Date: March 6, 2014
Mexico: Three "UFO Flaps" Documented in Yucatan
By Jorge Moreno, SIPSE
MERIDA, Yucatan - In UFO parlance, a "flap" means "frequent sightings of spacecraft (sic) in the same place and for several consecutive days. Throughout history, there have been UFO flaps in various European countries such as England, Italy, the Netherlands, German, while the Americas, the United States began having an increased quantity of cases until just the middle of the past century. Mexico occupies the second place in "UFO flap" cases, and these have mainly occurred in Toluca, the Federal District, Mexico City and Puebla, although cases have occurred in Veracruz, Monterrey, Guadalajara, etc.
Yucatan is no exception, and three cases from various eras have been clearly identified.
The first and most important of these was centered on the Yalahau Lagoon, located little more than five kilometers from the Municipality of Homún. It all began when some farmers claimed seen "strange lights" ascending and descending at that site. Other locals saw this phenomenon in the heavens and did not hesitate to associate it with UFOs, a subject that was basically unheard-of in the Yucatan, as there it had no serious record.
Sightings took place daily and word spread like gunpowder. People were startled to see that some sort of craft, with white lights, indeed approached slowly and remained "parked" some 300 meters over Yalahau Lagoon. Within a week, people from Merida were embarking upon "tours" to Homún to see the daily sightings with their own eyes. In fact, the craft was so large, and came down so low at times, that some witnesses claimed seeing "little portholes" on the craft. It was also said that on two occasions a "smaller vessel" descended to the lagoon's surface, plunging beneath the water, and was also seen to emerge. Even Televisa and the national media sent correspondents to Yucatan to cover the case, which had great relevance despite the non-existence of the Internet or social media, which would have surely caused knowledge of the wave to skyrocket.
The Second Wave
In the late 1980s, another wave took place over the city of Merida, specifically in the confines of the commissariats of Sitpach and Cholul, allowing dozens of Meridans to see the "spacecraft" that made irregular and erratic movements ever afternoon over a number of days.
The Third One
The third flap in the history of UFOs in Yucatan occurred at the start of the new millennium. It all began in early July 2004 when young César Mata, a resident of Ticul, made a video known to the media. He had recorded it days earlier and it showed an UFO flying at low altitude over Colonia San Juan in the southern end of the state. The recording captures the astonished voices of onlookers as they see the UFO, and Mata wastes no time in jumping on a motorbike to "chase" the light and record it for a longer period of time. A group of experts analyzed the video and confirmed that it was not a hoax, that what was seen that night in the sky was real, and as if that wasn't enough, several people reported seeing the light in Colonia San Benito, located at the entrance to Ticul to one side of "La Sierrita". Within days, dozens of people were gathering in the area to see the UFO, which did not fail in its appointed rounds over the area between 9 at night and two o'clock in the morning.
I had the chance to travel to the location where the events played out a few days later, specifically on July 17. I was accompanied at the time by members of CIFEP. We arrived early, around six in the evening, to interview a family living on the slopes of the hill and who claimed seeing the UFO on a daily basis.
After interviewing Mr. Fidel Chan Chuc, the head of the household, we went to the upper part of the hill, and a few hours later, after dark, the gentleman and his sons shouted "there goes the UFO!" but when I looked skyward, I saw it was just an airliner...
When I started to believe that this is what they were perhaps seeing every day, and it was all a false alarm, they shouted again "there goes the UFO!" and they were not mistaken.
Along with my colleagues, I was able to see an object only somewhat larger than an airplane, but entirely circular and an orange light that turned on and off irregularly. We were at the summit of the hill and the panoramic view was perfect. The UFO made a sort of circle in the sky before making a U-turn.
The UFO was seen for 12 consecutive days until it vanished forever, and the description was always the same by residents from Merida, nearby municipalities and even other states, as well as national and international journalists who also came to cover the case and were able to see it.
[Translation (c) 2014, S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Jorge Moreno and Guillermo Giménez]