Spain: UFO Sightings in Seville (1999)

Spain: UFO Sightings in Seville (1999)
By José Manuel García Bautista

The following is a list of UFO sightings in the province of Seville (southern Spain) and outlying districts during the month of September 1999. Fraudulent, erroneous, confusing or rationally explainable sightings have been removed from this list. It is this researcher’s intention to report on the following.

First Sighting:
Day: September 4, 1999 (Saturday)
Location: Cornisa del Aljarafe, locality of Puebla del Rio, 25 km. from Seville
Time: 21: 45 hrs. (approximately)
Witnesses: Juan Alcalde Moreno and Soledad Sánchez
Weather: Clear, good conditions. Pleasant temperature
The Sighting: Two residents of Puebla del Rio, province of Seville, were able to see a very bright light from their vehicle that moved in the sky in an northward direction (Gerena-Aznalcollar, El Ronquillo area, etc.). The light followed an anomalous trajectory. According to witnesses, “it took little skips” and maintained a constant greenish color. The object issued a bright light that contrasted with the Sevillian afternoon. It followed its course unswervingly, with the exception of the small “skips”. The sighting lasted approximately 30 seconds, at which time the luminous dot ceased shining and vanished. The possibility of a weather balloon was discarded.

Second Sighting
Date: September 8, 1999 (Wednesday)
Place: Mountains to the north of Seville, locality of Alanís (115 Km. from Seville)
Time: 23:20 hrs. (approximately)
Witness: Antonio Vargas
Weather: Mutable. Rather cool and somewhat cloudy.
The sighting: Mr. Antonio Vargas was heading back to Alanís along the road from a small farm on which he keeps animals and had gone to “take them out for some air”, that is to say, to care for them, and all went well. As he took one of the many curves along the road, our witness was able to see how luminous spots emerged on a nearby hill: three powerful lights of an orange hue that would have formed a triangular shape, had they been linked together. The artifact appeared to take off slowly and silently from the ground, rising above it and heading skyward at an impressive speed. After reconnoitering the land in person, and having benefited from a visit to the locality of Constantina (near Alanis) I must remark that there are no marks to be found on t the ground (although the rain may have played a role in this) and I completely dismiss the possibility of air traffic over the area.

Third Sighting
Date: September 9, 1999 (Wednesday)
Location: Retortillo Reservoir in the mountains north of Seville, near the locality of Las Navas de la Concepción (some 100 km. from Seville)
Witnesses: María José Rodríguez, Francisco Ortega, María del Robledo García.
Time: 17:55 hours (approximately)
Weather: Cloudy and cold
The Sighting: Three witnesses were able to see a strange cloudy formation of the so-called “lenticular clouds” – disk-shaped and of considerable size, between 400 and 600 meters, according to the witnesses’ calculations. The strange cloud formation was very luminous and moved somewhat erratically, although the direction of the wind in the upper layers of our atmosphere does not necessarily agree with that of the lower levels. I think this has a natural explanation and falls under an atmospheric phenomenon.

Fourth Sighting
Date: September 15, 1999 (Wednesday)
Location: Route C-432 on the expressway between Seville and Cádiz and the locality of Lebrija in Seville province.
Witnesses: Rosa Montero and Pilar Castillo
Time: 15:30 hours (approx.)
Weather: Good. Agreeable temperatures and good visibility.
The Sighting: Our two witnesses from Seville were able to see an elongated, “sausage” or “cigar-shaped” object suspended in the sky over a golden field near the locality of Lebrija. The object did not appear to move and if it had any movement at all, it was imperceptible. Our witnesses placed its length at 100 meters. They lost the object from sight after continuing on their way; the object did not move or change its position at all. There is the curious note that there are numerous sightings of this sort along the entire length of this road, covering the communities of Lebrija-Trebuena-Sanlucar de Barrameda-Chipiona-Rota (the last four belonging to Cádiz)

Fifth Sighting
Date: September 18, 1999 (Saturday)
Location: Aznalcóllar – El Castillo de las Guardas, Seville (some 40 km. distant)
Witnesses: Francisco López and Agustín Baena
Time: 22:00 hrs. (approx.)
Weather: Poor. Strong winds and rain. Unpleasant temperature.
The sighting: The two witnesses were returning to Seville from Sierra de Huelva when they noticed a highly luminous and strange shape in the sky. It emitted lights that alternated between green, light blue and orange-yellow. It followed an irregular trajectory, as it made curious angles between 75 and 90 degrees, much to the amazement of the witnesses, who at first attributed it to the bad weather and atmospheric instability. The object appeared to head eastward (that is to say, from Huelva to Guardas). It was swift, as it took some 40 seconds to cross the witnesses’ line of sight, taking its brightness into consideration as a reference to its distance. The road was empty due to the inclement weather. The phenomenon could have been attributed to a heavenly phenomenon or perceptive error on the part of the witnesses, particularly due to poor visibility, but the area’s reputation as a UFO haven leads us to think that there could have been something more to it, since there are many such reports in the area, and many witnesses claim having seen these strange objects – among them renowned ufologists such as Joaquín Mateos and Ignacio Darnaude.

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU)

Spain: Strange Phenomena at the Bobadilla Army Base (2002)

Spain: Strange Phenomena at the Bobadilla Army Base (2002)
By José Manuel Garcia Bautista and Rafael Cabello

The Bobadilla Military Facility is located in the province of Málaga, which was an operating military base with considerable activity for a long time, but it is still not known for sure why the Spanish army stopped making use of it, at least as far as public opinion is concerned. Given that it is under the control of the EA – Spain's “ejercito del aire” - the air force) and its activity is completely zero, many wonder the reason why the Ministry of Defense insists on keeping it open, even when it has no use whatsoever, in theory.

In the 1970s, while this air base was operational, a strange UFO event took place within it. Toward the end of the decade, a fleet of unidentified flying objects was photographed by a group of UFO buffs from the lovely province of Málaga who decided to look into the sighting, requesting permission from the highest official in charge to secure information on sightings in the area. The officer-in-charge placed a sizable file on the surface of his desk and named a price for it. In spite of this, and the materialistic interest in the subject, the base has been and remains the subject of phenomena related to the UFO phenomenon.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to know the site where the Bobadilla Base is located can say that it is in a mountainous area that can be reached on N-342 highway, following a well-marked detour. Nearby is the river that empties into the Guadalhorce Reservoir and the railroad lines that vanish into the heart of the base. This is the spot where even today a considerable number of sightings are reported. There is a particular interest for the mountainous area that surrounds the military base. It is not unusual to record and see strange lights in the dark of night over these mountains; a UFO was even seen to land in this location. As a witness to that event, we have Jose Luis Pelaez, a renowned researcher from Málaga who belongs to the EDENEX group.

Events related to the UFO subject are not restricted to mere sightings or even landings: there have been frequent encounters with strange creatures of unknown origin, as is the case involving two young soldiers from Seville who were on duty at the railroad facility in the tunnel under the base. One of these young men discussed his experience with us:

“While standing guard during an unloading of munitions from a military merchandise train to the platform within a well-lit tunnel (bulbs staggered along its length), my companion (another soldier) saw a strange shape standing 1.20 meters. It was black and descended to the train tracks in a dynamic, easy and agile way, covering a 3 meter distance. When we took the safeties of our rifles, intimidated by the creature's behavior and presence, the strange being turned around and looked at us both with menacing red eyes, Next, in response to our unflinching conduct, the creature leaped and vanished. The hypothesis that it could have been an animal or a rat was dismissed immediately, and we asked ourselves if we'd seen the same thing. Our observations matched 100 per cent.” What was that thing? It is said that very strange things have taken place in that military base. The soldiers reported the incident to their superior, who replied with a laconic: “You've seen nothing at all.” Odd behavior on the part of an officer being given the news that the base has possibly been infiltrated. Or was he aware of this being's presence?

This has not been the only encounter involving beings of this appearance. There are many stories of young soldiers who claim having seen a small being, standing 1.20 meters, with large red eyes and a sort of crest, wandering around the bushes, appearing to emerge from a strange and sudden green light.

Collecting stories and conducting research, the case surrounding the events at this base, a soldier assigned to this location once said that a strange animal had been captured. “My companion, who'd studied veterinary medicine and was more of a country boy than Huckleberry Hound, had no idea what it was. It was different from anything we knew. A sort of reptile, yet without being so, and making some very strange noises. Given its zoological importance, we took it to the base lock-up and put it in a cage until the duty officer turned up and took it into custody. We were astounded to see a dark, unmarked helicopter landed at night. As fellow servicemen told us later, three military men descended from the craft, took the cage and went off with the animal. There was no log of the strange “visitor's arrival”. The critter looked like a reptilian penguin with strong mandibles and claws, but it must've been a cub, as it was very small (some 35 to 40 cm.).”

Strange black helicopter sightings are also common (remind you of something?) and fly over the area with total impunity, and with tacit acceptance by the military.

Strange luminous spheres have often been seeing flying at low altitude by base authorities. They are roughly 90 cm in diameter, float and wander around the inside and outside the base at will. They make no noise, but stand out in the dark of the night. The next day, after inspecting the places where these orbs have transited, all that can be found is the mute testimony of some charred vegetation, whose damage remains unexplained.

It is not unusual to see strange shadows and lights in the barracks – even strange luminescent human shapes that have caused sentries to very nearly open fire against them. These events remind us of the events that occurred a long time ago in 1976 at the Talavera la Real Base, or the more recent 1998 case at the Morón de la Frontera base.

There are still many who wonder why this base remains open. It is only employed as a magazine or military warehouse today, with railroad access and a protective tunnel. “KEEP OUT” signs bar access to some locations, restrictions that apply even to military personnel on duty. What is going on in Bobadilla? Cases such as Morón de la Frontera have only served to open Pandora's Box for these two researchers on the unusual events that take place in Southern Spain's military facilities, where there is still considerable secrecy and concealed activities that have not yet been made known to the public at large. Our country has a specific number of facilities that constitute a single body of UFO experiences, kept down by the weighty slab of official silence...

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU)

1978: UFOs at the Brink of War

“The reason for publishing this account,” writes Carlos Iurchuk, editor of Argentina’s El Dragon Invisible, “so soon after having received it is in the hope that it may be possible to contact some of the other people who participated in this event.” We do not know if Mr. Iurchuk was ever able to get hold of any other witnesses to the event described below, which was sent to his publication in e-mail form by one of the percipients.

On September 27, 2005, a man identifying himself only as “juanperez 19” submitted the following e-mail to El Dragón Invisible. After introducing himself, and promising that he would tell his story step-by-step, he described his experiences at length:

“It was 1978, and Argentina was on the verge of going to war with Chile. Along with thousands of other soldiers, we were stationed and trained in less than eight months to face this contingency. And that’s how we learned to live – armed to the teeth, sharing our lives stoically in a hostile, unforgiving environment. In one of our forays (to Quilcha, less than three hundred meters from the border) we spent many nights on watch. Observation was our number one priority.

“I should remark that the locals, whether Chilean or Argentinean, treat seeing “lights” in the same way we deal with passing automobiles. They are unflappable in this regard. It may be that they have a very simple, cold manner of weighing matters. Useful/not useful, good/bad, aggressive/non-aggressive, and our visitors are anything but aggressive. I would say that in any event, some are more curious than others. They have the luxury of watching us in the same way we look at them: with a measure of astonishment.

"You should see my gestures, and my alarm at seeing lights floating in the darkness, and the locals (chatos) replying: “Hey, what’s all the fuss about? It’s a disk, they’re always there!”

After my initial sighting on the skirts of Cerro Otto (my company was below, CA-ING-MON-6 and the Andean Instruction School, Kilometer 10, facing [lake] Nahuel and next to the Balseiro Atomic Center, there was something floating slowly over the mountain, changing from red to yellow lights. Nothing was ever the same, by the mere fact that no-one ever thought to reply to its signals, including our superiors. What was it? Aside from its exasperating slowness, time appeared to stand still. Eight to ten minutes, and it appeared to fall down behind the other side of the mountain, from which only a flash could be seen. It blended with an extremely moonlight night, so bright that it seemed like day.

“Later on, in the open countryside, while demarkating routes, we found ourselves at Cerro Leones, fifteen hundred meters from the airport. Using your wristwatch face as an example, the airport was at 12 o’clock, the ancient train station and our bivouac at :17 minutes. It was an enchanted place, where I once saw beautiful red deer drinking from a stream, while searching for sustenance, which was scarce on more than one occasion.

“Across from us was a smal canyon, with a significant depth. It acted like a funnel at one of its ends. Average length, fifteen hundred meters; width, five hundred. These are approximations.

“On nights of full moon, this wilderness was always DARK, given its shape and depth. With my rifle beside me, I stood guard yet another night, when the canyon suddenly lit up with a glowing yellow light. The time? 0200 hours.

“I woke up my tentmate and told him I’d seen a tremendous light, but it had now gone out (may I remind you that these were the signs of an imminent war).

“XXX, which is the name of my companion and driver, told me to stop drinking so much wine and to quit fooling around. I insisted and said: “You blockhead, what if its the Chileans? Who’s going to warn the patrol? Come with me or I’m going alone.” I harbored doubts about what that thing could be, but I couldn’t take the luxury of interrupted my comrades’ well-deserved sleep due to something that I wasn’t completely certain about.

“XXX got up and grudgingly accompanied me to what was basically a ledge. We were discussing things in hushed tones, and there was no sign of the light. Suddenly everything turned bright again. We speculated that it could have been a truck or conventional vehicle, but our knowledge of the area screamed at us that this was impossible.

“These flashes had a duration of seconds, like winks of the eye, but the light was incredible. In the middle of all this, we decided to contact our superior, nurse corporal YYY, who for some reason did not refuse and got up like a firefighter. When he arrived, the moon was shining over the airport and nearly causing the Andean Pre-Cordillera to cast a shadow. We were facing the moonlight, the canyon was in shadow, and we told him that we saw lights below, and then nothing at all. Suddenly, stuck to the slopes of the facing mountain (like a refrigerator magnet), we saw the light and its source: a greysh disk with the approximate size of three large automobiles together (some ten meters long). Without making any noise, it had risen from the base, nearly at our own height. No buzzing noises, no smells, nothing. Only silence.
“When it varied its position we could see it only a few seconds in profile. It was as tall as a house (3 meters), its center was motionless, and it gave the impression of having hatches like an airplane, changing colors. These colors were not conventional for the time, as far as their luminosity was concerned. They resembled LED lights, that is to say, somewhat cotton-like (sic) and changed from yellow to red, then to green or purple, swiftly and fleetingly in a manner of seconds, extinguishing themselves just as fast.

“After it went off, it would appear in another second of the same slope, as though playing with our search. At this point, corporal YYY called the patrol leader, the entire patrol, and together they decided to summon First Lieutenant ZZZ, the base commander, along with all of the older soldiers like myself, who reported to see the strange new development with their FAL rifles in hand.

“When the big boss arrived, he asked us: “What’s going on? This had better be for real, or there’ll be hell to pay.”

“We all pointed at the darkness. And it happened. It lit up, and to our surprise, moved around illuminated, with a broken, abnormal flight pattern, like a zigzag, flying over us at about three hundred feet. It was really fast, like nothing we’d ever seen before. When it was overhead, First Lieutenant ZZZ, bellowed: “Load, damn it!” and the thing moved vertically, turning into a point.

“The worst part of this is that there’s something neither my comrades nor myself can recall about that night: what did we do later? Did we sleep, go dancing, etc.? One of them (and I seem him regularly, he lives over in Tigre) doesn’t remember the event, just fragments, like the clouds.

“Something happened that night, and I still can’t manage to recall what it was.

“My name is Carlos Letteri. I enlised as a recruit with Mountain Engineer Company 6, known today as the Juan Domingo Perón Regiment. I served as orderly, gunner and launcher. As such I took part in survival forays and “Vivac” due to the possible war with Chile over control of the Beagle Channel. This took place in the year 1978 – right in the middle of the Argentinean World Cup games. It lasted for nearly two years until Pope Wojtyla (John Paul II) mediated. We were the class of 1959 and it amalgamated with the class of 1960.

“The events involving UFO sightings occur in the Cerro Leones wilderness and the old Ferrocarriles Argentinos Train Station. At this point in time, soldiers of the class of 1960 spent nearly 50 days and nights together. It should be noted that the ones with knowledge of these sightings were members of the trained forces, who also had the most autonomy.”

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Carlos Iurchuk, El Dragón Invisible)

Victoria, Argentina: UFOs, Bridges and the Unexplained

Victoria, Argentina: UFOs, Bridges and the Unexplained
By Silvia Pérez Simondini, Vision OVNI


The passing of the years has not caused the UFO phenomenon to dwindle at all over Victoria. Quite the contrary, each passing day brings a new sighting, a new eyewitness account.

We often believe that we are going against what is commonplace in other locations, where sightings occur at given times of the year, following schedules, only every so often etc.

None of this applies here. There are no case histories that resemble those that we have heard other analysts of the phenomenon bring up. It’s as though they lived here, much like any one of us. They come and go as they please, when the feel the need to do so.

Our research has a strong focus of interest, and it is the river. A subject that has earned us our share of headaches, but a number of researchers have done no less than prove us right. The intelligent behavior of these lights, as they enter and leave the river’s waters, puts their structure on display – a kind of small probe, but with the great possibility of making themselves appear as large as they wish.

At first it was very hard to make people take notice of what was going on in the water. Who could think that what we were showing was anomalous?

Surely they all thought that we could mistake these lights for the activity of fishermen. But after witnessing this activity 365 days a year, seeing what they do – for example, a single light splitting into two, three, four or ten lights at once, shifting from red to green with ease, standing one on top of the other in threes, one of each color, plunging into the water, the pilings, dry land with the same ease in which they float in the air – who indeed can dispute what our eyes are seeing?

It doesn’t mean that they are this or that. The same thing happens in Norway, where scientists have already formed the famous Hessdalen Project, giving them the name earthlights, almost certainly by virtue of lacking another parameter by which to describe them.

We have some. We have noticed after several tests, for example, that when white lights are stimulated in the hope of receiving a reply, no reply was ever received (unlike fishermen, who immediately return signals flashed at them). However, using a red laser light, we have obtained a reply in a single instance, a clear sign that no further reply should be expected. What is the reason for this? Can they not see the white light, but are able to see the red one?

While this may seem like science fiction, another matter we’ve ascertained is that Saturdays are the day on which this manifestation occurs the most. Why? We have managed to record them from very early until late in the evening. It would seem as if they collected a certain element and deposited into another light, one that is white and motionless. They emerge once more to perform the same work.

If we had to specify where these lights emerge from, we would have to say that they come from below, from the river bottom. This is what we can see. But we cannot be certain of it, since they appear to handle matter and anti-matter. Another detail to keep in mind is that on moonlit nights, no light is ever visible on the river. When they have done so, it’s as though a filter had been slipped on the light. It never appears white, but may be red, yellow or green.

This has been going on for the longest time in Victoria. Our team picked up on it seven years ago and today, with the construction of the bridge from Rosario to Victoria, the workers involved in the project have confirmed what we have been saying for so long.

These are a few things that have taken place in this construction project:

Case No.1: “Where’s the dredge’s strut?”

When construction began on this bridge – so anticipated by residents of Victoria for over a hundred years – we felt disheartened. Not about the bridge, but about our subject. Everything would become filled with lights and noise; the phenomenon would almost certainly disappear; we wouldn’t even have the chance of finding out what it was. But we were wrong.

Not only did it *not* disappear, but it increased, causing concern not only to us, but to those involved in the construction work.

One of the first thing that happened startled everyone by its unexpected and mysterious nature. A Dutch company was in charge of dredging the river. Two support frogmen were involved in the project, monitoring the dredge’s work underwater. One of them came to our radio show (broadcast on FM Puente 102.1 on Saturdays from 1 to 2 p.m., know as Visión Ovni) to tell us what had happened. No explanation has been found to this very day.

He told us that one of the struts on the larger of the dredges had broken – something that while not very likely, is not uncommon. But what cannot happen is to have the dredge’s strut vanish altogether. In these cases, the frogman’s job consists in going down, digging a meter or more, hooking the strut and signaling the surface to hoist it. In this instance, despite digging a considerable depth, the strut was never found. The element in question measures 18 meters long by 50 cm in diameter, weighing 6 tons. An echo sounder swept the river bottom, but nothing was ever found.

This case reminds us of an event that occurred in 1993, when a research team belonging to an official agency, together with the Argentinean Naval Prefecture, engaged in a survey of the notorious Laguna del Pescado. To the astonishment of the specialists, they obtained an echo sound reading in excess of 30 meters, went far beyond the average depth of the site (which is between 2.50 and 3 meters). It was believed to be a technical error at first, but it was later ascertained that the readings were correct.

Such evidence allows us to gather elements that enable us to prove that activity completely unknown to us is taking place under the river’s waters, without giving it the qualifier of mysterious. This is one of many cases that took place, and which we can confirm.

Case No.2: “Not until I see it with my own eyes...”

Argentinean contracting firms like Puentes del Litoral, and some European ones – like the Dutch firm mentioned earlier, in charge of dredging operations – have become a presence in the area due to the construction of the Rosario-Victoria Bridge. Victoria was “invaded” by engineers and technicians who while aware of UFO phenomena in the area, never took into account as a factor to take into consideration. However, it would have a bearing on future work activities, as we will see here.

JR, the chief engineer, a Dutch national, unable to deal with his uncanny experience and the rationality imposed by his professional training, approached our group to tell us a story that left him sleepless for several nights. Amid statements of doubt, he told us that he was told of the UFO subject when he came to Victoria, but given that he did not believe in the phenomenon, paid it little attention. With nervous gestures, he started telling us his experience. “One night, around 11:30 p.m., I saw a green light a little over 10 meters over one of the bridges under construction...it suddenly turned red, rose some 50 meters and turned into an orange ball that rotated, giving an impression of fire. At that moment all lights went out. All motors stopped, even those of the barges supporting the project.”

To this day, the engineer is unable to come up with a logical explanation for the event. Believe us when we say that he has endeavored to do so since then, but comes up empty-handed.

Case No.3: “Those men are walking on water.”

José M. was about to leave his job, which consists of aiding technicians at work on the new bridge’s platforms. Like he did every day, he took off his jumpsuit and loosened the laces of his work boots. Within half an hour (7 p.m.) he would be aboard the boat that would bring him closer to the head of the bridge. When the boat was reaching the end of its journey along the coast, he saw a human-shaped light, standing no more than 70 or 80 centimeters tall, appearing to walk on the water. In his own words, he thought he was “seeing things” and never thought he’d witness such a sight.

It needn’t be said that he was terrified by all this, and his co-workers had to force him to return to work the next day, as he refused to do it on his own, given the shocking nature of his experience.

Today, a year after that experience, he remembers that his first remark about the experience was: “Esos hombrecillos caminan sobre el agua” (those little men walk on water), which gives us a better idea of what he saw at the time. Energy forms in humanoid shape?

Aside from this there are countless narratives from the workers who have had similar experience. It reached the point that many of them requested a change in their work hours to avoid having to deal with the lights that emerge from the water. What is important, beyond these experiences, is that researchers are always on the lookout for eyewitness accounts from professional people, since we wrongly believe that he/she is more qualified by their level of education. It just so happens here that both professionals and laborers are sharing the same experiences, the difference being that the latter fear they will lose their jobs, and choose to keep silent about their sightings.

The UFO phenomenon is showing itself assiduously. But why? We don’t know. It’s a source of concern for us. It’s as if they were no longer concerned about being seen, and not just in Victoria. We hear about important events happening in Chile, Mexico and Brazil. Does this mean we’ll learn more about them soon? If so, I hope it’s for the betterment of humanity, and not to end up as thralls to an unknown civilization.

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

Argentina: Humanoids at San Antonio de Areco (1975)

Argentina: Humanoids at San Antonio de Areco (1975)
A Report by PROYECTO CATENT (catent2002@arnet.com.ar)

Location: San Antonio de Areco, Province of Buenos Aires
Date: Winter 1975
Witnesses: Daniel Pignalberi and Eduardo Ramos
Ages: 20 and 16, respectively

The Investigation

These were the tough days of our friend Hector Antonio Picco’s illness in the winter of 2002, from which he is fully recovered today, pursuing what he enjoys the most, his work and trying to earn enough to earn his sustenance. This great researcher organized a series of conferences in his own home. In attendance at one such event was a gentleman, accompanied by his son and some friends. Daniel had learned of this event through Mr. Horacio Fadel, and he told us that the had witnessed a not-so-unusual event (as we have come to see) that involved the presence of strange humanoid entities. We exchanged e-mail addresses and agreed to meet.

During the first conference, he spoke of the existence of another witness to the same event – his cousin Eduardo Ramos, who we met days later. The result of these meetings is the report transcribed herein.

Transcript of the Interview with Daniel Pignalberi

Interview by researchers Mariela Verónica de Tomaso and Miguel Angel Gómez Pombo, members of Proyecto CATENT, on Wednesday, 24 July 2002.

The conversation started with a discussion about how most people treat these subjects with little seriousness, and Daniel tells us he’s afraid he won’t be believed. He had a series of UFO experiences in Mar del Plata at age 15 along with his family. He tells us he’s currently 48.

“The real impact it had in my life, and truly intrigued me and caused me to read up on the subject happened when I was 22 – of this I’m sure, because I got married at 23. At the time, when one was that age, we went backpacking a lot. We were a half of a group, because we would board a bus with our backpacks and get down on a given highway, heading to the same place. We’d go other places, but in general to the same one: Kilometer 110 on Route 9, where a tributary of the Parana River flows, known as the Areco river. It’s a stream that can be crossed at a stone’s throw.

“We’d get off on the road and walk diagonally until we’d reach a certain point. It was a long walk, but we were young and could do it.”

How long did you walk?

About an hour and change, to reach the interior (it is somewhat longer than that – Interviewer). Not sure if an hour and twenty or thirty minutes. Consider that we were carrying weight, and the encumbrance slows you down. We had to cross barbed wire fences. The problem is that 15 meters on each side of the river is municipal land, and the landowners cannot challenge you. We’d camp there, within the 15-meter stretch. We went dozens of times and continued to go there after these events. One night, we’d gone with my cousin Eduardo Antonio Ramos, who is 4 years my junior. He must’ve been 18 at the time. Let me tell you that this is a flat plain. If you see it, these are flat fields, no hills, no mounds, and few trees except for our campsite, which had five or six trees. We would throw a tarp between them for shade. That night we put up the tarp. I’m a big fan, so we set up the kindling for the campfire and stepped away to go fishing or something. The time was 22:00 hours. Can’t tell you the date.

Was it Summer?

No, of that I’m sure. Because there were a lot of bugs in the summer – horseflies and mosquitoes! We’d always go in the fall or in the spring. Well, at any rate, we went fishing. It was a dark night. No lights whatsoever. We had two flashlights, one each, of the tracking type with five or six batteries. We used them only as necessary. We stepped away, we had a little camp lantern with us, but not sure if we took it along. The thing is that we’d gone fishing and felt hungry at around 22:00 hours. We started walking, left the campfire going by the tarp. Some campfire! Because we’d always leave a hole through which we’d insert the kindling and it gave of a tremendous amount of light. In an open field, with that amount of light, we were able to walk back without turning on our flashlights. We were going by the firelight, and as we approached the tarp – some 80, 70 or 60 meters away or so – I saw two persons. Two guys, two men. One was standing beside the fire and the other was to the left, crouching. I thought he was stirring the fire. I could see the fire moving. The first thing that came to my mind was...we stopped cold and I told him: “We’re being robbed”. We nearly said at the same time. Two guys in the middle of the night, and in the dark.

At that point we started sauntering with our flashlights off, leaving our tackle on the ground, and we sauntered over to get there faster. At a distance of a few meters, my cousin lit his flashlight all of a sudden. And when he lit them up, I slapped my own flashlight – don’t ask me why, I guess I wanted to shock them. But when I lowered my flashlight, the [figures] vanished. I’m telling you it was like something that was there, and then was gone. Like something disappearing. Of course, at that moment, when those people vanished, well...we can say vanished, but at the time you don’t interpret it as a disappearance. You’re not prepared for such a thing. At the moment you’re grasping for an explanation to what’s going on, and it’s not that we discussed the disappearance, either: “Where the hell did they go?! How could we have lost them?!” So we turned on the flashlights and scanned the treetops, scanned the river to see if they’d gone into a boat, if they were hiding behind the tarp...we lit up the empty fields with those flashlights. The guys had vanished before our very eyes!!

Of course, at this point we faced the fact that these guys had disappeared. “Did you see what I saw?” I asked my cousin. I’d seen it. Nowadays I tease him, because whenever we meet a few times a year, I bring up the subject and I’ll say, “I know what I saw, but what about you?”

I was left with the doubt of whether I’d hallucinated it all and my cousin was fooling me, because you can speak for yourself, but not for the other person. The fact of the matter is that we were so scared, out in the middle of nowhere, that we climbed a tree and spent the night up there. It’s not because there were two people out there. The fact is that there was something that I haven’t told you about. These two guys – and I realized this as we got closer – were strange. Strange guys, because they were all dressed in white. Completely white, with white coveralls, like white jumpsuits, completely white. They wore broad belts, black or dark, visible in the night. I could tell that they had very straight hair, swept back, as if combed with brilliantine. Both were identical. At that time I was able to see them make a motion like this (a gesture to turn around, a half turn, as if noticing the presence of the witnesses). But I couldn’t see their faces due to the fact that my cousin had switched on his flashlight. Maybe if he hadn’t, I’d have been able to see them. I don’t know what would’ve happened after that. There are people, scholars of the subject, who have told me, no, that “...things happened after that, it’s just that you can’t remember them.” What do I know? I can only tell you what I recall. We were so shocked that we stayed up in the tree, and even peed from the treetops, since we weren’t willing to come down.

In the morning, we left at first light, leaving behind our very expensive camping gear, by the standards of the times. We left a lot of things behind, since we were so desperate to get away. The problem is that one isn’t ready for this – maybe you are, since you’ve heard so many things (referring to the interviewers) and they’ve told you some many things, so your head’s ready for it. But imagine that you’d never been interested in the subject, or imagine the 1970s, when the movie ET hadn’t been released yet and Hollywood’s special effects weren’t as good as the ones nowadays, and you’re suddenly faced with this situation. It’s tough. It’s really hard to face a situation like the one we faced in the middle of nowhere.

Didn’t you feel motivated to take everything apart at night before leaving the site?

In the dark? No way! Then again, those guys dressed in white...they were like torches in the night! You cast light on people like that and see them – it’s terrible. You know how you’re driving along at night and your headlights illuminate the roadside posts? Imagine two guys in white. They couldn’t have gotten away from us in fractions of a second. They vanished on us. So what was it?

Did you notice anything odd the rest of the evening?

No. But what we saw – and much I never discussed, and I’ll tell you why. I think that maybe you heard Eduardo at some point (turning to his wife, making reference to his cousin) say that we went back, to the same place on a night not too long after, but we saw three lights moving in the sky. But three lights moving very far away...and I could see them moving, but I couldn’t tell if it was an optical effect caused by looking at a distant little light. It looked like three lights moving, but you’re always wondering. Look, I told you those two things and I’m telling you: if you hook me up to a polygraph, I’d always question whether they were real or not. You know how it is. I can tell you what I saw, but I can’t speak for others.

Why do you mistrust what you saw?

No, in this case it was just two of us. It the first case there were many of us [translator’s note – interviewee is referring to an earlier case]. I have no doubt that it was a flying saucer but years later, I wondered, since detractors of the UFO phenomenon say that one could mistaken by gaseous effects in the sky.

And the second one?

No, not the second one. Let me make it clear that on that night we were not drunk, and this one (referring to his wife) can tell you that I’m into water. I was never much of a drinker or smoker, nor was I...you get me. We were two kids who were laughing at life, fishing, we weren’t talking about witches or scary stories, not that day, no. What’s more, that day we’d laughed a lot because we were out fishing.

Well, that’s what happened to me. It was very clear.

The first time you saw them, as you came up the river...how far away were they?

I’d say about less than a block away.

Who realized this?

No, it was both of us at the same time, because we swatted each other like this, at the same time. He was on my left. I remember this clearly, and we slapped each other as if warning ourselves. We’re being robbed, dude – two guys are robbing us.

So what did you see at first sight?

We dropped our fishing rods and began sauntering.

To get closer?

Our course. Not running – sauntering with our flashlights off. Since we know the ground, we were walking right beside the barbed wire fence. It’s a low municipal fence that can be crossed without climbing. We sauntered for less than a block. I’m not sure how much faster we got there by sauntering. I figure some 60 meters more or less. I could see them well.

How could you see them? The only light was that of the campfire.

Fire, dark night. Try it sometime. It’s like lighting a huge floodlight.

And what color could you see them? Were they the color of the fire?

No, what I recall is seeing them the color a person might have. Consider two things: the shock I felt at the moment, surely there are a thousand details I’ve forgotten, a thousand details that my brain didn’t capture or a thousand details I may have changed over time. I tried, but they can get mixed up.

They wore belts?

Yes. Broad black belt, dark footwear.

You could see their shoes?

Yes. Since they were crouching, I could see them. That I remember.

They were both crouching?

No. One was standing like this (makes the gesture of standing up) sideways looking at the fire. The other one was like this (crouches). I could see him moving and that the fire moved, like when you’re roasting something.

Hair color?

Hair was dark. It struck me. Imagine two people in the middle of the countryside. You expect to come across “Don Zoilo” (a typical gaucho name) with his gaucho pants. Not far from there is a ranch of people I knew, since they were my dad’s neighbors. What struck me was to see two people in the wilderness dressed like that.

Strange noises?

None. There was no wind, no weird buzzing, nothing that told us what was about to happen.

Were you startled by anything else?

Nothing. Everything was normal. I didn’t see any lights in the sky. Didn’t taste anything odd. That’s how it was. It was striking to see something like what we’re looking at right now (lifts a flower vase from the table) and suddenly it’s gone. At that moment, when it vanishes, you don’t say: “oh, it’s vanished!” You take a while. There was a flower vase there...maybe it slid off the table...no, it vanished. Especially if it makes no noise. Now you see it, now you don’t. And it isn’t that there was a flash of lightning when it vanished, or it became transparent like with the transporter devices in Star Trek. No. It was there, now it’s gone. You don’t react at time. And what’s more, if it had happened to me today, and I’d give anything to have it happen again, I now think that my head’s better prepared for it. And nothing ever happened again, you get me?

And when they disappeared, what happened with the two of you? Did you talk?

No, no...at the time it was more like: “what do you mean they’re not here, where did they go, didn’t we see two guys, where are they. Look behind the tent, shine your light upward.” In the silence of the night, if a guy gets into a boat in the stream, he makes noise with the wood, and every so often we’d see people boating there, but it’s very shallow. In the middle of the river, the water comes up to your heels, or the water can cover you in some spots. I must have photos of the place (asks his son to find photos to show us).

So when you turned on the lights, what did you see?

When we turned on the lights is when I remember them doing this (gesture of turning their heads to where they were) and that’s when I slapped my flashlight. I don’t know why I did it. My intention was to surprise them, but in fact they weren’t doing anything, if they were people from the area. But I don’t know...

You thought they were thieves?

You know why? We had some very expensive gear with us. Fishing rods that were worth a fortune.

What were you fishing for?

Trash fish. Catfish...we were just having fun. The joy of spending the night out, having cookouts, feeling at one with nature for a few days.

How many days would you spend?

Normally the weekend. We’d leave on a Friday and return on Sunday night. On long weekends we’d spend four days.

Could we speak to your cousin?

Sure. I called him and asked him I could give him your phone number.

(Conversation is interrupted as photos of the site are shown)

So what do you think it was? Did you associate it with anything?

What did you ask me? What? (distracted, looking at the photos). See, I have a notion that the two things that happened to me weren’t of this world, and I’ll tell you why. The first thing I go by, and many people have said so and I’ve thought this, is that there are terrestrial UFOs. I’ve no doubt that there are terrestrial UFOs. But in particular, I say that this thing came out of the sea at the time when it happened, and the way that it flew...I think it wasn’t [a terrestrial UFO]. I thought maybe there are terrestrial UFOs, but they don’t have the technology to move like that in flight (continues discussing the UFO he saw in Mar del Plata. He returns to the second experience, the one that concerns us here). I also think it could be something that isn’t from here...(goes back to looking at the photos)...I was 22 years old in 1975...

After the fright you had, did you return to the site?

Yes, yes...to the very same site. But were we restless.

But you went anyway.

We’re more brothers than cousins. If you talk to him, and he starts discussing me, anything I do, to him I was the smartest guy in the world, the best looking, the best dressed, the one with the best girlfriends...when I play guitar, I’m Paco de Lucía. He plays very well, but he’s Cafrune. And he always says to me: “You know how much I love you Daniel, you know what you mean to me”. He adores me. I’m the cousin, the big brother. Furthermore, I always thought that despite me being older, I gave a lot of space in my life.

And you saw their clothing as white in the firelight?

Yes.

Is that normal, or did it have to do with...?

Can’t tell you if it’s normal. I can tell you that I remember it as white. Light is light.

When you turned off the flashlight – what happened? Were they gone. When he turned on the flashlight, at what point did they vanish?

Less than a second. Nothing. Now they’re here, now they’re gone. Like that.

Footprints or marks?

I didn’t look. We didn’t look. We were trying to answer the question: where the hell did they go? Three was the tent, and the first thing I recall, I’m not sure which one of us did it, was to run around the tent. Where the hell else would they go? We looked in the trees, in the river. These guys vanished to our faces. That’s the answer. You’re ready to see a number of things. An airplane, for example, but imagine that you suddenly see me become transparent. At the time you’re not going to say: “I saw you become transparent.” You’ll try to find an explanation for it. Furthermore, today we see many movies with a lot of information, but I don’t think they were around at the time. What was the name of the series about the guy looking for aliens?

The Invaders.

Not sure if it was around....

Yes, yes it was. You were saying, “how this changed you”. What changed?

It changes your entire head. Imagine that what changed me the most from that moment onward was...despite the fact that I have, or had religious training, I changed in that regard. I went to a religious school and they stuck a bunch of things in my head that the Church puts there. The Catechism. So from that moment on I changed. I started to see things a bit more from here, rather than from there. It’s like seeing the world standing here, not above, not the other side. You see it through different lenses.

How?

You realize that you’re not alone, we’re not alone, there could be a ton of things, don’t know if we’re spiritual or will be...I started to think that maybe we’re persons or beings that are being manipulated or watched. Or when I believed that we – Adam and Eve, God came and separated the waters from the earth, dispelled the darkness – that was my notion. Years later I didn’t believe the Adam and Eve thing. I think it was a poem to say something lovely to ignorant peoples who couldn’t be told something like Darwin’s theories, get them to follow the religion of your choosing. Of course, there’s marketing in selling religion. So it changed me. That changed me. I also felt anguish at times.

Why?

Anguish at the fact that I cannot find answers to these things. You see? You can’t solve them, except for the other day when Picco was speaking (referring to the day that he witnessed one of the presentations given by researcher Hector Antonio Picco) and he said: “I was speaking to a being that vanished before my eyes.” I love that. I was also watching Infinito (TV channel specializing in mysterious subjects) and people spoke of similar things. So it calms me, but doesn’t define anything for me. It offers no solutions. Many told me that this will be explained, it’ll happen in the year 2000, E.T.’s will land and tell us: “Here we are, this is what we are.” So 2000, 2001 and 2002 went by, and here we are. Still nothing. Not even the world ended, as so many claimed.

So what were those beings doing there? Do you have any theories? Were they there because you were there? What was your impression?

I thought they were going to rob us. That was my first impression.

So when you saw them vanish, what did you think?

What I think if you ask me to play out my imagination, well...what I like to think is that those guys must’ve come down from somewhere, or sent from somewhere, and were looking into something about the site we were camped at, and were startled and removed from the scene very quickly. That’s my notion. I’d rather think they were E.T.’s instead of ghosts. It scares me less.

It’s interesting.

Yes, yes. I think that dealing with the concept of spirituality is harder than that of E.T.’s. Maybe because I saw that massive object (at age 15 in the city of Mar del Plata).

Did you become interested in these subjects from that moment on?

No. I read about it as just another thing. It was discussed when I was a boy, but I didn’t have an opinion about them. I don’t recall. The first time, when I was 15, from that moment on, I really got into what people were saying on TV about it. I listened to them and thought: those guys are telling the truth, regardless of whether it’s real or not, they experienced it and they’re being mocked...

Would you like to relive the experience out of curiosity?

To collect information and certify that the experience was real. What I thought and what I actually experienced. It would confirm my life. I discussed it with Eduardo (cousin and fellow witness) and I tell him: “Do you remember?” to which he recalls, “Of course it happened”. It’s important to me. It changed me greatly. We are not alone. I believe in God, but I’m not sure if there is a God, or just extraterrestrials.

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU). Special thanks to Carlos Iurchuk, El Dragón Invisible)

Argentina: UFOs...or UAVs?

Earlier today, Eduardo Grosso posted an interesting comment on Contributing Editor Guillermo Giménez's Planeta UFO site regarding the very likely terrestrial origin of the strange object(s) being reported over Argentina at this time.

"Since June 2011," says Eduardo, "the Argentinean army has been testing the LIPAN III UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) over the Campo the Mayo region and the INTI. It is possible that what is been seen are the navigation lights of this small unconventional device. There is considerable information regarding this Army project as well as the prototypes being tested by the Navy (Proyecto Guardián) and even others by the Air Force (hitherto secret and unnamed)."

"Based on informal conversations with witnesses some time ago, the descriptions lead me to believe that the UAV is the most reasonable explanation."

It turns out that the Lipan III has been around for quite a while, forming part of the "Unmanned Tactical Air System" of the Argentinean Air Force, with the first units being assigned to the 601st Intelligence Brigade. Initial nocturnal flights of the Lipán M3 took place in July 2008 from the Army Aviation Aerodrome in Campo de Mayo, with a total of four units expected to be in service by 2010.

This UAV's potential is being refined and augmented: military sources speak of the "XM4", having greater range and endurance than the Lipán M3, fully capable of automatic landing and takeoff.

Photos and more information at:http://utic.inti.gob.ar/proyectos/sabercomo/tracking.html