Not far from where the Lubbock Lights were seen six years earlier, residents of Levelland, Texas, reported ten UFO-related incidents during the course of several hours on November 2, 1957. The first close encounter took place around eleven o'clock in the evening when farm workers Pedro Saucedo and Joe Salaz saw a giant, brilliantly-lit object fly over their truck. As it passed overhead, the truck's headlights and engine went dead, resuming to normal only once the craft had disappeared. Saucedo reported the incident to Levelland police, who received a call an hour later from Levelland resident Jim Wheeler. Eight miles from the original report, Wheeler said that his engine and headlights had failed as he approached a brightly lit egg-shaped object in the road. Once the craft had ascended into the sky and disappeared, Wheeler was able to restart his engine.

Sheriff Weir Clem and Deputy Pat McColloch drove along Route 116 searching for the glowing object when finally, at 1:30 a.m., they spotted an enormous, egg-shaped craft that looked "like a brilliant red sunset across the highway," according to Clem. It "lit up the whole pavement in front of us for about two seconds," he said, and then it disappeared. Throughout the night, the Levelland police department continued to receive calls describing a similar bright object that caused lights to dim and car engines to shut off.

The Air Force investigated, speculating that the incidents were examples of ball lightening. However, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the Air Force's primary UFO investigator at the time, recanted this conclusion in later writings. "I am not proud today that I hastily concurred in Captain Gregory's evaluation as 'ball lightning' [as the explanation for the Levelland sightings] on the basis of information that an electrical storm had been in progress in the Levelland area at the time. That was shown not to be the case," wrote Hynek. "Besides, had I given it any thought whatsoever, I would have soon recognized the absence of any evidence that ball lightning can stop cars and put out headlights." The Levelland sightings remain unexplained.