Most on the mountain were fairly relaxed before the light appeared.
After a calm weekend of sharing stories, hiking and hanging out in the Sand Dunes Oasis Campground, many were quietly enjoying the view of the San de Cristo Mountains.
The sun slowly descended behind the mountains, painting the sky with red and yellow bands that soon gave way to spotty clouds and sparkling stars.
But when a mysterious streak lit up the sky above the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado Saturday night, an electric explosion of chatter leaped from person to person. Heads arched and mouths opened wide toward the dark sky.
This is what they had been waiting for the entire weekend, for some their entire lives.
It was a sighting.
Or was it?
Open-minded welcome
Last weekend about 40 people — many from Arvada and metro Denver —joined the Jefferson County-based Paranormal Research Forum on the group’s annual UFO Trip.
Where better to look for Unidentified Flying Objects than in the San Luis Valley, located near Alamosa?
Local legend and UFO researches have said the San Luis Valley is one of the most active spots in the country for UFO sightings. This was the 16th year for the trip. The last six destined for the San Luis Valley.
The Paranormal Research Forum, an offshoot of what was previously known as the Adventure Club, began its exploration of the unknown in January.
Arvada resident Rick Nelson founded both the Adventure Club and the Paranormal Research Forum. A local real estate agent and member of the Jefferson County Planning Commission, Nelson said he started the groups in order to live life to its fullest and explore new areas of thinking.
“We are searching for the greater truths and a better understanding of life and the universe we live in,” Nelson said. “I truly believe there is so much more we don’t know than what we do.”
The Paranormal Research Forum meets from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month at Full Moon Books and Coffee in Lakewood.
Experts from around the country give presentations at the forum on more than 50 topics including time travel, Big Foot and the possibility of free energy.
Although some may think the topics are more science fiction than science, Nelson said he welcomes both believers and skeptics to come and hear the information and then decide.
“What we look at as the paranormal, those are the new, up-and-coming sciences, things we are just beginning to understand,” Nelson said.
Field trips
The group also ventures far from Jefferson County for regular outings, including the San Luis UFO trip, a Big Foot Expedition to the Pikes Peak Region Aug.19 and an over night stay at the allegedly haunted Fairplay Hotel in September.
Even if trip participants didn’t see any lights, Nelson said the trip to the valley would not be in vain.
“Coming on this trip, you bring back home more than just ‘I went camping this weekend,’” Nelson said. “You can say, ‘I went camping and searching for UFOs.’”
Arvada resident and forum member Marti Mueller said she came on the UFO trip even though she is skeptical of the phenomenon.
She heard stories of strange lights and cattle mutilations directly from locals, having lived in the in the San Luis Valley area for several years before moving to Arvada in 2002.
But even after all the stories, Mueller doesn’t consider herself a believer.
“I haven’t seen anything. I have seen pictures and read in local newspaper articles about the sightings happening, but I’m a skeptic,” she said. “But, I am open-minded. There are a lot of things on the fringe that I do believe in.”
Even if she didn’t see anything in the sky, she would get a trip to the sand dunes and a reason to stare at the night without light pollution.
“I hope to see the stars,” she said prior to the sky watch Saturday night. “ If people get all excited and see something, that will be great, but I am happy with the stars.”
The mysterious San Luis Valley
Chris O’Brien is considered one of the foremost experts on paranormal activity in the San Luis Valley. He has written two books on the valley, including “The Mysterious Valley,” which has earned him national media appearances and local fame.
O’Brien gave a two-hour presentation Saturday afternoon.
Even though he has studied the occurrences steadily since moving to the area in 1992 and has interviewed thousands of people on their sightings, O’Brien is the first to admit he doesn’t know what the UFOs are or why they frequent the valley.
“Don’t ever trust anyone who says they are an expert on UFOs. The more you know the less you really know on this topic,” O’Brien told the group.
In his 12 years investigating paranormal activity in the valley, O’Brien has documented 650 UFO related events with multiple witnesses, including law enforcement and other local officials.
“This is ground zero in America for activity,” he said. “You are more likely to see a UFO in these five counties than anywhere else in the country.”
UFO sightings are even said to have been witnessed by Native Americans. Ancient rock drawings near the sand dunes show oddly shaped humanoids and flying objects that resemble classic aliens and UFOs, O’Brien said.
The hot spot for UFOs was drawn into the international media limelight in 1967, when a horse was found mutilated in a San Luis Valley area ranch. It appeared some of the animal’s organs were meticulously removed by something other than a predator. The mutilations continued, as ranchers found more animals stripped of complete sections of their bodies without a trace of blood or bite marks.
O’Brien said UFOs have been seen in the area for thousands of years, a spike in activity began in the mid-1990s when hundreds of people began seeing lights and objects in the sky in the valley.
Theories on why the valley is a hot spot for UFOs vary, although researcher and former radio show host Thomas Peay said the unique energy in the area could be the cause.
Peay gave a guided tour of an alleged energy vortex near the sand dunes, which may enable craft to move between our world and theirs, according to UFO experts.
Peay hosted a UFO-themed radio show in Alamosa for five years.
“It is a whole different electromagnetic field down here, 14,000-foot peaks on each side that really open the sky up for lots of activity,” Peay said.
The sightings are so common that Hooper resident Judy Messoline opened the UFO Watchtower just outside of the city for visitors to view the activity.
Originally from Golden, Messoline opened the watchtower after an attempt at raising cattle went bust.
“From the time we moved here from Golden all I heard were UFO stories, so I jokingly said we need a UFO watchtower,” Messoline said.
Before she moved she was skeptical of the phenomenon. Then, she saw objects in the sky.
“I do believe”
Gathering around the Oasis Campground lodge in a camping chair circle the first night of the trip on Friday, the group of 26 people shared stories of personal UFO sightings, theories on where UFOs come from and the varied reasons why they trekked so far to possibly get a glimpse of the unknown.
Of the 26 people gathered, about 15 people claimed they had seen a UFO at some point in their life. About five said they had seen more than one.
Most had come out of curiosity, to learn more about the UFO phenomenon they have read and heard about but never experienced.
“I have never seen anything, but I want to see. Sometimes you don’t see something because you are not looking for it,” said Pam Simko, a member of the Paranormal Research Forum from Pine Junction. “I do believe that there is something going on. I can’t believe we are the only people in the whole universe.”
Just what was that light?
Mueller was on the mountaintop at 10:37 p.m. when a flash and a streak of light appeared in the sky.
Not everyone saw it, as each of the 35 people at the sky watch where focused on different parts of the sky.
At first there was a flash in the northeast section of the sky, just west of the Sierra Blanca Range Mountain the group was standing on.
The flash was followed by a short, wide burst of white light that raced across the sky, jetting about an arm’s length across the darkness.
At least 20 of the 35 people saw all or part of the light show. Those who saw it stirred with excitement, while those facing the other direction grilled witnesses for details.
“That is something. I have never seen that type before,” said O’Brien. “That is new.”
No one knew exactly what made an appearance that night in the sky.
A shooting star? It looked too wide and stocky for that.
A plane? It was going too fast.
These and other questions raced around the mountaintop long after the light had disappeared.
Could it have been a shooting star? Sure.
Could it have been something completely explainable? Of course.
But whatever it was clearly unidentified, it was flying, and it was an object of some type — a true UFO?