SNIPPY THE HORSE

Within the past few days a new article has surfaced about the first mutilation that made headlines. The following article explains and then after that article is my own personal story about going to that ranch.
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Snippy the alien mutilated horse for sale on e-bay. Merry Xmas

UFO lore lands on eBay
Horse that launched animal-mutilation UFO lore lands on eBay
By Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News December 5, 2006

Snippy, a horse that died mysteriously in an Alamosa field in 1967, is back in the news thanks to eBay. The Appaloosa mare's death drew international media attention when her owner, Nellie Lewis, said the 3-year-old was mutilated by space aliens. There were no tracks or blood on the ground, but the skin and flesh from the withers to the head were removed, exposing the bone. Lewis told the world media there was a strange, sweet odor that she likened to incense on the rural ranch in the area where Snippy's remains were found. The stories grew - the heart and brain were missing, too - and Snippy became the first reported case of animal mutilation by visitors from space.

Snippy, or Snippy's skeleton, dropped out of sight for decades, only to surface last week on eBay with a minimum bid of $50,000. "Whether it was a UFO or aliens or not, it is history," said Frank Duran, a marketing specialist for Dell's Insurance in Alamosa. Duran said he posted Snippy on eBay after an attorney for a local man's estate asked him to market the famed set of bones. But Monday, Duran put the Snippy bidding on hold because the local chamber of commerce and a relative of Lewis' have claimed ownership.

"When I was a kid, I remember that Snippy was displayed at the chamber of commerce," said Duran, who created the www.snippy.com Web site to market the mare. "At some point, the chamber was going to throw her away, and a guy, Herman Doty, took her with the dream of opening a museum," he said. "It didn't happen."

In the mid-1970s, the Lewis family donated Snippy to the Luther Bean Museum at Adams State College, where she was displayed until the 1980s, Duran said. From there, Snippy moved to the home of Carl Helfin, a local collector. Helfin died in 2003, and the much heralded horse skeleton was part of the estate, Duran said. With Snippy's legal ownership undetermined, Duran said he would like to see her displayed at the San Luis Valley Museum. "We could try to raise some money," he said. Dr. Wallace Leary, an Alamosa veterinarian, reconstructed Snippy's skeleton in 1968 and debunked the space aliens theory by finding two bullet holes in the horse. "The shots came from a .22-caliber and were in the left pelvic bone and the right thigh bone," Duran said. "That probably wouldn't have killed her."

Wildlife experts have said that coyotes frequently leave surgical-style cuts in carcasses, but Snippy's space-alien legend grew, fed by Lewis' stories. Lewis said the marks on the ground around Snippy included six indentations that formed a circle 3 feet in diameter, the sort of imprint a UFO might leave, according to news accounts. Lewis said she picked up a piece of the horse's mane and it burned her hands. Later, the boots she was wearing were found to be radioactive, she said.

Two years after Snippy's death, area residents said no grass would grow on the site where the carcass was found. Over the years, the San Luis Valley has became a mecca for people who wanted to see flying saucers. Hundreds of sightings have been reported to the county sheriff's office. The trend started with Snippy. "People are starting to be a lot more open to UFOs and aliens," Duran said. "People are starting to say maybe it did happen."
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Alamosa is in the fertile San Luis Valley. I didn't know then that the San Luis Valley would become very important to me in the future. (I later bought some acreage in the valley.) Alamosa is known in UFOlogy for the Harry King Ranch. It was on Harry King's ranch that "Snippy" the horse was mutilated. This was the first mutilation to be made public. We decided to visit Harry's ranch. Harry was then about 80 years old.

As you travel out toward the Great Sand Dunes National Monument you will see Mt. Blanca on the east side of the highway. Many unusual events have taken place on that mountain. If you keep watching you will see a little sign on a fence on the west side of the highway that says King Ranch. As you drive down a little desert road you will see Australian Jack Rabbits hopping all over. Harry imported those jack rabbits a long time ago. They are huge. Twice as big as a Washington Jack Rabbit. They have long black legs and black tails.

I understand another animal that was imported to the San Luis Valley for sport is the Jaguar. In fact is is becoming quite prolific.

When you arrive at the gate to the King Ranch you see signs saying "Stay out," "this means you," etc. We started honking the horn. Harry finally came out and walked up to the gate. We explained who we were so he asked us to come in. Seems we have a mutual friend from the Seattle area!

The next several hours were some of the most interesting I have spent before or since. Harry told us that Snippy was not his horse but had been pastured there, it belonged to his sister. In the evening they had fed Snippy and he was just fine. In the morning when they went to the corral Snippy was dead.

For those who are not familiar with this case, you could not imagine the sight that awaited Harry and his sister. Snippy's head was completely stripped from the neck up. The brain cavity was empty, as was the spinal fluid. The college at Alamosa took Snippy's body away. The bones are supposed to still be there. (See the above article as to where the bones are now.)

After the story became known, UFO investigators came from everywhere to interview Harry. One that lived in New Mexico, and later moved to Seattle, came to visit Harry. Only this one came purportedly in a small UFO (this came straight out of Harry's mouth!) with little landing wheels on the bottom. I never did make the connection between the man I knew in Seattle, and this person, unless Harry had the name of the person mixed up. He said that this person landed in the yard and told him he was going to give him a ride one of these days. Harry said that these little craft were seen quite often on Mt. Blanca and over the highway in front of the ranch. He had watched what looked like headlights from cars go up and down Mt. Blanca at night, as well as black helicopters coming out of the valleys. While we were there we saw four of the black helicopters coming from behind the mountain. We wondered what they could have been doing in such a desolate place.

An investigation has been done on the Mt. Blanca phenomenon. Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle wrote a paper on unsual events that took place in the vicinity. I carried it in the Missing Link in 1982 and 1983 under the name, "Rocky Mountain Ranch." (It is also on this blog.) Dr. Sprinkle was in attendance when some of the things took place. This phenomena included everything from aliens to UFOs to Sasquatch.

More than his interest in the Snippy story, Harry wanted to tell us what was even more spectacular to him. That story is about Adolph Hitler!

Four days before the war ended in Germany Harry said that he ran smack dab right into Adolph Hitler coming out of the bank in Alamosa. Not too many persons knew that Hitler owned a big horse ranch in the Denver area before the war. They also didn't know that Hitler's cousin was the banker in Alamosa. Harry had gone into town to go to the bank. The college kids were out in the street yelling, "Hitler, Hitler." He went around the corner to approach the bank door and ran straight into him. He swore it happened. He said he looked exactly like him. Harry said there was a lot of theorizing that Hitler had parachuted into the valley to pick up his money and go to South America. Since then I have paid attention to the stories about Hitler being seen in South America since the war. I still wonder....

Note: For more on Hitler ending up in South America, read the article by Shawn David Morton on Father Krespi and Wendelle Stevens. Google it: The Fourth Reich, Father Adolph and the Lost Treasure of the Nazis.