Patrick McGuire (rancher)

Patrick McGuire (rancher)

Patrick "Pat" McGuire (c. 1940s – May 14, 2009) was an American cattle rancher from Wyoming who became one of the most publicly documented contactee cases in UFO research history. He operated a five-thousand-acre ranch near Bosler in Albany County, Wyoming, at an elevation of approximately 7,000 feet on the Laramie Plains.

Early Life and Background

McGuire was born and raised in Wyoming. He came from a multigenerational ranching family — his grandfather and father had worked the same high-plains landscape before him. He was raised in the practical traditions of the American ranching West: skilled at livestock management, weather assessment, land reading, and the self-reliance required to survive Wyoming winters at high altitude.

Friends and colleagues from before the contact period describe McGuire as:

• Highly sociable and charismatic
• Possessed of considerable intelligence and humor
• Described as having "sparks that jumped from his bright Irish eyes when he laughed"
• A respected and integrated member of the Bosler and Albany County community
• Politically ambitious — he would later run for Governor of Wyoming

He was not known as a person given to exaggeration, fantasy, or unusual beliefs prior to the contact period.

Ranch Operations

McGuire operated his five-thousand-acre ranch on the Laramie Plains, one of the most isolated landscapes in the contiguous United States. The nearest town — Bosler — had a population of fewer than ten people. His nearest neighbor was miles away.

The ranch operated at 7,000 feet above sea level, where winters arrive in October and do not typically depart until May. The Laramie Plains are characterized by:

• Persistent high-altitude wind
• Tawny high-desert grassland
• Scattered sagebrush
• Extreme temperature variance between seasons
• Very limited surface or groundwater

The latter characteristic — the near-total absence of accessible groundwater — would become central to the most physically verifiable element of the McGuire contact case: the well.

McGuire purchased the specific ranch property he would operate at the direction of, he later claimed, the Star People — who in his first contact experience (recovered under hypnosis as having occurred in 1970, before he bought the land) instructed him to acquire this particular parcel.

Political Activities

Prior to the public disclosure of his contact experiences, McGuire had political ambitions in Wyoming. He ran for the office of Governor of Wyoming. Following the public disclosure of his claims on national television in 1980–1981, his political career became untenable within the Wyoming community. The ridicule and alienation that followed his public statements effectively ended his political prospects.

Death

Patrick McGuire died on May 14, 2009, of cancer, in a hospital in Colorado. He was approximately 76 years old. His son, David Riedel, was not present at his death — Riedel later wrote that he had chosen not to be there, a decision he has since reflected on with regret.

McGuire did not change his account of his contact experiences at any point before his death. He maintained the consistency of his testimony across nearly four decades of public and private discussion.

Legacy

McGuire's case has been referenced in UFO research literature, documentary programming, and academic discussions of contactee experiences. His son David Riedel published a personal essay in 2023 addressing the case and his own evolving assessment of his father's experiences — stating that following recent developments in UAP congressional disclosure, he was "not so sure anymore" that his father's experiences were fabricated.

The water well that McGuire drilled at the location specified by the Star People remains, as of available research, physically present on the property — confirmed by well driller Rick Henderson and documented by McGuire's aunt in written correspondence.