Dulce
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📍 Place
Contents 6
| Type | Place |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Dulce, New Mexico, Dulce Base |
| On the Timeline | 6 events, 1979–1991 |
Dulce is a small town in Rio Arriba County, northern New Mexico, and the headquarters of the Jicarilla Apache Nation. In UFO folklore it is the location of the "Dulce Base", an alleged underground facility beneath nearby Archuleta Mesa where aliens and humans are said to work together. There is no evidence that such a base exists; the legend grew largely out of disinformation and fabrications in the 1980s.[1][2]
Origins of the legend
From 1979 Albuquerque physicist and businessman Paul Bennewitz became convinced that he was intercepting electronic communications from alien craft near Kirtland Air Force Base. By the early 1980s, influenced in part by false information fed to him by Air Force agents and researcher William Moore, he believed that grey aliens and humans occupied a secret underground base near Dulce. His claims reached the press by 1983.[1][3] The area had also seen reports of cattle mutilations in the 1970s, investigated by New Mexico State Police officer Gabe Valdez.
Spread
By 1987 pilot John Lear claimed independent confirmation of the base, and books such as George Andrews's Extra-Terrestrials Among Us (1986) repeated the stories. Thomas Allen LeVesque, writing as "Jason Bishop III", produced detailed accounts of the base's levels and experiments but later admitted he had made them up. In September 1988 the tabloid Weekly World News ran a story about the base citing researcher Leonard Stringfield, who protested that he had never read "such a distortion of facts". Later claimants added stories of a firefight between aliens and soldiers.[1][4]
Assessment
Political scientist Michael Barkun notes that real underground military installations in the region gave the stories surface plausibility, but describes the Dulce legend as falling well outside even the more far-fetched secret-base claims. Its themes have been compared to the 1940s "Shaver Mystery" stories of underground beings. Skeptics list Dulce among secret bases that are probably fictional.[1][2][5]
Today
Residents report occasional unexplained lights, and Jicarilla Apache leaders have embraced the legend to attract tourism; in 2016 the town hosted a Dulce Base UFO conference at its casino hotel.[1][6]
On the UAP Timeline
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- Gabe Valdez and the Dulce cattle mutilations (16 February 1979) — An FBI memo relays a police officer's claim of a cover-up of New Mexico cattle mutilations.
- Spread of the Bennewitz disinformation (1980s Undefined) — Doty's fake document spreads to the public and into books and media.
- Bennewitz affair (17 November 1980) — Doty gives physicist Paul Bennewitz a forged document to confuse him.
- Edmund Gomez and Dulce (23 October 1988) — A New Mexico rancher claims he saw troops and an aircraft crash near Dulce.
- Naval Research Laboratory parapsychology claim (21 February 1990) — A journalist claims the Naval Research Laboratory had a parapsychology unit.
- Radio caller's underground base claim (1991) (1991) — A radio caller claims he wired a deep underground site holding military personnel and creatures.
References
- Dulce Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy (2006) — Google Books · books.google.com · archived copy
- Paul Bennewitz — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Greg Bishop, Project Beta (2005) — Google Books · books.google.com · archived copy
- Brian Dunning, "8 Secret Bases: Real or Fictional", Skeptoid #391 · skeptoid.com · archived copy
- "Move over, Roswell. Dulce is home to true UFO believers", Santa Fe New Mexican · santafenewmexican.com · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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