So what exactly is a UFO? Well, that is the very mystery that remains to this day, and the definition of the term itself. These Unidentified Flying Objects, UFOs, have been purported to be everything from weather balloons to pieces of Russian space junk falling from orbit. However not everyone is willing to accept these explanations as the final answer to every mysterious object.
In June 1996, Standing Elk, a Lakota spiritual leader, called together tribal leaders, and welcomed all who wished to attend, to a meeting at the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. His purpose was to discuss the ancient Native belief in, and his own personal encounters with, the people of the ‘Star Nations,’ what we might call, Extraterrestrials.
Standing Elk spoke of these ‘Star People’ making themselves known long before European colonization came to North America. The ‘Star Nations’ played an integral part in the shaping of the Lakota, and Medicine men were able to communicate with spiritual entities of Mother Earth such as “the Eagle, the Deer, the Coyote, and the Star Nations.” Standing Elk spoke of these Ancient beliefs, but he also addressed his own encounter as a child, where he came face to face with a seven-foot-tall man whom he believed was not of this world.
Standing Elk’s message at this conference was clear: Alien Spacecraft, UFOs, and Extraterrestrials all existed, and made contact with Native Americans centuries before Europeans came to North American shores, and continue to make contact even to this day. (Source: LINK – Boylan, Richard. Native Elders Reveal Centuries of Extraterrestrial Contact Lore.)
America continued its expansion westward in the quest for Manifest Destiny, leading to the inclusion of the State of Washington into the Union on November 11, 1889 as the 42nd State. Even at an early age, Washington began to acquire its own share of UFO reports.
The most famous of these reports came on June 24, 1947 when Idahoan native Kenneth Arnold claimed to spot a fleet of nine mysterious objects, flying in formation, moving at incredible speed near Mount Ranier. These disk shaped objects, which he described as “extremely shiny nickle-plated aircraft” were flying at a height of 5,000 – 6,000 feet. While the altitude was certainly attainable by aircraft of the time, 
his own plane maintaining an altitude of 9,200 at the time of the sighting, it was the speed which impressed Arnold the most. These strange objects, which Arnold’s descriptions of would later coin the term ‘flying saucers’, were able to move from Mount Rainer to Mount Adams in one minute and forty-two seconds. With these two mountains being at a distance of 50 miles from one another, the aircraft would need to be traveling at a speed of over 1,700 miles per hour. Arnold even rounded the number down to 1,200 miles per hour, out of an abundance of caution, however these speeds were still unmatched by anything in existence in 1947, with the exception of missiles which travel so fast they cannot be seen by the human eye.
Arnold’s experience in Washington, at Mount Ranier and Mount Adams, introduced the world to the ‘flying saucer’ and to the shiny metal disks commonly associated with UFOs today. (Sources: http://brumac.8k.com/KARNOLD/KARNOLD.html – http://www.project1947.com/fig/1947b.htm)
The sightings around Mount Adams continue even to this day. It is at the base of Mount Adams where James Gilliland’s ECETI now stands, which boasts of several thousand eyewitnesses to the strange and unidentified occurrences in the area. With video, audio, and eyewitness accounts of the unusual happenings at the base of Mount Adams, James Gilliland’s ranch serves as a key location for all those interested in investigating the unknown phenomenon of UFOs. (Source: www.eceti.org)
The Mutual UFO Network, also known as MUFON, one of the oldest and most well known UFOlogy network has described the ranch and nearby Mount Adams as “areas of considerable interest to UFO investigators” (Source: http://www.australia.to/story/0,25197,23040467-233,00,00.html). One MUFON field investigator wrote a letter to James Gilliland following her own encounter at the ranch, where she discuessed an “apparent communication between ships in the sky and skywatchers on the ground” (Source: http://www.eceti.org/Eceti.Testimonials.html).
Beyond MUFON or other groups interested in studying the unknown, many others are attracted to the Gilliland ranch searching for their own personal experiences and answers. William Henry, a researcher of ancient artifacts and mythology, wrote of his own experiences over the July 4th weekend of 2008. Henry wrote of a mysterious flash, lighting up the side of Mount Adams, and of the failed efforts to find a natural explanation for the light he measured as nearly a quarter mile wide (Source: www.williamhenry.net). In June of 2005, Wade Frazier attended the ranch at the request of a friend. Wade had “never seen a UFO and had never tried” and was first taken in by the beauty of the ranch, not its mystery. One night, as he observed satellites overhead, he was astonished to see one of those ’satellites’ suddenly illuminate. Wade wrote of his experience:
It was spectacular, and nothing that could be explained by the typical “debunker” explanations. It was not “one of ours.” After about five seconds of brilliance, it powered down and became just one more “satellite” trailing across the night sky. (Source: http://ahealedplanet.net/ufo.htm)
Reports of UFOs have been made at the ranch by believers and skeptics, organizations and private citizens alike. It is this unknown phenomenon that continues to attract visitors as well as investigators to Gilliland’s Ranch.
One story circulating of an encounter with the legendary Batsquatch is the 1994 encounter of Brian Canfield. On a lonely rural road, Brian’s pickup suddenly stalled, but with his headlights still burning, a “humanoid creature with vast bat-like wings … nine feet tall and covered with blue fur” landed in the road a mere thirty feet ahead. The creature simply stared for several minutes, before finally flying away. Brian’s car started again, and he continued on his way home, just more puzzled than ever before (Source: forum.werewolfcafe.com/viewtopic.php?id=3091).
PRS came to investigate the ranch in August of 2008, which was subsequently filmed and broadcast as an episode of Paranormal State on A&E. During that investigation, PRS encountered a variety of unusual occurrences in the night sky of Washington. In May of 2009, PRS returns to James Gillilands Ranch, to investigate with its friends, fans, and fellow investigators in an effort to unite and unravel the mystery which has surrounded the area around Mount Adams for decades.
Article written by David Moyer.
