Art's Part: Anomalous Metal Fragments from Alleged UFO Crash
Starting in mid-April 1996, radio host Art Bell of the popular show 'Coast to Coast AM' received five anonymous typewritten letters signed 'a friend'. The sender claimed to be an active military member whose grandfather had participated in recovering debris from a wedge-shaped craft that crashed between Sierra Blanca and the San Mateo Mountains near the White Sands test facility in New Mexico. The third letter contained two metal fragments described as coming from the outer underside of the object. These samples became known as 'Art's Part'.
Investigative journalist Linda Moulton Howe took on the case and arranged for university analysis under anonymity. The pieces — roughly five to eight centimeters — consisted of a magnesium-zinc alloy and bismuth arranged in approximately 26 alternating layers: the Mg-Zn layers 100–200 micrometers thick, the bismuth layers only 1–4 micrometers. No expert Howe consulted — from MIT to Sandia National Laboratory to Redstone Army Arsenal — had ever encountered this layered configuration or could explain how it was manufactured.
On June 8, 2018, physicist Harold Puthoff, who had participated in the classified AAWSAP program, presented findings at the Society for Scientific Exploration in Las Vegas. He confirmed the layered bismuth-magnesium structure and revealed the material functions as a sub-wavelength waveguide for terahertz-frequency electromagnetic radiation — a property that took decades to identify. Attempts to reproduce the material failed: the bismuth and magnesium layers could not be bonded together. The TTSA later acquired Howe's samples for $35,000 as part of their ADAM research project in 2019.
Background
In 1996, radio host Art Bell received an anonymous package containing small metallic fragments allegedly recovered from a UFO crash. The material, nicknamed Art's Part, has been analyzed by multiple laboratories and become one of the most studied alleged UFO artifacts.
The Incident
Art Bell received the anonymous package in 1996.
It contained small metallic fragments claimed to be from a UFO crash.
The material was nicknamed Art's Part.
Investigation
Art's Part was analyzed by multiple laboratories over the following decades.
Analysis revealed a layered bismuth-magnesium structure with zinc inclusions at the nanoscale level.
This composition appeared engineered rather than naturally occurring.
Analysis
Dr. Garry Nolan at Stanford and other researchers conducted isotopic analysis.
They found anomalous isotopic ratios in some samples.
Significance
The provenance remains unverifiable.
It has become one of the most studied alleged UFO artifacts.
This interest grew particularly after the establishment of formal government interest in metamaterials through AATIP.