The Chronicles Of Grant County
UFOs Seen In Grant County
Part Two
Gila
A sunset in New Mexico. (The photograph was provided courtesy of Mary Alice Murphy.)
The publication of Part One of UFOs Seen In Grant County by The Chronicles Of Grant County took place prior to the recent spat of UFOs being acknowledged by the United States military. The publication occurred before the U S military started – publicly – shooting down UFOs in the skies over American and Canadian territory from Alaska to South Carolina.
The Peoples Republic of China indicated that the "UFO" shot down over waters near South Carolina was a Chinese "weather balloon" that traveled accidently off its planned trek. The U S dismissed that explanation; instead, the Federal government indicated that the "UFO" was actually a balloon equipped with sophisticated technology designed to spy on American military installations and communications systems.
Interestingly, for decades, the Federal government has noted a number of instances where a "weather balloon" was cited as the actual object Americans saw in the skies and thought was a UFO.
Three additional recent incidents of UFOs – UFOs that were shot down by missiles fired from U S military planes – were to be investigated by military officials in the U S and Canada.
After reports became public that these three additional UFOs may have been different from the initial determinations, the U S indicated that no further investigations would be undertaken. That the remains of these three UFOs would not even be collected.
Whether the Federal government actually did no further investigations of these three additional incidents, whether the U S military did or did not collect the remains of these three UFOs, and whether the American and Canadian people will ever be told the results – if there are any results – is uncertain.
On January 12, 2023, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the United States Secretary of Defense, reported that it had submitted a classified report to the U S Congress detailing Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in 2022. The Office also released an unclassified report to the general public.
"Unidentified aerial phenomena" is the term used by the U S Department of Defense for what Americans usually call "Unidentified Flying Objects" or "UFOs."
As noted in Part One of this news series, according to unclassified report from the Federal government, no alien life from locales beyond the Earth was found in the U S in 2022. The unclassified report does not detail any specific incidents of a UAP being seen in New Mexico in 2022.
The National UFO Reporting Center, a private entity unrelated to the Federal government, publishes a database of reports from people who have reported seeing unidentified flying objects.
This database of self-reported sightings includes a number of reports of UFOs seen in the skies above Grant County in recent years.
Please note that the reports listed here were lightly edited for spelling and punctuation for publication. In some cases, the National UFO Reporting Center indicated in notes that the sightings were actually of or possibly of specific military activities or scientific events.
In Gila, on September 20, 2016, a UFO was seen for four seconds. The individual reported that "I watched a well-defined oval craft, non-reflective gray metallic surface, no fixed or blinking lights just blue halo fly low over Gila. I watched the event from my open bedroom window. It was a well-defined oval shape with the outer rim showing and what looked like a rounded dome."
"It had no blinking or fixed lights, had a dull, non-reflective gray metallic surface, but there was a dim, blue halo effect around the craft," this report continued. "Traveling very fast from east to west. As it passed, it became very quiet out and then after it passed the noise of frogs and bugs resumed. The moon was out, thin transparent clouds but mostly clear. Visibility was excellent. The night was cold. There was a cold slight wind from the south/southwest. I live in a valley, near a river and a wilderness area....quite remote. This object seemed quite low."
About four months later, there was another incident in Gila involving a UFO that lasted 90 minutes on January 23, 2017, according to an individual who reported the circumstances to the National UFO Reporting Center.
This report indicated that the UFO involved "zigzagging light travelling haphazardly in the night sky. The object zigged and zagged for 1-1/2 hours in the southeastern sky. It would make circles and go off in multiple directions in a second."
"At first I thought it was a satellite, but it was making bizarre patterns all around itself," this report continued. "Up, then down, then sideways, then in a circle - constantly for that length of time I watched it. The speed in which it travelled was in the blink of an eye, very quickly and haphazard movements."
There was a note on this report: "Star or planet?? PD."
Additional reports of UFO sightings in the skies over Buckhorn, Hurley, Silver City, and other communities in Grant County will be detailed in the next editions of The Chronicles Of Grant County.
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© 2023 Richard McDonough