By Devin D. O'Leary

AUGUST 11, 1997: 

Mysteries & Miracles of New Mexico
by Jack Kutz

This self-proclaimed "guide book to the genuinely bizarre in the Land of Enchantment" provides a good look at some of the "High Strange" phenomena in New Mexico. Part history text, part ghost story, part AAA guide, Jack Kutz's entertaining book covers 17 unexplained stories from around the state. He provides a detailed analysis of the Mystery Stone, the intriguing account of a lost gold mine in southwestern New Mexico and a brief accounting of police officer Lonnie Zamora's 1964 encounter with a flying saucer pit stop in Socorro. Most useful is a detailed description at the end of every chapter telling how to reach the strange sites. Kutz has also written Mysteries & Miracles of Arizona and Mysteries & Miracles of Colorado. (Rhombus Publishing Company)

Adobe Angels: The Ghosts of Albuquerque
by Antonio R. Garcez

Ghosts are scary, sure, but there's also a certain romantic attraction to the idea of wispy phantoms frequenting the site of their sad lives or tragic deaths. Antonio Garcez's 1994 book collects some of the best spooky campfire stories from our area. Rather than embellish on the myths, Garcez allows eyewitnesses to tell the stories in their own words. As a result, we have regular folks like the receptionist at the KiMo Theater talking about her encounters with a child's ghost that haunts the historic venue. Garcez has also published two other books in the Adobe Angels series: Ghosts of Las Cruces and Southern New Mexico and Ghosts of Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico. (Red Rabbit Press)

The Day After Roswell
by Col. Phillip J. Corso, Ret.

There are dozens of books on the Roswell UFO crash clogging up the shelves these days. The Day After is the latest page-turner to hit stores. It's written by an Air Force officer who allegedly saw alien bodies in a Roswell airplane hanger. Phillip Corso is a nice old man telling a great after-dinner yarn to the grandkids, but he doesn't really advance any hard evidence. Corso has been billed as "the only military official to come forward with the truth about Roswell." Actually there are plenty of other Air Force folks who've come out of the woodwork lately to tell their stories. When you add it up, it looks like the military was flashing those secret alien bodies to every goober in the country. (Pocket Books)

Space Aliens from the Pentagon
by William R. Lyne

This self-published text has high entertainment value and provides ample proof that its writer, William R. Lyne of Lamy, N.M., is either a grade-A crank or the man with all the answers. According to Space Aliens, the 1947 UFO crash at Roswell was merely a government hoax seeking to distract the public's attention from researches using Tesla technologies seized from the Nazis! Conspiracy theory at its best. (Creatopia Productions)

The White Sands Incident
by Dr. Daniel Fry

Here's one of the more entertaining local UFO texts. Apparently, Dr. Daniel Fry was a scientist working at the White Sands Missile Range. Fry claims to have been abducted by a UFO right under the Air Force's nose and flown 8,000 miles to New York City. During his joyride, Dr. Fry's abductor--a benevolent alien known as A-Lan--explained to him the secret of flying saucers. Seems that an elder race called the "Nors" are the guardians of this planet. They mean us no harm, but aren't too happy with what we're doing to the planet (wars, pollution and such). According to A-Lan, it's shape up or ship out time. (Horus House Publishing)

Underground Bases and Tunnels
by Richard Saunder, Ph.D.

Looking for a good overview of secret underground bases and tunnels throughout the United States? This is as good a place as any to start. Richard Saunder mentions the Dulce, N.M., UFO base a number of times and theorizes several ways that a secret underground tunnel to Los Alamos could have been constructed (laser beams seem to be a common explanation, but I prefer the giant Flash Gordon-style drilling machines). There are plenty of random diagrams and photos, none of which actually show anything very secret, but are entertaining nonetheless. (Adams-Hall)

• UFO:Books - Yahoo list of UFO books.