Thanks to everyone who wrote after this morning’s post. This is still scary as hell, but it’s really encouraging to know that other people are trying to solve this as well.

A couple days ago I asked if anyone might know why the government would position the National Guard outside of Piedmont on false pretenses. As it turns out, a lot of people have theories about that question, and since I don’t know what else to write, I figured I’d share some of them.

CHEMICAL SPILL

“Jim” wrote:

…Some things I noticed from the video clip. The soldiers are wearing their protective masks (aka gas mask) carriers on their waists. That suggests there might be a NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) threat. I can tell you that the UT national guard has no Infantry or MP (military police) units, which would be the standard type of units for road check points. I doubt they are [Special Forces] because they don’t look like or have the gear that a SF unit would have. I would lean toward the Civil Support team. They specialize in haz-mat and WMD threats. Like others have said. The simple fact of a military presence tells you something is going on… (4/21/2008, 6:30 PM)

ALIENS & UFOS

“Lucky” wrote…

I don’t believe in coincidences and I’m not trying to jump to conclusions, but I was following a story about a spy satellite that was supposed to fall to Earth sometime in February or March. It was big news, but then nothing. I can’t even find out where it landed. Anyway, during this timeframe, a friend of mine, Rich, was camping in Utah with some college friends and they stated that they saw an UFO. I didn’t take him seriously because of the amount of alcohol consumption that takes place at their campouts. What does this have to do with this? They now say that they didn’t see anything. You ask them about it and they either deny seeing it or they laugh it off. I can’t explain the look in his face when I told him about what is going on in Piedmont, UT. It’s like he has seen a ghost. (4/23/2008, 9:01 AM)

GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENTS

“Jon Mac” wrote:

your town is perfect, no public attractions, very little population, like you said everyone that lives there usually stays there so there is very little outside history of piedmont so if you were going to test something and needed a control your town would be PERFECT. also when any kind of millitary operation is set up all access to local media and telephone is rerouted for only millitary usage only. your town was cut off so the military can make broadcasts and reports on there experimentations. also your town is very well hidden with the next town being what like 40 miles away. im also sure that air traffic over your town is very minimal if at all when wierd things arent happening. (4/20/2008, 3:23 PM)

UNDERGROUND FIRE

“Coney” wrote:

What about an underground fire? There’s one in Pennsylvania that’s been burning for decades- could have caused a quick, but local, evacuation where no one would have had time to get word to media. Evidently it happens in mining towns- here’s the Wikipedia article on the one in Penn. (4/19/2008, 12:06 AM, via e-mail)

All in all, it’s too much for me to take in right now. Half of it sounds so out there that it just makes me want to laugh. On the other hand, nothing feels very funny right now.

And the idea that any of these theories could be true is even worse.