For many years, residents and visitors of Colorado’s mysterious and vast San Luis Valley have claimed to witness odd and unexplained phenomena taking place in the night sky. One of those ‘events’ was apparently deemed notable enough to be published on the C.I.A. website.

That document captures an article titled ‘Pair of Pueblo Youths Photograph Strange Light in San Luis Valley.’ The article appears to have been originally published on October 17, 1967 by an unidentified newspaper out of Pueblo, Colorado with its collection by the C.I.A. approved for public release in April of 2001.

Penned by R. Spencer Darling, the article details what Darling describes as “what appears to be a significant UFO sighting.” Two Pueblo 19-year-olds had traveled to the San Luis Valley for the sake of trying to photograph unexplained flying objects and ended up capturing something odd overhead.

Per the report, the two teens drove to the valley on a Friday evening with sleeping bags and “$8 for gas and food.” Once there, the teens reportedly found it difficult to find locals who were willing to direct them to the area of King Ranch, a spot where numerous UFO sightings had reportedly taken place. That said, the teens did eventually succeed in getting directions, with a local sending them about 20 miles northeast of Alamosa, just west of the road into the Great Sand Dunes – then considered a national monument instead of a national park.

The teens ended up ascending a road near the bottom of Mount Blanca and put their camera on a tripod to start observing the night sky.

The teens kept notes about the experience, stating that “no sighting” had taken place at various points starting at 11 p.m. At 1:20 a.m., however, things changed.

“It was like someone turned on a light,” reads the article. “There, out in the prairie was a brilliant, white diffused light, about the size of a penny, about 50 times larger than the dots of light made by cars and the lights of Alamosa in the distance.”

The teens ended up watching the light until about 3 a.m., noticing that it moved about the vast landscape at varied speeds while changing its intensity and color before eventually disappearing. One of the teens described the situation as “frightening,” particularly so when the light appeared to be headed toward their vehicle.

The article was published with two photographs from the teens dated as October 14, 1967. In one of the photographs, a large diffused light as was described appears to be visible near the horizon.

Looking back decades later, it may seem easy to ‘punch holes’ in the story provided by the teens. After all, the teens were headed down to the valley for the purpose of capturing UFOs on camera and within a few hours, their mission was accomplished… suspicious or lucky? While that may be the case, this sighting adds to a long list of other similar sightings that have taken place in the San Luis Valley over decades. Heck, hundreds of first-hand accounts from residents of the area are covered in ‘The Mysterious Valley’ written by Christopher O’Brien alone.

It also must be said that just because this article is published on the C.I.A. website, it doesn’t mean the agency believes it’s evidence of a UFO.

Regardless of whether or not the teens captured photographic evidence of something extraterrestrial living among us, the San Luis Valley does seem to produce an oddly high number of UFO reports.

Maybe it’s the vastness of the valley and lack of light that has people thinking they’re spotting oddities in the night sky – or maybe it’s that same darkness and vastness that makes it possible to spot things happening in the night sky that those living the city-life miss.

Find the article on the CIA website here and learn more about the San Luis Valley here.

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