Colorado UFO History: Great Sand Dunes National Park

Hello out there ATS! I would like to share some of the highly fascinating information about a singular National Park in Colorado, one that is steeped in legend and mystery.

Here's where the Great Sand Dunes lie on a map of the state (click on thumbnail for a larger image):

Now the place is remarkable without the mystery. It is a true natural phenomenon and beautiful to behold. They cut a magnificent figure and are also a fun place to visit (swimming, camping, sand skiing and sandboarding, hiking) . I'll start the thread off with some pictures of the park.







Now let's take a dive into the weird.

There is something going on in the Southwest USA. If you study the paranormal, and geographic hotspots for the unexplained, you're bound to read up on this area. Skinwalker Ranch is a more known spot, but there are places in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico which seem to manifest the strangest legends.

The Great Sand Dunes appeared in modern documented history (news articles and the like) as early as the 1930s, though Native American myths date way farther back and are extremely telling when compared with the later reported phenomenon. Here's an excerpt from one of my sources. The bolded part is absolutely fascinating:

12 different Indian tribes used the San Luis Valley as a sacred hunting and vision-quest area. No Native American ventured into the valley during the winter months where it is not uncommon to find night-time temperatures at minus 20 degrees for weeks at a time. (...)
Several Southwestern Indian tribes consider the San Luis Valley, most specifically the San Luis Lakes area, to be the location of the Sipapu or place of emergence. The Indians believe that they were led underground to safety at this location just before a cleansing period of earth changes. The Navajo version mentions our current time period as being the end of the fifth world. According to their tradition, they were warned of the upcoming cataclysms by sky katchinas (fireballs?) signaling them the time to travel to the Sipapu was at hand. Once underground, it is said, they were cared for by ant people for several generations until it was safe to re-emerge and re-populate the new world.
Just southwest of the Sipapu stand the tallest collection of promontories in the valley, the Blanca Massif which is considered to be “the sacred mountain of the east” to most Southwestern tribes. This area is where Navajos say star people enter into our reality aboard flying seed-pods.

cyberwest.com...
Hmmm... "star people?," "seed pods?"

The Great Sand Dunes were also the location of the very first documented "cattle mutilation" which was actually a horse. Snippy the Horse (her name was Lady but a mistake by the press changed her moniker) was found on Sept 9, 1967. Her mutilated body bore the marks which would later emerge as the M.O. of the horrific and unexplained perpetraters of these disturbing crimes. Read more about it here:
weekinweird.com...
Snippy's poor skelleton was passed around to several spots, a gruesome roadside attraction.
Hers was the first of at least 130 livestock mutilations in the area.
There is so much to this story. If you read the above linked article, you will find the odd and suspicious side story of Dr. John Altshuler, who according to the story was in the proximity when Snippy was killed on an independent mission to find UFOs. Dr Altshuler became interested in cattle mutilations as he was asked to view Snippy's body. He was "Specialty Board Certified in Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology and Immunohematology" (from link below), highly renowned, known for inventing some incredibly innovative equipment. Interesting. Now what exactly would a renowned pathologist and inventor be doing searching the skies for UFOs? Here's more on the doc:
www.noufors.com...
There is a load of information about UFO sightings in this area. Apparently, there have also been multiple sightings of Bigfoot, The Devil, and a Lady in Red shapeshifter. Read more about it here:
cyberwest.com...

Thanks for checking out the thread! Can't wait to hear some of your thoughts about the place, or whether you have any stories of your own.

Yep, I have tons of experience there

Crestone too...which is the town right there at the dunes

the cigars are seen all over there and one report from the 90's matched a report in the 1896 news paper at slidell

i had land in the middle...one can still spot my white JEEP Waggoneer all by itself....visited in 1959 or so, too

headquarters for ufo sightings by law enforcement

originally posted by: GBP/JPY
Yep, I have tons of experience there

Crestone too...which is the town right there at the dunes

the cigars are seen all over there and one report from the 90's matched a report in the 1896 news paper at slidell

i had land in the middle...one can still spot my white JEEP Waggoneer all by itself....visited in 1959 or so, too

headquarters for ufo sightings by law enforcement

Thanks for all this interesting info! The 1896 newspaper tidbit is especially intriguing to me!

Huh! I've been there twice, once in childhood and once as a young adult. Climbed all over the dunes, made sand angels, the whole deal. That was before I had ever done any reading about the UFO phenomenon. Never saw or felt anything strange there, that I recall. That same trip to the dunes in adulthood though, driving through somewhere in the barren desert somewhere in the Four Corners area at night, I suddenly became incredibly creeped out- almost panicked- for no reason, and wanted to get out of there NOW. Of course there's nowhere to go out there, so I was just creeped out the entire night as we drove.

originally posted by: KansasGirl
That same trip to the dunes in adulthood though, driving through somewhere in the barren desert somewhere in the Four Corners area at night, I suddenly became incredibly creeped out- almost panicked- for no reason, and wanted to get out of there NOW. Of course there's nowhere to go out there, so I was just creeped out the entire night as we drove.

What a fascinating account. I've heard plenty about that area (Four Corners) as well and drove through there once (in the am). You're right there is no where to go.

Thanks for sharing!

a reply to: zosimov

The area is like a magnet for woo-woo! Crestone has a zen retreat center, a Tibetan temple...varied spiritual lineages, hippies, off-the-grid solar homes.... all groovin' along together. And it is amazingly beautiful.

Also -- all the way down through the valley to Taos and Santa Fe there are petroglyphs --- don't know about other people, but encountering those always gives me a charge --- a connection to people who scratched their stories on stones thousands of years ago.The Four Corners region has some sort of Vibe to it. Hard to define.

I love that place. Ive been a few times and it is amazing! Ive heard about the high strangess in the southwest and Colorado in general but i hadnt ever heard the folklore about the dunes area specifically.

Now im going to go back and actually stay a few nights camped out there. Thank you for bringing this here OP. Ill definitely be reading more now tonight about these topics.

Ive yet to experience a ufo or any personal crazy high strangeness unfortunately yet. Itll happen. The rocky mountains of Colorado are a place of wonder.

I have spent many days hiking through canyons without trails looking for caves, and hiking the abandoned railroad paths through the southern colorado mountains. Some of those old railroad tunnels are spooky long, no light in the middle can be seen on either end, and it is pretty terrifyingly haunting.

I have spent a lot of time in "the valley" and invariably some sort of high strangeness developed.
Everything from religious freakshows to green basket balls dancing along the fence line.

Fishing the headwaters of the Ark around Salida is one of may favorite spots. Traveling thru the San Luis valley is always a "trip" lost time, oz effects, ufos, paranormal/mystical freakouts, etc And sitting in the hotsprings around Saguache can be an experience as well.

a reply to: olaru12

Oh man, would I love to pick your brain about your experiences here.. sounds incredible. All I have for NM/CO weirdness is hearing a "something" one darkening evening while camping out after a 10 mile hike into Bandolier. But never saw it, thankfully, never placed it as anything I recognized, and lived to tell the tale. (whew)

a reply to: lightedhype

I'm so glad you enjoyed the post, and that it prompted you to research more!

I totally agree with you about the Colorado Rockies. They are truly remarkable and full of amazing spots.

I stayed in this valley the first time I ever stopped in Colorado. To my dismay, nothing strange happened. I plan to go back and hope strange things happen.

I love the pictures in this post. It's such an amazing place.

a reply to: 4003fireglo

There were so many incredible pictures to choose from!

I hope you find what you're looking for the next time you get around to a visit.

originally posted by: zosimov

originally posted by: KansasGirl
That same trip to the dunes in adulthood though, driving through somewhere in the barren desert somewhere in the Four Corners area at night, I suddenly became incredibly creeped out- almost panicked- for no reason, and wanted to get out of there NOW. Of course there's nowhere to go out there, so I was just creeped out the entire night as we drove.

What a fascinating account. I've heard plenty about that area (Four Corners) as well and drove through there once (in the am). You're right there is no where to go.

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for the thread!

originally posted by: SeaYote
a reply to: zosimov

The area is like a magnet for woo-woo! Crestone has a zen retreat center, a Tibetan temple...varied spiritual lineages, hippies, off-the-grid solar homes.... all groovin' along together. And it is amazingly beautiful.

Also -- all the way down through the valley to Taos and Santa Fe there are petroglyphs --- don't know about other people, but encountering those always gives me a charge --- a connection to people who scratched their stories on stones thousands of years ago.The Four Corners region has some sort of Vibe to it. Hard to define.

Agreed! Great post, thank you!

I've seen some petroglyphs near White Sands NM and in Bandolier at the Pueblo and they are indeed remarkable.

a reply to: zosimov
It looks like amazing place, however, that article about the Navajo smells like rot to me. Maybe I'm missing something, but in the years of my Native American research, I've never seen any story, or interpretation of a story that states something like seed pots, or inclines alien encounters.

Navajos have really colorful stories and myths in their culture, but until now I've never stumbled to a story which interpretation cash be connected with the ideas of ETs. Spiritual revelations - yes! Metaphysical mysteries - yes! Epitaphic stories about the work of natural deities of all sorts, the same we meet in all tribal cultures around the world - yes! Aliens... well, no, not a single one.

I think... either I should change my source input, or this author of the Navajo article should stop drink so much coca-cola before going to sleep.

a reply to: Argentbenign

I appreciate your informed scepticism! Also delivered kindly, so thank you for that.

Now I have not spent years studying Native American myths, but know some (and you are correct, many have to do with natural phenomena- I have a book which describes the ant people story mentioned earlier on in the article we are questioning)- and have delved a little into the culture to know there are petroglyphs in the Southwest (Utah) which seem to protray "astronaut" or "alien/grey" type figures.

However, I would absolutely demur to one more knowledgeable on the subject and think that some article fact checking is in order. Thank you! Off to check article sources.

Update: Internet research isn't the most reliable, I know. The article I posted doesn't list sources as it comes from a book by the author, Christopher O' Brian. I did find this article, however, about Native American legends (I know it doesn't mention the Navajo) having to do with "star people" montanapioneer.com...

a reply to: zosimov


I am on the opinion that currently in popular prints (books, magazines) there are huge % misinterpreted facts about the world B.C.

Some people trying to sell popular pseudo-ideas to the rich western world, without thinking twice distort the vision of almost all civilizations B.C. just to fit their pseudo-concept.

I personally support the UFO and Mysteries researchers, unless they start to plunder and change the essence of things that I find valuable(sacred), like religious traditions and practices, mysticism and ancient occult thought. All this things suffer greatly in the last 20 years from random "authors" who tend to disregard their complexity and just use them for money and speculative scams...

Part to blame is the "easy sell" given us by the connectivity of the western world, part is due to the inborn human trait of greed, or just impersonally taken decisions for survival purposes. However, this is only a fact to be taken as caution, while the person is digging into this part of literature. It is given to every man to make its own mind. We should be open to surprises. Closing ourselves in an box is still not an option.

What a really interesting thread, truly the USA is blessed with wonders.
Thank you all.

a reply to: pikestaff

Thank you, I had a great time putting the thread together, and am grateful for all of the interesting responses so far! You're so right that the US is blessed with many wonders. I'm glad you enjoyed the read.