THE DULCE BASE: FACT OR FICTION?
Conference and Public Forum to be held in Dulce, New Mexico on March 29, 2009

Originally submitted by Access Media for Norio Hayakawa, expanded version:

DULCE, NEW MEXICO – Eye witnesses, law enforcement officers and paranormal investigators will all meet at a conference in Dulce, New Mexico on March 29 to discuss long-standing rumors of a secret, underground U.S. government biological laboratory and base in the area. Norio Hayakawa, a retired funeral director and former director of a civilian intelligence network, is hosting the conference at the Best Western Jicarilla Inn in Dulce. His intent is to prove that these rumors may have prosaic explanations.
However, he asserts that some of these prosaic explanations, if true, may be disturbing if revealed to the public.

According to Hayakawa, stories began to circulate in the mid-1970s when area residents witnessed “strange lights in the sky” and when ranchers reported mysterious cattle mutilations and frequent sightings of military helicopters. The rumors intensified in 1980 when Paul Bennewitz, who was then the president of Thunder Scientific Labs adjacent to Kirtland Air Force Base, reported his experiences with what he described as “alien entities”.  Bennewitz claimed that these entities were controlling humans through electromagnetic devices, that their triangular craft crashed near Dulce, that some strange aerial objects were regularly flying near Kirtland, the nearby Manzano Nuclear Weapons Storage Facility and Coyote Canyon Test Area, and that they were transmitting signals to him from a base under Archuleta Mesa, adjacent to Dulce.

One of the speakers at the conference will be Greg Bishop, who thoroughly investigated the Bennewitz claims in his book Project Beta. There will also be a few other well-known speakers.  “However,” Hayakawa said, “the principal focus of the conference will be with local residents, ranchers and law enforcement officers who will testify about their personal experiences.”

Interest in the conference and the decades-long rumor of a Dulce base are high. “The UFO Hunters,” a popular History Channel television show, recently visited Dulce to interview residents and research facts about the purported Dulce base. “Because of the History Channel investigation, the townsfolk of Dulce are very much aware of the conference,” said Hayakawa. “For the first time, some of the residents may come forward at the conference to speak without fear of ridicule.”

Skeptical of the claims and rumors himself, Hayakawa is convinced there could be prosaic explanations to both the UFO sightings and cattle mutilations, and looks forward to the conference providing a resolution of the matter. “There has not been any physical evidence whatsoever that there is such a base in or near Dulce,”  Hayakawa asserted. “However,” he admitted, “I have heard about some disturbing allegations concerning the Dulce area relevant to serious environmental as well as health issues.”

“One such wild allegation”, said Hayakawa, “is the allegation that the government, beginning in the mid 1970s, may have conducted clandestine operations in the area involving experiments with bovine diseases, anthrax and other substances as part of biological warfare research.”   Hayakawa also says he has heard from other sources that there may also have been some illegal dumping or storage of toxic chemicals and other bio-hazzardous materials in the nearby areas.

(On a curious side note, Hayakawa stated that when he first visited Dulce in 1990 with the crew of a Japanese TV Network to help produce a TV special on Dulce, they were inexplicably detained by the Jicarilla Apache police chief while they were interviewing the people on the streets about their sightings of military helicopters, strange lights in the sky and also about cattle mutilations in the nearby areas.)

“Another allegation that I have heard”, continued Hayakawa, is “the allegation that the there has been a cover-up of occasional radiation leaks in the region resulting from a 1967 underground nuclear detonation which took place about 22 miles southwest of Dulce..”   The name of that government experiment was called Project Gasbuggy, part of the government’s attempt to utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.  It was part of the Plowshare Program.   Hayakawa said that it was conducted “ostensibly to ease the flow of natural gas in the region, but the government knew well in advance that it would produce high amount of radiation”.

“These may have some relevance to an allegation that there has been relatively high rate of cancer in this region as well as some reports of problems with fertility among some women in the area as well”, said Hayakawa.

Hayakawa also stated that “if some of these allegations are true”, then he supports a theory “that the government may have purposefully created some ‘convenient’ cover stories to conceal those activities and may even have staged a series of fake ‘UFO-type’ incidents in the area, utilizing high tech equipment such as holographic projection devices.”   This type of operations, according to him, has been a part of the Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) programs utilized by the military.    “The association of this area with ‘UFOs’ certainly creates a laughter curtain and ridicule and would detract attention away from serious scrutiny of the area.”

According to Greg Bishop, Paul Bennewitz may have been a target of a concerted effort by the government through the AFOSI at Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia Labs to brainwash him into believing that there is an alien base under the Archuleta Mesa.   Greg Bishop suggests that part of what Bennewitz may have witnessed near the Manzano Storage Area and Coyote Canyon Test Areas in 1979 could have been the government’s test flights of prototypes of remotely-controlled platforms (unmanned aerial vehicles) and testing of laser-based optics, jamming and tracking technology…   “These devices may have been utilized in timely fashion over Dulce during the height of government’s clandestine operations near Dulce”, said Hayakawa.

Whatever the case may be, Hayakawa said that this fascinating one-day conference, open to the public, will start at 10:00 a.m. and will conclude at 5 p.m.  Admission is $5 at the door. The conference will include an open public forum during which the public will be given an opportunity to report their experiences and express their opinions.

See also:  The Aviary:     /avairy.htm

The following summary was contributed to The WHY? Files

By Norio Hayakawa, a long term investigator into the Dulce Base situation:

Enigmatic personalities behind the initial Dulce underground base rumors

by Norio Hayakawa
October 2, 2010

Let’s examine some of the enigmatic personalities behind the initial rumors about the alleged Dulce base – how it all started, i.e., 1979 through 1983.

PAUL BENNEWITZ …….owner of Thunder Scientific Corporation (contractor to Kirtland AFB), located right next to the entrance of Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM, presently operated by his sons……………from around 1979 Paul Bennewitz began to witness some strange lights hovering over Manzano underground nuclear storage area, not too far from his residence in the Four Hills area of Albuquerque.

Some researchers (such as Greg Bishop) theorize that he was looking at some tests of Project Starfire (laser-based optical tracking system being developed at that time by Sandia Laboratories next to Manzano) or possibly some tests of prototypes of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) developed by Sandia Laboratories at that time…….Paul Bennewitz later became convinced that those objects were somehow related to an underground base in northern New Mexico near Dulce…..articles on Bennewitz soon began to appear in newspapers such as the Albuquerque Journal and Albuquerque Tribune.

Paul Bennewitz began to suffer from paranoia and was later institutionalized……he passed away in 2003….his remains are buried in Veterans Cemetery in Santa Fe……Paul Bennewitz’ sons seem to refuse to be interviewed…..the main reason being that Thunder Scientific Corporation still does business with Kirtland AFB….they sell military grade humidifiers and callibration instruments, many of which were developed,modified and improved by the late Paul Bennewitz…..Paul Bennewitz’ wife, Cindy Bennewitz, still lives at the residence, which is located close to the Manzano underground nuclear storage facility (which allegedly was closed down in 1992) in the Four Hills area of Albuquerque…..

MYRNA HANSEN……in 1979 she claimed to have been abducted near Cimarron, NM and claimed to have been taken to an unknown underground location……She was at at that time a resident of Ealge Nest, New Mexico……Paul Bennewitz interviewed her at his house, together with Leo Sprinkle who did a hypnotic regression….Paul Bennewitz later on decided that she must have been taken into the Dulce base…..this was allegedly only after Bennewitz begun to suspect that there was a base in Dulce….later on, a Richard C. Doty (who was with AFOSI Kirtland AFB at that time) suggested to her that she might have been taken to an undergound weapons storage facility.

TOM ADAMS……he was investigating cattle mutilations in the late 1970s….Tom Adams first heard about the Dulce base from reading Paul Bennewitz’ article in newspaper and other sources from around 1981….it is alleged that Tom Adams knew “Ann West”).

“ANN WEST“……her true identity is not confirmed, although Tal Levesque claims that she is on Facebook with a different name…….alleged to have been an acquaintance of Tom Adams…claimed to have drawn the initial pictures of the vats of the Dulce base in 1987….allegedly knew Tal Levesque….also claims to have known “Thomas Edwin Castello”)…..Tal Levesque claims that she visited him and his wife and also “Thomas Edwin Castello” in Santa Fe……Tal Levesque claims that Ann West is dangerous and is part of the “invisible government”

JOHN LEAR…….heard about Dulce allegedly from “Ann West”…. befriended TAL through John Grace (a.k.a. Val Valerian)……according to Tal Levesque, John Lear retouched the Dulce drawings of “Ann West” that he received in 1987……he first came up with his Hypothesis in 1988 about Dulce and also about Area 51….John Lear has never been taken seriously by the UFO community….some people suspect that John Lear purposely throws in some ridiculous-sounding items as part of PSYOPS….he recently claimed that there are cities on the back side of the moon.

TAL LEVESQUE…..a.k.a., TAL or Jason Bishop…….he claimed that he worked in Santa Fe as a security person for a private company around 1980 or 1981…..he claimed to have begun contact with “Thomas E. Castello” who, Tal Levesque claims, worked in the same company in Santa Fe…….”Thomas E. Castello” allegedly revealed his secrets to Tal….(the secret was that there was an underground U.S./alien bio-lab under Archuleta Mesa, next to Dulce and that he had worked as a security person at that facility)…..but before coming out with this “Thomas Edwin Castello” story, Tal Levesque also seems to have heard initially about the Dulce base rumors from reading about Paul Bennewitz….Tal Levesque claimed that he was visited by a tall Reptoid at his home in Santa Fe in 1979.

“THOMAS EDWIN CASTELLO“…..of course, there are many persons with the same name…..however, a retired Air Force Colonel who claims that he was involved in Dulce, claims that there has never been a Thomas Edwin Castello that was ever employed as security personnel in Dulce.

CHRISTA TILTON…….some researchers seem to say that she came to the scene slightly after “Ann West”…..they say that Christa Tilton and Tom Adams were initially partners…..and that she was in touch with Myrna Hansen……according to Tim Beckley, Christa Tilton later on got together with Wendell Stevens…..Christa Tilton was said to have distributed her manuscript, “The Bennewitz Papers” in 1987……She claims that she was in touch with a Richard C. Doty (formerly with AFOSI at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque)……Christa Tilton was featured on a Japanese TV program about the Dulce base back in 1989 and 1990….Tilton claimed that her daughter was a hybrid…..Christa Tilton flew over Archuleta Mesa and over Soldier Canyon with Junichi Yaoi of Nippon TV in 1989..she appeared on Japanese TV a couple of times….and claims to have taken a photo of a circular structure over Soldier Canyon, which is slightly SW of Dulce….Tilton, in her manuscript “The Bennewitz Papers” expressed her belief that the whole “Thomas E. Castello” story was a fabrication……”Ann West”, in turn, reportedly claimed that Christa Tilton’s information was not credible.

BRANTON…….a.k.a., Bruce Walton……beginning in the early 1990s, he compiled a book called the DULCE BOOK….and aslo DULCE WARS…..Walton allegedly got most of the information from TAL…some from John Lear, some from Val Valerian (John Grace)….Tal Levesque claimed that Bruce Walton was incarcerated in 2009 in Utah for felony charges.

GABE VALDEZ…….retired New Mexico State Patrol Officer who was in charge of the Dulce area for many years (from the early 1970s to the late 1980s)……presently lives in Albuquerque….Valdez claims that the government was most likely responsible for the cattle mutilations which started happening from around 1975…….he claims that the government may have begun to periodically monitor the radiation levels of certain cattle some years later, after the 1967 underground nuclear explosion (Project Gasbuggy) which took place about 22 miles southwest of Dulce…..Valdez also states that the government “staged” several UFO incidents in the Dulce area (Archuleta Mesa, etc.) by use of high tech equipment such as prototypes of holographic image projections as well as unmanned aerial vehicles or remotely-controlled platforms that were made to resemble “flying saucers”….Valdez believes that bio-warfare experiments were conducted at Dulce and that “UFO/alien” stories were concocted by the government as cover stories to conceal various Black Projects in the area.

WILLIAM “BILL” MOORE…..who first propagated (or “revived”) the story about Roswell in 1980 when he published the book INCIDENT AT ROSWELL (until Moore’s book came out, most Americans had no interest or knowledge about the Roswell incident since it was long forgotten and dismissed as misidentification by the U.S. Army in 1947)……he claims that around the same time that he began to propagate the Roswell story, he was working with Richard Doty of Kirtland AFB and participated in a disinformation ploy to saturate Paul Bennewitz (who was pursuing his independent investigations on Dulce) with false information on the Dulce base…..so he claimed in a 1989 MUFON Conference that took place in Las Vegas, NV….however there is no verifiable documentation whatsoever that Moore participated in such disinformation ploy in any official capacity…..except for his verbal “confession” that he made at a 1989 MUFON conference in Las Vegas, Nevada).

RICHARD C. DOTY…..initially with Kirtland AFB AFOSI around 1979, 1980 and 1981……he was not a high-ranking officer…..he claims he participated in disinformation, along with Moore…..again, there is no documentation that he participated in such disinformation ploy at Kirtland AFB AFOSI…..even though Paul Bennewitz’ name and Doty’s name appear on one or two Kirtland OSI documents because Kirtland AFB invited Bennewitz to testify to what he allegedly was seeing over Manzano storage areas…..later on Richard C. Doty became a promoter of the SERPO PROJECT (which some researchers seem to describe as being a total fabrication)…Project Camelot seems to have bought Doty’s story hook, line and sinker……presently he is working as New Mexico Highway Patrol Officer….about to retire in a couple of months.

P.S. 1

The most sane person, surprisingly, may have been Paul Bennewitz himself and Gabe Valdez.
It is quite possible that Paul Bennewitz had long pretended that he had been “brainwashed” by some within the AFOSI, while he continued to conduct his own investigations into Dulce. But, nevertheless, he couldn’t himself overcome his growing paranoia. Another possible scenario may have been that there was a dissension among the AFOSI and an element among the group may have provided Bennewitz with some crucial information on Dulce.

P.S. 2

Phil Schneider was never a part of the initial Dulce base rumors.
He only came to the scene in 1995.

It was only in 1989 that Bob Lazar first came out with the story that there was an altercation between the U.S. military and “alien entities” in an underground installation. Lazar never specified any location.
Norio Hayakawa