After our visit by Tom Dongo we drove out to see some of the scenes around Sedona. Although, again, the UFO link wasn't too apparent this was one of my favorite parts of the tour just for the sheer beauty of the location. Dongo had made a claim that, often, UFO's were seen over the buttes and mesa's around Sedona because, supposedly, they were powering up from the geomagnetic fields emanating from these structures. Well...maybe, I suppose.
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| My new hat. |
During this visit I bought a new hat from a local American Indian vendor (pictured above). It was a cheesy little hat that said Sedona on it but it's shape and function were good and it got me by. After snapping some good shots and seeing the magnificent beauty Sedona had to offer we went back to the resort and the rest of the day was ours. Tony offered to drive us into the town, if we wanted, so we could shop or take a tour, but only Van, Bonnie, and I took him up on it. There I got some decent swag, for me, my wife, and daughter, then Van and I signed up for a Jeep tour at A Day in the West tours. Bonnie had abandoned us for an airplane tour to the Grand Canyon! but Van and I didn't want to pay the price tag for that big of an event. At A Day in the West we perused the tours they offered and were very excited to see a Jeep tour that catered to the UFO and Ghost phenomena around Sedona! Unfortunately, however, this particular tour was a "specialty" tour that had to be booked a few hours in advance and Van and I didn't have the time to wait. We opted for a semi-extreme tour that was going to happen in about 30 minutes and we figured we had enough time for that tour and to get back to the resort for diner.
Another, older couple had signed up for the same tour and once our tour guide, Amber, arrived, we loaded up and headed out to the desert outside of Sedona. Amber was a recent addition to Sedona having moved here from California about three years prior seeking a change-in-pace. She was a small slip of a girl who, I have to say, I didn't really think could handle the tougher parts of the Jeep tour, but she seriously proved me wrong. She handled that Jeep like a pro, even in the hardest elements of the desert. In looking back we should have gone for the extreme-extreme tour because the best parts of the Jeep ride were near-vertical descensions and ascensions within the desert environment! The tour was great, if a bit chilly (I was wearing shorts and seriously thought it was going to cause my cold to come back three-fold but I guess the healing powers of Sedona fought it off!) Amber told us about some of the fauna around Sedona but, unfortunately, we didn't see any snakes, rats, deer, scorpions, or spiders on our drive. I did ask Amber about the supposed mysticism surrounding Sedona, such as the claims of UFO's and the so-called vortices that permeated the area. She gave me a good, solid answer, saying that the hype was seriously overly done for the sake of tourism but that some strange events did, indeed, occur with regular frequency. This was the part I liked...talking to a local who, from what I could tell, would give me the straight-talk about Sedona. Amber was skeptical of most of the claims surrounding the spot but said nearly every one of her friends had some sort of paranormal, or inexplicable, experience within their lives. Also, she said, she and a friend were hiking in Secret Valley (not so secret, really, everybody knew of it) and they saw a couple of black helicopters buzz them overhead. The 'copters had no markings and seemed to hover overhead just long enough to make note of her and her companion before moving on.
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| More pictures like this on my Picasa album, linked below. |
During the tour we convinced Amber to drive us out to the Bradshaw Ranch which sits in the middle of the desert where, it was claimed, some pretty extreme events of high-strangeness occurred. The stories surrounding the Bradshaw Ranch mirrored those of The Skinwalker Ranch in Utah. Tom Dongo had made several claims and had many stories about this property. The location had recently been abandoned by the owner and it was now in possession of the United States government who had cordoned it off and did not allow trespassers, an action that added to the mystery and conspiracy surrounding the property. Personally I think the location was just shut down for legal issues but hey a good fantasy always brings the attention, and sometimes the money. We could only get within a mile of the ranch and Amber wouldn't take us closer for fear of being arrested or fined for trespassing. Van tried, several times and for a LONG time, to convince her to drive us back to the location later that night so we could sneak a closer look, but Amber shot him down (Van can be embarrassingly persistant sometimes, and this was one of those times.)
As the tour ended and Amber drove us back into Sedona we shared some ghost stories. Van told the others about the haunted (real haunted) house he owns, and Amber shared some of her own stories. We got back to Sedona just in time to have Tony pick us up, and we had a good diner, again at the Airport Cafe. One more sky watch that night (nothing really to report, there) while Tony, Van, and I shared a beer and got to know each other a little better.
Tony's a great guy. Later on Terry, one of the other tour guests who had been on nearly 23 of Tony's tours in America and in Europe, had shared a few stories about how Tony helps WWII vets find locations and re-connect with their experiences in Europe during his WWII tours. Tony know's his stuff when it comes to tours, and the sharing of stories about family and other experiences was a highlight of our Sedona visit. It was sort of an off-the-record time with just us guys kicking back and sharing a beer while kicking around some of this paranormal stuff between us. We crashed after about an hour or so, and woke up the next day ready to visit the Grand Canyon.
Click here to see my photo album of our Sedona visit.
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