SANTA FE, N.M. β When most people think UFOs and the unexplained in New Mexico, they turn to Roswell.
But residents of a tiny town in the northern part of the state say they've also seen some strange sights.
Residents of Dulce, a small town on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, say they've seen flying saucers, UFOs and fast moving lights moving back and forth in the sky, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported. One resident even says he's tracked Bigfoot.
"The whole town of Dulce, whoever you want to talk to, they'll tell you what they've seen β a lot of them," said Geraldine Julian, 78,who claims to have seen multiple UFOs and other strange activity starting in the 1960s. "It's not just a fairy tale. All the things are true, and I believe every last one of them, too, because I've seen it myself."
Legend has it space aliens are working with the U.S. government at the so-called "Dulce Base" underneath the Archuleta Mesa, a mountain that overlooks the town.
Adding to the mystery, Gabe Valdez, a former New Mexico State Police trooper, documented unexplained cattle mutilations in the area in the mid-1970s. Though many said Valdez's evidence was clearly left by aliens, Valdez has said otherwise.
"The evidence that was left there, you know, predators don't leave gas masks, glow sticks, radar chaff. They don't leave that stuff. They don't have vitamin B-12," Valdez said in a radio interview.
Dulce has been featured on the History Channel's "UFO Hunters" television show. When interviewed for the show, Valdez told a different story, saying a mutilated cow was left with a fetus inside that looked like "a human, a monkey and a frog."
With all the rumors, employees at the town's casino and hotel said they get visitors who are in search for UFOs.
"They prefer rooms with a view of the mountain, that way they can see it," said Chelse Anderson, 27, who works at the Wild Horse Casino. "We have some (guests) that wander around the building at night."
The casino's hotel is already booked for next weekend, when a local nonprofit is hosting a Dulce Base UFO Conference as a fundraiser. Apache Indigenous Defenders Inc. is using the conference to raise money for organizations that work to keep local Native traditions alive.
