Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Argentina: A Second UFO Report out of Jáchal











Source: Diario de Cuyo
Date: 11.30.2011


Argentina: A Second UFO Report Out Of Jáchal
By Favio Cabrera - Diario de Cuyo
http://www.diariodecuyo.com.ar/home/new_noticia.php?noticia_id=492731


The first time it was in Gualcamayo and now over Route 150. There is commotion in Jáchal because there have been two cases in less than a month involving people who made public their photos of UFOs crossing the northern skies.

On this occasion, a native of Jáchal living in Buenos Aires states that he photographed one while he and his familly drove between the mountains on Route 150. The photos were taken by Héctor Daniel Godoy, a "jachalero" residing in Quilmes who had gone back to visit his home town.

Several days ago, Héctor, his wife and a cousin decided to tour the upland valleys of Iglesias. On the way back, the party took several photos of Route 150 without noticing anything strange in the sky during the drive. The surprise came that evening, when they downloaded the photos to their computer and discovered that a brown, oval shape -- suspended in mid-air -- appeared on two separate photos.

On one photo, the object is visible between the mountains and behind a blind curve on the road; in the other, the shape contrasts clearly against the sky. "We realized something strange was going on when we downloaded the photo. Upon magnifying it, we couldn't believe it. It surprised us and startled us," explained Godoy.

Thus, the subject of the alleged sightings became the talk of the town in stores and confectionery shops, as well as in the local media. "People have been phoning the radio shows and commenting a lot. They're wondering what's going on in Jáchal, why so many cases are ocurring one after the other, and others revisit the fact that the area has a tradition of seeing strange things in the sky. There is true commotion," stated journalist Hugo Herrera from Radio Nacional.

The previous case involving an alleged UFO photo became known on November 15 of this year, when a miner went public about a strange object photographed with his camera as he drove over a track in Gualcamayo.

Curiously enough, the oval shape was exactly like the one recorded three years earlier by some 20 operators from the Gualcamayo mine. During this sighting, all of the machines on site ceased to operate, according to the stories told.

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Spain: El Ojo Crítico No. 69


A holiday season surprise! Manuel Carballal and Grupo FENIX have sent us the most recent edition of their El OJO CRITICO publication, clocking in at whopping 73 pages (let no man call this a 'zine). The fearless crew at EOC tackles the subject of skepticism vs. "pseudo-skepticism", stories of bat-men and other winged humanoids (a perennial favorite here at Inexplicata), atheism, a report on 60 years of UFO literature...in short, now's the time to put your Rosetta Stone Spanish to the test and dig in to a wealth of information!

DOWNLOAD FROM: http://ojo-critico.blogspot.com/2011/11/proximamente-en-el-ojo-critico-n-69.html

Monday, November 28, 2011

VISION OVNI - "We're Facing a UFO Flap in Victoria"












Source: Diario La Capital (http://www.lacapital.com.ar/)
Date: 11.28.2011


Argentina: VISION OVNI - "We're Facing a UFO Flap in Victoria"

A "UFO Flap" is drawing researchers from throughout the country to the city of Victoria.

"We're facing a UFO flap in Victoria," explained Visión Ovni's Andrea Pérez Simondini, discussing last week's intense activity which ended with the discovery of an "oval-shaped imprint" at the Laguna del Pescado wilderness. As La Capital mentioned in today's edition, on-site research endeavors will take place this coming weekend.

A strange imprint was also found in a wheat field several days ago, near the site where the skywatches are to be held (displayed in the photo, courtesy of Visión Ovni)

Researcher Andrea Pérez Simondini, a member of Visión Ovni, the organization founded by her mother Sylvia, explained this morning in a conversation with "La que se viene" on Channel 8 that a skywatch will be held on December 3rd due to the conisderable number of lights reported over the area in the past ten days, and to "request the declassification of UFO archives in Argentina."

"We're calling a flap precisely due to what's been going on for the past 15 days, which ended in the discovery of an oval imprint (not the typical circula kind) measuirng 14 meters long in the Laguna del Pescado wilderness, which dovetails with the site where lights were reported in the evening. We're saturated with our investigations and even took samples of these imprints," explained Pérez Simondini, regarding recent events that merit having a skywatch in Victoria.

Pérez Simondini added that the intention is not to convince disbelievers about the existence of alien life. "We understand doubters, because people who research the subject of UFOs are ordinary people whose interest arises from a personal experience. It's a matter of belief, and sometimes one has to see to believe. We do not stress convincing people. We try to make a very responsible communication based on scientific evidence, to the extent that it's possible," she explained, adding that her personal experience begins with her mother's experiences. "My father was an oil man. We lived for a long time in Caleta Olivia, in the South. My mother was the first to see an object explode and turn into five smaller objects that headed out to sea in broad daylight in 1968. This was seen by the entire population of Caleta Olivia. Just recently I came across a newspaper article discussing the event." She added that many years later she herself saw an objct resembling "a flying freight train".

"For some years now," Andrea notes, "the media have treated the subject with greater respect."


(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

Argentina: Are UFOs Flying Over the Mountain Ranges?












Source: El Diario de Carlos Paz (Carlos Paz, Argentina)
http://www.eldiariodecarlospaz.com/ampliar_noticia.php?id_noti=3596
Date: 11.22.2011



Argentina: Are UFOs Flying Over the Mountain Ranges?


VILLA CARLOS PAZ, ARGENTINA - The UFO phenomenon has not ended over the mountain ranges of Cordoba and the world's attention is drawn once more to the phenomenon after a couple of tourists from Buenos Aires and a businessman claimed having taken photographs of possible sightings. The first of these cases took place weeks ago in the locality of Capilla del Monte; the second involved a real estate agent from the town of Mendiolaza, who also claims having recorded the movement of a flying object in the sky.

According to the images displayed on the C5N television channel, the photos taken at Valle de Punilla show a black spot over Mount Uritorco which prompted investigation by a local UFO group. Meanwhile, an image circulated through several Internet portals, taken by a real estate salesman, who claims having detected "a spaceship" as he downloaded a photograph of a property for sale.

These last two cases are added to the number of stories that attribute the properties of an "intergalactic portal" to the region, a point of constant access for vehicles. The fact is that the mountain ranges hold magnetic properties that make them a unique enclave, according to those who specialize in this type of research and who study the collected materials.

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

Argentina: Triangular UFO Videotaped Over Ituzaingo










Source: El Intransigente
http://www.elintransigente.com/notas/2011/11/26/forma-triangular-capturado-video-ituzaingo-114083.asp
Date: 11.26.11

A triangular UFO was recorded on video at Ituzaingó at approximately 21:30 hours on Thursday, when a resident of the city of Ituzaingó was able to record the moment at which the strange object made its presence known in the area.

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA -- a resident of this locality in the province of Buenos Aires was able to capture an image, videotaping the moment at which an unidentified flying object with red lights appeared in the sky.

On Thursday night around 21:30 hours, approximately, a resident of the city of Ituzaingó was able to record the moment at which the strange object made its presence known in the area. The witness lost no time at all and started recording the situation when the UFO appeared. The object emitted bright red flashes and the color of its lights did not resemble airliner beacons.

This could be a vehicle of extraterrestrial origin, given the type of maneuver and what it is capable of performing in flight.

Several residents were also able to capture the spectacle on their respective cameras or cellphones, making it clear that the occupants were willing to have fleeting contact with beings of the third world (sic).

VIDEO URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xpW2z8Ei9MY

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

Argentina: A Happy Summer Skywatch



On Saturday, November 5 2011, members of the Fundación Argentina de Ovnilogía (FAO) met by the banks of the El Espinillo creek (Atalaya, Buenos Aires) for a skywatch. The location, known as "one of the 10 most active regions in the country", holds the "world record of UFO landing prints (1985)" -- a total of 150 scattered in surrounding fields. FAO members from La Plata, Capital Federal, Quilmes, Chascomús and Magdalena, portrayed above, met for the event.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

J.J. Benítez: UFO Buzzed Chile's Pinochet Before '80s Coup Attempt













J.J. Benítez: UFO Buzzed Chile’s Pinochet Before Coup Attempt

Mexico’s NOTIMEX news agency published an interesting news item yesterday: a statement by Spanish UFO researcher / novelist J.J. Benítez suggesting that former Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet’s estancia was visited by a UFO on September 7, 1986.

The object hovered over the property and was seen by “the General and all of the Police forces,” said Benitez, author of the millon-selling Caballo de Troya series of novels (a mixture of religion, science-fiction and ufology) and the landmark UFO books Encuentro en Montaña Roja and Tempestad en Bonanza, among dozens of others.

Benítez made these remarks in Santiago de Chile on a visit to the International Book Fair (Feria Internacional del Libro) to the Publimetro website. “A day before the coup attempt against General Pinochet, a UFO hovered over his estate and was seen by all the Police forces, his entire escort, the Carabineros – everyone, both inside and out. Weapons were drawn and bedlam ensued.”

The Notimex article goes on to add that on September 7, 1986 a commando raid by elements of the FPMR group (Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez) ambushed the dictator’s motorcade as it traveled through the Cajón del Maipo region outside the capital city of Santiago. Five escorts were killed during the attack, and Pinochet himself sustained injuries.

“This case, while not very important, as seeing an unknown object over a site is not uncommon, is nonetheless relevant given the stature of the political figure involved. This case has never been declassified and I doubt it ever will.”

Quoting Publímetro, the Notimex article adds that Benítez has been very critical of UFO declassification efforts, even with what has gone on in Chile. “People will never learn the truth unless the Pentagon or NATO, its errand-boy, wants them to.”

Source: http://www.provincia.com.mx/2011/11/visito-un-ovni-a-pinochet-un-dia-antes-del-atentado-j-j-benitez/

Argentina: Another UFO in Gualcamayo?











Source: Diario de Cuyo (San Juan, Argentina)
Date: 15 Nov 2011


Another UFO in Gualcamayo?
Favio Cabrera - Diario de Cuyo

11.15.11 - JACHAL - "I always go around with a camera because I enjoy taking pictures of everything. And this one of the weird object I discovered in a matter of hours, because at the time we saw nothing strange in the sky," said Nicolás, a worker at Jáchal, the Gualcamayo mine. The miner photographed an ovoid shape crossing the sky over a summit near a mineral conveyor belt. And the alleged UFO in the area was reminiscent of the sighting reported in 2008 by some 20 equipment operators -- an event that coincided with a loss of power to the equipment, according to witnesses.

Nicolás (who chose not to reveal his surname due to work-related matters) was traveling in a truck with a friend who asked to borrow the camera. The person held it through the open window and took a shot a random. "At night I looked over the photos and saw that strange thing. I zoomed in with the camera and it seemed like a moving object. I think that it went by very quickly and that's why we didn't see it, but the camera picked it up," said the worker. According to Nicolás, only a small group of his co-workers at Jáchal saw the image, but then his wife uploaded it to Facebook where it gained popularity. "Those who saw the photo at work were frozen, and no one dares say that it isn't a UFO," he said, adding: "what you see there isn't a spot on the windshield, because the shot wasn't taken from the inside of the truck. It isn't a spot on the camera lens either. I never saw anything like it before, and to tell you the truth, I have no idea of what it could be."

This isn't the first time that something strange has been reported in the skies over Gualcamayo. In 2008, an object was reported that looked curiously like the one photographed days ago. On December 20 of that year, on the day of an intense earthquake that affected the province, some 20 operators belonging to a mining company were returning to their shanty from the work area and saw a strange object in the sky. They followed it by sight until remained motionless, vanishing from sight later on, according to reports.

Simultaneously, but in the drilling area, workers remarked that a powerful buzzing sound could be heard while the UFO was in the sky and that all machines stopped working at the same time. That year, another sighting -- this time at Pie de Palo, Caucete -- was added to the one in Gualcamayo, and was also picked up by cameras.

(Translate (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Voyage to the Land of the Living Dead














Voyage to the Land of the Living Dead
By Manuel Carballal

[This article, which graced the splash page of the old Inexplicata website from 1998 to 2000, is among the finest we've ever offered to our readers. It comes from the masterful pen of contributing editor Manuel Carballal, summarizing one of his most perilous brushes with the unknown.-- SC]

The scene could have been derived from any suspense film. Manuel Delgado instinctively held on tightly to his television camera as we clutched our machetes. Our vehicle was being surrounded by a dozen ebony-skinned Haitians. The blancs, as they derisively call Europeans, are not welcome in Haiti and we had been warned that under no circumstances should we venture into the shanty towns outside Port-au-Prince where, we were told, "there exists a 90 per cent chance of being mugged." We ignored this sage advice, of course.

After endless minutes of waiting, our guide allowed us to emerge from the car. Monsieur Balaguer, an important bokor -- a voodoo high priest -- would allow us to visit his hounfor or temple. The hounfor consisted in a humble wooden shack whose center contained the peristyle, the indispensable central column of every voodoo ritual, by means of which the gods or loas descend to earth. A filthy light bulb and seven candles enabled us to see the disquieting form of Monsieur Balaguer, a tall man with sparkling black eyes, who covered his head with a Stetson.

While our guide stated all the arguments at his disposal in order to have Monsieur Balaguer allow us to film his "she-devil" and his "zombie", we were startled by a sudden blackout. The dirty light bulb was extinguished, plunging us into the shadows, illuminated only by the seven candles around the peristyle. Balaguer greeted his "she-devil" -- supposedly located behind a mysterious metal door -- by rapping on it a few times. From the other side, "something" responded with brutal blows against the door, causing the entire temple to shake. Suddenly we were told that the bokor had to consult the loas: we looked on as Monsieur Balaguer fell int a sort of trance, being "ridden" or possessed by Bravo, one of the loas who shares the lordship over death and cemeteries with Baron Samedi and Baron La Croix. Subjecting us to a sort of "trial," exchanging a curious combinations of handshakes to which we instinctively responded to, Balaguer drank rum through an ear as he smoked a cigarette through one nostril.

The fact of the matter is that in Haiti, Western patterns of logic become fragile in the face of the unpredictable, incomprehensible and irrational voodoo cult -- vodú in the native tongue -- which originates from the Fon language of Dahomey, meaning "deity" or "spirit." This is the precise nature of voodoo: a spirit that envelops Haiti, influencing each and every cultural or social manifestation of this small country, the poorest of the Americas.

Voodoo Reaches the Presidency

No single cultural manifestation is longer-lasting or more influential than a country's religion. In Haiti's case, this influence becomes particularly apparent. In late 1995, when President Bill Clinton visited Haiti to supervise the "changing of the guard" -- American troops being replaced by UN peacekeepers, more than four thousand Haitians converged upon the square in front of the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince to witness the event. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, restored to power thanks to the intervention of twenty thousand U.S. troops in October 1994, would preside over the event.

Bill Clinton had barely finished his conciliatory speech concerning military intervention in Haiti when a white dove landed next to his microphone. Immediately, thousands of Haitians roared their approval and applauded in the light of such an unequivocal "sign of approval" from the gods. The Voodoo loas had accepted Clinton. This "innocent coincidence" made thousands of Haitians--and more importantly, secret societies like Bizango, who had promised to protect the country against foreigners through magic--put aside their anger against the new white invaders, respecting the wishes of the gods. Voodoo is the main power in Haiti: no one would dare contradict the wishes of the loas, or what is interpreted as their wishes.

From the days of Macandal, the pioneer of independence in the 18th century to the times of General Raoul Cédras, no Haitian ruler has forgotten to acknowledge the all-powerful influence of voodoo in Haiti. President Aristide was no exception. In spite of having been a Catholic priest, after an interview with several houngans (priests) and mambos (priestesses) on July 19, 1995, Aristide officially announced the construction of a great Voodoo temple within the capital. In this manner, the president equated the Voodoo religion with other "accepted" religions, granting Voodoo practitioners a "cathedral" similar to the Baptist churches, Masonic temples or Catholic parishes which are so numerous in Haiti.

Warlocks in Charge

But there was one Haitian ruler who knew how to make use of Voodoo as a political tool: the mythical and shadowy "Papa Doc," François Duvalier. In 1954, the legendary "Papa Doc" published (with Lorimer Denis) a monograph entitled L'Evolution graduelle du vaudou (The Gradual Evolution of Voodoo). The knowledge of Voodoo displayed in this book was evidently utilized during his political career.

As a young man, along with other Haitian intellectuals, Duvalier published a nationalist newspaper called Les Griots. At a time when the government torched the sacred Voodoo drums and other objects of worship as a sign of loyalty to the Catholic church, Les Griots revindicated Voodoo as a religion and as rebellion against American colonizers. It isn't surprising that "Papa Doc" gained the support of the traditional secret societies, and that during his 1957 campaign, the hounfour or Voodoo temples were utilized as his local party headquarters.

Immediately after rising to the presidency of Haiti, Duvalier named the feared bokor of Gonaives, Zacharie Delva, as commander-in-chief of the army, and began to revindicate Voodoo as the official religion. His personal bodyguard, a sort of "esoteric police," were the Volunteers for National Security (VSN), the feared Tontons Macoutes who spread terror throughout the island (the name Tontons Macoutes refers to an old Haitian folk tale of the "men with the sack". Misbehaving children were warned that their tonton -- uncle -- would take them away inside a macoute, a sack). All the hounfor who were not aligned with the Duvalier regime were locked up and rebels were persecuted. According to his biographers, "Papa Doc" ordered a special airplane to bring him the head of former rebel captain Blucher Fhilgénes. The man was decapitated and his head was placed in a bucket of ice. According to the rumors filtering out of the Presidential Palace, Duvalier would spend hours contemplating the head and consulting its spirit in secret rituals.

"Man speaks, but doesn't act. God acts, but doesn't speak. Duvalier is a god." This was the thought echoing through the streets of Haiti. Papa Doc had woven around himself a terrible magical legend thanks to his knowledge of Voodoo, a legend that none dare question, and which allowed his dictatorship to flourish for decades. In fact, many peasants believed that "Papa Doc" was an incarnation of the dreaded Baron Samedi, lord of cemeteries. "They cannot have me. I am an immaterial being," Duvalier said during one of his speeches in 1963. The fact is that his legend exists to this day, and many believe that Duvalier has become a loa, a spirit of the Gede family that can still manifest itself in certain rituals...

Blood, Rhythm and Possession

We were engulfed by frantic drumbeats. The convulsive dancing of the hounsí --Voodoo initiates--bewitched us, and the markedly African chants and litanies overwhelmed us. The entire montage of the Voodoo ritual we were witnessing in Cachimán, near the border with the Dominican Republic, created an almost dreamlike atmosphere within the confines of Voodoo priest Manuel Sánchez Elie. Without a scrap of hesitation, one of the houngan's assistants delivered a powerful blade-stroke on the neck of a ram, abruptly decapitating the animal while its blood showered everyone present. The ram's head was torn from its body and offered to the gods, while two acolytes stripped the body, which would be served to the participants later. Voodoo religion is an imprecise mixture of blood, music and esthetics.

Voodoo, like Santería, Umbanda, Candomblé or Palo Mayombe, is the product of synchretism between African religions and Christianity. The ancestral beliefs brought by African slaves to the New World as their only treasure was forcibly mimetized with the saints of the Catholic onomasticon. The orishas and African loas were disguised as saints, mystics and martyrs in order that their worship could survive in a hostile world, which was that of slave-owning whites. This abstract mixture of witchcraft, paganism and christianity survives to this day.

It is said that on July 16, 1843, the Blessed Virgin materialized on top of a palm tree near the town of Ville Bonheur. The palm tree was very close to the precipices in which the Tombe River dissolves into the mist in a cascade known as Saut d'Eau, a sacred site for generations of voodooists. The Catholic Church recognized the location as a site of Marian worship, but to the Haitian people, it was really Erzulie Freda, goddess od love and beauty, who had materialized there. Since then, every July 16th, thousands of pilgrims visit Saut d'Eau to pay homage to the goddess Erzulie, although christian priests and pastors would rather believe that the pilgrimage is a form of Marian worship. The fact remains that Haiti may be 85 per cent christian, but it is 110 per cent voodooist.

In Saut d'Eau, as in any other Voodoo celebration, there is an indispensable element: possession.

A sociological study conducted on 486 societies around the world revealed that 360 of them believe in some form of possession. Haiti is a prime example. In the words of ethnobiologist Wade Davis, "Voodoo is a democratic faith par excellance. Each believer not only has direct contact with the spirits, but really receives them within his own body." Unlike other religions, the Afrocaribbean ones do not require intermediaries between gods and believers. When the gods introduce themselves into the devotees' bodies, anything can happen: voice changes, attacks of hysteria, walking on hot coals, eating broken glass...

Haitian voodoo admits three kinds of possession: rada, gede and petro. The last two are the most spectacular. Petro Voodoo is the most brutal, violent and dangerous kind. The violence of such possessions has even caused the death of some worshippers who have been "ridden" or possessed by the powerful loas of petro Voodoo. This kind of ritual, among the least accessible in Haiti, reflect the rage, the pain and humiliation of the people, who for generations were subjected to the indescribable cruelty of slaveowners.

Haiti's Secret Societies

"A fellow diplomat was named as a witness in a trial against one of the secret societies that proliferate in the country. When he reached the courthouse to testify, there was an exhibit table upon which he could see a cauldron brimming over with the head and arm of a girl sacrificed in a magical rite by the society. My friend had to run out of the courtroom to vomit." This was the story told to us by Juan Blázquez, Spain's consul in Port-au-Prince for five years and a scholar of voodoo. Throughout his years in Haiti he had heard of many secret societies, but had also learn that penetrating them is almost impossible.

The study of Haitian secret societies represents an arduous task for anthropologists and sociologists alike. In the summer of 1976, Haitian anthropologist Michel Laguerra met several peasants who had belonged to different secret societies, but who had later converted to Protestantism and were now willing to divulge certain information. According to his sources, there are secret societies running the length and breadth of the country, each controlling a given region.

Some of these secret societies are especially feared and respected in Haiti. The Zobop terrorized the population by kidnapping in the dark of night anyone considered a traitor to the community in order to "bring them to justice" in a cruel fashion. Others, like the Bizango, uphold a sorcerous tradition that goes back to the dawn of time. Its rituals mix ceremonies extracted from old texts on witchcraft, such as the Petit Albert or the Red Dragon (which reached Haiti during the colonial period), Masonic ritual and African magical practices.

Its rules are strict, and those who betray them are harshly punished. The Bizango society, for instance, has a taboo known as "the Seven Crimes": ambition, excessive material wealth gained at the expense of relatives or subordinates, disrespect toward fellow members, seducing another man's wife, slandering others or affecting their well-being, harming the members of someone's family, and any action that impedes others from tilling the soil. An infraction of any of these could cost a Bizango member his life...a particularly cruel and painful death by means of the poisons known for ages by Voodoo houngans and bokors.

Poisons and the Living Dead

The discussion was becoming more heated by the moment. We were trying to convince an important Voodoo priestess to let us record a gede Voodoo ritual in her temple. We knew that we were not welcome and the haggling about the price was adding heat to the surroundings. On another occasion, a similar discussion at another temple almost cost us our lives when nearly a hundred Haitians barricaded the door to the hounfour, warning us that we would not get out alive unless we paid them a thousand dollars.

While one of us argued with the mambo, a tall, fierce looking young man toyed with a rubber glove. He would put it on and take it off his hand with a smile on his lips. We knew exactly what he meant: at any moment, a yellowish powder could appear on his right hand, to be blown in our direction. It would represent a terrible doom--zombification. As a measure against this fate, we had drawn up a special policy which stated that in the event of dying in Haiti, no autopsies were permitted and that our bodies should be returned to Spain immediately. Death in Haiti can be far more perilous than anywhere else on earth.

Anthropologists, missionaries and industrialists who have come into contact with traditional African medicine have discovered its wonders. The knowledge of herbs, plants and jungle poisons possessed by witches, sorcerers and shamans is surprising, and this fascinating wisdom reached Haiti on the slave ships. Ethnologists and biologists who have analyzed the "magical recipes" employed by Voodoo houngans and bokors have discovered fascinating aspects, such as the substances created based upon the root of albizzia versicolor, used in Africa to create ibok usiak owo ("medicine to make people talk"), a sort of native truth serum. Or Zawda dust, employed to cause marital discord; Yoyo dust, used for the "Evil Eye"; Patchouli dust, used to cause infidelity and wreck marriages, and a hundred other "magical powders" with a number of uses and functions. But among them all, one is particularly fascinating: Pudre or "zombie dust."

Zombie Dust
It is impossible to discuss the mystery of zombie dust without mentioning the pioneering book by Harvard anthropologist, ethnobotanist and biologist Wade Davis, entitled The Zombie Enigma, a project that earned Davis his Ph.D and inspired the film The Serpent and The Rainbow, describing a scientist's quest for the living dead. Wade Davis began his own search for zombies in April 1982. In spite of the skepticism and even repugnance which scientists, even Haitian doctors, expressed for the myth of the "living dead", Davis and his sponsors were able to fathom a truth of great scientific interest concealed behind the veil of mystery and superstition. It wasn't the first time that a case of zombification was medically documented, but on certain earlier occasions, pretentious scientific despotism had quelled interest in such cases with derisive qualifiers such as "trickery" and "popular hogwash." If a death certificate was found for a person walking through the streets of Port-au-Prince, it was always attributed to confusion, hoaxing or medical error. After all, everyone knows that it's impossible to return from the grave...

But the clinical histories and death certificates were not the only items in existence. Relatives and neighbors recognized the zombies. After making contact with Haitian houngans and bokors, Davis obtained access to certain Voodoo secrets, among them the making of zombie powder.

Far from being the product of strange esoteric ritual, zombification is the result of an exceptional application of natural chemistry on the bokor's part. Zombie dust is a compound based on a number of vegetable, animal and human material, which combined in the right amounts produces the most fascinating poison of Afroamerican witchery. Extracts from plants, human bones, tarantulas, poisonous toads, worms and other no less picturesque ingredients form part of the dust whose main active ingredient is the tetrodoxine found in the Haitian blowfish, which we were able to localize and photograph with underwater cameras after various dives into Caribbean waters. The substance is a masterpiece of chemical artistry --- if improperly mixed, it will have no effect whatsoever or will cause instant death.

Once prepared, the powder is deposited on the floor of the victim's home, so that it will penetrate his skin upon stepping on it with bare skin. Otherwise, the bokor will blow it into the hapless victim's face. Shortly after, the future zombie "dies" and the bokor "steals its soul," containing it in a bottle. After burial, the bokor and his assistants go to the graveyard and retrieve the zombie from the tomb in order to sell him as a slave on the other side of the island.

Our travels took us all over Haiti -- a hellish voyage between the Dominican border and Lake Peligros that took over twelve hours by motorcycle, crossing rivers and mudholes. We were thus able to prove the horror of the possibility of being zombified, a fear that forces the decapitation of corpses, or else the nailing of corpses to the casket to impede their removal. On the road to Lake Peligros, we found that many tombs and family crypts were built directly across from the relatives' homes, in order to keep the bokor from tampering with the deceased's body and soul.

In Haiti, death is not final. Death isn't even an antonym for life. In Voodoo, both death and the dead form part of daily life, of religion, and of society. Death itself is another form of life.

A Word from the Editor





Readers of Inexplicata may wonder at the sudden appearance of older material from the INEXPLICATA Journal (issues 4, 5 and 6, to be precise) and from our long-forgotten SAMIZDAT newsletter of the 1990s. We've engaged in some light housekeeping, removing a number of articles and replacing them with some that our newer readership may not be familiar with. Some recent synopses of UFO cases on video have also been added to the mix.

-- Scott Corrales

Spain: A UFO Crash in 1899?






Juan Carlos Victorio remarks on an article appearing in Spain's Mas Allá de la Ciencia magazine (October 2011, No.272) discussing a UFO crash in Spain a full forty-eight years before the birth of the contemporary "flying saucer" age.

The article, written by Alex Muniente, asks: "Was there a conspiracy to cover up an extraterrestrial crash near Barcelona in 1899? In the late 19th century, a mysterious aerolith exploded over the skies of the "ciudad Condal" (the city of Counts, as Barcelona is known) creating astonishment and confusion throughout the city."

Victorio's take on the phenomenon is less than positive: http://misteriosdelaire.blogspot.com/2011/10/un-estrellamiento-ovni-decomononico.html

Argentina: Unknown Lights Over Ituzaingó










Eduardo Ghio, Nelson Morales, Diego Durán, Gaby Montura and Adrián Nicala were engaged in a skywatch in a field on the western section of the Buenos Aires suburbs, hoping to witness the apparition of some strange object, of the sort that tends to frequent the area. At 1:58 a.m., when the cameras that were to capture the images were already back in their cases, Duran exclaimed: "Look at those stars moving. How odd."

The fact is that Duran was mistaken. Evidently, whatever was moving in the sky was not a star. Without thinking twice, Nicala - director of Testimonio Ovni - opened the kit and quickly photographed and recorded the dark sky. Thus, he captured the moment at which two spheres (or Foo Fighters, as they are dubbed) descended slowly toward the Monte Grande area, vanishing within a matter of seconds.

Video at: http://24con.elargentino.com/conurbano/nota/59934-ituzaingo-es-una-especie-de-triangulo-de-las-bermudas/

(Translation (c) 2011 S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

Peru: Earthquakes and UFOs (Video)





Alex Sender shares a video on the most recent events in Icá, Perú, that suggest a connection between earthquakes and UFOs - namely, the most recent seismic event in that country, which reached a 6.9 on the Richter Scale.

Video: http://astroufoperu.blogspot.com/2011/11/noticia-sobre-ovni-en-ica-peru-27-oct.html

Argentina: Ghost in Birthday Party Video














Source: El Tribuno.com.ar
Date: November 3, 2011


Daniel Ubaldo Padilla sends us this link to a video clip featured in www.eltribuno.com.ar. The text reads: "The images of this home-made video broadcast this morning in the Arriba Salta program on Channel 11 -- recorded on a cell phone -- do not clearly show who is singing the song. Howver, the strange voice of a boy singing the Happy Birthday melody can be heard, although changing the lyrics of the world-famous tune.

The new lyrics speak of a beloved teacher and a moonlit night.

The journalist also said that "the birthday girl's relatives could not account for the enigmatic voice, as no one in the room spoke English. Technicians have inspected the audio and determined that it was impossible to falsify."

Hoax? Misinterpretation? See for yourselves: : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjQPO-JRVxk

Friday, November 11, 2011

Spain: An Embarassment of Humanoid Riches (2000)

An Embarrasment of Humanoid Riches
by José Manuel Duran

We sometimes complain that the subjects of our interest seldom receive the attention they deserve, and we're even forced to acknowledge at some point that mystery appears to follow its own undefined, aimless path.

We complain that Ufology (which is the subject we are discussing now) is simply not credible to the rest of the mortal world, and if we cast a light glance over what is currently on the burners, we will be forced to admit defeat.

Are They here? Regardless of their provenance from Outer Space, other levels of existence or from the very innards of our minds, it is fitting to provide answers to thse questions, since we have spent more than 50 years playing with the same details, changing their colors and adapting new terminology, but which in the final analysis is the hated "more of the same" situation. We should be able to explain, at least, what they're like and what they want. These answers are not very clear to the vast majority of researchers and the statements made by the boldest among them are so ambiguous as to be worthless.

Few of us doubt that the devices we have chosen to dub UFOs or Flying Saucers are manned and that bizarre-looking beings (at least non-human looking) come and go with relative ease. When discussion first began on such strange things, it was said that the crewmen--the humanoids--were here to sneak a peek at us humans, much like tourists. However, there soon appeared cases in which these beings were seen to steal (?) rocks, grass, or a deer now and then. Were they covering such great distances to gather samples? How absurd...although, that's exactly what we did when we went to the Moon.

But a question rapidly emerges once we accept the possibility that They are here. Are they aggressive? Merely explorers? Peeping Toms? Invaders? Who can tell? After years of case studies, it would seem as if They have lost interest in the things that our planet has to offer and have arrogantltyy passed up on fish, water, and power stations to concentrate a little more on human beings...the allegedly intelligent species that misguidedly thinks it rules the world.

On a personal note, I would like to know what these UFO crewmen are like: what they look like, if they have ears and tails, noses, mouths or teeth. I'd like to know if their feet smell, if they sneeze, need to use helmets, if they blink, if they can see colors...but researchers, those who have consecrated their life and efforts on this accursed crusade, are not able to devote solid answers to these questions.


Millions of eyewitness accounts; humanoids all over the world whose descriptions vary in an alarming manner. Does this give ufology greater credibility, or does it undermine its health?

What are they like? How many fingers to they have? Are they ugly? Do they have shape? Genitalia?

At first, the variety of occupants was such that the enormous differnces between them were illogical (or at least, didn't seem logical to us). If these were extraterrestrial visitors, why were so many diferent species visiting us? The broad zoo of ufology gave skeptics reason to laugh (and it still does), since they're aware that there's no way of grappling with these invaders: Humans, monsters, apes, tall, short, blond, hairy, hairless, speaking, grunting, telepathic...They're either stealing pebbles or arranging their vehicles in the shape of...hell!... everything from eggs, irons, tourines, dishes, balloons, triangles, squares...there are as many types of humanoids as there are craft in which to carry them. I sincerely doubt that there could be as many rubberneckers on this planet. No space civilization could be intelligent if they stopped to look at human beings at the drop of a hat. Could we be dealing with a crude, vulgar hoax? Is it all just a deception, or a fraud? Are the documents obtained over all these years of research at all reliable? Of course they can be reliable. Perhaps--as was observed by earlier reserachers into the mystery--they are only showing us a disguise that conceals their true intentions. Maybe. Perhaps this could just be an explanation to justify the variety of creatures and spaceships...maybe it's an attempt to avoid insisting on why everything is so absurd, on why everything is so complicated. Why won't the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle fit?

In any case, we cannot overlook the small evolution that the UFO phenomenon has undergone in itself. Even today, we continue to see vehicles of many different characteristics, but saucerlike craft remain alarmingly dominant, along with spherical objects and the ubiquitous triangular objects which have caused so many headaches in recent years. The "intentions" of the alien astronauts (?) have also varied, and far from making repairs to their vehicles in remote and deserted fields, or taking samples of rocks, vegetation or dirt, they have concentrated their efforts upon animals and above all, humans, whom they supposedly abduct.

This humanoid taxonomy has also spit out a pattern known as the "Greys" or "EBEs", who majestically dominate the ufological scene. Perhaps this is the alien race that visits us with malevolent intentions? Or is it still just another element in this UFO free-for-all? Perhaps they represent a logical ingredient in the illogical soup of ufology, or another joke for the sideshow we have been witnessing--the irritating theatre show of hair-raising incongruities which mock human intelligence. Maybe there are just too many saucers, too many humanoids...maybe so. But for some reason or another we must remain in the breach, which promises to be the only we we shall ever understand this phenomenon some day. It's almost certain that we aren't wasting our time.

(Translation (c) 2000, S. Corrales, IHU)

Spain: Humanoids in Galicia (1999)

Humanoids in Galicia
by Grupo FENIX

The UFO wave remains in full force throughout the northern par to the country and some very well documented cases are becoming known. ENIGMAS magazine has visited the locations which have been in the news lately to present new data regarding the strange visits being reported in certain parts of Galicia, as told by the witnesses to this event.

On Thursday, February 20th, the village of Paradaseca (Orense), belonging to the municipality of Chanderxa de Quiexa, found its usual peacefulness disturbed by a strange visit. Local shepherd Heliodoro Núñez, 76, was the hapless protagonist of an incident involving a number of 3 meter-tall entities. "It was around four in the afternoon, more or less, when I was with the herd in a field located some three kilometers from the detour on the Chandrexa road, along the Devesas River. Suddenly, the dogs started barking and staring at a point behind me. At first I thought I might have to do with wolves, but when I turned around and saw those tall, weird "things", I realized they were no wolves..."

On the days following the event, members of La Coruña's Grupo Fenix visited the scene. The aged witness assured them that he had been able to see with great clarity two enormous beings looking over the hedges. They stood in excess of three meters and [their heads] were covered by something similar to a strange "mortarboard" or "luminous bishop's mitre". The whole--the two beings, who were like "Siamese twins" and their curious headgear--changed color in unison, acquiring various shades of red, blue, yellow and green...

"It was otherworldly," stated Heliodoro Núñez, "and the fact is that I began to pray when I saw the apparition." The fear this man experienced did not go unnoticed by his closest relatives over the following days. Heliodoro's wife told ENIGMAS that "he arrived home feeling very, very scared. He prayed for a long time and spent two sleepless nights afterward, unable to eat anything. I can't tell you what he saw, but it scared him very much."

Aside from Heliodoro Núñez, our companions found another witness to this spectacular event. Juan González González,42, a resident of Casteligo (also in Chandrexa de Queixa municipality) claimed that on the very same day and time, and at the same place where the humanoid encounter occurred, he saw a deep red light motionless over the treetops. Given the distance separating him from the man from Paradaseca, he was unable to see the "two giants". He did confirm, however, that when he came across Heliodoro, the man was "running with this goats in fear." Forty-eight hours later, Juan González told Orense's La Región newspaper: "At first I thought it was a fire, but no smoke rose from it. I also thought it was a tractor, but it couldn't be. It could've been a balloon, but it didn't move at all. I don't know what it was, but it easily measured three meters."

The investigation is ongoing. Members of Grupo Fenix have found some metallized spheres at the site which are being subjected to analysis to identify their nature.

Almost simultaneously, Heliodoro Núñez's son began experiencing night terrors and pronounced ocular irritation. It would seem that the 25 year old man appeared in his parent's bedroom the night before, carrying a mattress and fully ready to spend the night with them. According to his account, he was afraid of sleeping in his room since "strange lights were appearing before him."

Newsflash!

The incident in Chandrexa de Queixa municipality is by no means the last one. In the early morning hours of Saturday, March 15, a rhomboidal object was filmed from the top of the A Espenuca hill in the town of Betanzos. The object consisted of five and six lights, alternately. The aerial phenomenon was caught on film at 04:13 hours while a group of youngsters followed the progress of comet Hale-Bopp. A day later, at 19:00 hours, a couple and their son were driving along the Alto de Sesta highway near Abadín (Lugo), when they were able to see a spectacular celestial event they compared to Fátima's "dance of the sun".

The Galician flap doesn't seem to have ended yet, as can be gleaned from these cases. Contributing Editor Manuel Carballal gives us the following information.

"Ultima Hora" (Newspaper), June 2, 1999
Four Residents of Laxe Claim Having Seen a UFO for Over 2 Hours
by Cristina Viu -- Newsroom

Around eleven o'clock last night, Antonio Toja swept clean his bar in the port town of Laxe while his wife María Elena and son Roberto viewed the last chapter of Mareas Vivas on TVG. He suddenly noticed a very bright light suspended in the sky. Although startled, he proceeded with his task until half an hour later, during the intermission of the televised broadcast, he remarked about the incident to his family. They then reached for a pair of binoculars and realized that the object was nothing "customary."

Around that time, they summoned a neighbor, José Manuel Pato, president of the Yacht Club, to act as their witness, because according to María Elena: "Whenever I saw these things on TV I thought [the witnesses] were people suffering hallucinations." The three men decided to venture to the graveyard in order to get a better view of the object.

The sighting lasted two hours until the object moved downward and to the right to shine with even greater intensity around 1:30 a.m.. The case has caused a stir in Laxe and there were people scanning the skies yesterday.

No Explanations or Confirmation

The sighting could not be confirmed by the control tower at Lavacolla Airport nor by the Regional Maritime Rescue Center. Neither of these two agencies, according to their spokespeople, had any information--whether directly or indirectly--regarding a strange event on Monday night in the Laxe area.

The A Coruña Meteorological Institute stated that no strange phenomena occurred on Monday which could have been mistaken for a UFO, and did not hazard any guesses. On the other hand, the astronomical observatory in Santiago explained that no extraordinary events had been envisioned for time, but ventured a hypothesis involving the planet Venus, which came undone when the object's movements were explained to the investigator. In any case, he advised that a sky watch should be kept over the following days. In none of the cases did the parties consulted betray any surprise while explaining the phenomenon allegedly seen at Laxe.


"Ultima Hora" (Newspaper), June 5, 1999
"Living Stars" Over Laxe


On Sunday night, they show X-Files on TV, but its more fun watching it live. This can be done without any problems in Laxe, and it happened again last Thursday. At first, only five or six people were involved. When things got serious, all the cellular phones came alive as word spread throughout the area. That's when things got started. Enthusiastic spectators (though not all) followed the maneuvers of a luminous "signal" which appeared and disappeared in the dark skies. Four local residents had seen it two days earlier.

There were close encounters of the third kind in Laxe. Third, because people had already met twice: the first time involved four residents, successfully; the second was washed out due to the clouds and rain.

It all started at 11:50 p.m. José Manuel Pato, president of the Laxe Yacht Club; the four crewmen of an Irish merchant vessel, along with a couple of residents and a journalist noticed that something funny was going on up there.

And, what was it they saw?

A light-- similar in size and intensity to what three Venus-sized planets could produce in their maximum evening glory--hung quietly in high above the horizon. Nothing unusual up to this point. The problem, to give it a name, is that the light suddenly dwindled in intensity until it remained a mere point of light. Again, nothing unusual here, except that the light began glowing again with renewed intensity...and this is really unusual.

The most spectacular part of the event lasted barely twenty minutes, up to 12:10 a.m. more or less. The light decreased gradually in intensity and began doing strange things in the measure that curiosity seekers reached the top of the hill. The astronomical equation remained thus: plenty people, little glow. And little faith.

Cars began arriving at the spot near the cemetery. One of them carried the cast of Mareas Vivas with the shellfish gatherer, the doctor and the clients of Petróleo's bar. "Doctor" Carlos Blanco was in charge of livening up the proceedings; an incredulous girl stated that [the light] was only an airplane. "Be quiet, Scully," Blanco told her, alluding to the skeptical agent in the X-Files. There was no point in breaking up the mood, anyway.

At another point, the actor indicated that the light could very well be an item of extraterrestrial political campaigning, such as "Vote for XTY of the M-35 Galaxy" or some such.

The worst part is that the light became increasingly lazy and would not reappear, even when called upon to do so. And when it did appear, the shouts of:"Here, Hey! Over Here!" would, of course, make it turn off. At least it was captured on video--from where it can't get away.

(Translation (c) 1999 S. Corrales, IHU)

Mexico: The Mystery of the Forgotten Stones (1998)

Emiliano Zapata Municipality: The Mystery of the Forgotten Stones
by Dr. Rafael A. Lara Palmeros, CEFP (Mexico)

Since the end of December 1998, a series of insistent rumors had come to our attention: a broad swath of virgin forest had been semi-discovered by some peasants 24 kilometers away from Jalapa, the state capital of Veracruz, within an area contained in the municipality of Emiliano Zapata. The region, covered by exuberant semi-tropical vegetation, shelters a considerable number of unusual stones -- approximately 123 in number --sculpted with handsome petroglyphs which have remained in excellent conditions in spite of the passage of time.

On Thursday, February 25th, 1999, Lic. Marino Leal Trujillo, Ms. Virginia Hernández and the author of this article headed for the zone which was under the protection of the region's inhabitants, since it is their belief that this and many other locations are sacred. After discussing the matter with the leaders of the local cooperative farm, we were allowed to enter the region, having to make a 150 meter (400 foot) descent following a tortuous trail filled with dense vegetation, mosquitoes and poisonous snakes known as "nauyaques" in this area. Upon reaching our destination, we were able to look upon a number of stones scattered throughout the ground, covered in moss, dust and vegetation. Once these were removed, we found a considerable number of petroglyphs in a variety of shapes and sizes. The size of the stones was approximately 4-5 meters in length by 3 meters long, having irregular, eroded borders and some of them apparently having been dressed.
The following designs were found:

Spirals
Circles
Wavy Lines
Crosses
Tranversal and Horizontal Lines Similar to Stairwells
Humanoid Shapes.

With the cleaning of the stones out of the way, we proceeded with measuring the petroglyphs as well as making rubbings of the most representative designs on manila paper using crayons. In this regard it is worth noting that our attention was drawn by a cross composed of squares, each measuring approximately 4.5 cm long and 4 cm wide. Each of the cross's "arms" were composed of two parallel lines having 4 squares each. We were intrigued presence of a humanoid figure dressed in a sort of helmet and having two small, spindly legs, and whose upper body appeared to be endowed with utensils and/or equipment. It also possible to observe semi-undulating lines, apparent representations of hills or the trajectories of certain lights which can be seen in the area. To the vast majority of prehispanic societies, the spiral plays a predominant role. A variety of authors have sought to attach different meanings to it, and we thus find that some believe it represents the snake, while others suggest cosmic forces and still others claim it depicts the presence of spacecraft. The spiral was represented in nearly 50% of the stones studied during our investigation.

Another interesting petroglyph involved the presence of transversal and oblique lines, apparently representing flights of stairs (it is very possible that this region once housed some kind of pyramidal structure). It is also possible to find, to a lesser degree petroglyphs shaped like spiders, jaguars, monkeys and certain fish--animal forms which are currently hard to find in this location.

Given the characteristics of this area as well as their relationship with others which are also known, it is possible it once harbored primitive Nahoa and/or Totonaca tribes, who became the basis for these cultures as they are known today. It has been hitherto impossible to classify the area discovered according to a corresponding historical period (Lower Preclassic, Upper Preclassic, etc.). Authorities having competence in the matter, such as the Instituto Veracruzano de la Cultura (IVC), the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) itself, or the School of Anthropology of the University of Veracruz, have all paid little or no attention to this find, arguing that they lack sufficient funds to embark upon an investigation of these considerable treasures, and fortunately, the region's inhabitants are opposed to the presence of the misnamed "competent authorities", since it is widely known that these are engaged in ransacking the archaeological sites and selling their discoveries to U.S. and European collectors, mainly from Germany and France.

A curious fact bears mentioning: this area is very close to a mountain range which forms part of the Eastern Sierra Madre, which includes the well-known Tepeapulco Hill, as site of intense UFO activity. This phenomenon has intensified since 1993, resulting in a considerable number of photographs being taken. This author has obtained important photographs and videotaped material which has been found to be genuine by other researchers.

My hypothesis is as follows: since the area is highly magnetic, the ancient occupants of the place settled there and captured a variety of phenomena on their petroglyphs. Given that the presence of UFOs is common at every archaeological site, and it is still possible to see them in our day and age, the only question that remains to be answered is the following: could the humanoid figure, obtained by means of rubbings, represent an unknown visitor? Personally, I lack the knowledge to answer such a question.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the inhabitants of the area, keeping my promise not to disclose the precise location of the area investigated.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Mexico: An Interview with Captain Raul Romero









Source: www.analuisacid.com.mx
Date: 08 November 2011


Mexico: An Interview with Captain Raul Romero
By Ana Luisa Cid

Good afternoon, Captain Romero, thanks for your kindness. To kick things off, how many years of aviation experience do you have?

51 years as a pilot. I worked for some very important companies such as Aeroméxico, the ICA Group, Banco Nacional de México and Gen. Miguel Enriquez Guzmán, among others.

In your extensive career, have you encountered unidentified flying objects?

Yes, on two occasions. The first was in June 1970, flying from Guadalajara to Hermosillo at 11:00 p.m. at 20,000 feet aboard a Beechcraft turboprop belonging to a construction firm. The sighting took place 40 miles south of Hermosillo. A rather sizeable and bright light appeared out of nowhere, and I asked my co-pilot: “Hey, what’s this? Is it a train or what?” Because it looked just like a locomotive’s headlight, the only difference being that trains can’t fly at 20,000 feet, right?

Did you report it to the control tower?

At that time the Mazatlan Center was in control. I didn’t want to interrupt communications or break into the frequency to request information, but before they changed my frequency, I did it myself and changed to the Hermosillo Tower’s frequency to ask them if they had any traffic in their sights. They said no. The only traffic was a Mexicana de Aviación Comet, to which I replied: “Roger, understood”. Then I reported 40 miles south of Hermosillo and they told me: “take leave of Mazatlán Center and stay on this frequency.” I didn’t want to say what I was seeing, because they might have thought we didn’t have our heads on straight and could have even ordered a medical checkup.

They didn’t see it?

They asked me themselves: Are you seeing a light to the northeast of your position? To which I replied “affirmative” and kept flying. That was exactly what I was seeing. Next they said: “Please report any movement it makes, because it’s also in our sights here at the Control Tower.” I took advantage of this to tell them: “By the way, this was really the reason I switched frequencies before the prescribed area.”

You mean to say there was confirmation by the air traffic controllers?

Yes, they also had visual contact with that light and confirmed it when I was handed over to the control tower.

Captain, is there any sort of censorship when it comes to discussing this subject?

Not exactly. It’s more of a self-censorship, given the nature of our work.

What was your second UFO experience like?

The second visual encounter was flying over the Valley of Morelos, just last year. On that occasion, I took off from Toluca toward my base, which is Atizapán de Zaragoza in my own plane, a Cessna 182. I flew along the lowest part to find an entrance to Mexico Valley, heading toward Chalco, when around Mt. Tepozteco I came across a spherical flying object some 6 of 7 meters in diameter. At first I thought it was a promotional balloon that had gotten away from some company. Out of curiosity and since I was in no hurry to reach my destination, I tried to reach it but was unable to do so. It turns out that this object was flying at the same speed as my plane, as it always remained at the same distance from the aircraft and did not allow me to reach it. I then began to suspect that it wasn’t a balloon.

At what altitude and speed were you flying your plane?

11,500 feet and flying at 200 kilometers per hour.

Had it been a balloon, would you have reached it?


Certainly. I could’ve reached a balloon because at that altitude I wasn’t going to face any currents. What’s interesting is that the object always flew at the same speed as the airplane, at an approximate distance of 3 miles. Most surprising was that it suddenly increased its speed as it ascended, and vanished amid the tops of some cumulus and stratocumulus clouds. It went away and I didn’t see it again.

Have you had other kinds of sightings?

Yes, there have been cases in which the control tower reports traffic that I have been unable to see physically. That happened on a flight from Obregón to Mexico, when they asked me if I had any traffic to the right of my position, to which I replied: “negative”. It turns out that they could see it on their radar screens, and were questioning me, even when I couldn’t see it.

To what do you attribute such phenomena?

It’s hard to explain, but I do think that there could be a technology more advanced than our own. We do not really know if life exists elsewhere, but why not consider the possibility of beings more intelligent than us? Or at least with greater technical development, able to go wherever they want. Why not? I think we shouldn’t be so selfish as to think that we are the only ones in this infinite universe. It should be noted that I was a skeptic and didn’t believe in the whole UFO thing until I experienced it. So I don’t seek to convince anyone. I only recommend that they analyze the situation thoroughly and take it into consideration, hoping that my experiences may be of some use.”

Thank you very much.

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO, and Ana Luisa Cid)

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

UFOs and Blackouts in Southern Spain














UFOs and Blackouts in Southern Spain
By Jose M. García Bautista

It promised to be a normal day. The date was November 24, 2002 (a Sunday) and it was daybreak throughout the entire Guadalquivir lowlands, from Coria del Rio to Sanlúcar de Barrameda on the coast. It was barely 7:30 a.m. when two strange reddish lights became visible over Seville’s Aljarafe district. Standing out among the first lights of the day, the two odd lights shifted their colors two a pronounced green. They were visible for a seemingly endless number of minutes over the facilities of the Sevillana de Electricidad – Grupo Endesa power company, yet no one knew of their origin or provenance. It was simply certain that they could not be of human manufacture, to judge by their angular and oscillating movements. The lights were perfectly visible in the sky, executing a strange dance over the place, motivated by very particular and unknown circumstances. Diego Fuentes, 59, a restorer of historic Seville and restaurateur, said the following to Año Cero magazine: “It could be no later than 7:30 in the morning and I was on my way into Seville when I clearly saw two oval lights with a very strong red hue over the transformer unit that supplies electricity to the Coria del Rio, Palomares, Puebla del Rio and other areas...they were clear and executed a circular movement over the area. They must’ve been high up – some 2000 meters – and must’ve been large. It was shocking to see the strange way in which they moved...they remained over the site for a few moments, perhaps a minute or a little more. I called my wife from my cellphone and asked her if she could see something from our home, and she was also able to see it, wondering what they could be. The fact is that I’ve never believed in UFOs or anything like them, but I think those things were either classified in nature or completely unknown...”

Our witness’s sighting – and those by others in the area – would have been merely another UFO event in an area as important as Seville’s Aljarafe district, had it not been for the blackouts that occurred throughout the entire Guadalquivir region: blackouts that affected a segment of the population of these communities to the astonishment of Sevillana de Electricidad’s technicians, who were not recording any anomalies whatsoever as the causes of the power outages.

At 8:00 a.m., two enigmatic red lights were seen in Sanlúcar de Barrameda (Cádiz) which were also visible from the neighboring town of Lebrija. Juan Huertas and Emilio Durán had arrived in Sanlúcar that morning on business when they saw the following near the facilities of the electric utility: “We got to Sanlúcar at around 8 in the morning, as we had a business appointment at 9 a.m. and it’s always best to arrive early and have a leisurely breakfast. We entered the town and could see two strange red lights moving in circles over the transformer units. The lights pulsed slowly, changing from red to a light shade of blue. It was nearly daytime and it could be that their hue was even more blue. When they were red, they stood out clearly. They were over the place and could be seen from afar, from the road that links Trebujena with Sanlúcar. As you approached the town, though, it became more evident that they were directly over the place. They were circular, although somewhat elongated, perhaps some 3000 to 4000 meters from the surface, but could be clearly seen. They oscillated, but made abnormal straight-line movements every so often that were startling. It was all very weird. The whole thing lasted some 8 to 9 minutes at most, using the time from the highway (C-441) and entering the town as a reference. It was a Sunday, with very few people about. Just us and our car, on our way to an untimely appointment on this day of the week. No sooner did we hit the downtown area than the streetlights went out...we entered a bar and the lights were out. The time was about 8:15 and no power at all. It simply went out.”

Truly, and according to official sources, the lights went out at 8:08 a.m. on November 24 in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, affecting nearby communities such as La Jara, where the entire town lost power. Technicians began restoring electricity to the city an hour later, around 9:11 a.m., with the service being fully restored at 11:00 a.m. without the failure being ascribed to any particular reason or apparent technical cause. The CCR officially considered the power outage corrected at 11:20 a.m. without ever really establishing the cause...although the lights over the transformer units in the town could be a suggestion of a UFO activity that played a decisive role in the “abduction” of electricity from local towns. They can be classified as “unidentified” in the sense that all possible explanations used to reach a rational answer to the phenomenon have proven inapplicable (atmospheric, meteorological (weather was fair), astronomical, military, aviation...)

There appears to be a strange cause-and-effect relationship between UFO sightings over power plants or transformer units and subsequent blackouts. A strange cause that sucks the facility dry without knowing how or why, but whose consequences are faced by entire communities. An addiction, a need for extra energy or electrical experiments? As in so many other occasions, we have more questions than answers. Only one thing is certain: the unidentified were there.

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

Monday, November 07, 2011

Spain: Cases from the UFOCAN Database
















Spain: Cases from the UFOCAN Database
By Angel Rodríguez
GEIFO – Grupo Español de Investigación del Fenómeno OVNI


Date/ Time: December 1965, 0230 hrs.
Object: Unknown, flying parallel to the aircraft
Location: Flying over the Province of Seville (Spain)
Witnesses: Crew of the AVIACO Convair 440 airliner
Case Name: “Correo Aereo” (Air Mail)
Miscellaneous Info: Detection by the Constantina Radar (Seville)


Captain Vicente Roa was flying an AVIACO Convair 440 with Alfonso Gonzalez as his co-pilot, flying the Madrid-Seville-Malaga mail delivery route on an evening in December 1965.

They were flying over the province of Seville at around 0230 hours and were advised by the Constantina radar (Seville) that they were being followed by an unknown object flying parallel to the aircraft’s starboard.

Immediately, the cabin’s occupants looked toward where the radar suggested and were able to see a domed, disk-shaped object twice the size of the airliner, lit like a neon tube and with a blurry outline, flying some two kilometers from the airplane.

After having landed in the Seville Airport, the pilots went to the control tower to see – along with 15 others – the “fluorescent tube” that was now suspended 10 meters over the runway. Minutes later, the object rose into the air and changed location.

The aircraft needed to resume its flight, and after taking off toward Malaga, the pilots decided to point the nose of their plane toward the strange artifact. It accelerated and vanished, as they subsequently confirmed with the Constantina radar.

Date/Time: 10 September 1965, 0326 hrs.
Location: San Pablo Airport (Seville)
Object: Two luminous objects at an altitude of some 200 meters
Witnesses: Airport staff and radar operators of the “Bolero” radar facility (Seville)
Case name: “Aeropuerto de Sevilla” (Seville Airport)
Miscellaneous Info: Military File No. 650910, Declassified.


This case is featured in a small declassified military file – No. 650910 – in which the traffic officer of Seville’s San Pablo Airport reports that the controller on duty had seen two luminous objects flying from north to south and to the east and west of the airport on 10 September 1965 at 0326 hours.

The controller calculated the speed of said lights at some 150 km/hour at an altitude of 200 meters.

Both lights descended in a manner similar to a helicopter, but a greater speed, diminishing the intensity of the lights until they were extinguished.

Contact was made with Bolero (the radar facility at Seville) and with the Control Tower at the Morón de la Frontera Air Base. Bolero confirmed a visual contact of two luminous objects flying slowly to the south of Morón.

However, the Morón Air Base did not report any sightings or anomalous occurrences in the skies.

Date/Time: 31 December 1958 / 2400 hours
Location: Sanlúcar La Mayor (Seville)
Object: Two unknown objects taking off
Witnesses: Rafael Salas and the driver of his truck
Case name: “Las Doblas”
Miscellaneous Info: n/a


On 31 December 1958, only a few minutes before midnight, Rafael Salas was heading toward Seville, on his way back from Huelva in a rented truck with a load of salt.

Shortly before reaching Sanlúcar La Mayor and before ascending the slope of Las Doblas, he ordered his driver to stop the truck on the shoulder to have eat the “lucky grapes” (*) that mark the end of the year.

They turned off the engine but not the headlights, which cast their light beyond a barbed wire fence. At that time, a meter and a half to the right of the truck, a pointed cylindrical object, two meters tall and thirty centimeters thick, took off into the sky.

The driver did not move, and when Rafael made an effort to open the door, a second object took off, making a noise similar to that of an electric saw, and at tremendous speed.

(*) Spain has the custom or tradition of welcoming the new year by eating a grape for each of the twelve last bells of the year. These are known as the “lucky grapes”.

Date/Time: 1958, early morning
Location: County road from Algeciras (Cádiz) to Ronda (Málaga)
Object: Landing of a disk-shaped object of unknown origin
Witnesses: A married couple, the husband’s father and a friend.
Case name: “Caso Algeciras 1958” (1958 Algeciras Case)
Miscellaneous Info: n/a


UFO reported on the county road linking Algeciras and Ronda.

The witness was in the company of his wife, father and a friend, driving along the road in the early morning hours, on their way to a hunting spot. Upon reaching Cuevas del Becerro (Becerro Caves), they began to see a light that they at first thought might be a Police vehicle.

As they approached the light, they noticed that it was an object squarely occupying the middle of the road. It was a circular artifact, similar to a fiery soup dish, with a dome on its upper section, lighting its surroundings. It measured approximately 7 meters in diameter by some 2 meters tall.

The driver halted his vehicle some 200 meters away, waiting for the object to clear the road.

After a while, seeing that the object was not moving, the driver approached it slowly. The UFO began to rise, very slowly, until it reached an altitude of some 1000 meters. It flew over the car and landed again, some two hundred meters behind them.

The object’s behavior filled the vehicle’s occupants with curiosity, so they turned around and tried to approach it a second time.

On this occasion, the artifact also rose silently, but unlike the time before, it made quick zigzag motion and flew off at top speed.

Date/Time: August 1958, 1930 hrs.
Location: Sierra Nevada (Granada)
Object: Tapered object
Witnesses: Three friends, not determined
Case name: “Sierra Nevada, 1958”
Miscellaneous Info:


Three friends were enjoying an evening in the country in August 1958 at Sierra Nevada (Granada).

At 19:30 hours they were at the summit of the “Mojón Alto” mountain, looking toward the Genil River, they saw a tapered, conical object resting on three legs at a distance of some 4 kilometers.

The object was some 8 meters tall by 3 meters wide. Its surface, resembling stainless steel, was shining in the sun.

They didn’t pay much attention at first, thinking it was a pluviometer, but when they looked a second time, what they took for a pluviometer was floating and rising slowly into the air. At a given moment, it gained speed, passed over Mt. Mulhacén, heading south toward Africa.

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU), Special thanks to Angel Rodríguez, GEIFO)

Argentina: The Rio Negro Blackouts (1998)














Source: El Dragón Invisible
Date: 11.06.11


Argentina: The Rio Negro Blackouts (1998)
By Carlos Iurchuk – La Plata, Argentina

Sunday, April 12, 1998


The lights went off at 19:45 hours. Repairs were undertaken by technicians from the Cooperativa Eléctrica Bariloche (CEB) who detected an interruption in the medium-voltage line from [the town of] Fernandez Beschtedt to La Paz after the Cipresales transformer was left out of commission, “leaving practically have the city without power.”

Engineer Claudio Campo of the electric utility confirmed that the CEB had ascertained “a consumption of electricity five to six times higher than usual” and this overvoltage – whose possible origin could have been “a three-phase short circuit” or a “power demand” – managed to blow the electric grid’s cables.

“We didn’t find a short circuit,” Campo noted, assuring that the second alternative was that “something had drawn power.”

Technicians state that the weather conditions could not have brought about the blackout. No one could explain the phenomenon that resulted in peak consumption of 1050 amperes on the electric lines.

“At 22:11, three minutes after service was restored, a new blackout occurred that prompted repair crews to conduct a detailed scan of the city’s power lines,” stated the CEB, stressing that the search was conducted from “post to post” without any evidence suggesting the reason for the blackouts being found. Neither the National Interconnected System nor short-circuits, much less acts of vandalism, could account for the blackouts. “Surveys by repair crews enabled us to determine that no acts of vandalism had occurred on conductors or isolators, and furthermore, the favorable weather conditions dismissed the possibility that the problem could have been brought about by powerful winds.”

No technical explanation justified the successive interruptions and brown-outs recorded throughout the city [of Bariloche].

At the same time that a sizeable part of the city was plunged into darkness, residents of the city’s eastern section saw very bright lights flying swiftly over the mountains in the sector near the airport.

One witness even said that a “mothership” – larger than the rest – led a formation over Cerro Leones and that smaller ships pulled into it, producing sparks s they did so. He pointed out that the maneuver occurred at least twice, coinciding with the successive brown-outs and blackouts all over the city.

This hypothesis appears to be confirmed, with some differences, by Gustavo and Beatriz Riveros, who saw two lights fly by – one from Cerro Carbón – and that “merged” over Cerro Leones.

Other witnesses noted that the sighting took place over several minutes and that they were able to see strange lights over Lake Nahuel Huapi and toward the south. They agreed that the size of the larger vessel was twice that of a streetlight, and that the objects emitted bright flashes of light with red, yellow and white tones.
Andrea, Natalia and Carolina Caparro, of the Nicolás Lavalle district, told the TELAM news agency that at 22:30 hours that evening they had seen “a sort of saucer with red, yellow, green and white flashes of light, and another object, slightly larger and elongated, with red and yellow lights.” The luminous objects “remained suspended in the air for several minutes before heading off toward the lake sector.”

Although their sightings began around 23:30 hours, relatives and neighbors “had seen it much earlier.”

“These were lights of various colors and at low altitude. They made no noise whatsoever, and whenever a bright white light appeared, the power went out,” said America Jara, a witness to the sighting.

Several residents of the city’s higher section got in touch with radio and TV stations to report seeing [objects resembling] stars that moved and gave off red, yellow, green and “glowing white” flashes of light between 22:30 and 23:45 hours.

The lights moved back and forth in a straight line until “another object, elongated and the size of a small soda bottle” appeared, and they docked with it, according to locals.

This docking maneuver took place “with a great flash, like a burst of electricity, and lights immediately went out all over the city,” said a woman who asked to remain anonymous, like other residents of Bariloche.

Residents of Dina Huapi, the downtown area, the IPPV districts and other parts of the city also contributed eyewitness accounts.

The CEB also received information from a well-known resident of the San Francisco district, who claimed seeing “something like a red ball” descending in a zigzag maneuver at full speed at the long pedestrian stairway at Tiscornia. In this case, of course, the structure is located under a medium voltage line and could have easily been an electric discharge or loss of power.

The local airport reported that but for the power interruption, an inconvenience remedied by the repair crews, “no strange events were reported” in that district.

“They were private planes arriving for the weekend and took off at the end of the day on Sunday. Furthermore, there were also nocturnal flights,” explained an official with the local weather office.

Problems continued – without repairs being made –“ until 1:34 a.m., without any evidence suggesting an explanation for the occurrence. Power was restored to the lines as from that moment without further inconvenience.”

Tuesday, April 14, 1998

A new electric blackout occurs with no official explanation being offered. A sizeable part of the city was left completely in the dark.

Julio Posse, a resident of Barrio Melipal, said: “...a very bright glow was seen to the east of Cerro Otto. My family witnessed it from inside the house. My children said: “Daddy, the UFOs!” and I replied: “Yes, the UFOS...”

The storm that punished the city that night may have accounted for not as many reports as on Sunday, when the sky was completely cloudless.

Luis Baigorria, a spokesman for the CEB, noted that Tuesday’s power loss went “...from Kilometer 1 of Bustillo Avenue to Puerto Moreno. A few minutes after the power was lost, the lines charged up again, but protections appeared again and the problem repeated itself in the same area...”

“...Yet again, no evidence was found to determine that the interruption was due to deliberate reasons that affected the lines, or any logical circumstances that could have affected the supply of electricity,” Baigorria concluded.

Engineer Claudio Campo explained: “What happened on Tuesday was identical to Sunday, but there were no records in this case, since the Puerto Moreno transformer station isn’t there, and no succession of events was recorded...”

Wednesday, April 15, 1998

Around 22:30 hours, Adrian Zuber, an employee with a transportation company, captured the maneuvers of a strange and bright light in the direction of Cerro León with his Sony camera. The recording showed a vast black background on which a light can be seen to glow “intensely and incessantly” with red, blue, yellow and green flashes. These flashes can be seen more clearly when the zoom function is applied, but the shape cannot be seen clearly, although a halo can be made out.




“It was very shocking”, said Zuber. All day he received calls from all national and foreign media, including from Germany and the United States.





The local resident traveled some 15 kilometers from his home, near the 255 School, to the intersection of Routes 23 and 237, where he made the recording. The last flight recorded from the local airport was a little after 20:00 hours, over two hours before the recording was made. Local Channel 6 broke the story and broadcast the images.

SOURCES:
· América Noticias – 14 April 1998
· "Diario Popular" – 14 April 1998
· "El Vocero" – Puerto Rico – 20 April 1998.
· "La Mañana del Sur"
· "Río Negro" – 14 April 1998
· "Río Negro" – 17 April 1998
· TELEFE Noticias – 17 April 1998

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