Today is
World UFO Day, a holiday for those interested in unexplained aerial phenomenon to meet and look to the sky. The July 2 date was chosen because of its connections to the Roswell UFO crash.
My next National Park thriller is entitled Need to Know. It's due out this fall and centers on a UFOs and a world wide conspiracy to keep their true nature and purpose hidden from humanity.
UFOs have been spotted all over the world and on every continent. Not surprising the national parks are the location of some of the worlds most famous UFO sightingsse hidden from the world. What follows is a listing of the top five National Park/UFO sightings and connections.
5.
Glacier National Park After World War II the United States in Operation Paperclip transferred thousands of ex-Nazi scientists to America to work on physics, chemistry, munitions, rockets, and advanced aviation programs. Some beleive these projects include super sonic aircraft that employ advanced pulse engines and light bending stealth technology. This stealth systems also allow them to fly in broad daylight without detection. Some believe these top secret craft have been tested and flown in Montana's Glaicer National Park.
According to these experts
Glaicer was chosen for a super secret advanced aircraft test facilities because it was the only park at the end of the war to be both remote and with railroad access. Nazi technology and materials were transferred to the park and stored in a two mile deep research facility, that according to some still exists today.
I've been to Glacier countless times, I've even been a ranger there having worked with the Park Service back in 1992. I've driven the Going to the Sun road hundreds of times and at all hours of the day and night. If there is a secret base off the road (which is only two lanes), it is incredibly well hid. Moreover, in order to access the road without being seen, the CIA would have to close it (there is no other access across the park) causing huge traffic disruptions. People would notice the road being closed.
Finally, the Going to the Sun road is buried under dozens of feet of snow roughly 8 months out of the year. CIA and Nazi scientists would be either locked out or locked into their base for most of the year. If there ever was a secret Nazi test facility at the park, its likely been abandon for a more convenient place to conduct cutting edge research.
4.
Yellowstone National Park It seems UFO, National Parks and top secret underground bases go together like pen and paper, peaches and cream, table and chairs. You get the point. Our next park on the list also involves top secret underground research bases. Like Glacier, the federal government has supposedly excavated large subterranean caverns under the national park to conduct super secret research and tests. Strange lights and flying orbs have been reported, which some say proves the park is a secret base. These UFO researchers believe that parks are actually
cover and park regulations and restrictions on human movement are put in place to prevent visitors from stumbling on the truth.
Like Glacier, I've also been to Yellowstone countless times and as it just so happens I was also a ranger at our nation's first national park. I had the honor of working at the Grant Visitor center and leading hikes at the West Thumb geyser basin. On occasion I'd hear from visitors curious to learn about the secret tunnels and hidden bases under the park.
My standard answer was that I was a mere GS5 ranger and my security clearance was pretty low (okay actually non-existent). Therefore the park leadership didn't see fit to tell me everything about Yellowstone's management. However, what they did tell me is that Yellowstone is the site of the world's largest super volcano which is overdue for its next eruption. The super hot magma just a mere three miles below the surface, heats billions of gallons of groundwater to near the boiling point and spreads it throughout much of the park's acreage through many unmapped thermal vents, tubes, and fissures, I seriously doubt there are massive underground installations in such a active geothermal and seismic place. This response was often met with a skeptical look and "oh, you must be one of them."
3. Devils Tower: According to scientists, Devils Tower is the neck of an extinct volcano. The sides have eroded away through millions of years of wind and rain leaving the much harder volcanic rock which made up the volcanoes core. It is the nation's first national monument, having been established by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906.
UFO researchers from all over the world have been drawn to Devils Tower not the least of which because of its prominent role in the 1977 hit movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The local Indians name for the site roughly translates as
Bad God's Tower.
The site has become a mecca of sorts for UFO chasers. Locals even claim its some type of
beacon or portal facilitating alien transport.
2.
Washington Mall: In 1952, the United States was just entering the height of the Cold War. The
Russians and the Americans were in the initial phases of the space race. Americans were terrified they would fall behind the Soviet nemisis in what everyone knew would be the location of the next world war: Outer Space.
On July 19, 1952 Air Traffic Controllers spotted several objects on radar. There were no scheduled flights that evening. The objects came from the south and were seen over the national mall including over the national park units like the White House. Witnesses described the objects as oranges balls of fire trailing a tail.
The objects got the attention of the country including the president. President Truman asked the CIA to look into the objects. On July 29th, the Air Force held its largest press conference since World World II. The Air Force claimed the objects were aerial phenomenon like meteors and radar hits were explained by temperature inversions.
While this was the official explanation, the CIA became concerned about the threat of UFO reports and how they could overwhelm defense resources, leading to a public panic, and facilitating a foreign invasion.
1. Mount Rainier: In 1947 Kenneth Arnold an executive, with the Great Western Fire Control Supply Company, was flying home from Chehalis Washington in a small two-seater private plane, when he spotted 9 objects racing down from Canada, past Mount Rainier and off past Mount Adams. Mr. Arnold reported the sighting and is credited with the
first modern era UFO sighting.
The Mount Rainier sighting is the starting point of my new thriller Need to Know which explores what would happen if an object had been buried in the mountain's snow and ice for nearly 70 years. The story delves into what its discovery would mean for the world and who might be willing to kill to keep it secret.
That's my list of the top UFO national parks. Did we get it right? Which parks did we miss? Tell us your UFO park stories in the comment section.
Sean Smith is a former Yellowstone Ranger, and an award winning conservationist, TEDx speaker, and author. He writes national park thrillers from his home in the shadow of Mount Rainier National Park. To learn more about his thrillers click here or follow him on twitter: @parkthrillers
