High Strangeness Series Part One:
– Tonto National Forest
A field geologist for the state of Arizona often travels to remote areas of the state while performing his assignments. On April 17th, 2024 he was sent to conduct routine hydrological analysis in the Fossil Creek area, a remote wilderness setting in the northern section of Tonto National Forest.
He spent the day taking measurements and samples at fixed points along a 3 mile stretch of the creek working his way upstream toward its headwaters. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and he finished his collections around 4:45 p.m.
With lots of daylight left he decided to hike to an unmarked spring that was mentioned to him by a colleague in order to check it out.
After about 20 minutes of hiking he noticed that the forest had gone almost completely quiet: no bird calls, no insect sounds, not even the rustling of leaves. The silence was encompassing and unsettling. About this time his digital watch began flickering and the display on his GPS unit was behaving erratically.
Eventually he burst upon a small clearing that wasn’t visible until he was practically standing in it. In the center was a pool of water roughly 50 or so feet in diameter. He noted that unlike the blue green waters of Fossil Creek this water was unnaturally clear. So clear it was difficult to gauge its depth.
The spring that fed it emerged from a crevice in the limestone wall of the canyon. The geologist noticed something unusual about the limestone, it appeared to have been melted and solidified in a pattern that resembled flowing liquid frozen in
time. He had seen similar formations created by extreme heat but never in that particular geological setting. More disturbing were the perfectly circular impressions embedded in the rock face, seven of them each approximately 11 inches in diameter arranged in a precise heptagon pattern around where the spring emerged.
The geologist was certain that the formations were not natural, rather they exhibited tool marks as if some tool had formed them with remarkable precision. Even the edges were odd showing signs of extreme heat vitrification with the limestone partially transformed into a glass-like substance. The problem is that temperatures exceeding 2,700° F would be required to produce the glass-like substance. Even if a forest fire could produce such a blazing hot temperature why would its effects be localized to such a small area?
As he was pondering this conundrum he began hearing rhythmic vibrations coming from beneath the ground yet his instruments registered no seismic activity. Even more curious is how the vibrations followed a distinct pattern of seven pulses a pause five pulses a longer pause then three pulses before repeating. He began photographing and measuring these anomalies. Despite growing unease he collected a water sample from the spring and noted that despite the afternoon temperature still being around 75° the water was unnaturally cold with a digital thermometer reading of 34.8° F, just above freezing.
While packing away his equipment he noticed a distortion in the air above the pool similar to heat mirage but more pronounced and localized. Through this distortion the rock face on the opposite side of the clearing appeared to shift and waiver revealing what looked like a darkened passage or tunnel that he was certain hadn’t been visible moments before.
At that point caution overrode scientific curiosity as he was almost overcome with a feeling of dread causing him to leave post haste following his way back toward the main trail. As he moved away from the spring his equipment gradually returned to normal function while forest sounds also slowly returned.
As a result of his unsettling experience the geologist began researching the area’s history looking through Forest Service archives. In reviewing them he found a series of internal memos dating back to 1976 citing anomalies in the exact coordinates where he had found the unusual spring. The memos were heavily redacted but several mentioned acoustic signatures and gravitational inconsistencies.
Afterwards the field geologist began searching through newspaper archives and found scattered reports of hikers experiencing unusual phenomena in that general area. Most described unexplained equipment failures, disorientation and even lost time. Three separate articles mentioned hearing mechanical humming coming from underground. Most disturbing were reports from 1988, 2003 and 2019 of hikers spotting what they described as people who didn’t seem quite right, individuals observed at a distance who moved with unusual strides only to disappear when approached.
At this point the geologist decided he needed more specific information and reached out to researchers in bioacoustics at the Arizona State University. To his surprise one of the research scientists described her experience with the same rhythmic vibrations in the Tonto Forest he had experienced.
The acoustic anomalies were most active between 2:30 and 3:45 a.m. and appeared concentrated in a 1/4 mile radius centered on what their maps showed to be the exact location of the spring the field geologist had encountered.
A preliminary analysis indicated the sounds originated from at least 80 ft below the surface. Even more surprising was what appeared to be responsiveness to human activity: changing vibration patterns when the team was present versus when only automated equipment was recording. As if that whatever was generating the sounds seemed aware of being monitored!
But there was even more intrigue. The Arizona State scientists
also documented electromagnetic (EM) anomalies correlating with the acoustic events. The EM spikes had been detected by equipment designed to monitor lightning strikes but occurred even during clear weather with no storm activity.
This information led the geologist to investigate unusual wildfires that had affected Tonto National Forest between May and August of 2024. Through a contact at the regional forest service office he gained access to internal reports not included in public releases. Simply put what he found defied conventional wildfire behavior. Specifically five major fires had started simultaneously at points forming a perfect pentagon with the approximate location of the spring at its center!
More disturbing was data showing these fires had burned at temperatures exceeding 2,300° F in certain areas significantly hotter than typical forest fires.
The fire investigation reports listed all five ignition points as caused by lightning despite weather data showing no lightning strikes in those specific locations on the dates in question. In other words the lightning explanation was nothing more than subterfuge fed to the public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7n6kdTdQEY&t=208s
At this point in time we have the scientific tools to document the high strangeness that encompasses certain regions of the Tonto National Forest but we are not even close to explaining it.
– National Security Correspondent Mark Adams