Non-UFO: The H1N1 pandemic

Stories of the Plague: An On-Site Report

Mexican researcher Marco Reynoso is tracking developments in the H1N1 virus’s spread throughout his country, and providing us with disturbing – if not outright alarming – information about what is going on in the streets of major cities south of the border. He quotes an e-mail from an anonymous resident of the state of Michoacan that reads thus: “I live in Michoacan. To date, 3 cases have been confirmed in this state. However, we have had people dying of similar symptoms and in fact, one of them was incinerated only a few hours after dying. Why isn’t the truth being told? I understand that caution must prevail in political and economic matters, yet it has also been said that this is the same virus that killed nearly 100 million people in 1918.”

Reynoso indicates that the state of Sinaloa (on the Gulf of Cortez) reported five suspicious cases that were promptly denied by officialdom. People are debating whether to believe the rumors or the official disclaimers, although some individuals are mistaking symptoms such as slight fevers as proof of contagion with H1N1. Things are altogether different in the city of Puebla, with confirmed cases of H1N1. People are going about their business, mouths uncovered; parents are taking their children to playgrounds and eateries. Puebla’s bus station handles twenty thousand users who commute into Mexico City, where the situation is slowly spiraling out of control. Reynoso notes that the news media is bombarding the population with so much information that people are beginning to panic. Covering one’s mouth is essential before entering commercial premises: the streets may be empty, but supermarkets are crammed with people purchasing supplies against what they see as the eventual collapse of society.

“Mexico City,” he writes, “is nearly desolate.”

The plague – or fear of the plague – keeps cars off the street, pedestrians away from their normal routine, and children away from schools. No one knows who’s infected and who isn’t. Mistrust of official sources of information has caused the citizenry to seek counsel from sources that feed off gossip and rumours. “The weaknesses and shortcomings of the Mexican health system have been laid bare along with its epidemiological alert system. Atypical pneumonia cases first began to emerge in the month of March, with deaths among the infected victims, but these were not analyzed until the USA and Canada became aware of that the virus had mutated.”

We would like to thank Mr. Reynoso for this information and will continue posting updates as they become available.

Simulacrum: The "Man of Quives"

Perhaps one of the best known sections of the UK's Fortean Times magazine is its Simulacra Corner, which invites readers to submit their photographs of natural or artificial formations that resemble something unusual. For many years I've been meaning to submit a photo of an alien creature whose visage has been part of my breakfast table for many years - a clever trick of light, shadow and formica.

But on April 20th this year, Prof. Ana Luisa Cid uploaded images to her website (www.analuisacid.com) that some readers may well remember: the figure of a shadowy imp-like creature captured briefly in the tall grasses of Perú. Dubbed "El hombre de Quives" (KEEH-vess) the image made the rounds of South American websites until a disclaimer was presented yesterday. The Quives Man is just a tree branch.

Prof. Cid's site presents letters from Peruvian TV producer Percy Bolarte and UFO researcher Anthony Choy that dissipate the air of mystery surrounding the image. Says Mr. Bolarte: "I'm a TV editor and I can tell you with all certainty that the "Quives Man" is a tiny 2 centimeter branch [...] If you see the full photo, you will realize that there's a shrub on the lower right hand of the person shooting the video. The shrub sends out a branch nearly mid-screen. The alleged alien is at the end of that branch, which is no more than the tip of the branch. Why does it move? Because when the cameraman moves forward, he creates a left-to-right motion in the object until it disappears. That is to say, he [the cameraman] walks toward the subject and the branch brushes past him. The branch is in front of the subject rather than behind him. If we freeze the image at the appropriate site, you'll realize that the branch is in front. The branch should be approximately 1.5 meters from the subject and must measure one or two centimeters. It's all an optical illusion."

As always, our appreciation to Prof. Cid for sharing this information with us, and to Messrs. Bolarte and Choy for their diligence.

Spain: Remembering the "Incident at Palomares"

Angel Rodriguez, director of Spain’s GEIFO research organization, has written to tell us that the Antena-3 network will be broadcasting a documentary tonight (04.20.09) on the famous “Palomares Incident” of the 1950s, when a B-52 bomber collided with a still-unknown object over the Mediterranean, dropping its cargo of nuclear bombs into the water. I’m taking the liberty of adding a few paragraphs of an article I wrote on the subject 14 years ago, and attaching some of the photos that Angel has so kindly shared with us regarding this event: four of the missing nukes were found; a fifth remains unaccounted for.

“Captain Charles Wendorf's orders were straightforward enough: fly his B-52 Stratofortress to the Saddle Rock Mid-Air Refueling Area to meet a KC-135 tanker. The clear skies over the Mediterranean coast of Spain made Saddle Rock a particularly suitable refueling site. The giant aircraft, an element of the 68th Bomber Squadron out of North Carolina, was in the middle of a long patrol of the Atlantic Ocean, coming as close to the USSR as they dared. But Cold War tension would be the very last factor to affect the B-52's fate.

“At 10:22 a.m. on January 17, 1966, at an altitude of thirty thousand feet, Captain Wendorf's nuclear-warhead laden Stratofortress sighted the KC-35 some 15 miles ahead in the refueling zone. The B-52 carefully jockeyed into position behind the tanker to connect with its refueling mast--a complex but efficient operation that did not involve any loss in speed on the bomber's part and in which remarkably small amounts of fuel were lost.

“But something went wrong. An unseen force bumped against the bomber's underside, pushing it upward and causing the KC-135's starboard wing to graze the B-52's cockpit. The bomber's crew felt another terrible jolt as their plane rammed into the tanker's fuselage.

“To observers on the ground witnessing the refueling maneuver, the tanker exploded into a ball of orange flame while both military aircraft disintegrated high above the earth. The long-range bomber's crew managed to jump clear of the explosion and were later rescued by Spanish fishermen after having miraculously survived their high-altitude jump. But four hydrogen bombs now lay at the bottom of the shallow coastal waters, and the efforts to retrieve them before lethal gamma radiation spread throughout the sea made headlines worldwide.

“Witnesses to the explosion claimed having seen three objects in the sky at the time of the explosion, although only the downed bomber and the disintegrated tanker should have been in the area. Suspicions arose among the Spanish military elements assisting with the rescue efforts that the USAF's frantic search for the missing warheads was, in fact, a thinly veiled excuse for finding the elusive third "airplane" -- the UFO that had caused the destruction of its aircraft and then disappeared without a trace.

“The USAF had good reasons, perhaps, to worry about a force inimical to its interests somewhere over the Mediterranean: Eight days before the Palomares debacle, a colossal fireball of unknown origin had flown over the Italian cities of Capri and Naples, causing a general blackout. Four years later, in October 1969, two jet fighters would disappear without a trace during NATO exercises held off Crete. The previous year, the French air force had lost two Mystére IV fighter-bombers on routine patrol over Corsica. The result of the military inquest was that both planes were lost due to "undetermined causes".

“Incidents such as this one are legion: UFOs--whether interplanetary or interdimensional--have engaged in a sort of "air supremacy" struggle with military aircraft of all nations since the first foo-fighter encounters during the Second World War. Fighters, bombers and transport planes have been intercepted and fired upon by unidentified objects, while others have been destroyed during efforts at getting closer to the mysterious intruders that fly over sovereign airspace with impunity.”

Puerto Rico: Unwanted Passenger or Trick of the Light?

Puerto Rico: Unwanted Passenger or Trick of the Light?

Researchers of the paranormal have found, over the years, that sometimes the paranormal is researching *them* -- was INEXPLICATA contributor José A. Martínez on the recieving end of one such probe from the unknown?

This morning (04.16.09) José sent us a message and a highly intriguing photograph. While investigating the recent spate of UFO activity in southwestern Puerto Rico, accompanied by Enfoque TV’s Luiseppi Quiñones, the latter took a photo of the rear of José’s car as a test shot. Later, when Quiñones uploaded the digital file to a new program that would keep images from becoming distorted, he chose the one depicting the rear of the auto as a test image. When he magnified it on the computer, he noticed something unusual looking back at him through the rear window. Reportedly, Quiñones remarked to his wife that “he didn’t think one of José’s daughters had come along for the investigation” and that he was otherwise alone. He phoned Martinez to advise him of this condition, and sent him the JPEG. José has very kindly shared this photo file with us and something is indeed visible in the window. A ghost? A hybrid ET? Merely a subtle play of lights and shadow on tempered glass? You be the judge.

Source: Enfoque TV
Date: April 16, 2009

Puerto Rico: A Report on the Enigmatic April 13 Photo and UFO Sighting in Lajas
By Luiseppi Quiñones, Enfoque TV

On April 13, 2009 I had the opportunity to speak to persons who claimed having photographed unidentified flying objects (UFOs). They spoke to us about sightings occurring in the vicinity of Ponce, Guánica, Cabo Rojo and Lajas, where unidentified objects have been reported in the past. We corroborated this information and found that some of the photos taken by our team showed a UFO in Lajas that was “parked” (stationary) over this district.

The object was a whitish-colored oval and no sounds could be heard. The object had no lights and was at a considerable altitude when photographed by a 5 megapixel Kodak camera with a 10 x digital zoom. Our team at the facility took another strange photograph where the Lajas aerostat (drug interdiction dirigible) is stationed. A mysterious box can be seen at the bottom of the photo.

This drew our attention, as the site is restricted to all personnel. The use of lethal force is authorized and charges can be brought against any trespassers.
These two photos attest to the fact that something important is taking place on the island – clear evidence of what is being concealed from us.

We persist in our efforts to make this known through these and other reports that are reaching our facility. Eyewitnesses to sightings are being interviewed and evidence is being subjected to analysis. Anyone with information about what is going on in Puerto Rico and in possession of any photo, video or miscellaneous evidence is asked to contact us at luiseppi@hotmail.com or PMB 333 PO Box 5103, Cabo Rojo, P.R. 00623, or by phone at 787.458.5619

Oddities: Reflections on Winged Humanoids

Oddities: Reflections on Winged Humanoids
By Scott Corrales
Institute of Hispanic Ufology
(c) 2009

American audiences have fallen under the spell of actor Hugh Laurie in his portrayal of the misanthropic physician Gregory House on Fox’s “House M.D.”, but fans of Mr. Laurie’s work will surely remember one of his memorable roles as an unnamed, uncredited scientist in the music video “Experiment IV” by the incomparable Kate Bush. The 1985 video, which is closer to a short subject film in its intensity, has Laurie falling prey to a winged humanoid monstrosity – a product of an experiment in sound gone awry – and the viewer only sees the terrified scientist’s reaction to the nightmarish entity, and the ultimate lapse into a catatonic state. The fear projected by the actor in that silent scene is gripping and stays with the viewer long after the video is over.

It is precisely this fear that is so well described in the Mexican reported just last week, when “El Heraldo de Chihuahua” published the story of a young man who had been terrified by a vast, winged humanoid form that kept pace with his Jeep even as he tried to outrun it (Mexico: Panic Over "Humanoid" in Chihuahua – March 27, 2009 – www.inexplicata.blogspot.com) We need only watch Hugh Laurie’s performance as the terrified scientist to imagine the expression on the student’s face as he was confronted by the apparition. An older person would probably have succumbed to a massive heart attack, which is precisely what happened to a Puerto Rican sugarcane cutter in 1995, when giant winged creatures were reported on the island, harbingers to the “Chupacabras” manifestations later that same year.

Despite their markedly different climatic conditions, steamy Puerto Rico and dusty northern Mexico share an unlikely common characteristic. For generations, ranging as far back as the 19th century, they have been the source of reports of winged entities of all sorts – not just “Thunderbird”-type manifestations, but flying anthropomorphic creatures that appear in waves. Popular tradition holds that such beings live in caves, whether in the hot dry Sierra Madre or limestone caves in the Caribbean karst region of northern Puerto Rico, which would offer great shelter for the creatures described. But what would they eat? Are they responsible for animal mutilations, or worse yet, reports of missing humans? It is likelier that we are dealing with a truly interdimensional phenomenon that is able to manifest itself “when the stars are right”, in true Lovecraftian fashion.

That said, one must hasten to add that these two locations cannot be said to have a monopoly on these creatures. The Mothman could not come from a more different location, and its background differs widely from that of its southern kin. Other winged humanoids are described as being headless, and the antiquity of these reports is attested by the fact that spellbooks from the late Roman Empire offer magical spells against the appearance of precisely such creatures.

The Watchman and the Winged Ones

On August 31, 1967, José Padrón, a watchman at a construction site in San Luis Potosí, was about to turn in for the night within the cramped confines of the site’s guardhouse. At around 1:00 a.m., he found himself stirred from his slumber by a noise --- someone or something large was making its way around the motor pool. Bears are not uncommon in northern Mexico, so one could have come down from the mountains to forage. Intruders, whether ursine or human, did not worry Padrón in the least: the latter were usually small-time thieves after spare parts for quick resale, or local adolescent vandals.

But when the watchman stepped out of the tin-roofed guardhouse, the last thing he was expecting to see was a vast, winged shape heading toward him, striding like a giant. It was the set of wings that etched itself into Padrón’s mind. He would later described them as comparable to those of a small aircraft, and the noise was apparently made as the creature tried to fly away from the construction site.

Outmatched by the intruder, the watchman ran for the precarious safety of the guardhouse, from which he did not emerge until the following day, when Enrique Rueda, the site’s supervising engineer, found the watchman cowering inside. We can only assume that Rueda listened dispassionately to Padrón’s account of the events, wondering how much pulque – fermented maguey juice – the man had consumed before passing out. But any doubts in the engineer’s mind were dispelled when he saw footprints not far from the guardhouse.

When measured, the indentations on the sandy ground measured slightly over twelve inches across and were six inches deep – requiring a force estimated at nearly six hundred pounds to create, by Rueda’s reckoning.

With the possible exception of the repeated sightings of West Virginia’s Mothman, events of this kind appear to be a one-off event: the witnesses see the entity once and never again. But night watchman José Padrón was to have the dubious pleasure of a repeat visit from the winged humanoid on the following night...and on this occasion, it brought a friend.

Stifling his panic, Padrón took a long, hard look at the entities, which left numerous footprints behind as they made their way around the construction site, in search of food, building materials for an unimaginable eyrie in the mountains, who knows. But the initial winged creature and his mate eventually flew into the darkness, heading toward the San Miguelito Mountains. Padrón was able to add an extra detail that perhaps dovetailed with engineer Rueda’s calculations of the creature’s weight: the ground shook as the creatures took off from the premises. Other evidence suggested that a mesquite branch had been snapped in two as one of the creatures flew by, no small feat considering the strength of the tree. No samples of hair or feathers were in evidence, either.

Prudently, the supervising engineer ordered that the night watch be increased to twelve unarmed men.

Hector Urdiales, a member of Mexico's Cosmos A.C. paranormal research foundation, decided to lead an investigation on Easter Week, 1984 to a seldom-visited area located behind Monterrey's Cerro de la Silla, an enormous, irregular-shaped hill dominating the city. Stories of a monstrous winged being prowling the area had come to Urdiales' attention. Accompanied by a friend, the explorer stopped at a roadside general store on the road to San Roque, N.L. where he interviewed the owner, who was among the many witnesses to the creature. They followed his indications as to where to camp and mount their watch.

Nothing unusual happened during their first day and night on in the area. On the following morning, while combing the banks of a stream running through a copse of savins, Urdiales and his companion made a chilling discovery.

The grass at the base of one of the trees by the stream was covered in the fly-covered blood and entrails of an unknown animal. Closer inspection revealed that the savin's entire trunk was streaming with blood flowing from above. Hesitantly they followed the trail of blood with their eyes until they came upon a surreal sight: some twenty feet off the ground, a large boar had been split open and spitted to a tree limb. Fear washed over the researchers, since they realized that the tall savin lacked the strong lower limbs which would have assisted a human to deliver the grisly cargo to such a dizzying height; nor could their minds conjure up any feline predator strong enough to drag a two-hundred pound boar up a cactus. Only a carnivorous winged predator having the wingspan and talons needed to attack that kind of prey could have possibly been responsible for the carnage.

On July 20, 1994, a farm worker at Rancho El Sabino in Monterrey was heading back to his house to have lunch at around eleven o'clock in the morning. As he walked past a nearby graveyard, the farm worker noticed something emerge from a another footpath at a distance of some hundred feet: as he got closer, he realized that he was looking at a half-human, half-avian creature which seemed indifferent to the startled human's presence. The creature continued to walk, chicken-like, down the footpath until it reached a crossroads. The birdman then flexed its enormous wings and turned down another path. By the time the farm-worker reached the same intersection, the aberrant figure was now half a mile ahead of him until he lost it from sight altogether.

Mexican UFO researcher and author Luis Ramírez Reyes makes the following statement in his book Contacto:Mexico (Diana, 1996): "When I learned that Norma Bancroft-Hunt' book Les peuples du Totem presents a sculpture of the conmemorative image of an Owlman--known as Tlingkit among the Yakutat--which according to legend, lived until its death in Icy Bay in 1890 due to a fall from a tree. Its body was never found, since it was devoured by crows, but a totem pole was subsequently carved out of the tree from which it fell. The image reminded me of the gigantic owl which appeared before me as a young man when I lived with my family in the city of Chihuahua in the early Sixties. It gave me such a fright that I ran and hid in my bedroom [...]. Most impressive of all was its size, which was approximately 1.50 meters (5 ft.) tall." Again, we see Chihuahua mentioned as a place where such unusual occurrences appear to be common.

It isn’t often that researchers of the paranormal get to have a close look at their subject of interest, and whenever there are exceptions, these tend to be significant. One such case involves the director Mexico’s Fundación Cosmos, A.C., Ing. Marco Reynoso, a distinguished UFO researcher and MUFON state director for Nuevo León. In the fall of 1979, Reynoso was a harried engineering student trying his best to deal with a heavy course load and work on his dissertation. One night, leaving the university earlier than usual, he arrived at his parents’ house – a rambling, high-ceilinged old manse of the kind common in Mexico – whose kitchen can be clearly seen from the main entrance.

All was dark; Reynoso’s father never got back from work before ten o’clock and his mother was out visiting neighbors. The only light came from a single bulb in the kitchen, casting enough light to show the kitchen table, which was located next to a window covered by a curtain.

Making his way to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat, the future ufologist noticed movement behind the curtain, but thought it was the normal action of the wind blowing through the open window. Then suddenly, a figure stepped out from behind the curtain: it was a humanoid figure, covered in glossy black hair and standing some thirty centimeters tall with outstretched bat wings. The curtain partly covered its face, so Reynoso was unable to make out any features. Fearlessly, he thought to use the curtain as a means to ensnare the strange apparition and pin it down, but the cloth drapes were suddenly sucked toward the open window, toppling objects on the table surface, and the bizarre creature vanished. Running out to the courtyard, he tried to see if he could find the intruder to no avail.

That’s when fear crept in: “I was completely certain that it was no optical illusion,” says Reynoso, “nor any known animal. The contrast between the kitchen and its contents, which were all white, and the blackness of the creature, left no mistake as to what I had seen. That event changed my life completely, since it highlighted the interest for the unknown I’d had since age 8.” The experience prompted him to join his first UFO research group, in whose files he found another case similar to his own, witnessed by a woman from another Monterrey neighborhood.


South American Oddities

But these events cannot be safely relegated to the 1960s: in the early years of the present decade, the South American republic of Chile found itself besieged for a number of months by a situation similar to what had been experienced in Puerto Rico in 1995 – sightings of winged humanoids, followed by the predatory “Chupacabras”

On April 29 2000, farm worker Jorge Pino reported seeing a strange creature at 8pm under full moonlight. He described as standing 1.50 meters and resembling “a big monkey with , clawed arms, enormous fangs, and wings.” The farmhand sent his mastiff is sent to attack the terrifying presence, and the animal returned to its master with a bloody neck to show for its troubles. Within weeks, farmers from Tucapel and Huepil were engaged in earnest discussions about something they called el pájaro (The Bird) whose manifestations were accompanied by unusual luminous phenomena and animal mutilations. In early May of that year, as livestock deaths continued to mount, an officer of the Chilean state police reported seeing something like “a giant bat” engaging in depredations near the city of Angol. Possibly the closest encounter with one of these entities occurred on May 5, 2000, when Prof. Liliana Romero heard a noise in the courtyard of her building shortly after midnight. Peering through a window to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, she was startled to see “an immense man, standing two meters tall, his shoulder blades split as though by a pair of wings.”

The most intriguing case of the Chilean wave of events occurred in the Summer of 2003, when researcher Jaime Ferrer of the Calama UFO Center made known the story of a young student known only as “Diego”, a resident of Calama who made frequent trips to the desert community of San Pedro de Atacama to visit his grandfather. In these visits he was usually accompanied by this two closest friends, known only as Jonathan and Carlos.

Around 21:00 hours on July 23, as the young men were ready to sit down to frugal dinner, they were startled by the howing of the local dogs, who ran to and fro in a frantic effort to get away from something. The visitors to the small rural house were further alarmed by violent blows rained against the door less than a quarter of an hour later: something very large and strong was clawing at the door, trying to get to them. “Terror seized them,” wrote Ferrer in his report, “ and the youngsters feared for their lives.”

Huddling under blankets and praying fervently that the rickety wooden door would somehow withstand the pounding, Diego heard his grandfather’s voice saying that it was safe to come out, and that “it” had gone away. Or had it?

The three visitors went outside for a look, trying to recover from their fright, when they noticed that “it’ was standing among the pear trees, standing at least a meter and a half tall, with outspread wings that measured three and a half feet on each side.

Ferrer writes that “it was covered by glossy black skin, very clean and hairless. It appeared as though it had recently emerged from the water, but without being wet. It had a large head and a small beak, presenting a sort of crest which was apparently missing a piece from a fight. Its eyes were immense and completely black, but sparkled brilliantly. They thought it was a prehistoric being, since its wings had a strong resemblance to those of
pterodactyls or bats, featuring bone-like protuberances which form the
skeletal frame of the wings. Its legs were sturdy and had powerful claws
like those of a carrion bird, but much stronger.”

The Paranormal Angle

Earlier it was mentioned that these creatures are often described as being “headless” – a description offered a few times in the Mothman reports of 1966-67. In fact, some sketches depict the entity thus. It is curious to note that the rituals of the ancient Coptic church (one of the oldest branches of the Christian faith) contain explicit prayers against the presence of "headless demons", such as the one appearing in the Zereteli-Tiflis collection, described as "a text containing a spell to provide protection against headless demons and powers that are bothering the person invoking angels and archangels". Another such amulet invokes the virgin Mary's protection against a headless dog: "because I am having a clash with a headless dog, seize him when he comes and release me..." (Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power, Princeton: 1999). One wonders if this orison would have worked against the bat-winged, headless "Mothman" of West Virginia or a similar entity seen landing on a field in Britain in 1965. Or even the Iberian Peninsula: Salvador Freixedo mentions a 1963 case from the Andorran town of Comarruga involving Mr. Sesplugues, a hotelier, who was driving toward Tarragona with his wife on a cold November evening. The drive was uneventful until “they saw a creature crossing the road at a distance of one hundred fifty meters, which they described as being generally man-shaped, but headless.”

Even the oceans are not safe from these visitations: on August 10, 2004, Puerto Rico’s El Vocero tabloid ran a story about castaways from the Dominican Republic. Seventy-nine people boarded a fragile vessel in the hopes of reaching the Puerto Rico, and after twelve days at the mercy of the wind and the waves, only thirty-seven survived to tell the tale...a tale of the horrors of the elements, and of the supernatural. When interviewed by the newspaper, one of the undocumented survivors told reporters that a "monster" with vast wings appeared before them. Filled with panic and fear, they began to read a book of the New Testament they carried aboard their yowl, but that the pages of the holy text vanished mysteriously from their hands.

Chilean researcher Osvaldo Muray covered a story of apparent demonic possession in the high-rise community of Juanita Aguirre outside of Santiago de Chile. A young lay preacher known only as “N.U.” became the subject of this possession event following a strange occurrence: one evening in the early 1990s, a friend stopped by to visit N.U. and spoke to her from the street level, while N.U. looked out her window. According to Muray, the friend noticed something very strange: a very strange bird was watching their conversation from the topmost branches of a pine tree close to the building. Between the light and the shadows, the person on the ground realized that the bird was not a bird at all, but a winged human. When interviewed, the friend told Muray that his “sixth sense” told him something was seriously wrong, and he advised N.U. to close her window and go to bed. He himself raced back to his automobile and headed home.

Conclusions

This is by no means an exhaustive listing of cases that have occurred in Latin America involving “winged weirdoes”, and they represent but a fraction of the recorded cases in the Americas. What are we to make of these entities? Are they real in the sense that a horse or a bear are real, or are they merely physical manifestations of something that comes in (“when the stars are right”, of course) from another level of reality? One can well ask what is it about our dimension that compels these entities to appear, and speculation on the subject ranges from an inevitable attraction to places where tragedies have occurred, entities that appear as byproducts of black magic operations and are unable to “return” to their place of origin. It has been argued that they “slip in” with the UFO phenomenon, perhaps swept along as these lights or objects enter and leave our dimension. The mystery remains.

Puerto Rico: Follow-Up on the Guanica Sightings

Source: Argus-PR
Date: 04.14.09

Puerto Rico: Follow-Up On the Guanica Sightings
By José A. Martínez

Several witnesses to the April 7 event at 6:15 a.m. were intervied. Witness One mentions seeing the object from the parking lot of the Guánica government center at the time in question. He was able to see what was coming down from the sky at a 45-degree angle from West to East, at a velocity that was too slow to be an aerolith or space junk. When the object reached a certain altitude and distance from the coast, it exploded, but two objects emerged from the explosion: one headed south to the open sea and the other continued on the same West to East path along the coast.

Later, I interviewed two fishermen and inquired about the phenomenon seen from land by some people, asking if they were able to witness it at sea. One of them replied: "Do you mean the large basketball-shaped UFO that was in flames as it went from Lajas to Guánica?" I told him yes, that was the object in question. The fisherman then said: "I was setting lobster traps and when I was underwater, my friend tugged on the cord that we employ to warn each other of any dangers, or if any government agency stops by to see if we're fishing legally, I surfaced and saw my friend shouting, asking me to get out the water and look at what was coming from the west. It was then that I saw that tremendous fireball coming toward us in a nosedive. But after it reached a given height it exploded without making a sound, and two large luminous objects emerged -- one headed for the open sea and the other westward, as if toward Guayanilla."

I then asked if this was the first time he'd seen phenomena of this nature. "Hoo!" he answered, "out at sea you'll see some things that'll scare you. For instance, I've seen strange things with lights pass right under my boat at high speed in the very early hours of the morning. This has been going on for many years on the Guánica coast."

A very interesting event occurred today as I embarked upon the interviews. As I headed for Guánica's Jaboncillo Beach to take photos of the object's likely trajectory, I noticed a white airplane with no visible markings flying at a very low altitude in violation of Federal aviation standards. Seeing that it was unidentified, I took several photos of the aircraft, which was flying at a very low altitude along the same trajectory of the object seen days later. I took some photos of the area and other sites, and manage to capture some interesting images that I share with you here.

(Translation (c) 2009. S. Corrales, IHU)

Puerto Rico: Another Guanica Sighting

Source: Argus-PR
Date: April 7, 2009

Puerto Rico: Another Guanica Sighting
By José A. Martínez

At 6:45 a.m., employees of the Public Buildings Authority (Autoridad de Edificios Públicos--A.E.P.) witnessed a luminous object crossing the horizong from West to East along the southern shore between Lajas and Guánica. According to the workers, the briliant object resembled "acetylene light". Upon reaching a certain distance, the object shattered in two and fell into the sea. We cannot dismiss the possibility of an aerolith that broke up after reaching a certain altitude, being subjected to drastic temperature changes that resulted in a mid-air explosion. I will continue looking into this matter with other potential witnessses to the case. Meanwhile, I have already contacted the Puerto Rican Police's Joint Rapid Response Force (Fuerza Unida de Rapida Reaccion - F.U.R.A) to see if they have any details on the case. More information to come.

(Translation (c) 2009. S. Corrales, IHU.)

Mexico: The Ramiro Valencia Sighting

Source:www.analuisacid.com
Date: March 29, 2009

Mexico: The Ramiro Valencia Sighting
By Ana Luisa Cid

A UFO over the Benito Juarez International Airport (MCIA)

Last week we published Alfonso Salazar's report concerning a tubular object that released spheres as it hovered over the runways of Mexico City International Airport.

It was reported at the time that Mr. Ramiro Valencia had video footage of this.

The Interview

Mr. Ramiro, do you live near the airport?

Yes, in the Caracol district.

Had you ever seen anything anomalous before?

Many times. I've spent years watching the skies and making recordings.

What can you tell us about your latest video?

Well, it was a very large "something" that released a sphere. The elongated object is pink in color and the sphere was white. It was visible for a long time, changing shape, exactly above the airport.

Could it be a garland of balloons?

I don't believe so. I've seen those garlands and they're different. For example, balloons tend to rise and do not remain static in the same location, nor do they release spheres. Not long ago they did some tests with garlands but it didn't work. That's another thing. Furthermore, giant balloones are not allowed over the airport.

The video shows the transit of a sphere.

That's right, it went by a few hours later. Perhaps it was expellled by the tubular object. That's a possibility. Sometimes I can record up to four in a single day, I've even see them divide and other smaller ones relased. Why at the airport? I don't know. But it's a fact that this area is attractive to them. They even stop in the air corridors.

******

The video is very long, and for this reason we selected only a few scenes (NOTE: the video can be seen at www.analuisacid.com)

Mr. Ramiro Valencia used a Sony HDR-SR12, 10 megapixels, with a 1.7x zoom. Others, like Martin Valdez and Daniel Sanchez, have recorded similar objects from neighborhoods near the airport.

(Translation (c) 2009, S. Corrales, IHU)

Mexico: Panic Over "Humanoid" in Chihuahua

Source: El Heraldo de Chihuahua
Date: March 27, 2009

Panic Over "Humanoid" seen in La Junta, Guerrero (Chihuahua)

Newsroom - Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua - The Man Bat, who seems to have popped out of some fiction movie, is a real creature that caused a young student from the local university--and a resident of La Junta -- to panic. It is a being witnessed by several locals who have described it as a winged humanoid with a fur-covered face and a height of 2 meters.

This all coincides, by the way, with the killings of sheep by decapitation in several ranches. The young man, a non-smoker, non-drinker and non-drug user, is called ? and does not want his name in print.

And he has not yet recovered from the experience that evening - Friday, March 6 at 23:50n hours, as he left Universidad Regional del Norte and headed home to La Junta.
However, when he reached Puente Sin Nombre, he was forced to hit the brakes and make an emergency stop. There was a shadowy bulk on the asphalt, looking like a hunched-over man , perhaps covered by a blanket.

Upon approaching, the still unknown figure rose to its full height, leaped forward twice, unfurled enormous bat-like wings that probably covered the width of the lane, and took to the air.

The young man in question - a serious and outstanding student in his coursework, didn't think twice. He floored the accelerator of his Liberty, burning rubber as he tried to flee from the unknown.

A desperate, fifteen minute chase ensued. The strange creature flew with the power of its rear wings, which were smaller, keeping abreast of the vehicle and peering through the passenger window.

The fear became more intense, and the youngster only thought to call home via his cell phone. His mother answered the phone, and she asked why she could hear the noise of a vehicle trying to reach full speed.

His voice broken by tears, the witness tried to describe that a man, or perhaps a winged animal, was chasing him. His first notion was that it was an apparition, a shaped assumed by Death, and it prompted him to scream in despair: " I'm going to die! I'm going to die!"

He now says that it could have been a hallucination of sorts, but upon reflecting on the entity that chased him for over 15 minutes, he feels shivers again. And he says: "No, it was no illusion." This is the closest brush he has had with fear.

The description is somewhat vague, but the image haunts him when he is unable to sleep. A man with red, bloodshot eyes, standing 2 meters tall, judging by the full length of the Liberty. Two pairs of wings, one large, another small, which allowed it to achieve unimaginable speed; small kangaroo-like hands that it held loosely and without strength, which repeatedly struck the glass of the passenger side window. Its face was covered by some sort of fur, with a protruding dome-shaped forehead and those bloodshot eyes.

This creature was seen in the vicinity of Cimbraplay, near Saenz Guerrero, where several sheep were found dead in recent days at three different ranches. They had all been slain in the same fashion: a large cut to the neck and another on part of the tail.

Another family also claims having seen it in the Mesa de Gonzalez segment of the road to San Juanito, and provides a similar description. With regard to that night, the mother says: "I had never heard him like that, and much less seen him in the state he arrived: shivering, pale and in the midst of a nervous breakdown."

The young man is well thought of in his school and it is said that they are already looking into the presence of this mythic being. The legend of the Man-Bat of La Junta appears to have been born as well.

It Appears Again Near the Cemetery

"I saw the Santa Muerte (Holy Death)." These words were spoken in the most serene tone that one could have after such a bitter experience. It was a remark made by Ivonne, and it never left the household. She shared it with her mother and husband. No one else.

It wasn't until now that they realize that the entity matches the description of the Man-Bat seen in the La Junta region, and which reappeared only days ago at the graveyard gate.

Ivonne (not her real name) is a young mother who dropped off a friend in a sector of La Junta after spending time with her at home, near the new highway to Guerrero. The time was 9:00 at night when she was coming back along the old road that passes by the cemetery.

It was at that time that it saw an enormous figure at the graveyard gate. It resembled a long statue and looked like a person covered in a blanket or a black cape. She felt a shiver and accelerated her truck. She thought it was la Santa Muerte and that she was probably going to die on the road between the graveyard and her home.

Upon returning, she told her mother and husband what she'd seen, and said that it was perhaps the Holy Death, but she was very serene about it, and matters remained at that -- a remark that reemerged when they read about the first event in El Heraldo, in which a college student described his traumatic experience.

The description given in the El Heraldo del Noroeste article led her to believe that it was the same thing that she'd seen, and her mother and husband agreed on this.
Upon visiting the cemetery gate, she noticed that the creatures height was truly impressive, given that the gate's archway measures 4 meters from the ground, and the witness states that as she drove past, the [creature's head] nearly touched the top of the gate.

The college student estimated [the creature's] height at some 2 meters, based on the fact that when it chased him for 15 kilometers, its body's length covered the length of the Jeep Liberty he was driving at the time.

The Legend of the Man-Bat has continued yielding narratives: residents of La Junta now say that there is another youngster who also saw this mysterious, supernatural presence. However, they say that the impression was such that this fellow is currently hospitalized somewhere due to a nervous shock. This story has yet to be confirmed.

More Reports: Creature Seen Trapped In Hail-Proof Netting, Talk of a Possible Photograph

A month after the first manifestation or eyewitness account, in this community and its vicinity, some 40 miles from Cuauhtémoc, more stories are being told. It appears to be a fear that is becoming widespread or else a reality that its becoming generalized. Children have also seen it.

It is said that in the downtown area two children went out for a drink of water from the pump in the middle of the back yard. That's when they saw an enormous bird gliding around. Fear caused them to return to the house running and panting.
A young woman claims having heard a noise like the squealing of a mouse, strange sounds on the roof and the flapping of wings.

However, an even closer encounter occurred in Huerta El Rosario, surprisingly close to the first apparition in the vicinity of Puente Sin Nombre, where a watchman heard sounds he'd never heard before.

On the ATV he employs to cover the full extent of the farm, he reached the point where he thought the noises emanated from. What he saw was simply indescribable and the only command his brain issued at the time was to flee at full speed. The red-eyed creature was trapped by the hail-stone preventive netting and was struggling to escape, which it surely managed to do, as it wasn't there the next morning.

The story and remarks are the result of paranoia, perhaps, but everyone is starting to wonder about the existence of a photo that someone took. At least this is what a Public Safety officer has said, but he could not be reached to corroborate the story.
Furthermore, 20 kilometers away, at El Baje or Agua Caliente, a witness to the impressive flight of this being simply collapsed from a heart attack. It is said that he is being treated in one of the region's hospital, but his identity is being concealed for the time being. If found, he would still be in no condition to discuss his encounter.

(Translation (c) 2009. S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to El Heraldo de Chihuahua and Ana Luisa Cid)

Mexico: State of Chihuahua Terrorized by "Man-Bat"

Source: www.analuisacid.com and El Heraldo
Date: April 10, 2009

Mexico: State of Chihuahua Terrorized by "Man-Bat"
A Report By Prof. Ana Luisa Cid

***Creature has wings and its face is covered in fur***

According to information supplied by Ing. Francisco Prieto Torres, residents of La Junta, Guerrero (Chihuahua) have reported the appearance of a "Man-Bat".

They describe it as a very tall entity, standing some 2 meters tall, with two pairs of wings (one pair larger than the other). Its face is covered in fur and has red, bloodshot eyes. Also reported are a pair of small, kangaroo type hands that it held loosely, as though it lacked any strength in them.

The main witness is a young student at Universidad Regional del Norte, whose name is being kept confidential, and who claims that the strange humanoid chased him for 15 minutes on the evening of March 6.

The witness was driving a Liberty back to his home after his studies, when he saw a bulk on the roadway asphalt resembling a hunched-over man who seemed to be covered in a blanket. The figure suddenly stood up, taking two leaps forward and displaying a set of wings similar to those of a bat. The young man floored the accelerator in an attempt to flee, but the strange creature flew with great power, keeping abreast of the vehicle and looking in through the passenger window.

"Those were 15 minutes of maximum despair," he said.

This report has been made known on local radio and in the print media, such as El Heraldo de Chihuahua.

Ing. Francisco Prieto has already located the place where the young man's father works and he wishes to interview him himself. If this is achieved, he will be forwarding the materials to me to make the entire ordeal known. It should be added that the family is known for being respectable and are held in high esteem in the community. Local radio has reported that that a photo of the "Man-Bat" exists, although no further details have been provided.

Other Witnesses

Angela Mendez and Viviana Ledezma are two women who claim to have heard the humanoid squealing amid the screns of an apple grove near the Miñaca Cemetery.

The Authorities

A joint mission was undertaken by members of the Police and Civil Defense of the Municipality of Guerrero in the State of Chihuahua. Socorro Rodriguez Erives reported that after researching several locations it was not possible to find the whereabouts of this strange entity. According to initial reports, the flying entity had its lair in the caves of the mountainous area of the Miñaca region. Despite their best efforts, no trace of the creature was found. Many think that it was just a myth, while others associate it with "Mothman"
I will continue to report on this situation when word is received from Ing. Prieto Torres, who is looking into this Mexican case.

(Translation (c) 2009, Scott Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Ana Luisa Cid, Francisco Prieto Rivera and El Heraldo de Chihuahua)

Argentina: Object Over Lezama Lagoon

Source: Grupo G.A.B.I.E and Planeta UFO
Date:April 10, 2009

The analysis performed on the object shown in this photo displays a cylindrical object that fits the characteristics of a "mothership" or cigar-shaped craft. Its diffuse aspect is probably due to the meteorological conditions present at the time, which kept the shot from being clearer. In spite of this, it is possible to see the various contrasts, edges and contour of said object. It should be added that this cigar-shaped object did not display any significant movement at the time the photo was taken. Our thanks to Veronica for agreeing to circulate this material.

Photo Information:
Camara: SONY DCR-DVD50
F-stop: f/4,8
Exposure Time: 1/125seg
Focal Length: 5mm
Maximum Aperture: 1,7

(Translation (c) 2009, S. Corrales, IHU)

No Trespassing: UFO CE-2's

No Trespassing: UFO CE-2Ks
By Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU)

UFOs don’t come as close to us as they used to.

Time was where a bright-eyed saucer buff could read stories of unidentified objects coming close enough to the surface to singe treetops, set off home alarms, cause car and truck engines to sputter and die, o else inflict strange physical symptoms on innocent bystanders. In the Aughts, they either fly high over our heads, teasing digital cameras and camcorders, or else go straight to business and engage in the sordid business of abductions. No candy and flowers first.

In fact, it’s hard to sit down to write an article about what used to be one of the most exciting topics of the early years of UFO research: the moment when the objects that have so captivated our interest for fifty years ceased to be “lights in the sky” and became objects – solid, semisolid, transparent – that touched the surface of our world and left behind measurable effects.

Salvador Freixedo, the Spanish Jesuit priest whose interest in the paranormal led him to become one of the world’s foremost thinkers in matters ufological, once subtitled a book “cuando aterrizan los OVNIS, los dogmas vuelan” – which translates as “when UFOs land, dogmas fly away”. A strange light in the night sky can be dismissed as a rogue airplane, a balloon, a star, and lest we forget, the planet Venus; the same strange object, seen in daylight hours, can be conveniently dismissed, again, as some sort of manmade contraption or a misinterpretation of a natural occurrence by an inexperienced or untrained viewer. But once the object descends, dismissal becomes harder. It is impossible to tell Stephen Michalak of the legendary Falcon Lake UFO case of the mid-1960s that he misperceived the object that blasted him with an unknown quantity of radiation; it is equally unlikely that one can tell “Jeff Marx” of the Cranberry Township PA case of 1965 that the paint on his car was destroyed by a weather balloon or Venus.

Granted, CE-2s are not as impressive as CE-3s, or otherwise Spielberg's 1977 blockbuster would have probably not achieved the levels of success it did. In his study The UFO Book (Visible Ink, 1997) UFO historian Jerome Clark rightly suggests that "by their nature, CE-IIs ought to be the most important of all UFO cases," (p.83) given the fact that the physical traces left behind by putative alien craft may actually lead to a better understanding--if not prove--the phenomenon's existence and origin. Overshadowed by more compelling accounts of alien contact and abduction, CE-IIs have been relegated to "supporting actor" status and have played a minor role through the 1990s and right into the 00s. But the very few cases that have come to our attention in these years of UFO fly-overs—and outright abductions—are nonetheless intriguing.



Mexico: CE-2K hotspot

In 1957, when most ufologists were still debating the wisdom of publishing reports indicating that UFOs could in fact land and leave ground traces, Mexican newspaper El Universal Gráfico published a comprehensive account on the alleged landing of a discoid object in the community farms of San Juan de Aragón, an event witnessed by farmer Gilberto Espinoza. Although the incident had taken place in November of the preceding year, the newspaper ran its story in January 1958.

A decade later, while on their way to visit a number of South American locations, Jim and Coral Lorenzen took advantage of a layover in Mexico City to meet with APRO correspondent Jesús H. Garibay. APRO's "man in Mexico" proceeded to brief the organization's directors on the most significant cases at the time. One of them involved two witnesses (a father and daughter) to the landing and takeoff of a UFO, with the added benefit of the photographs taken of the event.

"The principal witness," wrote Coral Lorenzen, "is a mechanical engineer, and the other is his daughter. On May 6, 1967, the two were driving between Durango and Mazatlán. At 11:00 a.m., they spotted a disc-shaped object on the ground off the highway. They stopped the car and took three photos as the object was taking off. The first shows the object at the level of the treetops, partially hidden by a tree. Two parts of its landing gear are clearly shown. The second shows the object apparently in flight against the clear sky: no landing gear is visible in this exposure. The third photo showed nothing. APRO is still on the track of this set of photos, and not knowing if the principals want publicity or not, we have decided not to release any names at this time." (UFOs Over the Americas, Signet, 1968 p.65)

A glance at Mexico's ufological history reveals a number of cases in which fly-overs by unexplained vehicles resulted in physical effects. A fair share of such cases occurred in the 1960's, when widespread electrical blackouts appear to have been UFO-induced. During the month of September 1965, the city of Cuernavaca, some fifty miles south of Mexico City, would suffer three separate power failures. The Ultima Hora newspaper indicated that the blackout had been caused by a large luminous flying saucer which crossed the heavens over the city--an inverted soup-bowl device which was seen not only by thousands of citizens but by city mayor Emilio Riva Palacios, who was attending the opening of a film festival with members of his cabinet. The lights went out during the showing, and upon going outside, the city fathers were treated to the sight of the massive object's glow, which reportedly filled all of Cuernavaca valley.

But the force behind all these aerial phenomena appeared to be enamored of la capital, Mexico City, with its juxtaposition of massive colonial structures, modern skyscrapers and ancient ruins: it chose September 16, 1965-- the one hundred fifty-fifth anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain, to manifest half a dozen luminous objects over the city's skies, casting downtown Mexico City into unbreakable gridlock as drivers left their vehicles to take a better look at the phenomenon. Newspapers reported that aviation authorities had received in excess of five thousand telephone calls from people asking if they had also seen platillos voladores. On September 25th, a citizenry weary of craning their necks skyward endured another leisurely display of the unknown as a vast luminous body passed overhead, remaining motionless for a while before shooting out of sight at a terrific speed. Only days later, two smaller objects would buzz the gilded dome of Mexico's Palacio de Bellas Artes, a turn of the century structure that dominates La Alameda park. A few dozen people waiting at a bus stop witnessed the early evening sighting; they described the objects as "enormous luminous bodies with intermittent sparkling lights."

By this point in time, some of the world's major newspapers had picked up on Mexico's saucer situation. Paris's Le Figaro reprinted an editorial from Italy's Corriere della Sera on the subject: "Mexico City International Airport has officially recorded, of late, some three thousand cases of mysterious apparitions described in detail. At nightfall, people gather on the terraces and balconies of their homes to search the skies...a clamor of voices can occasionally be heard, saying: "There goes one! Can you see it?" Invariably, what follows is this: traffic is paralyzed on neighboring streets, since drivers also want to partake of the spectacle. The roadways grind to a halt, leading to monstrous traffic jams. After a while, witnesses to the event are willing to swear that the presence of platillos voladores causes engines to stall and plunges homes into darkness. Throughout Mexico, the number of blackouts has been inexplicably high..."

Incident at Azcapotzalco


Thirty five years later, police officers Enrique Torres Sedeño and Israel Valdivia Gutiérrez found themselves on a routine patrol: the seemingly endless beat of the Gustavo A. Madero delegación (precinct) driving through the darkened streets of the world's most congested city in squad car 16156. The city's police force had been on the receiving end of controversy in recent years, with allegations of kidnapping and murder being brought against its officials, and the less-than-glowing reputation that its supervisors and lieutenants had earned since the 1970s excesses of Superintendent Durazo's corrupt tenure. But like in any other city in the world, the patrolman's lot remained to serve and protect the community...even in situations that escaped any police academy training.

At around two o'clock a.m. on the morning of February 14, 2000, a bright light coming from a soccer field located within the Center of Technical Research and Investigation facing Vocational Scholl #8 in the Santo Tomas drew the patrolmen's attention. Suspecting a fire, the police cruiser headed straight for that direction. Now, months later, the officers wish it had indeed been a fire or something similar. At first, they could not believe what they were seeing: suspended in mid-air, some ten feet off the ground, was a strange artifact projecting an array of intense multicolored lights and two searchlight beams which changed hues from red to green and blue. In spite of their astonishment, the patrolmen managed to estimate the unknown object's diameter at some 10 meters. The powerful lights suddenly became intermittent, and a slight buzzing described as similar to the sound "produced by whirling a stick at the end of a piece of string" became apparent. This was too much already, even for seasoned veterans of the mean streets of Mexico City. One of the patrolmen grabbed the microphone from the dashboard and promptly radioed the dispatcher for assistance. The local time was 02:13 a.m.; the object remained visible for a little longer before staging a sudden disappearance at 02:20 a.m., leaving Gutiérrez and Dueñas with the only tangible evidence of their close encounter with the unknown: both officers' analog wristwatches were frozen at 02:20 a.m., magnetized by whatever strange energy issued from the shining object. As in hundreds of UFO cases before this one, the timepieces would never work again.

Perhaps the most curious note the encounter is that when the patrolmen left their vehicle to enter the research center and get to the football field above which the vehicle hovered, they were prevented from doing so by members of the building's security force--evidence of a basic lack of trust in the city's watchmen and their motives.

Mexico's Secretariat of Public Safety's dispatchers did not tarry in alerting other units throughout the city about the bizarre events which had just taken place in Santo Tomás: the crews of police cruisers 16079 and 11616 of the Azcapotzalco Precinct, along with units 01127, 01899, 01875, 01127 y 13843 of the Gustavo A. Madero precinct, would eventually radio in to report contact with the multicolored intruder, which was seen again at 02:45 local time in another neighborhood of the same area. The crew of unit 01127 reported having seen the object flying over the Palmititla neighborhood, not far from Chiquihuite Hill in the Gustavo A. Madero precinct, where it would remain for 12 minutes.

At 03:10 local time, the purported UFO was already on the other side of the city, this time over the rural area known as Desierto de los Leones, not far from a police station. Here, the object remained in view for only three minutes before vanishing suddenly, as it done earlier. By 03:13 a.m., the dispatcher for the Secretariat of Public Safety would advise its patrol cars that the unidentified flying object had disappeared in a southerly direction behind Tenayo Hill in the municipality of Tlanepantla, state of Mexico, and that its whereabouts were unknown.

As if the 16 pairs of eyes belonging to the "trained observers" prescribed by ufological dictum were not enough, there was independent corroboration for the case from a third trained observer, newspaper photographer Saúl Navarro, who managed to take photographs of the object while covering a story involving protesters from Mexico's national university (UNAM) outside a detention center known as Reclusorio Norte.

While capturing the images of the protestors and their tent city erected outside the jail, Navarro became aware of a "bright light which remained perfectly still beside Chiquihuite Hill," as he would later testify.

His task in the area completed, was heading toward his car when he noticed that the lights on the strange object next to the hill were beginning to blink. "It was still, and couldn't have been an airplane, given an airplane's inability to remain suspended in mid-air. It suddenly resumed motion until it hovered above the rooftop of a nearby house for some 10 to 15 seconds. After that, the object lost itself behind the tree line." Navarro also confirmed the multicolored flashes of light seen by the patrolmen.

It could perhaps be argued that the Azcapotzalco event does not represent a "true CE-II" because the unidentified object in question never actually touched the ground. Still, the stopping of the patrolmen's wristwatches would meet the criterion of "exerting temporary or permanent effects on machinery" that the definition calls for.

Curiously enough, Officer Valdivia would later relate that he and his partner were equipped with photo cameras as part of their standard gear for photographing suspects at the time of arrest, but that none of the photos taken of the Azcapotzalco saucer came out. Another of the police cruisers--16105--was also unsuccessful in taking photos of the object. The effects on machinery also extended to a cellular phone aboard squad car 16074, whose battery was completely drained at the site. The phone itself is allegedly inoperable as well.

The Azcapotzalco events were submitted to the court of public opinion on July 11, 2000, when Mexico's Marta Susana talk show held an open forum on the event, featuring the tried-and-true "skeptics vs. believers" format which has come to characterize UFO debates in that country. The police officers were joined on the stage by two air traffic controllers--Enrique Kolbeck and Alfonso Salazar--who stressed the importance of the UFO phenomenon and the fact that it is a classified matter in most countries. The controllers mentioned the startling fact that some three hundred UFO incidents had occurred over Mexican air facilities in the past five years, most notable among them being an incident in which an airliner's landing gear was struck by an unknown object.

Much research has yet to be conducted in this case (as of this writing, no medical information been forthcoming about any effects on the patrolmen's health), but the fact that the event occurred over Mexico's Center of Technical Research and Investigation has created a compelling rumor: Dr. Rafael Lara Palmeros, research coordinator for the Center for the Study of Paranormal Phenomena (CEFP, in Spanish) has been advised that biological specimens in the institution's laboratories experienced "mutation and growth" as a result of the object's presence. But until confirmation for this can be obtained, it remains just another tantalizing rumor.

A Landing in Mezcala

A spectacular CE-2K occurred in late December 2007 – early January 2008 as a massive UFO landed at Cerro Pie de Minas at the town of Mezcala in the state of Guerrero. Tourists who take the bus from Mexico City to Acapulco are probably aware of this town as one of the stops on the way to the silversmithing town of Taxco. La Cronica Vespertina, a daily from the state capital of Chilpancingo, reported that the object touched ground at this particular location and was visible for a mind-bending thirty hours, both in pitch-blackness and bright daylight. This was a truly democratic sighting, as it cut across all distinctions of age, gender and occupations: schoolchildren, housewives and engineers and laborers working the mines reported seeing the same thing: a saucer-shaped craft that flew silently over the Sierra Madre and came to rest on the hill, flashing its lights to the amazement of onlookers.

”Ground effects” became immediately apparent: even though the object was at a distance from the town, viewers complained of eye irritation from looking at the unknown object; power levels in the town fluctuated even though the meters at the local utility showed no apparent changes; people trying to take photos of the object, or record it with camcorders and cellphones, found their instruments affected by a supposedly electromagnetic source. There were reports that even cameras using standard photographic film yielded nothing but overexposed images.

According to journalist Francisco Rangel, who covered the story for La Crónica Vespertina: “The object was seen by most of the population, ranging from small children to the elderly and entire families, seen at considerable distances by the luminosity that affected the eyes of many residents and the fact that the electric levels of all the homes dropped whenever the light’s intensity increased, ranging from a soft shade of light blue to a white and phosphorescent blue, acquiring yellow, orange and soft red tones...”

The bizarreness of the situation did not keep people from wanting to turn the CE-2 into a CE-3: locals streamed toward Cerro La Mina in a string of pickup trucks – 20 or 30, by some counts – as a makeshift welcoming committee. One can easily imagine a top-hatted municipal president getting ready to read out a hastily improvised proclamation declaring it “Alien Friendship Day”, but the light turned off as they approached. In the cold, pitch dark of the Mexican sierra, some claimed that now blackened visitor was roughly saucer shaped with a surface reminiscent of sheet metal. The hardy souls who braved the road found that their photo equipment was useless and worse yet, their pickup trucks had had their power drained as well. According to Rangel’s article, two youngsters displayed their teenage recklessness by coming as close as they dared to the saucer: they claimed hearing two “dry, metallic sounds emerging from within the alleged craft” and these sounds prompted them to turn tail and return to the imagined safety of their vehicles where – amid tears – they regretted their hasty decision, now afraid that unearthly beings would emerge from the featureless bulk to spirit them away to an unknown destiny. “This fear,” writes Rangel, “prompted them to flee from the site as best they could, and they refuse to talk about it.”


Power Interference in Argentina

This account takes us from Mexico to the Southern Hemisphere--namely Tandil, Argentina--where UFO activity restarted in earnest in early 2000, attracting national and international attention.

On Tuesday, May 9, 2000, Hugo Macías, 60, faced the task he had been performing--some might say heroically--for the past 37 years: delivering the city of Mar del Plata's La Capital newspaper to a number of locations along national highway 226. As he woke up in the pre-dawn hours to do his job, Macías began his paper route at the Gendarmería Nacional (national police force) building in Puerta del Abra on the road between Tandil and Mar del Plata. After dropping off copies of the paper, Macías drove on for a quarter of a mile when he felt a loud, unusual sound approaching him from behind. He stated that a cylinder of light "encircled" his vehicle, and placed the light's diameter at some 50 meters (160 feet). The unknown beam of energy "seemed to pierce the rooftop", according to the deliveryman.

At that point, explained Macías to an interviewer from the Diario de Tandil newspaper, his car radio inexplicably shut off, with the vehicle's engine and headlights following suit. Despite the engine shutdown, the cone of light transported the car an estimated 600 meters (1700 ft.) before abruptly disappearing and leaving the automobile by the roadside. "Everything came back to life," stated Macías, referring to his vehicle's electrical system, "and I found myself staring into a dark but starry night. In the sky above, [at an altitude] of some two thousand meters (6000 ft.). I could see a cylinder-shaped light heading toward a nearby mountain range...the whole ordeal lasted a matter of seconds, but they seemed endless. There were no other vehicles on the road that night: I may have passed two cars during the remainder of the trip."

Macías retold his experience to a group of friends and an Army officer. The duty officer at the Gendarmerie building later advised him that similar phenomena had been seen "five or six times" and that a burned circular shape had been found in a nearby prairie.

But the deliveryman was also made privy to a highly intriguing piece of information that appears to be a constant factor in Latin American UFO cases. The Gendarmerie, he was told by a local sheriff, discourages talk of UFOs out of a fear that stories "will attract NASA's attention, a fact which creates disturbances [given the fact] that NASA has an airplane with six scientists and an all-terrain vehicle which can go anywhere in the world to inspect different sites...many locals are troubled by the presence of such strangers." Stories of official-looking foreigners flashing NASA credentials and in clearly marked vehicles constitute a common experience in UFO cases from Mexico to Puerto Rico to the Southern Cone. Does the great esteem in which the U.S. space program is held outside the country represent a perfect cover for military or governmental investigators?

Hugo Macías cherished his brush with the unknown, and was proud of "having the satisfaction of having been contacted by something which many researchers would like to see and yet never have." His only complaints in the wake of the CE-2 were of a physical nature: while he felt no bodily effects at the moment of the incident, he came down with a migraine, laryngitis and a number of other ailments two days later. Such side-effects have been reported in cases around the world: during a wave of "boomerang"-shaped saucers in Pennsylvania and western New York (1994), many eyewitnesses complained of similar physical maladies (cold or flu-like symptoms).

Another Police Sighting

No physical symptoms, however, were reported during the January 2006 incident involving seventeen officers of the San Salvador police department and their deputy chief. These law enforcement agents reportedly found themselves enveloped by “powerful silent radiation” for a brief span of time. As they returned from a police operation in a rural area, the trained observers saw a strange, powerful light in the sky that did not appear to be a floodlight from a helicopter, airplane or any other artifact. Amir Methey, the deputy chief, even added: “The poweful light wasn’t a floodlight at all...nor was it any other device or aerial optics.”

The light allegedly rose to a great hight before vanishing, leaving behind an afterglow or white cloud that slowly dissipated. The engines of their vehicles were never affected and communications between units showed no interruption, either.

The officers from the San Salvador barracks would have been interested to learn that residents of their district had been reporting enigmatic lights in the sky to the media. The manifestations had occurred at Nandubaysal Beach in the town of Gualeguayco (a source of UFO reports as of this writing, January 2009). Local resident Enrique Hurtado complained about being awakened by the sensation of something touching him on the face and arm in the middle of the night; the next day, he found that the grass outside his house bore two perfectly circular burn marks, measuring “15 paces in diamter” He later told media that the neighborhood dogs had not stopped barking all night, and that a flock of birds appeared to have been scared away from a nearby stand of trees.

The circular burn marks would also be a prominent feature of the August 2006 case in Santa Rosa, the main city of the Argentinean department of La Pampa. Researcher Salvatore Carta reported to Inexplicata that a “Mrs.O” had witnessed a dark red object, having the aspect of a plow disk, and surrounded by lights. The object remained suspended in the night sky, but the woman entered her home due to the prevailing cold temperatures that evening. In the morning, she noticed that the soil was drier than normal and seemed more compacted. When Carta visited her property, he saw a “fairy ring” type burn.

Perhaps the UFO flap that has been affecting Argentina since 2008 will bring us more cases of this type to mystify witnesses and experts alike.