Dulce Base

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Dulce Base is the subject of a

Albuquerque businessman Paul Bennewitz.[2]

History

Starting in 1979, Bennewitz became convinced he was intercepting electronic communications from alien spacecraft and installations outside of Albuquerque. By the 1980s he believed he had discovered a secret underground base near Dulce populated by

grey aliens and humans.[3] By 1983, Bennewitz's claims appeared in the popular press.[4]

The story spread rapidly within the UFO community and by 1987,

UFOlogist John Lear claimed he had independent confirmations of the base's existence.[5] Lear's statement influenced Thomas Allen LeVesque, pen name "Jason Bishop III", who later admitted to fabricating stories about Dulce Base. [6][7]

In 1986, George Clinton Andrews discussed Dulce Base legends in his book Extra-Terrestrials Among Us.

Leonard Stringfield as a source for its claims. Upon learning of the story, Stringfield protested, "I never read such a distortion of facts in my life".[9]

Influences

Political scientist Michael Barkun wrote that Cold War underground missile installations in the area gave superficial plausibility to the rumors, making the Dulce base story an "attractive legend" within UFOlogy. According to Barkun, claims about experiments on abductees and firefights between aliens and the Delta Force place the Dulce legend "well outside even the most far-fetched reports of secret underground bases."[2]

Residents of Dulce claim to have seen UFOs, strange moving lights, and other unexplained sightings in the area.[10] Jicarilla Apache Legislative Council president Ty Vicenti "has embraced the notion of a Dulce Base, partly in a push to stimulate tourism", and in 2016, the town hosted the Dulce Base UFO Conference at the local casino hotel.[11]

Dulce Base legends have been noted for their similarity to the Shaver Mystery. In the mid-1940s, welder

Raymond Palmer, who published them in various pulp outlets; Shaver told of malevolent subterranean beings ('deros') who pilot disc-shaped spaceships. Palmer biographer Fred Nadis "specifically highlights the tales of the supposed underground base near Dulce, New Mexico, as a prominent inheritor of the Shaver/Palmer tradition, characterizing Paul Bennewitz’s stories of alien experimentation as 'a dero scene right out of a Shaver story.'"[12]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-7864-8615-1
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-520-24812-0
    . Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  3. ^ Dunning, Brian (3 December 2013). "Skeptoid #391: 8 Secret bases: Real or fictional". Skeptoid. see "§3. Dulce Base".
  4. ^ "UFOs: U.S. reports tell of five sightings in 1980 over Kirtland; city man claims alien contact". The Albuquerque Tribune. Albuquerque, NM. 8 April 1983. p. 1. Retrieved 5 June 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ISBN 978-0-7864-9726-3
    .
  6. ^ Gulyas, Aaron John (8 February 2016). "Conspiracy Theories: The Roots, Themes and Propagation of Paranoid Political and Cultural Narratives". McFarland – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Gorightly, Adam (3 February 2021). "Saucers, Spooks and Kooks: UFO Disinformation in the Age of Aquarius". Daily Grail Publishing – via Google Books.
  8. ISBN 9780875420103
    .
  9. Newspapers.com
    .
  10. ^ Chacón, Daniel (7 May 2016). "Move over, Roswell. Dulce is home to true UFO believers". The Santa Fe New Mexican.
  11. ^ Chacón, Daniel (8 May 2016). "A town of true believers". The Santa Fe New Mexican. Vol. 167, no. 128. pp. A-1, A-7.
  12. ^ Gulyas,Conspiracy Theories, Ch. 5

Further reading

  • Gregory J. Bishop, Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth, Paraview Pocket Books, 2005;
    ISBN 0-7434-7092-3
  • ISBN 1-57859-029-9
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