Argentina: The San Francisco Solano CE-3 (1965)

Argentina: The San Francisco Solano CE-3 (1965)

Investigation by: Proyecto CATENT, Buenos Aires, Arg.
Witness: Ramon Eduardo Pereyra
Age: 38

After many years of trying to contact him in vain through phone directories, thanks to the assistance of researcher Hector Antonio Picco, who kindly gave us a copy of his own interview, as well as the eyewitness’s address and phone number, we were able to contact Mr. Pereyra.

There are many sources to this case, but being so unusual, precisely on account of the all-too-human entities encountered, we decided that securing a personal interview was indispensable.

We were surprised at the certainty with which he told his story, remembering numerous details in spite of the time that had elapsed, giving us the impression that this event marked his life in a powerful way. He was changed by the event, although much more so by the journalistic coverage it received. He became a noontime TV show celebrity, sought by policemen and journalists eager to secure his testimony. We were welcomed at his home with great kindness and courtesy, and after sharing some mate, he began his story.

Interview Transcript – conducted by researchers Mariela Veronica de Tomaso and Miguel Angel Gomez Pombo, members of Proyecto CATENT, on 12 May 2001:

How old are you?

I’ll be 72. That’s why I’m telling you I can’t give you a specific year. I must’ve been thirty something when that happened.

I’m going to tell you [the story] as I saw it and according to what occurred. It was an ordinary and commonplace day. I was a milkman at the time, delivering bottled milk, and there was a place where trucks stopped at one place then another, and there were deliverymen. At a certain time, eight thirty more or less, I always did my job. At that time, the places I walked through or headed to, are now entirely populated. There’s been a complete change. For example, Donato Alvarez [road]. you got to that place, and you’d only find houses up there, then just a road, farms, the odd house with animals. I was coming from San Martin, which starts at Camino General Belgrano and then ends around Calzada [street] or beyond. I’m going along San Martín, I’m turning on Donato Alvarez, which is on this side of the tracks where there used to be a railroad. I’m driving calmly, like anyone driving with ease. Suddenly I saw something that moves this way...and it draws my attention, obviously. But I look at the landscape...and it fell, lost itself in the wilderness. There was some dense forest, very large, but it had a clearing. Well, it fell in the clearing, that thing. It was very, very cold. I grabbed a long coat, went to see what it was...but my notion that it fell from above, as though dropped by a parachute, didn’t work. I left the pickup truck, walked quickly, went under a bridge...wait...I went under a bridge, kept walking. That bridge went over a stream, and train passed overhead. Then I approached, I approached the device. We’re talking about a device now. I must’ve walked the equivalent of a city block and I realized that something wasn’t right. I kept walking, looked at the device, checked it out...but there was a guy inside, dressed, as though he was stuck inside a box. I was startled by the lights of the device, like a car’s dashboard, that is to say, green, yellow lights, all that...and I saw that the device was small, very small, much too small for its speed. Maybe this table was longer than the device (witness refers to a standard dining room table). I kept looking at it and didn’t touch it out of respect, because they might say I put my hands on it, or some such. I didn’t touch it because I was afraid or anything. I looked up and could see a fellow in the distance holding – what do you call them? – binoculars, spyglasses...so I headed toward him. That is to say, I went here, went there, looked this way and headed to where the man was looking toward the center of the forest, known as Monte de los Curas. It was very dense. Later squatters invaded it and they formed a community. I’m not sure if they were ever granted legal ownership or not....but it was very dense from the number of eucalyptus trees. It thought they were going to cut it down for its wood, but don’t know if they ever managed to. But as I approached, the guy either sees me or has something that tells him I’m coming...so the guy walks toward me. I see him. I’m not scared. I’m not excited. I feel nothing. Just like crossing paths with someone. What a strange guy, isn’t he? When he was nearly on top of me I had no choice but to say something, and I said good morning, how do you do? What’s up, boss? And he didn’t say a word. Frankly, he looked at me with a the-hell-do-you-want look and kept walking. I wasn’t too far from the guy, see, and I must’ve been like from here to that other path. I stood still and began to think: this is weird. He made a gesture with his hand, touched the upper part of the vehicle, a sort of dome opened up and he got in. Once inside, he kept looking around. It looked like it had floated up a little, but first there was a sound like an autogenous plant [...] and began to rise. It rose, closed its legs and took off. [...] So I stood there wondering, am I nuts? Seriously. That’s what I thought. Am I nuts? Am I dreaming, am I asleep? I became a bit physically uncontrolled. Touched my feet. It was a damp day, found a stream of water flowing nearby...realized I was okay. What happened is that something unexpected had occurred. So there I was on my way back, what the hell did I see? What was that? I looked one way and another, and saw two fellows walking along the train tracks. I asked: did you guys see anything? No, they said. I told them what had happened to me. I’m not sure if they paid much mind, and went on their way. Instead of heading toward Pasco to make deliveries, I was stunned by what I’d experienced. What was it? What could it be? Where am I? So I went back and left two crates of milk at a police station that used to be on San Martin and Donato Alvarez. I told the watchman that something strange had happened to me. What happened? he asked. So I told him I’d done this and that, and seen a strange machine on the ground, which landed this way, and I explained everything. Then it took off at a tremendous speed. I managed to see it and I explained it all to him.

Well, so that’s what I did. So where there used to be a butcher store, there was a warehouse before that, and one day two guys appeared three days later and started asking questions. They were newsmen from a paper in Wilde that wanted a scoop. From that moment onward, many researchers, journalists and even the police (the police took him to the Lanus station and asked him many questions. He also spoke to a psychiatrist). They told me I was a normal person.

At that time, Fabio Zerpa and his team also came over, and I even got a chance to have lunch with Mirtha Legrand. Much later on the came from the Ministry of the Navy – Captain Pagani – and they also interviewed me and kept me for some four or five hours. Later we went to John Kennedy University with Zerpa to give a presentation on UFOs. It was on one of these events that a foreign journalist asked me how many times had I been to the United States, since the device I was describing resembled something that NASA already had over there. I had said they were Russians, British, Americans...they couldn’t be from anywhere else. You see a guy, he’s dressed almost like you, except for those suits that looked like frogman suits, a guy who’s like you, except without the language to face each other and talk.

How tall were they?

Normal. Thin, elegant. One was walking and the other was stuck inside.

Did they have something on their heads?

No. The one walking had his head combed back, and something behind, a sort of hood that he’d removed, I don’t know. Don’t know. I saw it calmly, without any fear, emotion or anything like it. That’s very, very important.

You got to stand beside the object. You very nearly touched it?

I didn’t touch it for ethical reasons.

And there was another person inside. And that person didn’t look at you?

That person looked stuck in there. So the other one got in to the other space that was empty. They must’ve been seated back to back.

Was the object transparent?

The upper part had a dome at a certain height, I don’t know. It was steel colored, just to give you an idea.

What was its shape?

It was like a big egg. Like a Nandú egg. Apparently half of it went this way, and opened completely when the other guy got in. The transparent part.

How did you see the object descend?

Looked like something was falling down.

Was it shiny, dark?

Yes, it was shiny, but it looked like it was raining (sic), as if surrounded by a little bit of fog, but a form that had fallen there was clearly visible.

What color?

Just a regular bundle. I thought it was a parachute that had been cast away.

How was that thing braced on the ground?

With its little legs. Two little legs. The legs closed up when it rose into the air. Because it made an explosion here (sic) and rose to the height of the plants, more or less, at a speed that you couldn’t see it anymore, well, you could see it, but it looked like a long column of smoke. You can imagine the speed it had.

Did it create wind or something as it took off so quickly?

Not that I noticed, no. I’m telling you: it rose to a certain height, ran off, and when I saw it the horizon, it was already gone.

To what height did it rise slowly?

Up to treetop level.

What did it look like from underneath? Did it have a turbine or something to propel it?
I couldn’t feel anything. Felt no noise and there was nothing to be seen underneath. I didn’t’ see anything out of the ordinary. That’s why you’ve got to be careful when making a report. That’s why the make you take tests.

Was there any mark left on the ground?

No.

You were very close. Could you hear any noise or sound?

No.

And the cabin with the dashboard, did it feel very modern to you?

And I thought it was going to start talking to me.

The man walked normally?

Yes.

What was his hair color?

Very blond.

Were both blond?

No, I didn’t see the other. You couldn’t see the one inside. You could tell there was a guy inside; you know he’s there because I saw him.

But you couldn’t see his head?

No, no. But I saw this one because he walked with the hood pulled back. He had a military field pouch on his legs and those thingies...the binoculars.

And regarding the dashboard...

I’m telling you, I owned an estanciera (rural vehicle similar to a Willys Jeep) and the dashboard wasn’t very technified.

What was it like?

It was a dashboard with yellow, green and red buttons inside. No steering wheel was visible.


Pereyra is a native of Elordi (a town in the province of Buenos Aires which, according to him, no longer exists, but was near General Villegas). He told us an anecdote about another sighting of a similar object that took place in his town, and also of his encounter with “la luz mala” (The Evil Light).

“We reached a field by a gate. I was 16 years old. The light moved and jumped from one side to another. It fell upon us, lighting everything up. We were scared...these were lights...

What color was it?
White. If you’re scared of them, it gets worse. There are mysteries worthy of respect.

Did you associate this thing you saw with that light?

No, nothing to do with it at all.

Continuing with his story, and making reference to the various types of humanoids discussed in the UFO symposium held in Rosario, to which Fabio Zerpa was a guest, he said:

...It isn’t that, the fact is that there is someone who comes to look at us and our comings and goings, just like someone went to the Moon. But they’re terrestrial... what do you think?

Did you have the impression that they wre from here?

I’m convinced.

And what were they doing there?

Who knows? Looking at something, investigating something...

He also says that after this case, and without specifying a date, both his father and a neighbor saw some strange objects passing through the area.

Remarks

There isn’t much else to add to the lengthy and detailed report on the experience that befell this humble man. During our long chat, he repeated time and again that “the ones I saw are from here”. And they certainly appear to be so, judging by their physical appearance, although we understand that no one had such technology in the 1960s. If so, we would all be flying around in such devices, which seem to be a fine means of air transportation.

And if they are not from here, what could someone from beyond our world or culture be doing, wandering through a forest in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Evidently, this is absurd, as is commonplace with hitherto unexplained phenomena.

The fact is that Pereyra saw them. Or at least he thought he saw them. Or better yet, something showed itself on that rainy morning, something that we don’t understand and perhaps conceals itself behind that display of supposedly quasi-terrestrial technology: too advanced for the times, but too human to be true reflection of some distant visitors. What lies behind what was shown to Pereyra? Perhaps we’ll find out someday.

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Carlos Iurchuk, El Dragon Invisible, and Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)