November 1998
Christopher O’Brien
After two years of relative quiet, reports of unusual activity in the San Luis Valley have increased in recent weeks. As a result, I have elected to forward these reports to you.
Editor’s note: O’Brien’s observations are noted in brackets below and signed “tmv” for “The Mysterious Valley,” the title of his first book. “Enter the Valley,” his second book, will soon be released.
NOVEMBER
Thursday, November 12, 1998, 6:15 p.m., northern San Luis Valley
Chaffee/Custer/Huerfano Counties, Colo., FB1 (O’Brien/O’Brien)
My brother and I were driving north in the Baca Development and directly in front of us, framed in the windshield, we watched an extremely bright steady light rise quickly from behind the mountains around the Salida/Howard area. The light which was initially brighter and slightly larger than Venus and visible for about two minutes shot up and out, SW to NE, at a 25-degree angle. It never varied its speed, which appeared to be twice as fast as a cruising commercial jetliner, or around 1000 to 1200 mph. As it climbed higher, it became smaller and smaller and disappeared to the SE. The object appeared to be just inside the western side of the La Veta Military Operations Area.
Same night – 9:45 pm Mesita, Colo.
Rio Grande, Alamosa, Conejos Counties MA1 (O’Brien/Peay)
Two witnesses in Mesita, Colo. were returning home when they spotted two bright, unblinking lights rise 100 miles away to the NW around the Treasure Mountain/Wolf Creek Pass area. The lights moved in tandem – about 1 degree apart and appeared to be a single object. One witness observed the 30-second sighting with binoculars. The lights appeared to head SE at around an altitude of 3,500 to 4,000 feet (toward the witnesses) before slowly turning and heading south at the San Luis Hills in the middle of the San Luis Valley. At its closest point to the witness observing with binoculars, the object blocked out the background stars between the lights. Witness estimated the distance between the two lights as “about 600 feet,” and he described the sighting (one of a dozen he has had in the last two years) as being “by far the most spectacular night sighting” he has experienced. The sighting took place 75-50 miles west of the La Veta MOA.
OCTOBER
Thursday, October 8, 1998, 10:30 p.m.
U.S. 160; four miles west of Blanca, Colo., MA1/FB1 Alamosa County (O’Brien)
R.A.L. West, while headed east on U.S. 160 (near the curve four miles west of Blanca, Colo.), observed an amber-colored “hemispherical-shaped” light hovering over the Blanca Massif. She estimated the lights size as around Venus-sized. After a few seconds, the object appeared to jump approximately 20 degrees upward. West pulled off the road and parked (with her engine running) to carefully observe the light. The witness is confused and could not completely remember how long she watched, but she guessed “several minutes.” The next thing she clearly recalled was the craft flying at a high rate of speed above her car, headed NE to SW. She described a “triangle-shaped array of white and amber lights” blinking sequentially in “patterns” on the bottom side. She could not estimate the craft’s altitude, nor was she able to make out the craft’s shape or structure. She did not hear any sound except her car engine running. No other cars were on the road in the immediate vicinity, and I have not received any other reports of this event.
Tuesday, October 13, 1998, 9 p.m.
Crestone/Baca Development, Colo., Saguache County, AN1 (O’Brien)
A “weird amber-colored light” was observed by four witnesses moving north-to-south. The object appeared to be “way up in the sky,” but “. . . was larger and moving faster than a regular satellite.”
Wednesday October 14, 1998, 11:30 a.m.
Los Cumbres Golf Course, Crestone, Colo., AN1 (O’Brien)
Golfer on the par-four fourth hole fairway, observed a “silver-colored disc hovering over Mt. Adams” (a 13,000-foot mountain just north of Crestone Peak), about 8 miles north of his location. Object seemed to wobble, but did not appear to be headed anywhere. Golfer made his second shot and could still see the craft. He headed toward the green watching it. After making his third shot the object had disappeared. He estimated the object was visible for at least 5 minutes.
Saturday October 24, 1998, just before sunset
Colo. 17 near Mineral Hot Springs, Saguache County, AN1 (O’Brien)
Motorist observed “two large glowing white objects” that fell at a high rate of speed toward the ground “over Alamosa” (45 miles south). The witness at first thought the objects were meteors, but realized the sun was still up and it was still light out, and the objects did not resemble normal meteors – they were “. . . not as bright.” Duration “a couple of seconds.” [Large daylight meteor sightings?–tmv]
Tuesday, October 27, 1998, 9:30 p.m.
Center, Colo., Saguache County, AN1 (O’Brien)
Fabian Sauvo reports a anomalous unblinking bright red light directly north of Hooper, CO. The light at times appeared to hover, but seemed to be traveling slowly SW-to-NE. Calls me real-time and I am able to see the object from my roof.
Same time – Tuesday, October 27, 1998, 9:30 p.m.
Baca Grande Development, Saguache County, AN1 (O’Brien)
Sauvo after several minutes on the phone to me, was able to describe the above red-lights location, and I observe the light for several seconds before it disappeared into a cloud bank. I waited for awhile, but it never emerged from the cloud. The light seemed to be between 4,000 and 5,000 feet above the ground and over the Sand Piles on Colo. 17 between Hooper and Moffat, Colo.
[Rare to get a call and be able to simultaneously see an anomalous object or UFO (or military craft?) while on the phone with another witness!–tmv]
Friday, October 29, 1998
Baca Grande Development, Saguache County (O’Brien)
Resident reports small objects hitting her roof. No hail or rain was present at the time. House is out in the valley and has no tall trees within a quarter-mile. Activity is tip of the iceberg. Small hooded figures (about 4-feet tall), on a couple of occasions, have been seen (during the preceding two weeks), running past the windows. Heavy footsteps have been heard in the house, but no one is there. A tapered “hairy pig” was reportedly seen outside running past the house.
[There are no wild/hairy pigs in the San Luis Valley to my knowledge. This sounds like a “prairie dragon” sighting–tmv]
Witness claims they were “slammed into a door” be an unseen force several days earlier. The event left “a bruise on her cheek” and was witnessed by a painter working in the house several feet away. This particular house has a history of unusual dimensional-sounding activity by prior residents, but has been apparently dormant for two years until the last two weeks in October 1998.
The following day, Saturday, October 30, 1998, at 11 p.m.
Same location, CE1 (O’Brien)
Same witness observes a foot-long, oval-shaped object enter through her back door and slowly head up the hallway toward her. She described the anomaly as being “milky-looking with a reflective band around the rim.” The band appeared to be like chrome. The witness was so startled she stopped looking at the object which apparently then disappeared. She estimated at its closest it was 10 feet away from her as it came toward her down the hallway.
[I’ve been waiting for the new owners to report unusual activity in this house. They’re BACK!–tmv]
SEPTEMBER
Tuesday, September 1, 1998, 9:40 a.m.
Colo. 17 and U.S. 160, Alamosa, Alamosa County, Colo. (O’Brien)
I was headed to Alamosa, Colo., when I happened to follow a red late-model Cadillac with Oklahoma license plates onto Colo. 17 off of Road T, headed out of Crestone/Baca Development. The caddy sped off south and caught up with a Colorado State Patrol vehicle driving in an unmarked semi’s blind-spot, on Colo. 17. I caught up with the three of them 5 miles north of Hooper, Colo. and followed them all the way into town. The caddy tail-gated the patrol car and semi the entire 30 miles into Alamosa, where all three turned into the Loaf & Jug truck parking lot at the corner of 160 and 17. Then, less than a minute later two blocks east, an unmarked sedan with alternating-flashing head and tail lights (with a heavy-set man in a dark suit at the wheel) dashed around traffic, and headed toward Loaf & Jug. I then noticed a hazardous materials response van a block later. During the trip south on 17, several obvious speeders went by and the patrol car ignored them all. He also kept right on the semi’s tail, even when the truck traveled way under the speed limit. The caddy stuck less than 30 feet from the patrol car for over 30 miles. Coincidence? As I returned down Road T, at 11:20 a.m., I noticed a white unmarked Bronco with U.S. government plates sitting at the Road 65T entrance of the Baca Ranch.
[Go figure . . . When the convoys appear aerial reports usually follow–tmv]
Same night – [why am I not surprised?–tmv] 10:15 p.m. to 10:25 p.m.
North central San Luis Valley Saguache/Alamosa/Custer County, Colo. (O’Brien)
Large craft with alternating pulsing white lights heard and/or spotted by numerous Crestone/Baca Grande residents. A loud, low-pitched rumbling sound rattled windows and alerted residents to the craft’s presence. Several versions stated the craft took between 5 and 10 minutes to cross the valley, from west to east, and illuminated the clouds over the Sangre de Cristos as it just passed over the range.
Monday, September 14, 1998, 6:15 a.m.
U.S. 285, north of Monte Vista, Colo., AN1 Rio Grande/Saguache County (O’Brien)
A Monte Vista, Colo. resident, while driving north on U.S. 285, witnessed a “V-shaped craft hovering over the tops of the mountains to the west.” The sun has above the horizon and seemed to reflect off the object “like the sun reflecting on an airplane wing,” but the object’s structure was still plainly visible to the witness. The witness described the object as looking like “two big rectangular pillars put together in a V-shape. . . the size of three (commercial jet) airliners.” The witness observed the craft for over 10 minutes before he traveled to far north and left it behind him, still hovering over the mountains. No one else driving on U.S. 285 seemed to notice the object which puzzled the witness because “it was so big.”