If Jim Sullivan is a name you’ve never heard before, you’re not alone. He was a singer who was just on the edge of success when he released his album U.F.O. in 1969. Despite hanging out with movie stars, fame eluded him. In 1975, he and his wife Barbara separated and Jim left Los Angeles and headed to Nashville. Although he only had $120 to his name, he thought he might be able to catch a break there. Unfortunately, Sullivan never made it to Tennessee. After driving 15 hours, he checked into La Mesa Motel in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and was never seen again. The mysterious nature of his disappearance is amplified by the cryptic lyrics on U.F.O. He talks about long highways, leaving his family behind, and being abducted by aliens in the desert. One thing that Sullivan’s friends pointed out as being extremely odd was the fact that he left his guitar in the car. They say that if he was planning to disappear, he would have taken it with him. In Santa Rosa, locals still recall the search parties and the rumors surrounding the mysterious drifter. From time to time guests at the La Mesa Motel request the room where Jim Sullivan never formally checked out. His friends believe that Sullivan stumbled into something or someone that was unforgiving, but they know that something happened to him and will never believe that he just walked away.
