Sidebar by Ken Jessen
Local Lore – January 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine
Certainly, in visiting over 600 abandoned town sites in the American West, I have had some very eerie feelings. This is especially true when I am alone poking inside some old miner’s shack on a dark overcast day near dusk. Might ghosts live in ghost towns? It certainly seems logical, but I have never seen a ghost in a ghost town. However, in the quiet solitude of the mountains, I can be startled by the sound of a piece of corrugated sheet metal flapping in the wind.
For 50 years, I have been skeptical of the vivid accounts of alien abduction and UFOs. Openly, I looked down on people who said they had seen a UFO, but secretly, I wished I would see just one of those illusive unidentified flying objects.
Then I get a grip on my feelings. After all, I spent my life as a scientist and engineer. My father always told me to believe only in what can be proven using the scientific method. Ghosts, UFOs and the paranormal were always a source of amusement for him.
All of my feelings about the unexplained ended 10 years ago in Grants, New Mexico. I had to get up before dawn just as the sun broke above the horizon. As I was walking from my cheap motel to the nearest café, I looked up and saw a dull red disk floating directly overhead. My first thought was that it was an aircraft or balloon, but it seemed motionless. The scientific method kicked in, and I got under a tree branch. I lined up a single twig with the object and confirmed it was not moving. This was strange since there was a stiff, cold wind this November morning.
The sight was riveting. It was impossible to determine the size or height of the disk, and it looked perfectly flat like it was made out of cardboard. Low-lying clouds moved in quickly and obscured the object. When it cleared, the object was gone.
No one was around to confirm the sighting, and I ran back to my car to switch on the local radio station. My sanity was now in question. Much to my relief, reports were flooding into the station from listeners who confirmed exactly what I saw. The early-morning DJ took it all in stride. After all, this was New Mexico!
There is a logical explanation. The fact the disk was directly overhead and made its appearance at dawn indicates it may have been some type of optical refraction of the sun. Then on the other hand, maybe it was an alien visitor taking a spin around the third rock from the sun.
Ken Jessen
Loveland
Author of Ghost Towns, Colorado Style and other books on Colorado.
