Dulce Base is the subject of a conspiracy theory claiming that a jointly-operated human and alien underground facility exists under Archuleta Mesa on the Colorado–New Mexico border near the town of

Dulce, New Mexico Dulce ( or ; apj, Lóosi) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 2,743 at the 2010 census, almost entirely Native American. It is the largest community and tribal headquarters of ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Claims of alien activity there first arose from

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

businessman

Paul Bennewitz Paul Frederic Bennewitz, Jr. (September 29, 1927 – June 23, 2003) was an American businessman and UFO investigator. According to multiple sources, Bennewitz was the target of a government disinformation campaign that ultimately led to his psy ...

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 aliens Grey aliens, also referred to as Zeta Reticulans, Roswell Greys, or Grays, are purported extraterrestrial beings. They are frequent subjects of close encounters and alien abduction claims. The details of such claims vary widely, but typically ...

and humans. By 1983, Bennewitz's claims appeared in the popular press. The story spread rapidly within the UFO community and by 1987,

UFOlogist Ufology ( ) is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial alien visitors). While there are instances of government, private, and ...

John Lear claimed he had independent confirmations of the base's existence. In 1986, George Clinton Andrews discussed Dulce Base legends in his book ''Extra-Terrestrials Among Us''. In 1988, the tabloid ''

Weekly World News The ''Weekly World News'' was a tabloid which published mostly fictional "news" stories in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news th ...

'' 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

shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

human guinea pigs for bizarre genetic experiments". The ''Weekly World News'' story used supposed quotes from UFOlogist

Leonard Stringfield Leonard Stringfield (1920–1994) was an American ufologist who took particular interest in crashed flying saucer stories. He died in 1994. Stringfield was director of Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying Objects (CRIFO), and published a mo ...

as a source for its claims. Upon learning of the story, Stringfield protested, "I never read such a distortion of facts in my life". In 1990, a "Paul Snyder" wrote about Dulce Base conspiracies.

Influences

Political scientist

Michael Barkun __NOTOC__ Michael Barkun (born April 8, 1938) is an American academic who serves as Professor Emeritus of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, specializing in political and religious ext ...

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 The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D), referred to variously as Delta Force, Combat Applications Group (CAG), Army Compartmented Elements (ACE), "The Unit", or within Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Task Fo ...

place the Dulce legend "well outside even the most far-fetched reports of secret underground bases." Residents of Dulce claim to have seen UFOs, strange moving lights, and other unexplained sightings in the area. 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. Dulce Base legends have been noted for their similarity to the Shaver Mystery. In the mid-1940s, welder

Richard Shaver Richard Sharpe Shaver (October 8, 1907 Berwick, Pennsylvania – November 5, 1975 Summit, Arkansas) was an American writer and artist. He achieved notoriety in the years following World War II as the author of controversial stories that were pr ...

began writing letters to science-fiction editor Raymond 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.'"Gulyas,Conspiracy Theories, Ch. 5

History

Influences

References

Further reading