Under Construction
Whether you're a hardened skeptic or a true-believer, you have to admit, we live in a strange and mysterious world. There's little doubt that our reality inspires, awes, and even frightens the human species into addressing energies and events that we have not yet begun to define or explain. This investigator personally believes, unquestionably, that something strange and wonderful is going on in the San Luis Valley and it probably always has been. Invariably local San Luyis Valley resident's mundane lives provide them with direct contact with many of these mysteries, sometimes so irrefutably, they're compelled, almost forced, to seek answers. Or, hide their heads in the sand. Some of these events are as simple as thinking about a friend and ring they call them on the phone, or as complex as the "alien abduction" scenario.
Human history is rife with examples of philosophical and scientific jump-starts. Plato's Republic, Gallileo and Hubble's telescopes, Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, Bell's Theorem, etc. We may even have a genetic compulsion, or predisposition to explore the farthest boundaries of our reality in an attempt to explain the last dwindling secrets hidden from the light of truth. This has always been so, and this propensity doesn't appear to be ending soon. The very fact that you are exploring this web-site is an indication that you are intrigued by these subtle aspects of your so-called "consensus reality."
This section attempts to provide a different context for examining these last remaining scientific and sociological mysteries. Yes, surfers UFOs, abductions, unusual animal deaths, religious miracles, the motivations of serial-killers, psychic powers, strange fantastical creatures, ghosts, undefined natural phenomena, treasure legends, folklore, secret government activity, Indigenous People's myths, to name a few, are but a modest sampling of these sensational, last remaining unsolved riddles puzzling residents here, and the curious world-wide.
On the surface these phenomena seem unique unto themselves, separated by time, circumstance and distance. Unbelievable as it may sound to you, the above sampling of phenomena are found in a single, well-defined geographic location. Welcome to the Perfect Laboratory, here in south-central Colorado/north-central New Mexico. There may be no other place with the variety and intensity of examples of "the unexplained" in all of North America. And it is all occurring above 7,000 feet at America's rooftop. One could literally call this wondrous place, The Perfect Laboratory
Glad you asked! The short answer is NO. The long answer is, well, maybe. I've been asked on numerous occasions, "What's your attraction to dead cows?" Another good question. I often tell folks at my talks, "They say the ancient mariner had an albatross around his neck. Because of where I live, I've got a dead cow around mine." This usually generates a chuckle or two. To be honest, I REALLY don't care for dead animals, or dead anything, for that matter. Livestock deaths occur everywhere, every day. We kill and consume millions of cattle every year in this country. Only a fraction of the so-called unexplained deaths become a part of the public awareness. I have sympathy for the ranchers who are exposed to this mysterious phenomenon. Ranchers don't deserve to lose their valuable cattle in this manner. And what about the poor beasts? Do they deserve to die in this gruesome, fashion?
Since the early 1970's, theories explaining possible rationales behind these thousands of cases have been bantered about by a handful of dogged "mute" investigators. In all honesty, there are few theories, but one, David Perkin's "environmental monitoring" theory has established real credence. A lot of circumstantial evidence has been accumulated to back up his assertion that warm-blooded domesticated animals are being tested for environmental factors, and/or pollution that may effect the animal, and because we eat cattle, humans as well.
The National Cancer Institute recently released the results of a fifteen-year study concerning the health impact of above ground nuclear testing on the environment. They concluded that ninety above ground detonations have spread radioactivity across the entire United States. I find it interesting that the San Luis Valley Counties of Saguache and Conejos are considered two of six hot-spot counties in Colorado, which appears to be one of the most effected States in the U.S. Watching a news broadcast covering the NCI study, David Perkins immediately noticed the areas of highest radioactive concentrations mirrored areas of high mutilation activity.
Perkins finds the apparent parallel between the dispersal of radiation highly intriguing. Is there a connection between radiation concentrations from above-ground nuclear testing and areas of high cattle death reports? On the surface, it would seem this is the case. David, along with partner Carrie Sewell, investigated dozens of "mutilations" during the seventies and eighties. Fellow seventies pioneers Tom Adams, Gary Massey, Gabe Valdez and Tommy Bland also helped pave the way for later investigators like Linda Moulton Howe, Charles "Ted" Oliphant, Gail Staehlin and myself.) Perkins insightfully noted early on that animal "mutilations" seemed to be a last frost to first frost phenomenon. He concluded that this time period; spring, summer and fall occurred when animals grazed on fresh pasture grass. These soft-tissue organs that tend to be excised contain valuable information regarding the animal's environment. These body parts also happen to be the fastest regenerating tissues and harbor the most recent environmental-effect information. The tongue, the milk glands and milk contain residual environmental pollutants from the grass, and, with the exception of the lungs, the organs that are most often excised mirror the organs in humans that most often succumb to cancers. I find this NCI study highly intriguing. It could even be the "smoking gun" tying humans into the an aspect of the mutilation scenario. It may not, however, explain them all away. I sense that something else appears to be at work .
But, out of all the theories that have been bantered about to explain animal "mutilations," Perkin's "Environmental Monitoring Theory" seems to have the most compelling circumstantial evidence to support it's validity. Remember, most if not all, large warm-blooded animals have been found in a "mutilated" condition. Foxes, hedgehogs, goats, sheep, horses, deer, elk, coyotes, cats, dogs, rabbits have all apparently been found missing soft-tissue organs. And yes, humans have been found "mutilated. I don't know how many have been reported, but it would appear that they are rare.
It seemed likely that a vast majority of SLV residents have some knowledge about strange goings-on reported here, but most don't realize the full extent of the area's mythic tradition and publicized activity from the past. Maybe, current reports of fantastic events don't seem particularly strange, or unusual to the locals. For on the surface, if thier are used to it, it seems like an odd occasional part of their everyday reality.
I naturally ponder the myriad patterns of response and subsequent interpretation, spin, or simple communication of these alleged events by the eyewitnesses. I theorize that the very realization, or understanding, and then the belief that "something was going on," must be an influence. Several important questions come to mind, concerning the process of communicating, or disseminating a particular perception of unusual occurrences. How accurate is this process? Are the disseminating groups either inadvertently or by design, altering 3rd, 4th, 5th-hand accounts? Do they simply report the facts, or do they try to whitewash and hide them? Do they get all the facts straight, or just a portion of them? Does the media, for example, only concentrate on certain aspects of the phenomena but downplay others? I wonder if the symbolic and emotional effect of the wording, "mutilation" for instance, has any impact on our cultures' perception of the actual phenomenon. I question everything, and believe nothing.
One thing is still firmly etched in my mind. Even if the events that allegedly occur here are merely misinterpreted mundane phenomena, the very fact that a belief-system exists here, possibly for thousands of years, might suupply an extraordinary explanation. It is worth studying.
In our age of suspicion, certain inevitable questions are bound to arise. Are there attempts by government, law enforcement, or even publishers, to whitewash and/or obscure these perplexing events? There is just too much unexplained activity going on for the whole scenario to be simply due to mass-hysteria, sensationalism, or wishful thinking. And yet, I am constantly reminded that, for the most part, locals apparently did not know the full scope of our mysterious phenomena, past and present. Because the whole picture appears is so convoluted and complex, I suspect that multiple groups, or players, are behind it. If this is so, how many subtle, or perhaps even blatant agendas are at work? Regardless of the implications of various "players with an agenda," I sense, intuitively that something even larger lurks behind this complex scenario. Possibly something ancient and extremely elusive.
I have to remain open to the question: Could a separate scenario exist alongside all the various mundane, and even possibly extra-mundane agendas? The reports themselves seem to be subjugated by the perceptions of thissub-culture, the inevitable creation of "mythos," or folklore. Like the party game Telephone, I have a hunch that even the truth behind the appearance of these unusual experiences is somehow, through dissemination, being blurred, as accurate details of the experiences become altered with the telling and retelling of "the stories." How can the truth behind the nature of unexplained events be found, when even the appearance of the events may be misleading? The probability that the phenomena may not reflect its true nature, possibly intentionally, is a major, almost insurmountable obstacle to anyone investigating these events. This intuitive heaven can be a rational hell.
In the coming months, I will be publishing information and theories that attempt to explain why the San Luis Valley has a variety and intensity of reported unusual phenomena not found ANYWHERE in North America.
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