—common lore. What I find intriguing is the story about how UFOs started appearing massively just a couple of years after the bomb.

The conventional take is that it was out of interdimensional concern, as the bomb was not exactly a friendly calling card to our space brothers. Others are more fun, like the idea that the bomb tore a hole in the fabric of reality through which UFOs entered.

This book tells a fascinating story: two years before Roswell, the first UFO crash happened just a month after the first bomb was tested—and really, really close to that exact place. The witnesses, two little kids, used to see Oppenheimer, Von Neumann, and others at the town’s only café when they took breaks from Los Alamos. The event is also surprisingly tied to one of the biggest Blue Book cases that happened decades later.

[Carey Smoak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about an eyewitness account of a UFO sighting in 1945 in New Mexico. But one month prior to the UFO sighting, there was a "test" atomic explosion prior to the two bombings in Japan that ended World War II. The atomic bomb that was "tested" in New Mexico was in-between the size of the bombs that exploded over Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The difference was that the atomic bomb that was exploded in New Mexico was a ground zero while the bombs that were dropped on Japan were detonated at an altitude of 1,500 to 2,000 feet. While the bomb that was exploded in New Mexico was in a rural area, people were not informed about the detonation of the bomb. Many people were sterilized and developed cancers at a higher rate than normal. Vegetation was destroyed and did not grow back. It was truly an atrocity by our government.

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The interview text drags on and takes away some enjoyment from the story, but it gets better toward the end. The information from the witnesses paints a good picture of what they saw. There is good detail for the authors in their research of the atomic bomb detonation the month before and its contamination of San Antonito where the events were witnessed. The follow-ups over the years were detailed as well including the vegetation and radiation. The book includes two other stories and starts to get into nuclear clearances, alluding to details of this story being held under Energy Dept clearance levels. Some critics suspect this was a hoax. The bracket is suspicious, but if the rest is to be believed then it requires more explanation. The last interview with the niece is the most interesting as her story is different from the witnesses' story but indirectly corroborates their testimony.

[Tom Kenis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Might have been more aptly named: The Crash Before Roswell. A must read for anyone seriously interested in one of humankind's most tantalising mysteries.
"...these incidents are rich with images that have been sublimely injected into our collective psyche and actually amplified by the studious neglect of our leading intellectuals. They still work today inside of us, and they continue to impact human consciousness, through the worldwide media, hinting at cosmic truths. We ignore them at our peril."

[Irene Previn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting

If you are curious about the UFO question, either as a novice or a veteran seeker of facts, bypass the merry-go-round of conjecture and read this book. Vallee is the best informed person alive (outside of the ‘secret-keepers’) on this topic, his research dovetails perfectly with Harris’s thorough and convincing investigations and masterful handling of the witnesses. Beautifully written and impeccably researched, this is the final word on the topic.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid but information is spoken word testimony dictated 60 years after the fact. Much of what is said is taken at face value despite discrepancies throughout.

Overall, narrative is engaging and it works not only as a UFO investigation summary but a travelogue of 1940s-now UFO culture, with interesting and grim asides pertaining to early nuke tests and their effects on the local populations. Hardly full disclosure but an interesting read.

[Christine Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story

Children make good witnesses and these hardworking kids were smart and unafraid to enjoy this strange show to the max. Also interesting details and historical insights of the first atomic bomb. I really enjoyed reading this book and watching the investigation unfold.

[Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trinity

It seemed like the book could have been half the length. Slightly dodgy to base an investigation and soft conclusion from 70 year old memories from children at the time. But can be an intriguing starting point for this type of phenomenon

[Aaron Kadkhodai · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are so few well researched books on this topic, that something of this quality (despite some minor editing oversights) is worthy of all five stars. Thanks to Jacque for giving me further to chew on and a window into a world that is so much bigger than the little house we occupy.

[Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1945, two years before the more famous Roswell crash, a UFO crashed in rural New Mexico. This occurred 30 days after the first nuclear weapon exploded at the Trinity Test Site, and was only a few miles away.

The crashed ship looked like a metal egg or avocado, about 25 feet long and 15 feet long with a small glass bubble on top near the rear. Two local boys around 8–10 years old found it and saw three humanoid beings moving around it. They described their faces as resembling an ant or praying mantis and were about three feet tall and appeared to be in severe distress or pain. The boys watched for about an hour as they felt feelings of pity and horrific images were being inserted into their minds.

The boys left, got their dad and a local policeman, and returned. The beings were gone but the ship was still there. The adults entered the ship and appeared disturbed at the whole experience. The army later came and cordoned off the area and took the craft and debris. The boys managed to sneak in before the army moved it and took a metal bracket. The family also found other metal debris that looked like foil and debris that looked like angel hair. The family was later visited by military and more paranormal figures, which the boys felt was due to their keeping of the items.

Vallée and Harris interviewed the boys, now old men, and other locals and visited the site. One of the boys had even kept the metal bracket and showed Vallée. Much of the book are transcripts of these interviews and other minutiae of their investigation. The story certainly appears credible and aligns fairly closely to the police officer Lonnie Zamora’s sighting of a similar craft in New Mexico not long after, which is also discussed in the book.

[Dan Zarfati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vallee, who kept his whole life attacking dead aliens and crashed UFOs, and mocking Roswell, suddenly decides that this crash is more important than Roswell. Nevertheless, the book is very good and worth reading.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story about a crashed other worldly vehicle 2 years before the Roswell, NM incident. The book contains conversations with eye witnesses and their families. Also adds perspective to the Trinity testing site (since this happened nearby) and its involvement with UAP phenomena.

[Langella · Rating 5 out of 5]

First contact UFO 1945 in New Mexico

Well written account of the crash incident, the children involved and the nuclear bombs detonated in New Mexico prior to the bombing of Japan.

[Mireille Petfield]

Very interesting and balanced.

[Bruce · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written and unconvincing.

[Mark M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tho I think Roswell involved an actual crash, this case seems stronger.

Fascinating.

[Juan Bravo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a interesting book.

Serious investigation about facts unnoticed in the beginning of the nuclear era. Great book, easy reading, arouse the desire to know more.