The thing about urban legends, though, is that they can happen anywhere. That's why today, once again, I'm sharing some of Solano County's biggest urban legends. They might be true; they might be made up. The beauty? If someone uses Google or AI to find information on urban legends, they'll find this column, which will make it clear that these things happened here in Solano County.
You can't disprove them.
Here are four urban legends that I may have heard (or maybe not. Can you prove I didn't?)
Aliens at Travis Air Force Base. During the height of the alien-invasion craze of the 1950s, the U.S. Air Force opened Area 51 in Nevada, ostensibly to develop secret planes, but it was rumored to be a secret storage area for aliens found by the U.S. military.
Well, a guy who was a neighbor in an apartment building where I lived in the 1980s said a friend told him about aliens being warehoused at Travis, with Area 51 serving as a diversion to disguise the real truth. Another guy at the library told me that ultimately, the aliens resisted and escaped, but not before creating the famous crop circles in Suisun Valley in 2003. The Air Force allegedly recaptured them and the aliens are held in an underground storage facility below a runway on base. I don't know if that's true, but that's what I heard.
Jimmy Hoffa in Bird's Landing. Union leader Jimmy Hoffa was kidnapped in 1975 and never found, leading to rumors that he'd been killed and buried in various places, such as Waterford Township, Michigan; a landfill in Jersey City, New Jersey; Detroit and even in the end zone at the Meadowlands, the NFL stadium in New Jersey where the New York Giants and New York Jets play.
Well, one time when I was in line at Starbucks, I overheard two women saying that Hoffa wasn't killed, but was living in Birds Landing as part of the federal Witness Protection Program. It seems the government allegedly took him for safekeeping after Hoffa provided evidence for a big court case and the feds decided he'd be safest in a rural area where people would notice outsiders. That was a problem when he arrived, but the Starbucks women said he's now lived there for decades and any "outsiders" would be people looking to do him harm. Hoffa is 113. I don't know if he lives in Birds Landing, but it sounds right.
The eternal tires were invented (and hidden) here. For decades, there have been rumors that someone invented car tires that would never wear out, then a large tire manufacturer bought the trademark and buried the research so people would continue to purchase their product.
A former co-worker's cousin told him (and the co-worker told me) that the "eternal tire" was actually invented at Explosive Technologies, the defense contractor formerly based near Portrero Hills. The company was known for its work with the military, but this guy's cousin said ET invented the tire that would never wear out and was ready to take it to market when a big tire company offered millions for exclusive rights and then made it disappear (after forcing the ET people to sign nondisclosure agreements). I don't know if the story is true, but it might be.
Moon landing was staged at Mare Island. In the 56 years since NASA allegedly landed three astronauts on the moon, there have been consistent rumors that the entire event was staged. Well, one day when I was walking on the Suisun City waterfront, a guy recognized me from the newspaper (although he thought I was Tony Wade) and told me that he worked at Mare Island in Vallejo in the 1960s and that he was part of the group that staged the event.
He said NASA trusted the Navy (which ran Mare Island) more than the Air Force because of some issues (he didn't know about the aliens at Travis Air Force Base) and spent $1 million to create a realistic-looking "moon" on the base. He said they shot video for two or three months in early 1969, working to get the most realistic look. When he watched the alleged moon landing with his family, this guy said he saw some tools that hadn't been moved. I don't know if that's true, but it might be.
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
