Christopher OBrien - Secrets of the Mysterious Valley

SECRETS
OF THE
MYSTERIOUS
VALLEY

Christopher OBrien

Other Books by Christopher OBrien:

THE MYSTERIOUS VALLEY
ENTER THE VALLEY
SECRETS OF THE MYSTERIOUS VALLEY
STALKING THE TRICKSTERS

SECRETS
OF THE
MYSTERIOUS
VALLEY

Adventures Unlimited Press
Kempton, Illinois

Secrets of the Mysterious Valley

Copyright 2011

by Christopher OBrien

All Rights Reserved

Published by:

Adventures Unlimited Press

One Adventure Place

Kempton, Illinois 60946 USA

auphq@frontiernet.net

www.adventuresunlimitedpress.com

www.adventuresunlimited.nl

SECRETS
OF THE
MYSTERIOUS
VALLEY

Thanks to: David Perkins for his unsung herohood,
humor, editorial savy and creative thinking, Brendon for
all the journeys outside the box, Naia and Isadora for their
patience, Kizzen for the Eagle flights, Tom and Iz for the
initial data, Berle, Coshi, Don and Nellies family, Thomas
and the current SLV watchers, Pricilla, Jonnie and Van,
Lynn Weldon, Jennifer for her editorial expertise and David
H. Childress for suggesting we publish this book.

Dedicated to: Brendon, Eva, Frankie,
Mitch, Sean, Molly, Phyllis, Laurie and the
rest of my rediscovered family.

In nineteen ninety-three, I began investigating real-time reports of unexplained San Luis Valley (SLV), Colorado reports and researching the rich, impressive history of weird events that have been reported in this unique, remote region of the American Southwest. In the process of investigating these hundreds of claims of the unusual, at the risk of sounding presumptuous, I have amassed a potentially-important database of weirdness that suggests that the SLV may be an important, possibly pivotal, petri dish of the inexplicable, the unknown.

Secrets of the Mysterious Valley is a blow-by-blow account of my 1992 to 2006 investigative process, and although a dramatic decrease in reports in 2002 (and other pursuits) drew me away from the SLV, I have maintained a network of skywatchers, contacts and law-enforcement sources keeping me up-to-speed when unusual events are reported. As you will see, as I write this in late 2006, the activity in the SLV appears to be on the upswing.

Prior to my arrival in this mysterious valley on the roof of North America, knowledge of past activity had not traveled out into the mainstream of the culture. In this modern age of instant communication, local knowledge of inexplicable events echo around the San Luis Valley and, as in other Hot-spot regions, word of these events seldom ventures outside local communities that experience unexplained activity. Experiencers and witnesses quiet descriptions to friends and family slowly filter into the local population with the details subtly shaded or lost as the stories are told and re-told. Small town papers occasionally hint that these unexplained events are occurring if reporters are assigned to the story. Mostly accounts are recounted at family-gatherings, picnics, the post-office over the back-yard fence and out in the grocery-store parking lot as knowledge of these events are slowly disseminated around the community.

Rumors of isolated high-strange events are generally ignored by the mainstream American media. Without confirmation from at least two additional sources, the events dissolve into historys trash bin and western culture-at-large is kept unaware of what the small-town papers suggest is occurring. Local knowledge of these unexplained events percolates within the regions population, but only if the events reach flap levels over a short period of time will regional media outlets become aware of the apparent activity. Occasionally, they dispatch reporters to investigate and begin to communicate word of these events to the culture at-large. At first these news stories mock the accounts but, if the events continue, photographs or video have been taken, a more serious tone is adopted and instead of the disingenuous, end-of-the-broadcast little green men, or feeble alien jokes, witnesses are interviewed and local investigators are featured.

As a result of my investigations documenting the relentless, six-year wave of unexplained activity between 1993 and 1999 and the resulting coverage by mainstream media, the San Luis Valley is now considered to be Americas #1 per capita UFO Hot-spot. The scientific community, whether they like it or not, are slowly becoming aware that the San Luis Valley and other Hot-spot regions are worthy of careful scientific study. Of course, professing a professional interest in these subjects is still considered to be a bad career decision but, finally, these questions surrounding the validity and reality of paranormal events are beginning to attract world-class, mainstream scientific scrutiny. Hot-spot areas of the world appear to feature unusual geophysical properties that may somehow be connected to the higher than normal incidence of unusual events and this could potentially provide a viable scientific rationale for investigating these regions unexplained activity.

These remote regions are also a sociologists gold-mine yet little work has been done to study those who live in these locations and experience these events. I sometimes wonder if the experiencers are more important than the details of what they experience. Although some publicly acknowledged efforts by scientists have been mounted in an effort to investigate location-specific paranormal events, mainstream sciences apparent lack of interest is more than puzzling to me, and their continuing public indifference studying these intriguing mysteries is disingenuous at bestat worst, it may be indicate a cover-up.

Is it possible that the government/military industrial complex has already forged ahead, decades ago, in an effort to define and study the enigmatic physical properties that appear to be a work in these locales? Is it possible that they have solved these scientific riddles and are actively utilizing these regions properties for unknown agendas? This is a question that has not been adequately addressed by the paranormal research and investigation crowd too busy with Roswell and other red-herring cases.

There may also be a connection between these current unexplained events occurring in Hot-spot areas and the ageless indigenous tradition of sacredness, or a tradition of special-ness that may extend back hundreds, if not thousands, of years in time. Proto-scientific and sub-cultural examination of these traditions may help explain the true nature of what is manifesting today in these remote areas, but how does one investigate and explore something so timeless and inexplicable? When I began my amateur investigation, I didnt have a clue, but over time (and with the help of several experts and a lot of research) I was able to devise a fairly effective approach to documenting these events.

Complicating our recipe and my suspicions further, most, if not all, of these forgotten Hot-spot corners of North America (mostly found in the Southwest) have a nearby governmental/ military presence that appears to be interested in expanding its presence further into the areas that experience these paranormal events. I have strongly contended for years that many reports of unusual aerial phenomena are misidentified military activity and this apparent military presence in and around the San Luis Valley muddies the investigative waters, rendering the job of investigating more difficult.