-A Horse Named Snippy-

SdCNHA’s Scary Stories, Folklores, and Legends,

-A Horse Named Snippy-

One of the biggest unsolved mysteries to ever take place in the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area is a true story that happened in Alamosa on September 7, 1967. On that day a three-year-old Appaloosa named Snippy did not return home to the fence behind a ranch owner, Harry King’s home for her usual water and treat.

 Two days later Mr. King went out looking for the horse, he sadly ended up finding her remains around a quarter mile away from the ranch house. What he saw next was bone chilling and unexplainable. According to Mr. King, Snippy’s neck and head had been completely stripped of their flesh, leaving nothing but bare bone visible. 

However, the rest of Snippy’s body had remained unscathed. No blood was found around the body, and the flesh had been removed with extreme precision. Around one hundred yards away from the body there were a series of six small, round indentions in the ground that had flattened shrubbery. There were other strange reports surrounding the body, such as reports of a “sickly-sweet smell” around the body, and the exposed bones appearing bright pink to one person.

 With these strange reports and the incident itself being unexplainable at the time, including rumors of unexplained lights in the sky of the area during that time, amateur mystery solvers began to attribute Snippy’s death to aliens. Such an event shocked the agricultural communities of the Valley, and many newspaper articles were published around this time period with different reports of what may have happened to Snippy.

 While today, we cannot be sure what happened to Snippy, UFO believers and enthusiasts alike are drawn to this local story that no one can seem to explain.