By Charles Lear
As the internet was becoming more and more a part of everyone’s daily life, the mood of UFOlogy was becoming more and more paranoid. Growing numbers of people were reporting abductions and animal mutilations and the idea that our Earth based governments were collaborating with alien races was gaining acceptance beyond just a small fringe element of society. Little green men became little grey men (and large reptilians) and they were, reportedly, not very friendly. All of these elements converged in dark tales told about an area located in New Mexico. That area is near the town of Dulce and its history of strange activity goes back well before the internet.
Even before the alleged alien activity, Dulce was the location of some unusual human activity. In 1967, someone had the bright idea to recover natural gas trapped underneath Dulce by setting off a nuclear device 4000 feet below the surface. The operation was named, “Project Gasbuggy” and was an early attempt at fracking. Unfortunately, when one sets off a nuclear device near natural gas, the gas becomes too radioactive to be usable.
In the 1970’s, the Dulce area was hit with a wave of reported cattle mutilations with accompanying black helicopters and strange lights. New Mexico State Police officer, Gabe Valdez, investigated many of the reports and became obsessed with the mystery for over 30 years. By 2005, Valdez had become convinced that the mutilations were the result of human researchers but, by that time, many had come to believe quite the opposite. From its beginning in early 1980’s, a story had grown that there was a secret underground base near Dulce under a formation called Archuleta Mesa. This base was reportedly populated by aliens conducting nightmarish experiments on humans as well as cattle. This story is still believed by many people today.
Every so often, there are concentrations of UFO sightings reports, known as flaps or waves that receive a substantial amount of press coverage. This occurred in the U.S. in the early years of the modern UFO era and the press generated by one flap in 1952, which included 
At this point in time, most people interested in UFOs are probably used to being able to look at official government documents if they want to do some research. The C.I.A., F.B.I. and N.S.A. all have UFO related documents available online and there is, of course, the enormous collection amassed by John Greenewald Jr. on his site, 
Ground Saucer Watch was formed in 1957 and its members included scientists, engineers and technicians. William Spaulding, the group’s director, was an aerospace quality control engineer who worked at a company called AIResearch. GSW was based in Arizona and was one of the first groups to respond to the 1975 
There is a discussion among UFO enthusiasts as to whether or not the objects being reported are actually material in nature. Cases where there have been physical traces left behind after a sighting support the argument that some objects are indeed solid but there were times when those traces were left behind none-too-gently. Actual collisions have been reported between UFOs and aircraft, cars and, possibly, even a train according to a report referenced to in the forum section of 
What was the first civilian organization solely dedicated to research on the subject of UFOs and when did they form? After a little research, most should agree that it was the Los Angeles based 
It often occurs among UFO enthusiasts that people will form a belief in a case and find it difficult to let go of that belief in spite of evidence that the case was more than likely a hoax. The alleged 1948 crash and retrieval of a flying disk near Aztec, New Mexico is a classic example. This case has spawned the well-known 1950 book by Frank Scully, 
The April 24, 1964 sighting of a landed UFO with two beings standing next to it by Socorro, NM Police Sergeant, Lonnie Zamora has been written about extensively and remains a fascinating mystery to this day. What’s particularly interesting about this case is how many people investigated it. Representatives from the Socorro Police, New Mexico State Police the F.B.I. and Army were first on the scene followed by the Lorenzens from the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, members of the Air Force and J. Allen Hynek as part of Project Blue Book, and Ray Stanford for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Besides the testimony of Zamora, there was trace evidence to examine, witnesses to a similar craft to interview, and reputed witnesses to the very craft Zamora reported who were searched for but never found. Despite the thoroughness of the inquiries and analyses by so many experienced investigators, no one was able to come up with an agreeable Earthly explanation.
According to Zamora’s written 
APRO was formed in the fall of 1951 through the efforts of Coral Lorenzen with the help and encouragement of her husband, Jim. Coral’s interest in UFOs preceded the 1947 Kenneth Arnold sighting by more than a decade following her own sighting of an unexplained object. Coral claimed that in 1934, as a young girl with the maiden name, Lightner, she and her two playmates, Barbara Stringer and Dorothy Wethern, saw what looked like a parachute moving across the sky. Coral noticed that it didn’t have any strings and this caused her to question whether what she was seeing actually was a parachute. She told her father what she had seen and he was impressed enough to make inquiries and found that there were no pilots in the area at that time. Three years later, at the age of 12, Coral was being checked for astigmatism and told her doctor what she had seen. He recommended that she read the books of Charles Fort, a writer who was a pioneer chronicler of the strange and unusual, and Coral developed an interest that would stick with her for the rest of her life.
In 1951, Coral and Jim Lorenzen were living in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin after a brief stay in Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles, they had met contactee, George Adamski, and Coral reported that she was unimpressed by his claims, in part due to his repeated references to the moon as a planet. In Wisconsin, Coral decided to start a group that would keep track of sightings reports and she wrote to people she knew who might be interested. Around fifty responded positively and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization came to be. Coral had chosen the name, consciously avoiding the term, “flying saucers” which she found distasteful. The center of operation for APRO was an antique table with clawed feet in the corner of the Lorenzen’s living room and the means of communication among its members was a portable typewriter.
An important factor influencing acceptance is the credibility of the investigator. It should be safe to say at.this point that civilian UFO investigators have more credibility than government employed investigators. This is because, far too often, commonly mistaken objects have been indiscriminately offered as explanations by public officials in order to put a case to rest. This is unfortunate because there are occasions where a good solution to a case that could help clear out some of noise in the signal may be dismissed by many due to what has become a reflexive reaction. From a 
The July, 1947,