Is the truth stranger than fiction? You can make a strong case in 2022. A Ukrainian comedian became president, and now he’s defending his nation from Russian invaders. Last week, Hollywood darling Will Smith slapped the taste out of Chris Rock’s mouth on live TV. And oh yeah, the U.S. government admitted it’s been tracking UFOs for decades.
You would think the UFO/UAP news would be a bigger story. But hey, we’re living in the Upside Down right now. After the UFO news broke, the world went back to brunching on avocado toast and doom-scrolling Twitter.
If you’re like me, the government’s stunning admission opens Pandora’s box. If UFOs are real, what are they; secret military tech, foreign adversaries, Thanos’ strike team? Where do these “things” come from? And what are they doing while they’re here? Documentary filmmaker Seth Breedlove is asking all the same questions. And unlike the mainstream media, he’s searching for answers.
Breedlove’s latest documentary, On the Trail of UFOs: Night Visitors, sees him once again team up with paranormal investigator Shannon Legro for a plunge into the world of high strangeness. The duo travel to the American west to examine one of ufology’s most perplexing mysteries.
Colorado’s San Luis Valley is what’s known as a paranormal hotspot. So, when one interviewee says that residents keep loaded shotguns near their front doors, we understand why. For decades, locals have reported disembodied voices, poltergeist activity, Sasquatch sightings, UFOs, alien abductions, and mutilated animals.
While Night Visitors touches on many types of paranormal encounters, it focuses on animal mutilations – one of the more disturbing aspects of UFO lore. The mutilation issue began receiving attention in the 1960s when farmers across North America started reporting their healthy livestock turning up dead under odd circumstances.
Farmers would find animals (usually cattle) laying on their sides and sliced open as though they had received an autopsy. The bodies were missing eyeballs, tongues, and hearts; each removed with surgical precision. Things only get stranger from here.
A lack of teeth and claw marks on the bodies rule out attacks from predators. Even if that were the case, there are still no footprints or animal tracks leading away from the body. And despite all the deep wounds and missing body parts, there is no sign of spilled blood anywhere near the body. In some cases, the bodies have broken ribs or horns driven into the ground as though they were dropped from the sky.
Unlike alien abduction claims or UAP flyovers, mutilations present investigators with hard evidence. Yet, even after tens of thousands of reported mutilations, investigators are no closer to figuring out who is behind these killings. Some people claim cultists are behind the killings, while others insist it’s secret government programs. However, no one ever caught a cultist committing these crimes.
Legro speaks to locals who’ve dealt with the issue first-hand, and their stories are chilling. One man has lost almost one cow a year since 1996. He describes bodies turning up missing eyes and sliced apart with “laser cuts.” I must point out Night Visitors features plenty of gnarly images of dead cattle, so you may not want to snack while you watch this one.
Stalking the Herd author Christopher O’Brien has investigated cattle mutilations for over two decades, and he’s uncovered animal mutilations dating back to 1605. O’Brien says that even though most incidents are explainable, there are one or two cases out of a hundred that keep him up at night.
If you’re looking for something to keep you up at night, Night Visitors has you covered. There’s a creepy account from a man who claims aliens abducted him. He tells a story about waking up to a voice whispering, “Came back for you.” Regardless of whether you believe the story, there’s no doubt about the trauma he endures . You can’t help but feel for the guy as he talks you through his harrowing experience. Breedlove accentuates the story with b-roll of intense lights, shadow-filled rooms, and alien beings.
Speaking of b-roll, Night Visitor’s liberal use of UFO footage hurts the film’s credibility. The doc features assorted clips of UAP darting around the sky in impossible ways. It’s clear some of the clips are the work of a talented graphics team. But some clips could pass for real-life footage. The film doesn’t bother distinguishing between what’s real and what’s embellished. So there’s going to be lots of people watching this doc believing certain shots were actually captured in the San Luis Valley.
Though misleading at times, Night Visitors is still a great-looking film that puts other UFO docs to shame. The film features loads of stunning drone footage showing off Colorado’s rugged mountains and lush forests. Breedlove’s use of static and distortion effects give the film a retro/VHS cassette vibe that further blurs the line between fact and fiction.
Night Visitors packs in some hard-to-swallow stories, along with dubious hearsay and objective speculation. With the exception of author Christopher O’Brien, the doc doesn’t feature anything near a skeptical point of view. But at least the film doesn’t try to provide definitive answers about what people are experiencing. Breedlove and Legro put the information out there for viewers and allows them to draw their own conclusions.
In the end, Night Visitors won’t move the needle for people already immersed in UFO lore. It covers the same type of material examined in History Channel’s The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch and Ben Mezrich’s book The 37th Parallel: The Secret Truth Behind America’s UFO Highway. However, if you’re new to ufology, this doc is a solid introduction to the UFO phenomena and all the peculiarities that come with it.
With its solid production values, On the Trail of UFOs: Night Visitors offers an insightful and entertaining look at the link between UFOs and high strangeness.
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