{"id":9681,"date":"2018-07-25T21:29:02","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T03:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9681"},"modified":"2018-08-14T10:11:28","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T16:11:28","slug":"ufos-bigfoot-and-economic-development-in-the-coal-camps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9681","title":{"rendered":"UFOs, Bigfoot, and Economic Development in the Coal Camps"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Some Rockvale residents are not too welcoming.<\/p><\/div>\n

Three little towns in Fremont County, Colo., are referred to collectively as “the coal camps.” Rockvale<\/a>, Coal Creek<\/a>, and Williamsburg <\/a>all housed coal miners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I don’t know when their populations originally peaked \u2014 maybe in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

They had a reputation for insularity, partly due to ethnic and language issues. Many of the miners were Italian or Slovenian or of other Eastern European origin. Meanwhile the county seat, Ca\u00f1on City,<\/a> was a stronghold of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan\u2014the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic incarnation of the KKK. You can see how there might have been some conflict.<\/p>\n

When M. and I lived in Fremont County in the late 1980s, these three town could almost have been called “ghost towns.”<\/strong> With house prices low there, we considered buying in Rockvale or Coal Creek, but unlike Ca\u00f1on City with its several irrigation systems serving town lots, small orchards, and truck farms<\/a>, the coal camps were bone dry, not good for gardeners at all.((The word “truck” in “truck farms” does not refer to the transportation truck, which is derived from Latin for wheel, but rather from the old north French word troquer<\/i>, which means “barter” or “exchange”. The use for vegetables raised for market can be traced back to 1784 and truck farms to 1866. [Wikipedia]))<\/p>\n

In my mind, inhabitants of Rockvale, for instance, were either old Italian ladies \u2014 widows of the aforesaid coal miners \u2014 or people with a front yard full of old cars and motorcycle parts, several pit bulls, a couple of pickup trucks and a Harley, and a general attitude of “Leave me the **** alone.”<\/p>\n

Plus one real talented sculptor whom we knew. Mixed in there were some people who just found the coal towns to be a cheap place to live, as we almost did.<\/p>\n

\"\"And some of them are fans of “the unexplained.”\u00a0 <\/strong>Earlier this month, local newspapers reported an upcoming three evenings of story-swapping devoted to UFO (July), ghosts (August), and Bigfoot (September).<\/p>\n

These hair-raising events are sponsored by the Rockvale Development Committee, which was formed in February 2018 to help the town recover from recent setbacks. The focus of the Rockvale Development Committee is to raise funds while providing positive community building events and experiences.<\/a> <\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At $5 admission, they raised about $100 from a group of middle-aged to elderly locals, plus three teenagers, sitting on folding chairs in the tiny community building. Stories were swapped, and some of them were good ones \u2014 in other words, they defy rational explanation.((I have had one literal “unidentified flying object” experience, and I was able to explain it rationally, but it took me a couple of years to duplicate the original circumstance.))<\/p>\n

One that did not involve “flying objects” struck me as highly strange.<\/strong> The speaker had been a teenager in the late 1960s, living in mostly agricultural Weld County in northern Colorado. One winter evening at dusk he was walking from a neighbor’s house back to his family’s farm, a route he took often. He passed an irrigation canal with a concrete-block pump house beside it as he turned onto a little dirt road. There was a car parked by the pump house \u2014 he thought it looked like a black mid-1960s Ford Mustang, with someone in the driver’s seat.<\/p>\n

As he walked past and behind the car, he said, he looked at its interior from the rear. The interior was full of many sparkling multi-colored lights, far beyond the usual dashboard display for a Sixties car. This strange sight frightened him, and he started running<\/p>\n

Then his cousin came along in his truck and offered him a ride. Their conversation was something like this:<\/p>\n

Speaker: Did you go by the pump house?<\/em><\/p>\n

Cousin: Yeah.<\/p>\n

Speaker: Did you see a car parked there?<\/em><\/p>\n

Cousin: I didn’t see any car.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile people traded truisms<\/strong> like “There’s so much that can’t be explained in this world” or “Some talk about it, some don’t” or “The Indians saw a lot more than we do” or “There’s millions of planets out there.”<\/p>\n

But here is what bothers me, as an orthodox Jacques Vall\u00e9e-ian<\/a>, is that people hold only one or two hypotheses.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The “visitors” are from another solar system, flying here in physical spaceships.<\/li>\n
  2. The so-called spaceships are actually secret military experiments.((This group had no problem with secret military experiments, as long as the taxpayers get their money’s worth.))<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Both hypotheses are mechanistic<\/strong>. But consider what Vall\u00e9e was writing years ago (via Wikipedia):<\/p>\n

    By 1969, Vall\u00e9e’s conclusions had changed, and he publicly stated that the ETH was too narrow and ignored too much data. Vall\u00e9e began exploring the commonalities between UFOs, cults<\/a>, religious movements<\/a>, demons<\/a>, angels<\/a>, ghosts<\/a>, cryptid<\/a> sightings, and psychic phenomena<\/a>. Speculation about these potential links were first detailed in Vall\u00e9e’s third UFO book, Passport to Magonia<\/a>: From Folklore to Flying Saucers<\/i>.<\/p>\n

    As an alternative to the extraterrestrial visitation hypothesis, Vall\u00e9e has suggested a multidimensional visitation hypothesis<\/a>. This hypothesis represents an extension of the ETH where the alleged extraterrestrials could be potentially from anywhere. The entities could be multidimensional beyond space-time, and thus could coexist with humans, yet remain undetected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    When we get to the ghosts and Bigfoot events, will people make these links?<\/p>\n

    Rockvale may have some hostile residents, but it has no monster \u2014 nothing along the lines of Nessie<\/a>, Mothman<\/a>, or the Jersey Devil<\/a>.<\/strong> Towns that do have monsters can use them for economic development, just like a saint’s grave or the temple of a god.<\/p>\n

    “A Search for Mysteries and Monsters in Small Town America: How Monster Festivals Became American Pilgrimage Sites<\/a>,” an article on Smithsonian.com<\/em> by religion scholar Joseph Laycock, connects sightings with the human hunger for mystery.<\/p>\n

    Many find legends like the Lizard Man [of Bishopville, South Carolina] enthralling. But some become obsessed, longing to know more about something both mysterious and frightening. In these monster hunters, I see elements of religion. . . . Here I see another connection to religious traditions. Pilgrimage has always been an economic phenomenon, and many medieval towns<\/a> depended on stories of local miracles to draw pilgrims. By inviting in the cryptozoology tribe, today\u2019s small towns are celebrating aspects of local culture that were once pushed to the periphery or mocked. But like the medieval towns of the past, their local economies are getting a nice little boost, too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Read the whole thing<\/a>. And keep looking up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Three little towns in Fremont County, Colo., are referred to collectively as “the coal camps.” Rockvale, Coal Creek, and Williamsburg all housed coal miners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I don’t know when their populations originally peaked \u2014 maybe in the 1920s. They had a reputation for insularity, partly due to ethnic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,82,233,22],"class_list":["post-9681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colorado","tag-fairies","tag-pilgrimage","tag-weirdness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-2w9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6611,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6611","url_meta":{"origin":9681,"position":0},"title":"Beltania Festival Moves Closer to the Capitol","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It was nice while it lasted, having a Pagan festival near enough that, if my schedule was too crowded, I could at least buy a day pass and hear the best concerts. Not any more. Beltania is pulling out of District 12* (where the coal miners once toiled) and moving\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"Maypole procession 2011 (Photo by Robin Vinehall).","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/maypole4-crystalize.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":415,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=415","url_meta":{"origin":9681,"position":1},"title":"\"Goddess of the North\"Plans are\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 20, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Goddess of the North\"Plans are underway to create a huge goddess figure next to a northern British highway. Ironically, the material to scupt her will be the overburden (\"mining spoil\") removed from an open-pit coal mine.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4562,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4562","url_meta":{"origin":9681,"position":2},"title":"Giant Green Goddess","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Northumberlandia is the name of a new sculpture made at the site of a former open-pit coal mine in northern England. The work is described as \"goddess-like,\" but please, not Pagan: There was no intention to make a Pagan figure or mimic any ancient fertility symbols, despite her breasts which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.telegraph.co.uk\/multimedia\/archive\/02322\/Northumberlandia-1_2322661b.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.telegraph.co.uk\/multimedia\/archive\/02322\/Northumberlandia-1_2322661b.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.telegraph.co.uk\/multimedia\/archive\/02322\/Northumberlandia-1_2322661b.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":934,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=934","url_meta":{"origin":9681,"position":3},"title":"The Wind that Shakes the Pine Trees","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a sunny day with a brisk wind blowing. Pine needles are in the air. M. and I both slept in a little last night after returning at midnight from one of the Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival concerts.We went to one last year too, to hear Kim Robertson's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Celts\"","block_context":{"text":"Celts","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=celts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4628,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4628","url_meta":{"origin":9681,"position":4},"title":"The Multivalent Mothman","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month I wandered off into Mothman territory, but here is more, from the editorial blog of the Bulletin for the Study of Religion. There is an annual Mothman festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and two entries deal with it: \u201cWest Virginia is one big portal!\u201d Reflections on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5171,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5171","url_meta":{"origin":9681,"position":5},"title":"An Eggcorn that Annoys Me a Lot","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"See the leather straps crossing the horse's neck horizontally?. Those are reins, held by the rider and used to direct the horse left or right. Raise your hand if you have held a set of horse reins in the last year. Yeah, about what I thought \u2014 not many of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"writing\"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=writing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/4\/4f\/Running_reins.JPG","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9681"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9705,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9681\/revisions\/9705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}