Sky Kachina Fireballs
by Jaye Sudar
HUERFANO- The San Luis Valley and surrounding counties are home to more UFO sighting than anywhere else in North America. Sightings of fireballs, alien ships, odd lights dancing in the sky are plentiful enough to spawn entire websites and numerous books. Mysterious Valley by Christopher O′Brien is one of the most famous. Decades of sightings were bolstered by a boom in sightings between 1997 and 1999. Many of the fireballs have been seen near Mt. Blanca, which is sacred to many of the Native Americans in the Southwest. Accordingly, the sightings are often called Sky Kachina Fireballs.
Activity in the La Veta Military Operations Area (MOA), a low level flight training area including parts of Huerfano, Alamosa, Chaffee, Costilla, Custer, Pueblo, and Saguache Counties, may have something to do with these sightings. The Air Force, Air National Guard, and some foreign military groups reportedly use the MOA for low level training missions. Could such military soirees also be related to these mysterious visitors? The following sightings, right here in Huerfano County, were scoffed at by the authorities, yet military activity steadily increased in the MOA.
In September 1995, in the Navajo subdivision west of Walsenburg the Shaw family experienced a low humming sound throughout the area. A huge rectangular craft over 300 ft. long flew over them at tree top level. It turned and then disappeared in a flash of light. That was followed by eight to ten lights that flew patterns across the sky for over fifteen minutes. Joan Newland also sighted the UFO when her dogs began to go nuts. She looked out a window to see the craft pass overhead. Others including the local sheriff′s department reported hearing the humming. It was dismissed as being a low flying helicopter or one of the new experimental Lighter Than Aircraft Vehicles (LTA) built for the military. However, the Shaw′s and other witnesses stated that there was no possibility of it being a helicopter or an LTA.
In 1997, green and orange lights were reported by several people in the sky over La Veta. In January 1998 there was a report of a 150 ft. diameter disk in the skies, as well as a star twisting and turning over a friend’s house. An incident with five witnesses reported multi-colored fireballs dancing in the mountains in November of 1998.
In January of 1999, the La Veta golf course was visited by a 600 ft. craft that hovered over the lake. The craft was translucent with wings, bright lights, orange portholes and emitted a humming noise. At one point, a beam was seen to descend from the craft into the lake. This was witnessed by seven people near the entrance to the golf course.
Is it any wonder that La Veta boasts a house with its own UFO landing pad?
