Mystery of cars at bottom of 200-foot cliff in New Mexico comes to abrupt conclusion

Mangled cars below a cliff often count as a mystery, and there were three at the bottom of a 200-foot sandstone cliff in New Mexico’s Bluewater Canyon.

Alas, how they got there is a puzzle that will likely never be solved.

All three of the cars vanished in May, as part of a Bureau of Land Management project to restore the area to its original appearance. The Bluewater Canyon Area of Critical Environmental Concern is 268 acres near Grants, about 80 miles west of Albuquerque.

The cars did not go easily, however.

Photos show the 2011 Lincoln Navigator, 2009 Hyundai and a Dodge Colt, circa 1975, were hooked to cables and flown out of the canyon by rotor-wing aircraft.

The three dangled in the New Mexico sky for about a half mile before landing in a parking lot. From there, they were put on a flatbed truck and hauled to a recycling center, the Bureau of Land Management told McClatchy News.

As for the mystery of how they got there, failed attempts were made to find the owners, according to Darren Scott, a public affairs specialist with the bureau’s New Mexico office.

“We believe the vehicles were driven over the rim at the top of the canyon where roads exist. We do not know the reason,” Scott told McClatchy News. “We are not able to estimate how long the vehicles have been there.”

It’s also possible they were “pushed off the cliff,” the bureau says.

Federal officials viewed the cars as ”visual nuisances” rather than mysteries in the Bluewater Creek Area of Critical Environmental Concern.

There were also lingering environmental concerns over the impact of the gas, oil and tires on the water and wildlife, Scott said.

“We wanted to ensure that the three vehicles did not harm the local fish, mammal, bird, and reptile populations that may find the vehicles to be attractive artificial ‘habitats’,” he said.

Commenters on social media cheered at news the cars were gone, though the debate over how they got there continues. Others saw the news as vindication that their eyes did not deceive them.

“I told ya I seen a flyin’ car,” Mike Dossey wrote on Facebook.

This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 2:33 PM.