Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Cowboys and Aliens in Antelope Valley’s Elizabeth Lake

A recent episode of Ancient Aliens on the History Channel 2 detailed the story of Lake Elizabeth being a Alien site. Indians called it Devils Lake, and they spoke about a Thunder Bird or “rocket plane”? Ancient Alien hosts described it as potential plane, since Indian legend describe it as a bird with fire (ThunderBird). Many ranchers in the past have complained about missing and mutilated cattle over the years. The first sighting of this monster is said to have been by a rancher named Francisco “Chico” Lopez who raised cattle and sheep around Elizabeth Lake in the 1860s. The stories say the monster ate Lopez’ cattle, so he sold out in 1883 to another rancher Leonis, who tolerated the beast no more than he tolerated squatters. In a book by S.E. Schlosser’s 2005 retelling of the legend in “Spooky California,” Leonis later sold the ranch himself because the monster had been raiding his cattle and scaring off his workers. When Leonis’ ranch hands reported the monster was stealing cattle, he camped beside the lake and waited for it to emerge from the water. The rancher attacked the monster and the monster then retreated to allegedly Tombstone, Arizona where according to an April 1890 article in the Tombstone Epitaph two cowboys shot to death a creature like a giant crocodile with wings that stretched 160 feet. Was it the Lake Elizabeth Monster? If the Thunder Bird of Devils Lake is real or not there isn’t any concrete evidence, but it makes for an interesting story. We bring this up because areas need places of interest to get tourism, and people to visit. Antelope Valley currently lacks that attraction which can help bring alternative commerce to an area. Presently Antelope Valley has technology in the Stealth Bomber, Wind and Solar, spring poppy reserve and lower priced homes and land, but there isn’t anything like an out of this world experience to attract people traffic.Antelope Valley needs a legend, a phenomenal occurrence, hiking trail or something exquisite to attract visitors. Mybe there is hope that SpaceX or private space exploration craft will launch from Edwards in the future. To read more about the legend of Lake Elizabeth you can read 1930 book, “On the Old West Coast,” by Horace Bell, or S.E. Schlosser’s “Spooky California,”

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