Journey to the UFO Ranch

There is a place near Trout Lake, Washington, near Mt. Adams, known as the UFO Ranch. The TV show "Paranormal State" on A&E, did a piece on this over the winter. Also known as the Gilliland Ranch, named for the owner, James Gilliland, they offer up a spectacular nightly display of weird lights in the sky. The lights appear on a regular basis around ten o'clock at night.
You can go to "Paranormal State" and take a look for yourself. It is really quite a special place.
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Naturally this called out to me as a perfect road trip from Portland.
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About six weeks ago, Dan and my friend Special Ed decided to go check it out.
It had been one of those rare days we had in June, when it was hot and dry. Mostly June had been unseasonably cool and wet. We were all anxiously awaiting the arrival of Summer, which did not get here until after the Fourth of July. This was a Saturday night in June, a night with no moon.
It was the perfect night to drive out there and see some UFO's.
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We left here about 5pm. We drove out to Hood River, and had some lunch at Taco Del Mar. The girls behind the counter had heard of the UFO Ranch, but had never been there.
We were getting excited about the prospects of what we might experience that night. We left Hood River and crossed the Mighty Columbia River into Washington, We were going to see some UFO's!
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It was getting dark by the time we arrived at the Gilliland Ranch. My contact, Nate, met us by the gate, and let us in. We drove down the long gravel road that leads to the main house. We passed by some families that had pitched tents and were enjoying a late meal. This place is open to anybody. The people there are very friendly. They are not out to make any money. You can donate a contribution if you want, or not. I put in ten bucks for the chance to sit on one of their lawn chairs and watch the show over Mt. Adams. I am just describing to you how very laid back this whole operation really is. They are just a bunch of fine people trying to share with the world this special place by Trout Lake.
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There are about fifty or so lawn chairs arranged in a field that has a straight shot view of Mt. Adams. Eventually about thirty or so people showed up to enjoy the show. These were all ordinary people like me, who were interested in this stuff, and who had an open mind about it all.
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Sure enough! At ten minutes to ten Dan and I spied this bright white light rise vertically from the Eastern flank of Mt. Adams. It rose slowly into the air, turned west, and then vanished. This sighting lasted all of about five seconds. It was the most dramatic thing I was going to see all night. But we had other, different experiences later. The UFO Ranch had delivered on its promise. That was the main thing.
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There were three people there in our little crowd who had brought along powerful laser pointers. With these laser pointers they were able to triangulate the positions of tiny specks of light flying over the heads of our group, and were able to track them. That way, everybody there could see all of these many sightings, though they were much less dramatic than the first sighting of the night. These were showing up about once every ten seconds or so. There was virtually a superhighway of UFO activity right over our heads. It was amazing.
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Someone else had also brought along night vision goggles. They let me borrow them. Through the goggles you could light orbs all around you. It made you want to duck your head, they were that close! Most of these were either green or blue. Light orbs have been tradiionally associated with paranormal activity, and with hauntings. You could not see these with the naked eye. But you could see them through a digital camera. Special Ed took some pictures.
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We had decided to give the place a couple of hours, and then drive home. I am retired, but my friends had things they had to get back to on Sunday. Two hours was enough.
Had we seen spaceships, aliens, or what? I cannot answer that question. I am just reporting here what we collectively witnessed that evening back in June.
If you live anywhere near Portland, this is an easy thing to do, and a lot of fun too. Go see something interesting at the UFO Ranch, and help support James Gilliland and his crew. Then you can tell me what you make of all this.
Mr. Charming