Dulce, New Mexico Revisited - Mysteries Still Remain !!

Dulce, New Mexico Revisited - Mysteries Still Remain!!

by Norio Hayakawa March 28, 2007

DULCE, NEW MEXICO - On Sunday, March 25, I finally arrived at Dulce, New Mexico once again, after more than 17 years. It was a long drive from Los Angeles but it was definitely a worthwhile trip. The last time that I was at this "mysterious" little town was in March of 1990.

I will never forget that 1990 visit when I first brought a Japanese TV crew, incredible as it may sound, to document an alleged existence of an "underground U.S./alien joint bio-lab" which was rumored to exist deep under the Archuleta Mesa, adjacent to Dulce. While interviewing many Jicarilla Apache locals on the street at that visit, we were inexplicably detained by the then Police Chief, Hoyt Velarde and kept at his office for almost an hour and a half, during which time he had meticulously taken down our personal info, i.e., our ID's, driver's licence numbers and, in my case, even my Soc. Sec. number, if I recall correctly. It was a shock to us then. We had asked him if we were doing anything illegal by interviewing the people, the question to which he never responded. I clearly remember that just before he released us, he told us in a rather warning tone: "Don't you ever ask any more questions regarding such a base. I have nothing to do with it and I do not want to talk about it!" An enigmatic answer, indeed. That was in March of 1990.

Now here I am once again, in Dulce. It brought me back lots of memories of 1990. However, this time, as soon as I drove in to Dulce, I immediately noticed that it had completely changed since 1990.
It seems to have grown quite a lot, not so much in terms of population, but in terms of its physical appearance. There are now so many new buildings, large and small and many modern local community facilites - a brand new Middle School, a brand new High School, a new Students' Athletic Complex, brand new Police and Maintenance Center, a modern Emergency Medical Service facility, and on the south side, a brand new Student's Residential Complex, and, of course, a newly refurbished Best Western Hotel, all in the small community of less than 3500 residents.
Yes, it has been many years, so it would seem natural for some growth to take place. However, the question I began to think was where did all the funds for all these developments come from? Certainly, not just from revenue from natural resources (oil and gas) and a small casino. And, especially, for such a tiny town?

When I interviewed the locals in 1990, I clearly remember that almost every one of them had testified to us that in the late 70's and the early 80's, they had frequently observed strange lights in the sky, especially flying over and around, and even appearing to disappear into the sides of the Mesa. They even testified to us that they also frequently observed military helicopters over Dulce, along with reports of cattle mutilations in the ranches nearby. Those were the things we heard back then when we were in Dulce in 1990.

To my great surprise, sightings still seem to continue in and around Dulce, even now!!
Even recent sightings of what many describe as "Bigfoot" along the Navajo River is also a fairly new topic of conversation in Dulce now.

I was so fortunate this time to personally get to know a friendly family who lives in the northwest area of the town. I had gotten to know the husband while I was attending the UFO syposium in Aztec the weekend before. During my three days of stay in Dulce this time, I have obtained many new, fascinating sighting reports from many locals again, particularly from the family that I just mentioned and their relatives.

On my second day of stay in Dulce, this family invited me to their residence for a great meal. They had also invited their relatives who were willing to describe to me in detail many strange experiences they have had and even are having now.
It was assuring to know that the family that I befriended were immediate relatives of high officials of the Jicarilla Apache tribe. The husband was a son of the former head of the Police Department (way before Hoyt Velarde). His wife is an immediate family of the head of the Jicarilla Apache tribal council. His sister-in-law has been a Dulce Police dispatcher. For this reason, I will refrain from naming any individuals to protect their privacy.

My friend's wife told me of a fairly recent incident whereby a huge, silent delta-shaped dark object emitting extremely bright lights slowly passed over a group of 50 to 75 (all their relatives) on a mesa where they were celebrating a traditional Jicarilla Apache feast called the "coming out" feast, a "puberty" celebration for young boys and girls (similar to the Spanish quincenera celebration). The huge object appeared after sundown, an hour or so after their traditional meals had ended and after the shamans had completed their chantings and dances. They were simply stunned to see the huge triangular 'craft' hovering only about 100 feet above the campground. The entire area lit up like daylight. What was more amazing was that after a few minutes of hovering over the area, it suddenly took off with a tremendous gust of wind. Pots and pans were flying all over. Some of the people were almost thrown off their vehicles. Fortunately, no one was injured. Panic spread. The generators failed to re-start and all battery-operated appliances malfunctioned, including the car radios.

Another recent incident they recounted was a daytime sighting of a silver, saucer-shaped object at around 11 a.m., which hovered for 30 minutes right next to Hwy 537, not too far from the junction of U.S. 64, north of La Jara Lake.

One relative also recounted a recent, unforgettable sighting of a huge, flying "triangle" near Hwy 537, near J-30 (Jicrailla Road, #30), with some type of a "cloaking device" that almost appeared to have a transparent body. The object was described to have been close to half-a-mile in length!!

The biggest and most impressive sighting, however, took place in May of 2004 when several families were celebrating together the feast on a Jicarilla Apache campground, located at an area near J-33 and J-40, right near the Continental Divide. Incredibly, it involved hundreds (not just one or two objects) of brilliant objects in the night sky. It literally filled up the entire sky, according to the testimony of the former Dulce police dispatcher. There were close to 100 witnesses to this incredible incident. Some even said that there were probably close to several hundred objects in the night sky. They moved en masse slowly from one end of the sky to the other. It was literally an "armada" of UFOs (which exactly reminded me of the famous, well-documented 1950 mass sightings of UFOs over Farmington, near the Four Corners ara of New Mexico).
What was particularly fascinating about this sighting was that everyone also saw a small fleet of military helicopters which seemed to follow the objects. Again, car radios went dead all through the sighting.

An interesting point is that many of the appearances of UFOs seem to coincide with various feasts taking place in the Jicarilla Apache reservation. Were 'they' attracted to the Jicarilla feasts?

Last but not the least of the impressive Dulce sightings involved a Jicarilla Apache Forerst Service ranger who witnessed a 'craft' of some kind enter the east side of the Archuleta Mesa through several large rocks that appeared to open (almost like a door) and in went the craft into the side of the mesa. He excitedly reported this sighting live on his microphone while he was communicating on his radio with the Forest Service station across the south side of Dulce. The ranger was stationed at the top of the Archuleta Mesa in the look-out building next to the radio communications tower. This took place a few years after a big fire destroyed many of the trees on and around the mesa. (What is still strange about the aftermath of the fire, which they say happened about 10 years ago, is the fact that all attempts for the re-forestation have so far failed on and around the Archuleta Mesa. They just don't seem to grow, for some strange reason or other.

What is my conclusion to all these recent sightings in Dulce? These were all first-hand eyewitnesses to the events. Without doubt, I cannot help but believe that they all saw what they described to have seen. Either that or they all believe in their minds that they really saw what they said they saw. There is no other explanation.

Lastly, while in Dulce, the son of the former head of the Dulce Police Department took me to the site of Project Gasbuggy. Project Gasbuggy was a rather 'strange' 1967 government project which involved a large underground nuclear explosion (29 kilotons of TNT) deep inside the high plateau area 25 miles south of Dulce, allegedly to release natural gas from deep under the ground. It was a joint project with El Paso Natural Gas Company. Is it possible that the huge nuclear explosion had created, deep, huge underground extensive caverns all over the area along with extensive natural "tunnels"?

What this has to do with the ongoing sightings of not only "UFOs" but also alleged sightings of "entities" (including fairly recent sightings of alleged 'Bigfoot' along the Navajo River near Dulce) I haven't the faintest idea. We may not necessarily be talking about purely physical phenomena but somehow intertwined with it could be some form of mass psychological phenomenon or even some form of yet unknown "interdimensional" occurrances. It's anyone's guess.

But, of course, we cannot rule out any prosaic answers. One theory is that the town of Dulce is benefitting financially by allegedly covering up the dumping of nuclear waste materials (from Los Alamos and elsewhere) into the underground cavities under Dulce and its neighboring areas and have created the entire Dulce "underground base" story as a cover story!

Whatever the case may be, it is simply fascinating!! And it is still ongoing in the "mysterious" town of Dulce, New Mexico!!

P.S.

By the way, here is what I have been able to gather so far on Hoyt Velarde, former Police Chief of Dulce, New Mexico - an interesting background:

Hoyt Velarde - available public information
www.hometown.aol.com...

-----
Norio Hayakawa
[email protected]


CIVILIAN INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS
www.hometown.aol.com...

Norio, thank you for the highly interesting report! So nice to see some new information coming up on the table within the topic.

If i may ask one question...does the people of Dulce in some way profit on the secret underground base rumor/stories? Kinda like tourist souvenirs/hotels/maps/alien characters etc?

Great report, thank you!!

Sounds like what I hear coming out of Sedona, AZ

[edit on 5-4-2007 by Majorsetback]

I'm not trying to be a smartass or anything, but...

How come you didn't actually look for the base while you were there?

Originally posted by tomra
Norio, thank you for the highly interesting report! So nice to see some new information coming up on the table within the topic.

If i may ask one question...does the people of Dulce in some way profit on the secret underground base rumor/stories? Kinda like tourist souvenirs/hotels/maps/alien characters etc?

Thanks, Tomra.
Believe it or not, there is only one item that sell at the tiny gift shop at Dulce's Best Western Inn, and that is a T-shirt that says: "I got prodded...(and has a drawing of an "alien") and at the bottom, it says: Archuleta Mesa, Dulce, New Mexico.
That is the only souvenir item that has anything to do with the alleged base.
I am amazed that a town such as Dulce, worldly known as a town long associated with alleged "underground base" does not even have one gift shop in town with an "underground base" theme.
It's such a contrast with the community of Rachel in Nevada where souvenirs on Area 51 are everywhere.
Perhaps in the near future, maybe some clever entrepreneur might show up and start some Dulce base gift shops!! LOL
And even start giving tours to the Archuleta Mesa, etc. LOL

Originally posted by whiterabbit
I'm not trying to be a smartass or anything, but...

How come you didn't actually look for the base while you were there?

Hello, Whiterabbit.
My realistic plan was not to look for the physical base since one would have to spent more than just two or three days in order to attempt combing every inch of the mesa. Some people have already climbed atop the mesa and came up with no concrete evidence of any air ducts or openings, although I have read many interesting reports on those.
Very few people seem to want to spend sufficient time combing every section of the sides of the mesa as well. It's a question of time, money and proper equipment, I suppose. My objective was to get more substantial information from the locals themselves first.

Dear Norio,
I find this story interesting; I wonder if you could answer a few basic questions. Did you photograph the spot where the flying craft entered the cliff or look at it to see if it is a camouflaged door? Could you post the pictures if you did? Where is the dirt from the excavation of this base? Or the air ducts, sewage drainage, trucks entering/exiting, where do they get their fresh water? Where are the workers that support this base of 18,000+ analogous to those that are seen entering/leaving area-51? If they use the alleged underground trams, where is the electricity drawn from to run them? If the indians were celebrating on the mesa, didn't they have at least one cell phone or camera among them to take a picture of a huge flying triangle? On multiple occasions? Can you get and post the photos? The ownership of the new buildings is easy to find out at the city hall; it would be an easy investigation to "follow the money." On the post of the satellite pictures of the mesa, there are several buildings noted; who lives in them or what are they?

Thanks

What I find quite strange from the Dulce mystery is that out of all the claims of UFO's, cattle mutilations and other oddities spotted there has been little if not no pictures provided whatsoever. Nobody has ever taken a photo of these objects in the Dulce area. Surely somebody must have been in the right place at the right time. Not even those 50-75 people enjoying the feast? Surely someone must have been carrying a camera to remember this occasion?

sip

Originally posted by j_kalin
Dear Norio,
I find this story interesting; I wonder if you could answer a few basic questions. Did you photograph the spot where the flying craft entered the cliff or look at it to see if it is a camouflaged door? Could you post the pictures if you did? Where is the dirt from the excavation of this base? Or the air ducts, sewage drainage, trucks entering/exiting, where do they get their fresh water? Where are the workers that support this base of 18,000+ analogous to those that are seen entering/leaving area-51? If they use the alleged underground trams, where is the electricity drawn from to run them? If the indians were celebrating on the mesa, didn't they have at least one cell phone or camera among them to take a picture of a huge flying triangle? On multiple occasions? Can you get and post the photos? The ownership of the new buildings is easy to find out at the city hall; it would be an easy investigation to "follow the money." On the post of the satellite pictures of the mesa, there are several buildings noted; who lives in them or what are they?

Thanks

Thank you for your fascinating questions.
First of all, I decided to revisit Dulce with a very skeptical mind. I seriously did not expect to scrutinize Archuleta Mesa, expecting that I wouldn't find anything unusual.
I was very skeptical that there was an actual physical "base" beneath Archuleta. I decided completely on my own to revisit and get to know more people there, which I did.
I went there all by myself (drove there) and wasn't properly equipped to climb up the mesa and to scrutinize every square inch there. Many people have already done that, with only insignificant results.
Besides, I had only time to spend three days there. Visiting the Project Gasbuggy site took a long time. My Jicarilla Apache friend (son of a former police chief, not Velarde) took me to the back side of Archuleta and the eastern slopes of Archuleta. He told me he had been atop the mesa several times.
But I found this trip very fruitful mainly in the fact that I befriended trustworthy people there, and heard many first-hand sightings. That was enough for me to evaluate circumstantially.
I still remain skeptical as far as the presence of "underground" physical base is concerned. I believe that there could be some prosaic answers.

Originally posted by sip

What I find quite strange from the Dulce mystery is that out of all the claims of UFO's, cattle mutilations and other oddities spotted there has been little if not no pictures provided whatsoever. Nobody has ever taken a photo of these objects in the Dulce area. Surely somebody must have been in the right place at the right time. Not even those 50-75 people enjoying the feast? Surely someone must have been carrying a camera to remember this occasion?

sip

I also had the same feeling.
This is why I tend to be skeptical, and I am looking for some prosaic answers.
This is why I even mentioned that these could have been some type of mass "psychological" phenomenon, if there ever were such things.
Or, was I led by these locals to purposely make me listen to their "stories" as part of the program by the Jicarilla Apache tribe to disseminate disinformation in order to bring about the "laughter curtain" to anyone who goes there researching on the "underground base"?
I am still mystified.
Is the higher-ups of the tribe encouraging the locals to tell these stories in exchange for some financial reward? One thing I still cannot brush off is the suspicion that some type of (waste material) dumping could be done by the government in cohoots with the tribe.
Recently I came across an interesting case where a non Jicarilla Apache police was fired a few years ago when he tried to bring out some "criminal activities" by the Dulce Jicarilla Apache police department.
I will try to post it soon.

sip

Is the higher-ups of the tribe encouraging the locals to tell these stories in exchange for some financial reward? One thing I still cannot brush off is the suspicion that some type of (waste material) dumping could be done by the government in cohoots with the tribe.
Recently I came across an interesting case where a non Jicarilla Apache police was fired a few years ago when he tried to bring out some "criminal activities" by the Dulce Jicarilla Apache police department.
I will try to post it soon.



Well, here is my post:
I found that out in 2003, Hoyt Velarde (Police Chief in 199) and others were the defendants in a suit filed by a former Dulce policeman (Mr. Gallegos, although Mr. Gallegos himself was not a member of the Jicarilla Apache tribe) who was fired by the Jicarilla Police Department after he uncovered evidence of possible criminal activity within the Jicarilla Apace Police Department. Mr. Gallegos became a "whistleblower" and he apparently reported his allegation of Jicarilla Police Department's "criminal activity". Just exactly what the "criminal activities" were is not clear.
But here is the case in which Hoyt Velarde and others were accused:

www.kscourts.org...

Apparently, Mr. Gallegos' case was overturned by the government.
I am still curious as to what his charges against Hoyt Velarde, et. al, was.

Norio,

What landmarks, magnetic fields, or anything else you can think of in Dulce are similar to other areas of high UFO sightings?

Have you been able to any type of cross-referencing at all?


Thanks,

RT

Originally posted by Realtruth
Norio,

What landmarks, magnetic fields, or anything else you can think of in Dulce are similar to other areas of high UFO sightings?

Have you been able to any type of cross-referencing at all?


Thanks,

RT

To be honest with you, I cannot think of any in particular because it's hard for me to say what landmarks, etc. are similar. When it comes to UFO sightings, it is still a puzzle in that 'they' seem to come unannounced! (LOL)
The large Jicarilla Apache reservation areas south of Dulce, however, is very interesting in that there are quite a lot of lakes, such as Dulce Lake, Mundo Lake, La Jara Lake, Embom Lake, Stone Lake, Stinking Lake, Horse Lake, etc.etc. Sightings seemed to have taken place near those lakes.
Some people seem to associate small reservoirs and lake areas as attracting UFOs. But it' a wild speculation only. We just don't know.

Ah yes, Dulce, near the Black Mesa Mountain / "Four Corners" region.
www.google.com...,+NM,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title




This area came of interest to me last fall while studying US Government sponsered terrorism for a huge film I've been working towards. It turns out there has been what many refer to as a "genocide" there, thanks to the establishment creating a false territory dispute between the Hopi and Navajo/Dineh Native Americans, and then Congress (somehow) passing laws forcing 20,000 of them to relocate (trying to anyways) so that coal and uranium could be mined. The acts by Congress and such began in the mid-19070's, although the uranium mining in the area began in 1968.

www.angelfire.com...

Since 1969, PEABODY coal has been operating the largest strip-mine in the United States in a place called Dzil ijiin, or Black Mesa, in northeastern Arizona. Since 1975, over 14,000 indigenous people, mostly Navajo, have been forcibly relocated from the lands surrounding this mine, which are full of high quality coal not yet excavated. The people of Black Mesa who have refused to relinquish their ancestral homeland are considered trespassers in their own homes under federal law. They are subject to ongoing harassment and the threat that this law will be enforced, and they will be physically removed from their homes.
www.greenanarchy.org...

And it turns out that the area has been a target of the US Gov for it's war efforts since the 1930's:

Throughout the 1930's, vanadium mines became increasingly common on the Navajo reservation as steel fabrication was stepped up for the war effort. As World War II raged on in Europe and the Pacific in the early 1940's, the development of nuclear weaponry through the top secret Manhattan Project carried the awareness of the importance of uranium – and Navajo uranium mines – to the highest levels of government.
...
"from twice to nearly ten times the allowable amount of radiation by today's standards. In the worst cases, they were exceeding allowable weekly doses in less than one day, and were reaching total annual doses in just a week." [Henry N. Doyle, memorandum, "Survey of Uranium Mines on Navajo Reservation, November 14-17, 1949, January 11-12, 1950].
www.dinecare.org...

The people affected by this 70's-current genocide maintain that there has never been any dispute, and they've been coexisting in peace for hundreds if not thousands of years. The federal government has been harassing and terrorizing those who've disputed and resisted this tyranny, for 3 decades, and the oppression has even taken the form of spiteful destruction and desicration of religious and other historical monuments and artifacts. Bulldozing of homes, violence and arrests have been part of the bag of underhanded tricks the establishmenthas perpetrated against these sovereign people. Of course this ongoing story is completely ignored and possibly even blacklisted by the mainstream media, even though the UN and other foreign amnesties have created international uproars over all of this.

www.senaa.org...

Today they're a shattered people, and birth defects from contemptuous handling of the uranium mining efforts are widespread and commonplace.


www.preynaers.easynet.be...

Some of these same communities are now confronted with proposed new uranium solution mining that threatens the only source of drinking water for 10,000 to 15,000 people living in the Eastern Navajo Agency in northwestern New Mexico.
www.sric.org...

More resources:
www.cpluhna.nau.edu...
www.blackmesais.org... (The MAIN Source)
www.manataka.org...
www.blackmesais.org...
www.blackmesatrust.org...


The area was used for rocket testing between 63-71:
www.astronautix.com...

There aren't any (open) military facilities in the direct 4 Corners area, however it is rather interesting how it's centered between many air force bases and "proving" facilities:
maps.google.com...
www.epodunk.com...
www.epodunk.com...
www.epodunk.com...
www.epodunk.com...

I hadn't noticed anything about their UFO prophecy beliefs until this juncture, but here's a link about that that may be of interest here:
www.crystalinks.com...

Props to your visiting there for your research.

I only wish I had the means to travel there for mine.

[edit on 13-4-2007 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]

I forgot the radiation info/maps:



geology.about.com...









[edit on 13-4-2007 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]

[edit on 13-4-2007 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]

Originally posted by Norio Hayakawa

Originally posted by tomra
Norio, thank you for the highly interesting report! So nice to see some new information coming up on the table within the topic.

If i may ask one question...does the people of Dulce in some way profit on the secret underground base rumor/stories? Kinda like tourist souvenirs/hotels/maps/alien characters etc?

Thanks, Tomra.
Believe it or not, there is only one item that sell at the tiny gift shop at Dulce's Best Western Inn, and that is a T-shirt that says: "I got prodded...(and has a drawing of an "alien") and at the bottom, it says: Archuleta Mesa, Dulce, New Mexico.
That is the only souvenir item that has anything to do with the alleged base.
I am amazed that a town such as Dulce, worldly known as a town long associated with alleged "underground base" does not even have one gift shop in town with an "underground base" theme.
It's such a contrast with the community of Rachel in Nevada where souvenirs on Area 51 are everywhere.
Perhaps in the near future, maybe some clever entrepreneur might show up and start some Dulce base gift shops!! LOL
And even start giving tours to the Archuleta Mesa, etc. LOL

This sounds like a good business opportunity for an enterprising individual or company. You could build an "alien facility" into a hillside and hire actors and have lots of fun. Such an enterprise could even have "disinfo" benefits. It would also be a good cover. You could have a restaurant that served all kinds of strange food and if anyone ever complained about it you could say. "That's strange, the aliens never complain about our beer battered dung beetles."

On a more serious note. Were you afraid of the sherriff? Did you think they might do something to you?

Originally posted by j_kalin
Where is the dirt from the excavation of this base?
Thanks

It is probably underneath everybody's feet. No seriously. I used to live in the Widefield neighborhood of Colorado Springs which was constructed on top of all the dirt that was hauled out of Cheyenne Mountain to build the NORAD facility there. They probably did the same thing at Dulce. There is always fill dirt needed for some road, drainage improvement, or some such project. Every community has some and it would go unnoticed as the dirt is spread around.

Originally posted by IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Props to your visiting there for your research.

I only wish I had the means to travel there for mine.

quote]

Thanks for your very interesting items you mentioned regarding the government's past use of Indian reservations for certain projects.

Perhaps the following item (which I recently posted elsewhere on ATS)may not have much direct relation to what you were talking about, but I just thought that you might find it interesting also:

WAS DULCE, NEW MEXICO A NUCLEAR WASTE DUMPING GROUND?
www.hometown.aol.com...

norio

I noticed none of your report used "" marks. Would you be kind enough to post actual interviews, using the persons name, and post their aol page so we can look into their backgrounds as well ?

thanks in advance

Norio,
I have some information that might help you. People have always said that the base is in Archuleta Mesa. This is wrong. It is actually at Mount Archuleta which is easily confused and hard to get to. Everyone in town knows where Archuleta Mesa is because you can see it from Dulce and there is a fairly decent road to the top where all of the communication towers for Dulce are located. Some locals know where Mt. Archuelta is located and some have never heard of it. Paul Bennewitz focused all of his attention on Mt. Archuleta. As you know there is a ton of information on Paul and most of it is in regards to his mental state. When he was first involved with the Air Force they provided him with the information that an alien aircraft had crashed at Mt. Archuleta. There is evidence that something did in fact crash up there, there is no evidence to determine if it was alien or just a secret military aircraft such as the stealth or Aurora. A ventilation shaft was also located but it has never been determined where the shaft leads to. This is at Mt. Archuleta and not Archuleta mesa. I have done some research on you and I noticed that you mentioned the possibility of radioactive waste storage from project gasbuggy being stored at this area. I think that is a very plausible reason for existence or non-existence of the base. If you can filter through all of the Paul Bennewitz stories, no matter how crazy they get sometimes; remember that the Air Force gave him this information. It may have been to distract him from Kirtland or any other reason. But the facts remain that he was provided enough true information to keep him interested and occupied. Any one that talks about Paul focuses on his mental state, but they never mention and they fail to answer the question as to why the Air Force put so much effort into one man. And no one raises the question as to what portion of the information they provided him was true. Paul was an extremely smart individual so they had to give him some info in order to string him along. This info was Mt. Archuleta and the mysterious aircraft that crashed up there. If you plan another trip to Dulce let me know if you need any information or help. Because unlike most people who blog or provide information about this, I actually met Paul when he was alive and I have been to Mt. Archuleta on several occasions.