Strange Lights Over the Valley

The San Luis Valley has accumulated more documented UFO reports per square mile than nearly any other region in the country. That claim is difficult to measure precisely, but the volume of reported encounters across many decades has made this stretch of high desert one of the most discussed anomaly zones in North America. The case that put the valley on the national map arrived in nineteen sixty-seven.

In early September, a three-year-old Appaloosa horse named Lady, known by the nickname Snippy, disappeared from a ranch near Alamosa. A couple of days later, the rancher found her remains roughly a quarter mile from the ranch house. The head and neck had been stripped completely of flesh.

The bones appeared nearly white. A sweet smell hung around the body. Unusual depressions marked the ground nearby.

The story spread nationwide that October. It was among the first cases in American media to link an animal death to possible extraterrestrial activity, setting a template for cattle mutilation stories that would circulate across the West for decades. A University of Colorado investigation funded by the Air Force ultimately concluded that Lady's death had natural, mundane causes.

Lady's preserved skeleton is now displayed at the UFO Watchtower near Hooper, elsewhere in the San Luis Valley, a roadside attraction open for more than twenty-five years and visited by thousands annually. The valley itself remains one of the finest places in the American interior to watch the night sky. Clear air, low light pollution, and high altitude make every clear night here an argument for looking up.