"PARANORMAL FOCUS: SALT LAKE CITY" > Page 1, 2, 3

Crop Circles

Utah might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think about crop circles, but they're there:

• In 1996, a crop circle that became known as the "glyph" appeared in a Providence wheat field. The design was a circle with two extended formations that looked like handles on either side.
• "The Smithfield Joe" crop circle appeared in a wheat field on the Hansen farm in 1997. The formation was of the pictogram type, and an investigation revealed no evidence of human work. One photograph taken at the crop circle seems to show a UFO above the field.
• In 1998, two crop circles appeared in northern Utah. The first, again in Providence, appeared in a wheat field and measured 102 feet in diameter. The second, near Cove, Utah, consisted of an outer circle, connecting rings and pathways.
• In 1998, the "West Approach" crop circle appeared, named because it lay close to the west approach of the Cache County Airport. Its satellite design consisted of a three-foot-thick ring around a 20- to 25-foot center circle.

UFOs 

Utah has a long history of UFO sightings, many of which have been cataloged by About.com's Guide to UFOs/Aliens, Loy Lawhon:

• In 1961, a lens-shaped UFO was sighted at noon above Salt Lake City by the pilot of a small aircraft as well as people on the ground. When the pilot began to close in on it, the object rose vertically very quickly, then zoomed away at great speed. Military jets were called, but the object had gone before they arrived.
• In 1967, a hospital employee, driving to Salt Lake City from Saint George, heard a noise similar to that of a truck, then saw a yellow light that stopped 30 meters away at 30 meters altitude. It was shaped like an inverted bowl with a dome on top and looked metallic. The witness became afraid and emptied his .25 Berretta pistol in the direction of the craft. He heard the bullets hit metal and the object took off at great speed.
• In 1996, A "long rectangular pie plate" UFO was seen near Duchesne, Utah. This object had "eight big circles" or protuberances on the belly, stretching 30 feet from the craft's center to its stern.
• In February, 1998, two postal workers observed a UFO over Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. As they drove nearer to the lake to get a closer look, they noticed many dead seagulls on the side of the road. Then the lights on their truck began to flicker. They described the UFO as metallic, spherical, and 100 to 200 yards in diameter with rotating lights.
• In December, 1998, several witnesses watched three UFOs fly over the Wasatch mountain range in Park City. One of the witnesses said they saw "three bright white lights in a triangular formation silently streak across the sky at a tremendous speed, at first in a straight line and then make a left turn and recede until they disappeared, over the space of about five seconds."

Many more sightings can be found at the Utah UFO Hunters sightings page, and the site also profiles several of the state's UFO hotspots, some of which include photographs.

Utah is also home to the infamous Bigelow Ranch, otherwise known as "Utah's UFO Ranch." According to an article in The Deseret News, the owners claimed that the 480-acre ranch was "rife with UFO activity and other bizarre occurrences," including football field-size UFOs, cattle mutilations, anomalous balls of light (one of which reportedly incinerated a dog), and a doorway or portal - possibly to another dimension - that appeared in mid-air. Millionaire Robert T. Bigelow bought the ranch and brought in a team of researchers and surveillance equipment in hopes of finding out what was going on. Much of the activity has continued.

Utah might also be the site of the "new Area 51," according to an article in Popular Mechanics. The Green River Complex, Area 6413, at White Sands, Utah, could be the U.S. government's newest facility for testing top-secret "black projects," a few of which, some say, could be reverse engineered from crashed alien spacecraft. The base might at least account for some UFO sightings in and around the state.

You can find more information about these and other Utah sightings at:

• Utah UFO Hunters
• UFOs/Aliens: Utah

UFOs and their alien passengers might make a special appearance at the Winter Olympics, according to Victoria Liljenquist, a Phoenix, Arizona-based hypnotherapist, who says she's been in contact with the ETs all her life. Her "space brothers" recently told her they would be doing a fly-by over the Olympic games in their cigar-shaped spaceship. She says the ETs have chosen the Olympics to make their big debut because it ensures a worldwide audience will see "undeniable proof of extraterrestrials' presence." They intend to make their appearance on February 21 between 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. - "weather permitting." Wouldn't it be terrible if a little bad weather prevented contact from an alien civilization? 

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