Editing Dulce Base

{{short description|Conspiracy theory}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
'''Dulce Base''' is the subject of a [[UFO conspiracy theories|conspiracy theory]] claiming that a jointly-operated human and [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] [[Underground base|underground facility]] exists under [[Archuleta Mesa]] on the Colorado–New Mexico border near the town of [[Dulce, New Mexico]], in the [[United States]].<ref name="Donovan2011">{{cite book|last=Donovan|first=Barna William|title=Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJkhqU1IXHAC&pg=PA149|date=29 July 2011|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-8615-1|pages=149–150}}</ref> Claims of alien activity there first arose from [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]] businessman [[Paul Bennewitz]].<ref name="Barkun2006">{{cite book|author=Michael Barkun|title=A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiwjVsNBw-cC&pg=PA111|access-date=15 April 2012|date=4 May 2006|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24812-0|pages=111–112}}</ref>

==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 alien]]s and humans.<ref>{{Skeptoid |id=4391 |number=391 |title=8 Secret bases: Real or fictional |date=3 December 2013}} ''see'' "§3. Dulce Base".</ref> By 1983, Bennewitz's claims appeared in the popular press.<ref>{{cite news |title=UFOs: U.S. reports tell of five sightings in 1980 over Kirtland; city man claims alien contact |date=8 April 1983 |newspaper=[[The Albuquerque Tribune]] |place=Albuquerque, NM |page=1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/784735763/ |access-date=2022-06-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  

The story spread rapidly within the UFO community and by 1987, [[Ufology|UFOlogist]] [[John Lear]] claimed he had independent confirmations of the base's existence.<ref name="Gulyas2016">{{cite book |last=Gulyas |first=Aaron John |title=Conspiracy Theories: The roots, themes and propagation of paranoid political and cultural narratives |date=25 January 2016 |publisher=McFarland & Company |place=Jefferson, NC |isbn=978-0-7864-9726-3 |pages=88–89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afcEDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA88}}</ref> Lear's statement influenced [[Thomas Allen LeVesque]], pen name "Jason Bishop III", who later admitted to fabricating stories about Dulce Base.<ref name="Gulyas1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afcEDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92|title=Conspiracy Theories: The Roots, Themes and Propagation of Paranoid Political and Cultural Narratives|first=Aaron John|last=Gulyas|date=February 8, 2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-9726-3 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="Gorightly">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uuI9zgEACAAJ|title=Saucers, Spooks and Kooks: UFO Disinformation in the Age of Aquarius|first=Adam|last=Gorightly|date=February 3, 2021|publisher=Daily Grail Publishing|isbn=978-0-9946176-8-2 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1986, George Clinton Andrews discussed Dulce Base legends in his book ''Extra-Terrestrials Among Us''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Andrews |first=George Clinton |year=1986 |title=Extra-terrestrials Among Us |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |isbn=9780875420103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bRnpjmamWsYC}}</ref> In 1988, the [[Tabloid journalism|tabloid]] ''[[Weekly World News]]'' published a story entitled "UFO base found in New Mexico" which claimed that "diabolical invaders from another solar system have set up a secret underground base in the rugged mountains of northern New Mexico – so they can [[Shanghaiing|shanghai]] human guinea pigs for bizarre genetic experiments". The ''Weekly World News'' story used supposed quotes from UFOlogist [[Leonard H. 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".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bird |first1=Kay |last2=Terrel |first2=Steve |date=1 September 1988 |title=ETs living in NM? Not likely, investigators say |newspaper=[[The Santa Fe New Mexican]] |volume=139 |issue=255 |pages=A-1, A-2 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21779090/ets_living_in_nm_not_likely/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

==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."<ref name="Barkun2006" />

Residents of Dulce claim to have seen UFOs, strange moving lights, and other unexplained sightings in the area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.santafenewmexican.com/life/features/move-over-roswell-dulce-is-home-to-true-ufo-believers/article_3164df9a-9813-5add-9b16-5e3a90c0340e.html |date=7 May 2016 |title=Move over, Roswell. Dulce is home to true UFO believers |last=Chacón |first=Daniel |website=The Santa Fe New Mexican}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chacón |first=Daniel |date=8 May 2016 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21774751/the_santa_fe_new_mexican/ |title=A town of true believers |work=The Santa Fe New Mexican |volume=167 |issue=128 |pages=A-1, A-7}}</ref>

Dulce Base legends have been noted for their similarity to the Shaver Mystery.  In the mid-1940s, welder [[Richard Sharpe Shaver|Richard Shaver]] began writing letters to science-fiction editor [[Raymond A. 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.'"<ref>Gulyas,Conspiracy Theories, Ch. 5</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==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}}
* [[Jerome Clark]], ''The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial'', Visible Ink, 1998, {{ISBN|1-57859-029-9}}

{{UFOs}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico]]
[[Category:Jicarilla Apache]]
[[Category:Military UFO conspiracy theories in the United States]]