Christopher OBrien - Enter The Valley: UFOs, Religious Miracles, Cattle Mutilation, and Other Unexplained Phenomena in the San Luis Valley

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Contents

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

A controversial book of this type could not be written without the help and guidance of many people. Id like to thank and acknowledge the following individuals and groups:

Isadora and Brisa Storey, for lovingly putting up with the strange hours and countless phone calls. David Perkins for crucial inspiration, editing, and literary humor. Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martins Press for recognizing the potential. Marc Resnick at SMP for his enthusiasm and editorial expertise. Kizzen Laki and the Crestone Eagle for believing it can be done. Tom Adams and Gary Massey for their knowledge and Texas humor. Shari Adamiak, Nancy Talbott of BLT Research, Myrna Schrader, Dan Connor, Laurance, Pat, Fritz Kleiner, Rocky, Barbara and William Howell, Bucky, Kailash, Don Richmond, Barry Monroe, Tokio, and the members of Laffing Buddha for their infinite patience and talent. The San Luis Valley Skywatchers Networkmy eyes and ears. A big thank-you to everyone who has supported my efforts and all the many witnesses who have courageously come forward, making the writing of Enter the Valley possible.

Many thanks also to Javier Sierra and Ao Cero magazine for graciously granting permission to utilize Sierras well-researched material and for use of his rare 1991 photograph of Sister Marie for this book (see photo section).

S UGGESTED R ULES OF I NVESTIGATION

1. Controversial subjects generate polarized responses.

2. Record or write down everything as soon as possible, no matter how inconsequential or insignificant it seems at the time.

3. Always credit your sources and respect requests for anonymity.

4. Always be ready for anything, anytime. Look for coincidences when investigating claims of the unusual. Often there may be a synchronistic element at work.

5. It is impossible to be too objective when scientifically investigating claims of the unusual.

6. Always assume a mundane explanation until proven extraordinary.

7. Appearances can be deceiving. There may be more happening than meets the eye.

8. If you publicize claims of the unusual, choose your words wisely, for your spin may have tremendous influence.

9. Media coverage of the unusual, because of its sensational nature, is often inaccurate and cannot be accepted as totally accurate by the investigator.

10. The human mind, when faced with the unknown, reverts to basic, primal symbols to rationalize its experience.

11. When investigating claims of the unusual, one cannot reach conclusions based on intuition alone.

12. There is a possibility that the (sub)culture itself may cocreate manifestations of unexplained, individually perceived phenomena.

13. We must be extremely careful not to perpetrate our own beliefs, suspicions, or actual experiences into the minds of those who want to have a special event happen in their lives. In other words, no leading questions.

F OREWORD

In his first book, The Mysterious Valley, Christopher OBrien took us on a guided tour of North Americas virtual attic, the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. And what an excellent adventure it was! Both spooky and exhilarating, The Mysterious Valley chronicled Chriss dogged efforts to document the seemingly endless varieties of weirdness in the sun-drenched and remote corner of paradise where he makes his home.

Due to its relative isolation, the San Luis Valley has offered Chris a pristine investigative environment, a sort of paranormal laboratory where unexplained phenomena could be studied with a low signal-to-noise ratio.

Apparently, somebody left the barn door open. When Chris started his investigation in early 1993, he was immediately besieged by reports of virtually every modern manifestation of so-called paranormal phenomena: UFOs, alien abductions, Bigfoot, Devil encounters, strange creature sightings, phantom helicopters, Men In Black, and, of course, the ubiquitous animal mutilations. To make this strange brew even spicier, Chris was confronted with a continuing pattern of covert military activity.

It has been fascinating to watch Christopher OBriens journey of discovery over the last few years. In many ways, it parallels my own voyage through the murky and turbulent waters of unexplained phenomena research. Chris was drawn to Crestone in the San Luis Valley. I was drawn to the neighboring Huerfano Valley (the somewhat-Mysterious Valley, as I like to tease Chris). I arrived in 1970, fresh out of graduate school, with a desire to be a professional musician (like Chris) and an investigative journalist. Its been said that anything really worth knowing cant be taught. At any rate, nothing in my experience had prepared me for the Pandoras box of weirdness that I opened when I undertook an investigation into the wave of bizarre cattle mutilations sweeping the West in the mid-1970s.

Cattlemen were up in arms. Hundreds of animals were being found dead and strangely dissected. Chris prefers the term unusual animal deaths, but Ill stick with mutilations, the terminology of the media. The animals were not mutilated in the sense of being slashed and gashed. Cuts on the animals were frequently described as having been done with surgical precision. In the so-called classic cases, the animals were reported to be drained of blood and missing some combination of ears, eyes, tongues, teeth, hearts, sex organs, udders, and portions of the lips or snouts. The rectums were described as cored out. Almost invariably there were no signs of a struggle, no tracks, no clues. As Chris likes to say in his television interviews: This may be the greatest unsolved serial crime spree of the twentieth century. Not only was the world stranger than I thought, it was stranger than I could imagine.

In The Mysterious Valley, we witnessed the birth and growing pains of a very fine investigator. Chris summarizes his progressive realizations in his often-quoted Suggested Rules of Investigation. Researchers would do well to review them occasionally. Rule 5 reminds us: It is impossible to be too objective when scientifically investigating claims of the unusual. In his two books, Chris has meticulously and objectively documented his investigations and observations. The books are, among other things, classic pieces of cultural anthropology in the tradition of the field studies done by Claude Lvi-Strauss and Margaret Mead.

Referring to the beginning of his investigations, Chris says, If I had known what I was getting into, my naive excitement would have undoubtedly been tempered with the realization that years of frustrating and unrewarding hard work lay ahead with no promise of any firm answers. I never dreamed I would solve these riddles, but I felt compelled to investigate the extent of these elusive events.

And investigate he didwith a vengeance. Taking the microscopic approach, Chris feels that researchers must cover their geographic areas like a soaked blanket. As physicist Peter Atkins has said, Armchair brains can avoid unnecessary exercise by adopting easy explanations. No one can accuse Chris of being an armchair theorist or taking the easy way. Chronically underfunded, cold, tired, hungry, it doesnt matter. He manages to find time to pounce on each new report with boundless enthusiasm and tenacity. He advises investigators to work on their bedside manner. Witnesses to bizarre events are frequently in agitated states of mind, and a great deal of compassion and patience is called for.