Sunspots’ Hidden History
Time seems to have all but forgotten Sunspot, New Mexico. This small unincorporated community in the Sacramento Mountains in the south-central part of the state. In 1856 Don Francisco Montes de Oca, a rancher, was given a land grant to begin a ranching operation. He built a small adobe house that still stands today.
The post-World War II era provided ample opportunities to create and fund new science and space-focused projects. The location and the lack of light from major cities made this a perfect spot for observing the night sky. In 1947, the Army Air Core constructed and manned the Sunspot Solar Observatory to study the sun and its effects on the Earth’s atmosphere. However, the operation was shut down in 1955. The National Science Foundation took over the observatory in 2016 when the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) was contracted by the National Science Foundation to continue the research.
The most intriguing aspect of the observatory’s surrounding property is the evident presence of a deteriorating old military base. Barracks, a dining hall, and what was likely the officers club are still standing, and their windows serve as time capsules, frozen in time for decades. Some rooms even held old surplus computers and dot-matrix printers, gathering dust.
Many of you may recall that in 2018, Sunspot was “shut down” in a manner that resembled a plot from a Tom Clancy novel. The FBI raided the compound, alleging that they had caught one of the janitors using the wifi and caught them in a “child pornography” sting. However, locals tell many other stories, ranging from UFOs to the Chinese setting up and using surveillance technology to spy on the nearby White Sands Military base.
Know Before You Go
- Region: Southwest United States
- Location: Sunspot, New Mexico
- Coordinates: 32.78801688454614, -105.81789275580556
- Costs: Check the website for tour information
- Phone: 575-434-7190
- Attraction Type: Roadside
My Visit
The friendly and welcoming staff made the visitor center a very nice place. They allowed us to tour the telescope, and we saw them in the middle of conducting their research. Upon entering, we could hear the humming of all the powered-up computers running calculations, lasers being used through lenses, and the general hum of an ancient system still functioning well under meticulous maintenance. Touring the telescope and the observatory building was quite interesting, but I found wandering around the complex even more intriguing.
One could let their mind wander with all of the random pipes in the ground, empty buildings, and what are now offices. After all, the Air Force had built it, and they have a history of constructing hidden and secretive places in plain sight. So the question arises: what is underground, is it still in use, and why did the FBI raid the facility with helicopters, APCs, and several squads of tactically dressed individuals on that weekend in 2018 and then proceed to have it lockeddown for 11 days after?
We poked around, looking into windows of the old buildings, finding meeting rooms, a dining hall, an officers club, and several buildings that looked like they were last used in the 80s or even earlier. Those rooms were then closed and never to be opened again. We even saw what must have been some type of office that they had turned into a computer and printer boneyard. Computers and dot matrix printers from the early 80s and 90s were stacked from floor to ceiling, collecting dust, and the monitors, keyboards, and mice accompanied them. Why were they still there and never removed? What were all these empty buildings used for? There is no information about how many people lived and worked on-site during the early days. Despite quite a few people wandering around the grounds, it had an eery always being watched feeling that caused the conspiracy geek in me to kick into high gear.
Part historical relic and part active science research facility, maybe there is more to Sunspot than meets the eye. If you happen to be in the Cloudcroft and White Sands, New Mexico, area, I recommend making this a stop.
Photos from my visit
