Ron Regehr: Trip to Utah

[Christopher O'Brien]

As some of you may recall, I mentioned on this weeks episode that I was planning a trip up to UT to visit this week's guest, Ron Reghr. We spent the wkend nosing around the south end of the Uintah Ute Indian Reservation where rumors have mentioned heightened UFO activity of late. As the fates would have it, there is a wonderful, powerful petroglyph site just south of the reservation--up Sego and Thompson Canyon. We didn't spot any peculiat craft flitting about over the rez, but we did photograph a series of ancient petroglyphs--some of which may go back over 7 to 8 thousand years. Two main panels seem to protect the entrance to the canyon. Off to he side is a rather demonic image that appears to be standing guard over the site. I wouldn't want to meet his mother! ...

This is the first main panel at the mouth of the canyon.

This panel is located across the canyon, facing the first panel.

This lovely "guardian"-looking demonic figure is located off by itself to the left of the above panel. I conducted an EVP session right in front of it to allow "whatever is there" the opportunity to communicate. As I asked questions, a tri-field meter spiked at each question. We were joined on our Sego Canyon trip by Chuck Modlin MUFON Deputy Director of Investigations, and his wife Vicki. Chuck operated the EM detector and noted the apparent anomalies . To be honest, I sensed that the upper part of the canyon--located at the extreme southern edge of the Ute Reservation has a real foreboding, ancient buzz. My imagination felt like there was something going on up there and that these ancient petroglyph panels were either placed there to warn off the curious and/or keep something in check. I know, that sounds rather woo-woo and subjective, but that's the feeling I got. Go visit and you tell me what you think... I'll review the evp session and provide an update, if warranted.

btw: If anyone is interested, I can post more info about this field trip (that included Arches Nat Mon plus other notable spots) and the various petroglyph and dinosaur fossel sites we visited. They were all sublimely impressive, I must say!

 

[pixelsmith]

Fascinating! Please post more! I would also love to see some higher resolution images or any others you have not posted yet.

---------- Post added at 12:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 AM ----------

what is the size of these petroglyphs?

 

[tyder001]

I look forward to it. Also, very interested in the evp experiment.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Fascinating! Please post more! I would also love to see some higher resolution images or any others you have not posted yet....what is the size of these petroglyphs?

Here you go--6.24 meg:
The largest figures were about 3/4 life sized. There were obviously about three to four layers of overlayed images. The faintest at the back may be as old as "9000 years," according to Ron.
This is the entrance panel that sits within Federal Land and is fenced. It is located on a wall about 10' up from the viewing area.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Here you go-- 2 meg: This is the panel parallel across the canyon from the first one. It sits on private land that is used as a cattle loading area (by the indians?). Watch out for the cow pies!

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Here's Mr. Spooky:
I stood eyeball2eyeball to this guardian figure; conducted a simple tobacco blessing and then sat down and conducted a five minute EVP session. Because this side of the canyon entrance is on "private" property, you are able to walk up and get nose2nose w/ this particular glyph figure. I must say, it had a particular buzz... Approaching it, you had to dodge the cow pies. It sits overlooking a cattle loading area. How appropriate (?!)

 

[pixelsmith]

Here's Mr. Spooky:
I stood eyeball2eyeball to this guardian figure; conducted a simple tobacco blessing and then sat down and conducted a five minute EVP session. Because this sie of the canyon is on "private" property, you are able to walk up and get nose2nose w/ this particular glyph figure. I must say, it had a buzz... Approaching it, you had to dodge the cow pies. It sits overlooking a cattle loading area. How appropriate (?!)

Were there any mutilated cattle around there? haha... So is that a raven or a crow on its shoulder? is the rock as red/orangish as it looks in the photo?

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Were there any mutilated cattle around there? haha... ... is the rock as red/orangish as it looks in the photo?

No, no mutes and yes, that's the color of the rock and art. I did a slight contract adjustment to bring out the color, but these digital versions is pretty accurate.

 

[dyingsun]

I'm not at all versed in native american culture, but I think the horned ones depicted actually references to buffalos (sorry for being redundant) . I actually wore a european wolf, head and skin, on my head.

 

[Kandinsky]

Here's Mr. Spooky:
I stood eyeball2eyeball to this guardian figure; conducted a simple tobacco blessing and then sat down and conducted a five minute EVP session. Because this side of the canyon entrance is on "private" property, you are able to walk up and get nose2nose w/ this particular glyph figure. I must say, it had a particular buzz... Approaching it, you had to dodge the cow pies. It sits overlooking a cattle loading area. How appropriate (?!)

It's a shame some asshole has vandalised this figure. It was originally in silhouette form and the 'eyes' have been added much more recently. I guess that someone's mind saw the 'horns' and thought of Old Nick or demons and couldn't resist!?

Thanks for posting the images, they're very good and it sounds like a pretty interesting day over there.

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

I'm not at all versed in native american culture, but I think the horned ones depicted actually references to buffalos (sorry for being redundant) . I actually wore a european wolf, head and skin, on my head.

For the most part animals are shown sideways or from the top looking down, humans are usually shown looking forward toward you. The only buffalo I've ever seen have been depicted sideways. Ron definitely interprets this is as a human guardian form, and a nasty one at that! He has done quit a bit of research into the nuances of this art-form (he's finishing up a book/dictionary for deciphering petroglyphs) and he mentioned that this particular figure is very unique and powerful. FWIW, I suppose---to each their own...

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Shaman Panel [2.7 mg file]

Here's another interesting panel. It's located the furthest up the canyon--about 40' north of demon dude. Ron mentioned that the top figure is surrounded by broken lines, or dots. This signifies a shamanic figure at work (?) I attached a closeup. The shaman looks like he has some sort of ant person at arm's length on the left while another ant-looking shape is flying in from above to the right. Interesting...
Because the top figure is in shadow, I played with it a bit with photoshop to isolate the upper and lower figures.

 

[Charles Swenson]

Oh yes, Sego is really one of the finest and most accessible sites for rock art there in SE Utah!

One of my favorites is the strangely Eutruscan appearing 'snake dancer' below...




And as for that devil, I especially liked the juxtaposition in the picture below, which I've always liked to call "The Devil and the Cowboy's Girlfriend"...



Did you happen to make it to 9 Mile Canyon?

Chtonic Charlie, the Chronic Curmudgeon

 

[Charles Swenson]

Shaman Panel [2.7 mg file]

Well, that old devil panel is interesting indeed, as is all of the art out there. I particularly liked this viewed, caught from the backside of a boulder. I like to call it The Devil and the Cowboy's Girlfriend. (She is, of course, on the boulder, a little hard to see, but there they are contemplating each other!)There is a lot of cowboy art out there as well, interesting in it's own right, at least when it doesn't consist of adding bullet holes to the older art in the area. It 's funny how people have now started defacing the cowboy art as well, which I guess only goes to prove that one person's art is another person's source of outrage.

By the way, did y'all go on up the canyon and visit the Sego ghost town? It was a major coal mining area, with the old railroad (there is still the remnants of an old rail bridge beneath the main panel on the west side of the canyon) running from there to Thompson Springs, at the head of the canyon. That source of coal was the raison d'etre for Thompson Springs, which was a major rail stop up to the earlier part of the 20th century. Then the interstate came through, replacing the railroad as the major source of transport as well as just slight missing the town itself, which is in the process of becoming a ghost town itself.

Civilizations come and go, but their artifacts tend to hang around a bit longer.

Cthonic Charlie, Semi-Civilized Curmudgeon

 

[Charles Swenson]

With regards to how large these figures are (though forgoing any snarky remarks about their origin) this should give you a fair idea.

​

I kind of hated to find this picture, which is from a BLM website, but it does emphasize that this is a federally protected site, with all that entails. One of the hardest things about seeing great rock art in Utah is just how frequently it is defaced, though with time some of the comments placed by those heathen white men go way on back into the 19th century, making it historic in it's own right.

​

Here's another picture to give an idea of their size.​

These and other pictures from the Sego site can be found on my website, DirtBrotherCharles, as well as pictures from other sites, many from southeastern Utah. That area has more rock art than you can shake a stick at, a great deal of which is sinfully accessible.​

Rock art is also a Rorscharch test of sorts, whereupon almost anyone encountering it begins to place upon it their own interpretations, which makes it quite fascinating to watch other peoples reactions to it, frustrating as that may be to archaeologists. As Kurt Vonnegut so succinctly put it in those words of wisdom from Bokonin...​

Tiger's gotta hunt, bird's gotta fly,
Man's gotta ask himself why, why, why​

Tiger's gotta sleep, bird's gotta land,
Man's gotta tell himself he understand...​

It just seems to be man's natural reaction to a mystery or enigma, to reach some sort of conclusion, however tenative, to it's meaning.

Cthonic Charlie, the Avocational Curmudgeon
(who can found in his incarnation as an avocational archaeologist at, once again, DirtBrotherCharles)

 

[Christopher O'Brien]

Shaman Panel [2.7 mg file]

By the way, did y'all go on up the canyon and visit the Sego ghost town?

Yes, and we went up the other canyon to the west and visited the spring.

 

[jtaylor]

Thank you so much for posting. I love native american history, especially petrogryphs. It really makes you wonder what they were really seeing back in those days.

 

[trainedobserver]

It really makes you wonder what they were really seeing back in those days.

Peyote visions?

 

[Charles Swenson]

Peyote visions?

Southeastern Utah is considerably beyond the naturally occuring range of peyote, but in Lower Pecos River rock art peyote is generally considered to have been a factor, with some saying it is represented in some motifs. Other entheogens, specifically Datura and the mescal bean, are also thought to have played a role in rituals, with many of those rituals associated with rock art sites. There are archaeological sites where mummified peyote buttons, as well as "manufactured" peyote buttons are found, though in ritual context, never in middens since it was considered to be a sacred subject.

The role of hallucinogens has long been considered a possibility, with an 1978 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association specifically addressing the possibility (Wellmann, KF, North American Indian Rock Art and Hallucinogenic Drugs, JAMA 1978 April 14; 239(15): 1524-7), and Carolyn Boyd's work at the Shumla School more recently.

Nothing like those old hallucinogens to make one start reconsidering the underpinnings of one's reality and feed a new mythology of transdimensional interactions! The concept of certain rock art panels as paleo-psychedelic posters is not that far out of the question, though at this point in time it's a rather slender limb to go climbing too far out on...

Cthonic Charlie, the Causality Challenged Curmudgeon