The second time I saw the infamous black helicopters was in 2010. I had first heard about them on “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse” in the late 90s in Chicago. He claimed they were a government conspiracy—black, silent, unmarked helicopters that patrolled the city monitoring citizens with heat cameras in search of…who knows. There were no terrorists then—well, at least none that everyday Americans cared about.
The first time I knew that the black helicopters were real and not just a paranoid maniac’s delusion, I was in the desert on a Sunday in the middle of the night. I had gone to the sand dunes near Glamis with some San Diego Off Road Warriors for the weekend. We stayed an extra day and were the only ones left in the barren wasteland for miles.
We were drinking beer on a distant sand dune past midnight when they came. The sky was black and awash with infinite points of distant lights. Not a single bird sang nor cricket creaked. The scorpions, fire ants and rattlesnakes silently slithered unbeknownst to us.
The helicopters came out of the night and were instantly upon us. They were black, nearly silent, unmarked, and had no lights. Five flew in formation, a single line escorted by one lit and marked helicopter in front and one in back. So quiet even in the dead of the empty desert on a Sunday night, we didn’t know they were coming until they were right on top of us. And then they were gone. Like a dream, except it was real.
Almost a decade later I saw them again. This time not so covert, but again in the barren desert. This time it was midday and only one helicopter. It flew over Saratoga Springs in Death Valley. Quiet, no call numbers, painted solid black. This time I got pictures.
Conspiracy? What do you think?