Dulce Base -- Thomas Costello: The Security Guard Who Came Forward
Dulce Base -- Thomas Costello: The Security Guard Who Came Forward
Identity and Background
Thomas Edwin Costello (also spelled Castello in some sources) is described in the Dulce Base mythology as a former Dulce Base security officer who smuggled out photographs, documents, and video footage of the facility before disappearing into hiding. He represents the second major witness in the Dulce narrative after Bennewitz -- but unlike Bennewitz, whose observations originated independently, Costello emerged after the mythology was already circulating and added details consistent with its existing framework.
No independently verifiable documentation of Thomas Costello has been found. No employment records, military service records, security clearance records, or address records consistent with his claimed identity and background have been produced. He is, in effect, a witness without a verifiable existence.
His Claimed Role
Costello claimed to have worked as a security officer at Dulce Base for approximately three years, attaining the rank that gave him access to multiple levels of the facility, including Level 7. He described:
- Working within a joint human-alien security operation
- Observing alien beings of multiple types daily as part of his security duties
- Having access to areas most human personnel were barred from
- Witnessing events in "Nightmare Hall" -- Level 7 -- that convinced him the public needed to know
- Photographing documents, taking photographs of the facility and its occupants, and copying data before fleeing with his family
The Dulce Papers
Costello's most significant claimed contribution is the "Dulce Papers" -- a collection of alleged photographs and documents he says he smuggled out of the facility. These include:
- Photographs allegedly showing tunnels, laboratories, and alien beings inside Dulce Base
- Documents allegedly describing the facility's operations and the human-alien agreement that established it
- Video footage allegedly showing the interior of the base
The Dulce Papers have circulated in the UFO community primarily as poor-quality photographs of photographs -- consistently described as degraded, blurry, or insufficient to establish what they purport to show. The original photographs and documents have never been submitted for professional examination. Their provenance rests entirely on Costello's testimony.
The Disappearance
Costello claimed to have gone into hiding with his family after releasing the Dulce Papers, fearing government retaliation. No subsequent contact with him has been publicly confirmed. His whereabouts -- or whether he ever existed as a real person -- remain unknown. The convenient disappearance that prevents follow-up investigation is a pattern also seen in anonymous UFO whistleblower claims in other cases.
The Thomas Allen LeVesque Confession
The Wikipedia article on Dulce Base notes that UFOlogist John Lear's 1987 claims about the base influenced one Thomas Allen LeVesque (pen name "Jason Bishop III"), who later admitted to fabricating stories about Dulce Base. LeVesque's admitted fabrications contributed to the mythology's development in ways that cannot now be cleanly separated from other sources. Whether "Thomas Costello" is a separate real person, a pseudonym used by LeVesque or another fabricator, or a genuine witness is unknown.
