Close Encounter at Holbrook
By Greg Shanos

Holbrook, Arizona has in the past been invaded by visitors from outer space. The invaders, numbering more than 16,000 were peaceful and meant no harm to Earth. On July 19, 1912 at approximately 7:00 p.m. local time, startled residents heard a series of loud booming sounds followed by several explosions in rapid succession. Thousands of tiny extraterrestrial stones pelted the ground. The space invader was a shower of meteorites.

The meteorites fell over an elliptical area measuring about a mile by one-half mile centered in a railroad yard. The alien was a stone meteorite, an ordinary chondrite. Scientifically designated the Holbrook olivine-hypersthene chondrite, petrologic type (L6). An unusual aspect of this fall was that most of the meteorites were very small, typically the size of a pea. The largest stone weighted 14 lbs. The smallest were only a couple of millimeters in diameter and weighted in the milligrams. The total weight of recovered specimens was 421 pounds. The meteorites at Holbrook were easily recovered with a magnet. The meteorite contains flakes of elemental nickel/iron that cannot resist the seductive lure of a magnetic field. Over 16,000 individual pea-size meteorites were recovered shortly after the fall.

Rocks from Space by O. Richard Norton (Mountain Press, 1994), states "You can still find meteorites near the railroad yard in Holbrook if you are very patient." My wife and I planned a vacation to northeastern Arizona in October of 1995. Our intended destinations included Lowell Observatory, Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon. The town of Holbrook, present population 4,700 residents, is situated on I40 between Meteor Crater and the Petrified Forest. I brought along a strong horseshoe magnet and on October 16, 1995 collected many small iron meteorite fragments from Meteor Crater. We proceeded toward Holbrook to spend the night in preparation for our visit to the Petrified Forest. After driving an hour on I40, we arbitrarily chose the first Holbrook exit number 285. Immediately to my right I saw a railroad yard. My heart beat heavily in excitement! This has to be the site. We checked into a local motel and unpacked.

I informed my wife of the famed meteorite shower at Holbrook and left to possibly recover a meteorite. I drove near the exit on-ramp and entered the railroad yard. There were several clearings laden with rocks. On my hands and knees, I slowly dragged the magnet several times over the native rocks and soil. Immediately small blackish-gray pea sized stones adhered to the magnet. I had made contact! These were the extraterrestrial visitors of 1912. I placed the meteorites in a zip-lock bag and proceeded to find more. With each pass I picked up more and more meteorites. The Sun was setting rapidly so I had to hurry. After an hour and a half it was too dark to see so I had to stop. I returned to the motel room with a bag full of meteorites. My wife's eyes bugged out when she saw my prize. "That many," she stated!

I collected over 300 pea-sized specimens weighing a total of 118 grams. Having arrived 83 years 2 months and 29 days after their landing on Earth, I was still able to find meteorites at Holbrook. The next day we visited Petrified Forest National Park. The park was spectacular. However, I could not stop thinking about all those meteorites waiting to be collected at Holbrook. That evening we returned to Holbrook for another overnight stay in preparation for the Grand Canyon.

The following morning was October 18, 1995 my 36th birthday! We awoke at sunrise and prepared for the Grand Canyon expedition. We stopped by the railroad yard for one last time to collect some more meteorites. This time I dragged the magnet a little slower along the ground and to my surprise found some larger pieces. The largest specimens were collected on my birthday and weighted 4.5 g, 3.7 g, and 1.5 g respectively. I recovered several hundred more pea-sized individuals totaling 100 grams. After an hour of diligent searching we had to depart for our next destination. If my wife hadn't stopped me I would have spent all day at Holbrook but we had to move on. In only 2 1/2 hours of active searching, I collected over 500 individual specimens weighting a total of 288 grams. A most incredible experience!

Grand Canyon National Park was truly a miracle of nature, a spectacle not to be missed. However, my most memorable experience was at Holbrook. I had made contact with another world. It is unfortunate that current residents, travelers, and tourists at Holbrook are unaware of the aliens beneath their feet.

Upon returning home to Florida I showed my Holbrook specimens to three other meteorite collectors, namely Hal Povenmire, Bob Summerfield, and Blaine Reed. All three individuals stated unanimously, "THESE ARE NOT METEORITES." Although they were magnetic, these "meteor wrongs" did not have any surface fusion crust or internal metal flakes which are the hallmark of ordinary chondrites. Some of the specimens were volcanic slag which would account for their magnetic attraction. You could not imagine my disappointment, having believed I recovered hundreds of meteorites when in fact it was only terrestrial material. This experience has given me a deeper appreciation as to how rare meteorites are. An individual cannot simply go to an old shower site and expect to collect hundreds of meteorites in an hour! Well Greg, better luck next time.