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Chile: No Connection Between UFOs and Chupacabras (2002)

Chile: No Connection Between UFOs and Chupacabras(2002)
By Liliana Núñez Orellana

For any reader interested in finding a connection between the slayings of animals attributed to creatures known as “Chupacabras” and the UFO phenomenon, the simplest procedure would consist in scanning the press for both types of stories. If we compare them in volume, we shall see a significant imbalance that would suggest, initially, a lack of connection between both phenomena. Nonetheless, an analysis of the scant journalistic manifestation serves to dispel this preconception even further. Let us examine the source material.

News Broadcast on Televisión Nacional, Señal 7, Santiago de Chile
First quarter of April 2000.

The problems faced by a camera crew attempting to record a triangle found in the Quebrada de Panipica (4,333 meters above sea level) in Chile’s 2nd region, are made public. It was only on the third attempt that the object was able to be recorded in color, having appeared earlier in black and white. This triangle seemingly has an electromagnetic effect over machinery and equipment.
As days went by, a witness named Wilson Torres, an equipment technician, said that he had found that triangle in the year 1989. It is only possible to see it from a height.

UFOs in the Desert – El Mercurio de Calama – Page A3 – Thursday, 13 April 2000.

The development and magnification of photographs taken in the interior of Calama, in the Commune of San Pedro de Atacama, made plain the existence of an equilateral triangle measuring 40 meters on its sides, located between the mountains and near the Sairecabur volcano, at an altitude of over four thousand meters.
The formation was first noticed by elements of the Anti-Narcotics Brigade of the Calama Police, who took photographs in the interior or the province as part of a study for a proposed landing strip. Upon developing the film and magnifying it, they noticed a curious shape on the terrain in the bottom of a gorge known as Panipica, surrounded by the convergence of the slopes of three mountains.
Without giving it further importance, they took advantage of a journey to the interior to reach this location, some 60 kilometers northeast of San Pedro de Atacama, some 4000 feet above sea level.
An equilateral triangle measuring 40 meters on each side startled the police officers, because from the height of one of the mountains, it looked like a huge set square, whose interior had an intense gray, nearly black, color. Once they reached the place, the authorities ascertained that this triangle was surrounded by grass. The interior surface, however, measuring 40 meters per side, is a plain of solid stone, flattened and burned on its upper side, as though subjected to very high temperature.

They thought it might be a heliport, but considering the prevailing wind direction, this proved impossible, because no known craft could make a landing with such a hindrance. The surface and its periphery do not match the traditional landscape of the north, and it is not a geoglyph, in the estimation of the police officers. Their immediate deduction is that it could have been a place where a meteorite fell, or where a UFO could have landed.”

UFO Landing Strip – El Mercurio de Calama – Page A27- Thursday, April 13, 2000

Flattened Stone Triangles Adorn the Desert
A Visible Landing Occurred in 1994.
Polygon Appears Protected by Electrical Forces

In the Province of El Loa (2nd Region) and at an altitude of 4,233 meters above sea level, there exists what have some have considered to be a possible landing site for unidentified flying objects, some two kilometers from another runway that has attracted police attention due to drug trafficking.

More than shapes, two triangular structures over a broad expanse of terrain, flattened to a considerable depth, suggest the intense pressure they were exposed to, as if something of considerable weight rested upon them.

From these locations it is possible to see the Sairecabur volcano and the Chatxas mountain, snow-crowned, undeniably contributing to the intense cold of the region. The triangles follow the lines of the Panipica Gorge. One of the triangles was discovered by the Anti-Drug Brigade of the Calama Police while the other was found by reporters. The larger triangle measures some 40 meters on each side; it is an equilateral triangle, although seen at a distance, it looks like an isosceles triangle – having two equal sides and one unequal one. The smaller triangle is similar but less visible, as it becomes lost between two mountains.

The surface surrounding the triangle is surrounded by the plants known as “leon echado” (sleeping lion) by residents of the interior, due to its aspect when it dries out. It is pure scrub vegetation and is always swept by the wind, despite its hardness. The triangulation is formed precisely because the vegetation disappeared, possibly burned off or due to an extraordinarily powerful wind that left the surroundings with the green plants pointing in the same direction. The sector is covered by four-inch stones, but these have been demolished within the triangle into the “rip-rap” employed in highway paving. They are tamped down in such a way that exceeds the capabilities of known drum rollers employed in paving operations. The flattening is in excess of two meters deep. Some of the four-inch stones resisted the pressure and remained inside the formation, but their coloring is different from the rest. At the point where the three heights of the triangle come together, there grows a plant of such hardness that it cannot be removed by hand or even using a small tool.

The [triangular shape] seems to be protected by an electrical force. The automatic systems of the photo camera failed in that place, and was only able to operate from the surrounding areas. The desert has thousands of shapes caused by changes in colors, topography and visible geological features, but these triangles do not correspond to what is readily visible. The ground conditions dismiss the likelihood that the triangles could be the bottom of a lagoon. If this were the case, we would be talking about the Neolithic period and it would have been discovered a long time ago.

The locale is suitable to the description given last year to this newspaper by a Calama resident who was allegedly saved from certain death in the heights due to the appearance of two UFOs. He saw two vehicles that employed a highly peculiar communication system by means of shapes traced in the air. He claimed [the craft] emerged from in between the volcanos and after some lengthy communication, they disappeared. The Calama resident walked up a slope. In the distance, he was able to see laborers working with heavy machinery. His descriptions correspond to the topography and geography of that sector. The workingmen could have been from a mining company located to the north. Quarry work can be seen to the South of this location.

In days following this experience, the man was found near San Pedro de Atacama and was taken to a first aid station. The experience with the two UFOs took place in 1994.

More Recent Events

“It was like an electric arc light, lasting for a fraction of a second, lighting up the entire valley of Calama, but it was snuffed before it hit the ground, and could have easily fallen in Argentina or in Chiu-Chiu.”

There just so happens to be a straight line running from Calama to the triangle. The straight line runs through Ayquina. This happened on March 19th and the witness was Jorge Elias Zenteno,58, an electronics technician and current night watchman of a graveyard located to the west of Calama on Route 60, 4 kilometers from the city limits. The phenomenon took place at 1:10 hours on St. Joseph’s Day, and coincides with the date that concerns the Institute of Astronomy, whose director, Luis Barrera, reported to NASA in the U.S.A. regarding meteorite falls between 22:00 hours on 18 March and 22:00 hours on 19 March.”

Something Fell from the Sky – El Mercurio de Calama – Page A26 – Sunday, May 20, 2000

“Two months ago, perhaps more, three green colored meteorites (similar to a flare) crossed the skies of Antofagasta from East to West. They did not travel continuously: the first one entered our atmosphere around 23:00 hours on a Saturday; the second at 01:30 hours in the morning; the third at five o’clock in the morning. These meteorites were seen by over a hundred people. Records of this phenomenon were submitted by Luis Barrera, Director of the Institute of Astronomy of the Universidad Catolica del Norte.

No logical explanation for what occurred was ever put forth. The three meteorites allegedly crashed in some point of our cordillera. When they struck the Earth’s surface, no impact or tremor was felt – only a large flash that filled the horizon.

Nothing was ever heard again about the meteorites. Two weeks later, a strange “runway” is found in the desert of our region. It is a triangle measuring forty meters on each side; its interior is completely flat and without stones. The presence of a powerful magnetic field was ascertained in this area, capable of causing alterations to wristwatches, photo cameras and video cameras. What is going on here? Is this an extraterrestrial landing strip? Is this where the meteorites fell, which weren’t meteorites at all but alien craft? Many questions can be put forth about the subject without finding an answer. This triangle remains an unsolved mystery. The animal slayings in the provinces of El Loa, Tocopila and Antofagasta commenced shortly after the appearance of this “landing strip” – that is to say, we are talking about three facts that could be related to each other, or not at all. No rational explanation, however, has been found for these three cases. Meanwhile, the Chupacabras keeps attacking and killing animals in other regions of the country.”

My Observations on the Subject

The discovery of the notorious triangle occurred nearly 11 years prior to the mass killings of animals. This account demolishes journalistic information that endeavors to relate it with the animal deaths in the 2nd Region and other parts of the country, showing that chroniclers and journalists forged a link between these items that has never been proven, employing significant elements.

For a while now, I have kept a record of UFO sightings in Chile since the year 1580 on a map. I did something similar with the Chupacabras. This does not mean that one supports the other.

Up to now, no eyewitness accounts involving UFO sightings in days prior, during the night or during the morning have come forth regarding animal deaths between January 2000 and October 2002, in any part of the national territory.

We are unable to even statistically consider the frequency of UFO sightings and the record of killings, which exceeds 200 cases confirmed by the press.

I incorrectly believed at one point that an event in Punta Arenas could bolster a case in the 2nd Region or anywhere else. Over the course of months and days, I’ve come to realize it is quite the contrary. For this reason, these words set forth my working hypothesis regarding the lack of relationship [between UFOs and animal deaths] at least in Chile, until the contrary can be proven. We are still collecting journalistic information and requesting support from experts on the subject. There is still much to be collected, researched and contrasted in this regard.

[This article originally appeared in Espacio Compartido (Barcelona) No. 25, 2nd. Vol., July 2003. Translation © 2014 S. Corrales, IHU]

Mexico: Texcoco Crop Circles "More Than Likely Caused by Wind"

INEXPLICATA Contributing Editor Prof. Ana Luisa Cid and her collaborator Víctor González have shared a video with us about the "crop circles" that appeared earlier this week in Texcoco on the outskirts of Mexico City.

"The owner of the property," writes Prof. Cid in an article (http://analuisacid.com.mx/?p=1185#more-1185) "added that similar events have occurred on other occasions and there is nothing mysterious about them, since the rain and wind gusts of the previous evening caused the stalks of barley to fall over, adopting undefined shapes. This was visually corroborated by Víctor González. There are no "figures" or "messages" to be seen, merely some flattened areas.

This perception was corroborated by Daniel Monraz, an aviator and UFO researcher, who makes the following remark: "[...] during a storm there are winds that cause a shearing effect and reach down to the ground, flattening grass in a straight line, as if combing it. Something similar happened a month ago, here in the Municipality of Tala, Jalisco, and it was the same thing, produced by shearing winds..."

The video can be seen at http://youtu.be/YCW5BwwsmFg

A Flap Overlooked: Argentina's 2002-2003 UFO Wave

A Flap Overlooked: Argentina’s 2002-2003 UFO Wave
By Scott Corrales

Few things can seize a reader (or viewer)’s attention like a carcass of an animal mutilated in ways that challenge our understanding. In the summer of 2002, the Argentinean cattle mutilation epidemic – a question open to debate to this day – cornered all publications on UFO/paranormal subjects and set the conventional media ablaze as well with raging arguments of the source of the slayings: was a non-human agency at work in the dark fields of the Pampas and Patagonia, or was the red-muzzled mouse more powerful than anyone had previously suspected?

Almost imperceptibly, UFO activity had been taking place throughout the Southern Cone, going largely unnoticed. Was the old belief – first posited by John Keel – that mutilations were a distraction for UFO activity actually true? This question was never fully answered, and twelve years later, it is unlikely to be, unless a new wave of mutilations erupts on the scene.

The seasonality of UFO flaps in Argentina has been documented by researchers like Luis Burgos. "Our databank," he writes, "which covers the period of 1947 to the present, including 4500 Argentinean UFO cases, arises clearly from the flap seasons. For example, no sooner had the phenomenon manifested itself in our country on 10 July 1947, only sixteen days after Kenneth Arnold's sighting, the flaps could be reckoned in three to four year intervals: 1947, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1965 and 1968. They became less regular after that, and we faced UFO waves in 1974, 1975, 1978, 1985/86, 1988/89, 1995, 1998/99, 2002 and 2005/06. In other words, we cannot extract constants from these cycles. To some UFO researchers, we live in a period of constant UFO activity."
The 2002 summer flap actually occurred in the winter season of the Southern Hemisphere and during one of the worst economic crises that Argentina had ever faced. Entire communities faced having their utilities cut off in the bitter cold. As we can see below, the Andes did not constitute an obstacle for these sightings, as neighboring Chile was also reporting unusual events.

Chronicle of Events

May 6, 2002. Martin Oliver, Ruben Chihan and Antonio Rodo, youthful motorbikers from the city of Cachi, reported having an experience involving "a fantastic sight" on National Highway 33. Their story appeared in El Tribuno newspaper, informing the world that they had seen "an enormous cigar-shaped unidentified flying object measuring some 100 meters in length." They added: "We were finishing the Tin Tin stretch when we saw a strange light from the east, in the vicinity of Payogasta. We stopped our rides and saw it: an enormous cylinder measuring some 100 meters in length, shining like a mirror in the reflected light of the setting sun. It was shaped like a giant cigarette and flew slowly some 200 meters from the ground. We couldn't believe it but it was real. It made no noise whatsoever and appeared to be made of a material similar to polished steel."

June 11-14, 2002. A UFO reappeared over the community of Fernandez Robles at various times during the evenings, haunting residents of the Norte, 12 de Octubre, Juan Domingo Peron, Camping, Roca and 102 Viviendas neighborhoods. Marcelo Coronel, a mechanic, reported seeing an object resembling "a headlight surrounded by a red halo which increased and diminished in hue, and moved slowly from north to south without making any sound." Townspeople pointed out that TV signals are interrupted, television sets shut themselves off without any interruption to the flow of electricity, or the sets change channels without the remote control having been touched, whenever the object appeared.

July 6, 2002. Residents of Carmen de Patagones in Viedma, Argentina were able to see a strange object flying over their remote community, stunned by its amazing clarity. The luminous object's appearance occurred shortly after 21:00 hrs. and it remained visible until 21:30, at which time it receded from view until it vanished in the horizon. According to the locals who saw it, the object approached and receded "like some sort of zoom lens" and changed colors as it did so. Other locals followed the luminous object with their own eyes, while others used binoculars. One villager informed a relative in the city of Viedma, who confirmed that the object was visible from said city. One of the eyewitnesses was Anibal Benitez, owner of a business on Calle Mexico, who stated with regard to the light that "the light was very potent and changed colors every so often to red, blue and bright white," adding that: "We were able to see how an airliner in the distance appeared to pass over the object, which vanished into the horizon following a zigzag pattern."

July 12, 2002. Chile's Diario Austral de la Araucania newspaper reported the unexpected appearance of a UFO at 21:00 hours on Wednesday (July 10). According to witness Patricio Castillo, 28, "I looked and I saw a luminous object with three red lights in one of its sides. It was still for a few seconds and then made a very swift movement. I stopped looking at it for a few seconds because I ran in to play a song and when I returned it was gone," he explained. He had been working for 9 years in radio and had never had a similar experience. "I used to not believe in these things, but my opinion changed after this." Pilar Castillo, the host of the "Morning Talk with Pili" segment, stated that after 21:00 hours she had left a meeting when she realized that there was something strange in the sky. Some of the persons with her were astonished as the luminous object vanished suddenly. "It was like a shooting star that changed colors as it went away. It came from the direction of Nancul to Villarica. It was red for some minutes and then turned violet."

July 13, 2002. The Province of Entre Rios – a hotbed of UFO activity to this day – issued reports of strange lights at the heart of the province. Witnesses in Sola, Rosario del Tala and Mansilla claimed seeing low altitude maneuvers by objects they were unable to identify. According to Paraná’s Diario Uno newspaper, one case involved police officers aboard two squad cars at a highway truck stop. The lawmen reportedly saw “a powerful light engaged in maneuvers on Monday, July 1st.” The object approached the squad cars, “producing sparks similar to those of a photographer’s flash.” When the unknown light pulled away, both squad cars ceased to function. Engines refused to turn over and their lights were out for half an hour, when power was suddenly restored and the vehicles’ sirens came to life. According to the Paralelo 32-Digital Edition publication, the officers reached for their sidearms when the light approached their cars.

July 13, 2002. Chascomús has always been mentioned in UFO chronicles as a place where strange things happen. Living up to its reputation, reports emerged of strange lights in the vicinity of the Chascomús Lagoon, fed by the waters of five local streams. According to Diario El Cronista, strange lights were changing colors and landing in the vicinity, seen by some locals who spent forty minutes at the water’s edge enthralled by the display. “Other lights seemed to land in the Monte Brown area and also in the vicinity of the Fish and Nautical Club, where guests at a dinner held in honor of racing fans caused the number of witnesses to be even larger.”

July 14, 2002. Researchers from the Circulo Ovnilogico Riocuartense (COR) interviewed Pedro and Estela Moine of the community of Adela Maria (pop. 7000), a busy agricultural center in Rio Cuarto, Argentina. The couple had allegedly seen a “flying entity over a cereal plant”. Pedro and Estela had been on their way to the town’s business district, a journey that involved crossing an old railroad switching yard, at 21:00 hours on July 3, 2003. The couple suddenly heard “a strange and incomprehensible conversation between many voices” which gave way to “strange ‘O’ sounds.” Turning their eyes to one of the silos in the rail yard, they were startled to see a “humanoid” lacking upper and lower extremities. In spite of his wife’s entreaties, Pedro took off at a run toward the silo to have a closer look. Estela soon joined him, and both managed to see the “entity” which now appeared to conceal itself behind the control booth of a truck scale. The apparition rose into the air “like a plane taking off” to an altitude of 15 meters, disappearing behind a metal shed. Pedro Moine would later describe it as “a thing with human shape” that either emitted or reflected some sort of light. The entire mass of the apparition gave the appearance of being a body “covered head to toe in some sort of mantle” giving it the appearance of “wearing a hat, but covered with a long raincoat.”

July 21, 2002. A large UFO allegedly caused a commotion in Campamento Vespucio, an oil drilling encampment 7 kilometers west of General Mosconi and some 350 km north of the city of Salta (a prominent location in South American UFO chronicles). The incident occurred on Monday between 20:50 and 21:30 hours on July 15 and was visible to the naked eye. Residents of Vespucio took to the streets to see the object, which remained in view for forty minutes before zooming off westward at an amazing rate of speed. Some witnesses described it as “oddly beautiful” and not a source of fear. Residents of the neighboring village of Tablillas, 3 km into the canyon where the oil encampment is located, were not at all surprised by the sighting, which disrupted telephone service and power outages throughout the region. “We are used to seeing these singular luminous events since 1999, and the fact remains that whenever they appear, they cause failures in motor and electrical systems. Gabriel Olima, 22, a resident of Tablillas and a former engineering student, added: “People didn’t believe us out of sense of skepticism, but the apparitions are so customary we have been able to determine that they’re visible between July and August. Not before, not after.” He mentioned that a film crew from Buenos Aires had visited the area to record the phenomena, but had departed in fright, saying the objects were “nothing known to them.”

July 21, 2002. The website for the community of Chacabuco asked the question: Are UFOs flying over Chacabuco? "Two sightings in less than a week lead us to wonder about the certain possibility that we are being visited by aliens." A driver taking three young women back to their respective homes on a Sunday morning saw a powerful light hovering over the local houses, motionless and changing colors from light blue to green. "When I stopped the car to see if I could hear something, I couldn't start the engine again. So I got out [of the car], fooled around with the engine a bit, and finally made it start. The girls were scared and holding hands, but we went over to the side of the road to get a better look."

July 21, 2002. The El Comercial newspaper reported a strange light seen over the community of Formosa, described as "a spotlight with an intense white color". Luis Fernández told the paper: "I saw lights on the horizon in the places where the mutilations occurred. The light looks like a large flashlight that points down from above. We thought they were helicopters belonging to some agency touring the area. We went to look and couldn't hear or find anything. That always happens around these parts., but we pay it no mind, otherwise one runs the risk of being called fanciful or a liar. We pay it no mind. But we will try to find what is really happening in those places. Some ten boys survey and comb the area with me. Someday we'll find something." Local residents concerned about the mutilation epidemic brought up the subject of cows that appeared to have been burned by the mysterious light. "It's true, from here we saw giant lights land in the area several times. Then they rise quickly to become lost in swift movement. At high speed. No one believes us, but it’s true. It doesn't happen very often, but it happens after a rain shower or storm, and on cold nights, and always in the area where Don Luis found his dead animals."

July 22, 2002. Researchers from the Federacion Argentina de Ovnilogía (FAO) visited the town of Gobernador Ugarte to look into claims of a “powerful light” seen over an abandoned house in the wilderness. On July 15, local residents Manuel Gonzales, Jose Benavides and Rosa Gutierrez and law enforcement officers had witnessed a potent beam of light, “so bright that it concealed its source”.

July 23, 2002 El Diario de la República newspaper made its readers aware of a UFO sighting in the south of the Province of Cordoba investigated by Jorge Almirón of another local daily, El Puntal. It was confirmed that at least twenty police officers had seen “a strange craft”. The law enforcement officers reported malfunctions to their cellphones and police car radios.

July 27, 2002. Residents of Chascomús reported a “large, sky-blue light moving over the lagoon, changing colors as it did so.” A reporter from the newsroom of the El Fuerte journal was able to see the light, which at the time was “stationary over Mt. Brown, seen from the San José Beach Facility,” describing its color as red and giving off flashes. A local subsequently phoned the newsroom to report seeing the light descend “and vanish behind the tree line.” Others saw the object along local Route 20, near the Aeroclub, as it slowly traveled westward.

August 2, 2002. Reports from the coastal city of Bahia Blanca suggested the presence of “strange floating figures and red lights” moving at high speed throughout the evening over the sand dunes leading to the Arroyo Pareja Municipal Beach.

August 4, 2002. Raul Dorado, 64, a resident of the town of Jacinto Arauz, was conducting an inspection of his property and twice heard a sound he described as “a loud whirlwind”. When he heard the sound for a third time, it came from “a green circle with three legs” hovering overhead. Dorado fell to the ground, dropping the shotgun, binoculars and cellphone he carried with him. This last object was “taken from his hand” and sucked into the object, which subsequently vanished toward the east. The rancher was unable to rise from his prone position for at least an hour, managing to get into his car and drive into town “in a state of shock”. He was unable to speak, communicating by hand signs only. He was admitted to the local clinic by Dr. Ana Maria Lazaric, who performed a preliminary examination. Having regained his speech by morning, Dorado was interviewed by Inspector Sheriff Carlos Muñoz. In a statement to the press, Dorado’s wife claimed that her husband “had tried to fire his shotgun at the intruder, but was unable to do so,” receiving a puncture mark on his ring finger, on the hand that held the now vanished cellphone.

February 28, 2003. A UFO was reported at 06:20 a.m. on Friday, 02.28.03 over Chile’s Viña del Mar. Ricardo Barraza, a local resident, claimed seeing “an enormous pulsating object” as he drove to work that morning. The object commenced moving southward, adding that it was seemingly followed by “an enormous dark mass” that was easily concealed by the pre-dawn skies.

March 7, 2003. The Investigadores del Fenómeno Ovni de Rufino (IFOR) group reported a sighting over the Argentinean town of Rufino on March 6, 2003 at 15:35 hours local time. Spectators at the Ben Hur Sports Club motorcycle racetrack became aware of a strange white light flying lower than the altitude usually seen by passenger airliners. It was described as “brighter than a star” and traveling at high speed, vanishing at some point during its trajectory.

March 22, 2003. Dozens of witnesses reported seeing several flying objects over the Chilean town of Providencia . The sighting involved “a large circular object of intense brilliance which was accompanied by other, lesser objects. Some witnesses claimed seeing up to seven such objects around it, “according to the Terra.cl website. UFO researchers were allegedly called in regard to the matter. Fernando Martínez, a student of graphic design, was among the people present at the corner of 11 de Septiembre and Marchant Pereira streets who saw the display. “I was able to see a light without any defined shape. But later, looking more closely, I was able to see over 40 smaller lights all around. They didn’t move much, at least not noticeably.”

April 22, 2003. Roberto Cáceres, 36, suffered a terrifying experience in February 2003 in Chile’s 9th Region. An electrical engineer by profession, Cáceres was driving between the cities of Temuco and Freire. At one point, he was followed by a light that caused him to lose control of his pickup truck. He was 15 minutes out of Temuco when he noticed a light “matching his speed”. In a matter of seconds, the lights crossed right in front of his truck. The driver “swerved to avoid it several times”, adding the football-shaped object did not seem to have a defined body, but rather “was made of pure light”. His vehicle suffered no mechanical or electrical effects as a result of the encounter.

August 21, 2003. A UFO over Copaquilla? Photographer Patricio Lara was startled a few days ago when he developed photos taken late last month in Paricanota province in order to have illustrations for his website. Beyond the spectacular landscape, nothing unusual attracted his attention during his transit through the zone. But a few days later, after his return to Santiago de Chile, he began to look at the images obtained and realized that a strange object in the sky had been recorded on one shot. The photo in question was taken in the vicinity of Copaquilla, looking east over the canyon, on July 31 at 13:30 hours, when the sun was halfway in the sky. [...] We were taken to a lookout called Mallku, from which Chapiquina can be seen in the distance. I found that the landscape was beautiful, so I started taking pictures, panning with a Nikon camera using an 80-200 mm lens and Fuji 100 ASA slide film." he said.The image shows the pampa, the Andean cordillera on a clear day, and toward the upper left, a rhomboidal opaque form tilted to the left. Says the photographer: "calculating the distance of the object and the proportions, it must have been 10 meters in diameter."

November, 2003. A team of reporters from a television news magazine was able to witness and videotape several UFOs near the town of Maimara (Province of Jujuy, Argentina). UFO experiencer Alfonso Bidondo, who claimed to be in telepathic contact with the objects, took reporters to his usual viewing location, describing the unknown light sources as “very big lights that passed slowly above us, remaining for 15 seconds and then disappearing.” Members of the news crew from Canal America 2’s “Informe Central” show expressed their amazement at the material they had recorded with their cameras.

[With thanks to Gloria Coluchi, Alicia Rossi, Guillermo Giménez, Luis Burgos, Christián Quintero, Mario Luis Bracamonte, Carlos Iurchuk, and Quique Mario.]

Colombia: The UFO Was a Balloon, Says Planetarium

Source: La FM, Peru.com and Planeta UFO
Date: 12.19.2014

Colombia: The UFO Was a Balloon, Says Planetarium

BOGOTA. Dozens of people looked skyward for several minutes watching an object that flew around erratically in the vicinity of Bogotá, Colombia's Zona Rosa.
Those who thought they were seeing an unidentified flying object (UFO), and those who took an endless number of photographs of what they took to be an unusual phenomenon were disappointed after the Bogotá Planetarium reported its findings.

Given that the UFO subject became a trending topic on Twitter, the Planetario de Bogotá explained, through its Facebook account, that the alleged UFO was in fact a balloon. "A photo of the balloon mistaken for a UFO was taken using the 8-inch telescope at the Bogotá Planetarium on Friday afternoon, 12 December [2014]."

To confirm its pronouncement, it presented a photo of the object, credited to Mauricio Giraldo. The matter of the alleged UFO was promptly forgotten.

[Translation (c) 2014, S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO. Photo credit Mauricio Giraldo.]

A CE-2 from 2004? UFO Landing at Puerto Natales, Chile

Our friend and colleague Liliana Núñez, formerly with Archivos Forteanos Latinoamericanos, reminds us of this intriguing video from 2004 allegedly showing a "UFO landing at Puerto Natales" (in the commune of Natales, Province of Ultima Esperanza, Chilean Patagonia). There is no narration beyond random voices: at 00:29 someone asks "Where is Humberto?" and "It has a weird shape" at 00:36. The video is credited to the Centro de Investigacion Ovnilógica de Natales (Patricio Frias, Jose Loalza, Eladio Godoy & Walter Vera).

VIDEO AT: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x93yrl_aterrizaje-ovni-en-puerto-natales_news

Argentina: Unknown Objects Over the Iguazú Falls

Source: Planeta UFO and PrimeraEdicionweb.com.ar
Date:12.13.2014

Argentina: Unknown Objects Over the Iguazú Falls

A similar incident occurred in 2011. This time, we will have to wait.

A park ranger recorded the transit of an unidentified flying object over Iguazú National Park. The park administration, however, has decided not to release the images for the time being.

Iguazú National Park is investigating whether an unidentified flying object (UFO) had flown over the Iguazú Falls a few days ago.

It was evening and access to Iguazú National Park was closed when a park ranger saw an object flying over the area. It appeared to be over the rear concourse, having a triangular shape and with many lights.

The ranger managed to record the situation and make a report to give to his superiors and make the park authorities aware of the situation, not knowing what it might be.



Chief Ranger Juan Pérez Argañaraz confirmed the situation, stating: "We cannot say it was a UFO. It has to be looked at by someone knowledgeable in such matters, but we cannot reject it either."

Park Intendant Sergio Bikauskas is not in the area, and they are waiting for his return to submit the recording to specialized institutions that may be able to render a verdict on the object.

This is not the first time that such incidents have been recorded or photographed over the Falls. One of the most recent ones was made known in 2012 by a tourist via YouTube and it took place in 2011.

VIDEO of the 2011 incident: http://youtu.be/sYr3YGYX_Iw

[Translation (c) 2014, S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO]

People Are Strange: Unusual UFO Cults Examined

People Are Strange: Unusual UFO Cults Examined
By Scott Corrales

The story was unlikely to make the newswires, much less the major newspapers in the Northern Hemisphere, concerned as they were with celebrity gossip and political infighting. The event, after all, had transpired out where God lost his sneakers, as some would say, or the back of beyond, in the language of more polite society. For it was out in the alkaline deserts of Chile where a unit of the state police - the Carabineros - had suppressed a religious sect with very strange beliefs in the summer of 2010.

Law enforcement had arrested eight people in the community of Vilcún, charging them with belonging to a fanatical cult that revolved around the figure of an eleven year-old child known only as "La Princesita" - The Little Princess - having less to do with a Disney royal figure and more with an oracular child of ancient times. The eight members of the "family" - known as the Santa Ana Cult in the media - protested their innocence and their right to worship freely. "We are God's chosen, followers of Christ, and for that reason we are fearless. We have done no wrong."

Major Jorge Alvarado of the Carabineros strike force noted that the male occupants of the home had long hair and beards, arguing that the law enforcement agents could not enter the premises because “it was holy ground.”

The authorities thought differently about the matter. Rural police officers had been violently chased away from the property during an attempted search, motivated by the fact that the girl had not been to school in months, much to the concern of officials. The toughened Carabineros had stormed the house with a warrant from prosecutor Omar Mérida only to discover that a sort of altar had been erected in honor of "La Princesita", festooned with candles, religious imagery and statues. Ther was an even more ominous discovery: an assortment of firearms ranging from handguns to hunting rifles, ammunition, water bottles, batteries, flashlights and other supplies one might well stockpile in the light of an imminent disaster. Even more disturbing was a coal-black goat tied to a stake in the back yard - its purpose, said the police report, was unclear.

"The child told us a huge earthquake was coming, and we had to pray to stave it off. She has the visions, she speaks to the angels." These were the words of clan leader Cesar Baeza as reported by El Austral de Temuco newspaper. Baeza had worked for years as the caretaker of Fundo Santa Ana (the Santa Ana estate) and he argued that the Little Princess had accurately predicted the February 27 earthquake that year. Angelic forces, he argued, had contacted the child and told her to build the altar. "They told us we had to pray a lot to scare the devil away. We prayed daily, some four times a day. She helped us fight the demons that sometimes came to the house at night."

When asked about the weapons, Baeza argued that they were for protection against Mapuche indians bent on seizing the estate for themselves. Prosecutor Mérida was unmoved by these allegations. As far as he was concerned, "the group shows the characteristics of being a cult in the sense of having an intense, religious-type doctrine."

Perhaps some supernatural forces aided and abetted the Santa Ana Cult. Two years later, a court absolved them of any wrongdoing, merely charging them with possession of unlicensed firearms and munitions. Whether the bearded men returned to worshipping their oracular child and fighting demons in dark is anyone's guess.

High Strangeness or Madness?

In mid-June 1997, the UFOR mailing list posted an item that remains shrouded in mystery. The list’s owner, Francisco Lopez, did his level best to glean further information on the subject even many months later, when I pressed him for assistance in writing the kernel of what would many years later become this article. But it was no use. In the age of the Internet, that hall of mirrors in which people can appear and disappear with impunity by changing e-mail accounts and assuming different names (and even identities), the source was well out of reach. The posted item may indeed prove someday to have been a compelling hoax, but there are certain details about it that have a ring of truth about them.

The narration begins in medias res, in the best tradition of classic epics:".. I want to get the whole of the information first, and then release it, rather than just parts," begins its author. "Also, I need to edit out certain portions. Certain information does not need to be released to the public. In some cases the less they know, the better; it allowed us to work with fewer interruptions." He or she then adds, with chilling effect: "You should never be in the company of one with who you would not wish to die."

This ominous opening would have soared to new heights were it not for the fact that the names and places mentioned in the message were redacted with a series of asterisks. The author, a man or woman with a military or law enforcement background, had participated in the raid of a compound which involved live arms fire in which "all brass was accounted for." The compound, a privately owned skiing or hunting lodge, was then gutted and made to look abandoned by the government forces involved.

"As little evidence as possible was left," states the cryptic author after indicating that a nameless group had been disbanded. "Only Terran humans were found, no XTs or Greys."

This assertion might well relegate the unknown writer to the lunatic fringe, since belief and/or concern of the alleged alien Greys has waned in recent years. The message goes on to talk of how the "cult" in question had cooperated with a number of individuals over an unspecified number of years in the acquisition of "breeder semen from sperm banks" and from unsuspecting human males drawn into certain situations, only to be drugged and subjected to the removal of such a fluid with a syringe. It was then "flash-frozen by use of a portable D-flask of liquid nitrogen, to be stored at a central location," according to the author.

A spec script for the X-Files or a description of a real event? The author continues:

"They used a group of "renegade" (omitted) as aids (sic) and "technical support," with a high priestess working closely with the upper echelons of the (omitted). It appears that, despite the usual (omitted) beliefs, this priestess and her companions were heretics, if such a term can be applied to (omitted) at all."

The cult mentioned in this mind-bending message appeared to be quite deft with the use of weapons, and a veritable arsenal of high-power rifles, shotguns and combat weapons, including "an HK-91 sniper rifle...a Steyr AUG Selective Fire Conversion, and a US Army M60, with about 7000 rounds of .30 cal ammunition...over fifty hand grenades, including explosive, flash, incendiary and smoke...180 kilos of Czech plastique explosive and over a hundred military squibbs (detonators)," are mentioned in the text. It is a supreme irony that this arsenal of death should prove comfortingly familiar within such a high-strangeness context.

The allegations continue: the cult members were in contact with a human group claiming to act on behalf of the "Greys" and capable of projecting images of the entities from opaque, vitreous cubes. Although the author professes being unable to examine this information for him/herself, the putative alien messages appear to have been linked with clandestine UFO landings. "Techniques have been used to confirm that at least one incident took place during May of 1995, but nothing further could be determined."

Many UFOR subscribers read this message and many, upon reading this article, may question the wisdom of reprinting more unconfirmed UFO-related speculation. One guesses that the entire operation may have been a huge "psy-ops" exercise involving live fire, good guys and "bad guys," with the entire alien scenario thrown in for good measure or even as a "sickener" factor for the trainees.

"He Died Like a Space Commander"

The alien action/adventure story posted to UFOR smacked more of science fiction than of Sigma Draconis until Argentinean researcher Andrea Perez Simondini—widely known in her country for her contributions to the study of UFO incidents along with her mother Sylvia, as well as for being an active political figure—forwarded a real-life account of a situation which, at first blush, hauntingly echoed the one scenario posted to UFOR.

"The mystery of the Radar 1 group has finally been solved," noted Andrea in her letter. A contactee cult known as ASHTAR had apparently spawned a disturbed group of paramilitary types, led by one Guillermo Romeu, who assumed the name "Radar 1."

The offshoot organization appeared to have been much more successful than its parent in gaining a following and making itself known. Romeu and his acolytes had access to the best technology and were not afraid to employ it: from their headquarters at 269 Wernicke in the village of Boulougne, Buenos Aires province, "Radar 1" (publicly known as Iglesia Manantial, the Wellspring Church) broadcast its own brand of ufolatry over the FM airwaves. Their station boasted a recording studio with three consoles and mixing board for special effects, eight computers (whose hard drives had been erased prior to the raid by Argentinean authorities on January 12, 1998 and Romeu’s death by self-inflicted gunshot) and the same ominous arsenal as the improbable cult mentioned on the UFOR list: one surface-to-air missile, bullets of various calibers, gas masks, incendiary bombs, tear gas, Israeli-made Desert Eagle.50 caliber antiaircraft handguns (sic) of the kind used during the Gulf War, an approach radar, chemical sample analysis equipment, radiation, electromagnetic, electrostatic and heat detectors, etc. All of this gear was stored in a Bronco 4 x 4, which they would use for alleged field research.

Simondini’s letter explained that all of this lethal and non-lethal hardware had been paid for partly by the 400 to 4000 peso contributions of the cult’s membership and its affiliates. "We strongly believe," she wrote, "that the sect is a facade and there exists a cover-up concerning the weaponry."

Just who was this Guillermo Romeu? An electrician and occasional private pilot, he had joined a contactee study group directed by former UFO researcher Pedro Romaniuk before being expelled a year and a half later. It was during this time that the new cult was spawned, preaching messages received from the ubiquitous space brother known as Commander Ashtar Sheran concerning the "extraterrestrial evacuation plan." In a clever move, the cult leader insisted on the group being widely known as Iglesia Manantial in order to draw recruits from a large membership pool composed by Pentecostal worshippers from other churches.

Guillermo Romeu claimed that his extensive offensive capabilities, gathered since 1991, were devoted to a single purpose: defense against the alien Greys, whom he characterized as "extremely hostile and [who] are using us as a source of food." Two years later, his disciples were further cautioned that "an extraterrestrial race sent by the Antichrist prior to the Battle of Armageddon" would have to be held off by force of arms, thus prompting new arms purchases and further training. Radar-1’s members were not averse to parading around in full battle array, showing off their weapons and alarming the general public. They boastfully termed themselves "Grey Hunters."

As in all cults, the price of dissent was high. Romeu was as authoritarian a leader as any, and those among his "Grey Hunters" who showed signs of wanting to part company with the group were threatened and harassed. Those who left lived in constant fear of being assassinated.

Romeu’s wife’s called it quits in 1997, taking Cristin, the couple’s seven-year old son, with her. The cult leader successfully gained the court’s permission to attend Cristin’s eighth birthday. To everyone’s horror, Romeu pulled a pistol from his jacket, stood straight, and placed a bulled through his right temple. "My father died like a space commander," said Romeu’s grief-stricken son.

Cecilia Diaz, the late Romeu’s mistress, told the press that the cult would continue its activities from the location of San Isidro and would "have more weapons." Argentina’s Secretary of Worship, Angel Centeno, ruled that the cult’s right to exist could not be challenged, as it was lawfully registered with his ministry. The Argentinean Foundation for the Study of Cults (FAPES) subsequently reported that Romeu’s right hand man, Brian Bach, had assumed the reins of the cult, and urged the country’s legislature to appoint a commission to study cults along the lines adopted by many European countries.

Space Brother Blues

If we can bring ourselves to play the role of Devil’s Advocate yet again, can we lend any credence to the UFOR story as representing a mop-up operation against a saucer cult in the U.S., much in the same way that Argentina’s government moved against Iglesia Manantial? That country’s authorities made it clear that the cult was not being prosecuted for its beliefs but for its stockpile of weapons—the same argument wielded against the Branch Davidians at Waco.

There was clearly nothing in common between the cults except for the fact that the belief in UFOs and aliens were reason for their existence—the latter cult armed itself to the teeth against them, while the former served up man in a platter to these forces. It can be noted that both episodes serve as bookends to the Heaven’s Gate and the Solar Temple suicides. The late ’90s were certainly not kind to saucer cults.

But Guillermo Romeu’s violence is reminiscent, to a certain degree, of the activities of Brazilian contactee/terrorist Dino Kraspedon, the nom de guerre of Aladino Felix, who underwent an alleged contact experience in 1952 which was true to the contactee fashion of the time—nocturnal encounters in the wilderness with saucers and their humanoid occupants, disquisitions on "Man’s place in the universe" and life on other worlds. Kraspedon’s non-human "handlers" apparently endowed him with psychic powers, giving him insight into future human events.

Kraspedon dropped from sight until 1968, when he was arrested under suspicion of terrorism (not at all unlikely, since Brazil at the time was seething with political unrest, best exemplified by the activities of Carlos Marighella, the "father of urban terrorism"). In his UFO Encyclopedia, saucer historian Jerome Clark notes that Kraspedon was sentenced in 1971 and to be remanded into the mental health system, after which he vanishes from the record.

Was Aladino Felix truly contacted by aliens and steered wrong into a life of crime? He apparently recanted his alien contact experiences publicly, which should put an end to the story. Nonetheless, the connection between alleged "alien contact" which translates into violence cannot be overlooked.

Pirophos, UMMO’s Little Brother

Thirty-two years after it first erupted on the scene, Spain’s UMMO hoax still commands attention whenever it is mentioned. While not strictly a cult, given its lack of a leader and clear-cut objectives believers in the planet UMMO and the benevolent "Ummites" certainly carried on in cultish fashion. "Its very name ought to have given it away," says the hoax’s creator, Jose Luis Jordan Pena, referring to the fact that UMMO shared the same sounds when pronounced as the Spanish word for "smoke."

Galician journalist Bieito Pazos managed to secure a lengthy interview with this fascinating character, gleaning details about the blond haired space people from the star Wolf 424 and more importantly, a true cult which was formed in the wake of the UMMO experiment: a gathering of very intelligent men and women known as PIROPHOS.

The interest expressed in Kirlian photography by certain members of Spain’s "Sociedad de Parapsicologia" prompted Jordan Pena to realize that people, regardless of their educational or economic background, are fascinated by any phenomenon from which light is issued in a strange way. This led him to create the fictitious deity "Pirophos" and gather some twenty-odd persons in a grimy room in Madrid. One of Jordan Pena’s co-conspirators, known only as "C," read out a letter (a tool that had worked well for UMMO) to the congregation, from "our beloved charismatic leader Phoros," living somewhere in the United States. As the lights went out, the parties in attendance were startled to see a bluish light issuing from C’s mouth—proof positive that the Great God Pirophos had chosen the speaker as the "regional Phoselek" for all of Spain.

The hoaxer told his interviewer that the bluish light was "a basic yet uncommon triboluminescent phenomenon which requires the use of habitual and easily digestible substances."

But that wasn’t the only surprise the master hoaxer held in store for his well-heeled disciples: on a table covered by a purple cloth stood a large glass container which contained a scintillating light which bathed the faces of all present in an eerie glow. Many of the economists, doctors, and engineers present dropped to their knees in the presence of the Great God Pirophos—who was in fact an amalgam of bioluminescent bacteria in a nutrient agar culture. Later on, explained Jordan Pena, "Pirophos" would be created based on a compound of phosphorus diluted in kerosene or toluene.

The Pirophoreans (to give them a name) were entreated to follow a basic "moral code" crafted by the hoaxer himself: a commitment to study physics and biology, kindness toward spouses and children, and above all, to maintain their religion in strict confidence. The cultists were also told that their faith’s supreme leader was a man named George Lipton from Albany, N.Y. (Jordon Pena had successfully placed one Theodore K. Polk from Export, P.A. among the dramatis personae of the UMMO saga) who lived in complete seclusion due to having achieved the rank of "Phoros"—as high as could be achieved in the Pirophorean cult. Mr. Lipton owed his secrecy to the fact that his body now shone with a brilliant blue light...

"This was the ultimate reward," Jordon Pena stated, "to become the God Pirophos himself—immortal before dying and immune from all diseases ... my eschatology was simple enough: the world would end in the year 4634 due to the explosion of a supernova some 220 light years from Earth. At that time, all the adepts who reached the rank of Phoros would be forever joined to that universal light known as Pirophos."

But in the early 90’s the master hoaxer decided to bring his cult to an end, much in the same way he had exposed UMMO. The cult’s members accepted the fact that they had been duped with a mixture of astonishment and amusement. "Only two," Jordan Pena told Pazos, "insist upon remaining faithful to that mysterious light."

Jordan Pena’s tone throughout the interview with Pazos is that of a mischievous schoolboy recalling youthful escapades. A highly educated man, the creator of the UMMO and Pirophos does not suffer fools lightly, and both of his fictitious communities seem to serve the purpose of holding human gullibility up to the harsh light of public scrutiny.

Conclusion

As we make the leap into the 21st century, many aspects of ufology can be safely deemed as no longer relevant. While there is a certain degree of hubris involved in the making of such a pronouncement, few will disagree that things like the "angel hair" which represented a major feature of field’s early days still retains any currency. The same applies to the "critters" or "zeroids" the troubled the sleep of many a researcher in the Sixties: either the phenomenon ceased to occur, or it still occurs but researchers have gone off to pursue more fruitful endeavors, like abduction research or Roswell.

While it is undeniably tempting to consign contacteeism to the graveyard of lost pursuits, the "kind space brothers" and their adepts enjoyed a resurgence in the latter years of the decade. The reasons for this range from disillusionment with formal ufology (which is seen as having failed to "explain" the UFO riddle) to a desire to merge spirituality and the ufological avocation into a single current. Some might find humor in the realization that the very same arguments put forth by scientists regarding the public’s dalliance with UFOs are similar to the ones used within ufology to explain the desertions within the field toward the "garden path" of contacteeism.

But 90’s (and early ’00’s)-style contactee groups seem to differ markedly from their mid-Century counterparts, showing a more volatile and violent face to world.

[Note - An earlier version of this article appears in PARANOIA: The Conspiracy Reader (2003)]

Chile: “Speculative Ufology Died After 21 December 2012”

Source: Planeta UFO and Publimetro.com
Date: 12.04.2014

Chile: “Speculative Ufology Died After 21 December 2012”

Rodrigo Bravo, an army major and the foremost specialist of the UFO phenomenon in Chile, comes clean with Publimetro about a subject that creates tremendous attention in our country. From a critical perspective, Bravo seeks to find the effects of anomalous aerial phenomena to contribute toward aeronautical safety, more than to seek out its causes.

Chilean army major Rodrigo Bravo, 38, has twenty-one years of military service behind him and has been the first Chilean military man to approach the UFO phenomenon from a critical perspective. He will be one of several presenters in the 4th Maip UFO Conference. In an interview with Publimetro, Bravo discusses the emergence of his relationship with the UFO phenomenon, discusses his critical perspective, having even been branded a skeptic even while denying it, his international experience and how the subject is currently being handled in our country.

Rodrigo, what is your first link with the UFO phenomenon?

In the year 2000, while I was training as a pilot, I was given the subject “Introduction to the UFO Phenomenon and Considerations for Air Safety” as my graduation thesis. Following that investigation, I arrived at CEFAA (Centro de Estudios de Fenomenos Anomalos Aereos). At that time I gained access to several archives that belonged to the General Directorate of the Military. On 30 May 2002 I was asked to speak about the subject. A historical analysis of the cases took place alongside an aeronautical analysis of cases , all of them linked to the world of aviation. Research was then aimed at the subject of aeronautical safety. The aim was to find more about the effects, rather than the cause, of this phenomena.

Did this bring about any interest by other institutions or activities in your research, beyond the military?

Indeed. After that I took part in several seminars and conferences held at Viña del mar. This was until Leslie Kean invited me in 2007 to speak at the conference held at the National Press Club in Washington to discuss the UFO phenomenon alongside pilots, scientists and military men who have been directly linked to anomalous phenomena.

Was this your first international event?

That is so. I had participated in conferences, but always local ones.

And what was it like to rub elbows with major personalities who study the phenomenon?
I had the good fortune of meeting highly experienced people involved with the subject, but not from a ufological perspective, but from an aeronautical and scientific world, and that is a difference that must be made bluntly.

And what would this difference be?

That ufology is a pseudoscience, an informal study by various factors, as it lacks any doctrine, which are the basic principles that a school of philosophical thought needs to have. It lacks the conditions for generating a scientific method, and therefore no blunt conclusions can be reached. When you work on these investigations from the aeronautical perspective and looking for effects, it is different because you are studying a real, specific phenomenon that exists. One that has been picked up by radars and various technological means, and while you may not know what it is about, you aren’t’ looking for its origin because you have no way of knowing it from a phenomenological standpoint. Then, you look for is a means to counteract its effect on safety, because there have been documented situations in which aeronautical missions have been jeopardized by anomalous phenomena.

So what of the subject of ufology interested in finding the causes? It’s a field of research that is pursued by many to this day.

The classical or normal ufology known to most people, as speculative ufology based on the extraterrestrial hypothesis developed by several ufologists, is no longer sustainable. That ufology died after 21 December 2012. Since the collective memory here is very fragile, everyone forgot about the three days of darkness, the Japanese princess, the appearance of a non-existence planet, the six Elder Space Brothers, and nothing happened. So what are we talking about?

Why do you say that it died so bluntly?

Because that sort of speculative ufology has five major branches: Paraufology, which is the study of these phenomena over time and to its origins; classical ufology, which analyzes photos and videos; paleoastronautical ufology, which is a journey to find ancestral aliens, which these characters began to scratch at when the ran out of things to make up; another that prepares diplomats for alien encounters, another that focuses on the problem of alien presences on earth and the declassification of archives by the authorities, and contacteeism, the most radical branch, involving people who claim having been contacted and supposedly having a direct relationship with beings from other worlds. That speculative ufology came to an end on December 21, 2012, because we have no way of verifying any of the claims made by these people.

So, what does aeronautical ufology believe in?

When we speak of Ufology based on critical thinking, it doesn’t mean that you believe in nothing at all. It means that you know you’re faced with an anomalous phenomenon whose origin you cannot understand or comprehend. Yet, it has certain manifestations that cause havoc with aerial operations and that’s where you go it. The manifestation of an anomalous phenomenon can be due to ions, meteorological phenomena, atmospheric phenomena, unknown advanced technology or under development, in short, anything. It could even be an unidentified flying object of extraterrestrial origin. The problem is that we have no way of proving it, so therefore, we leave the possibility open, and instead of seeking causes, we seek means of mitigating its effect.

So what about some cases of UFO phenomena in Chile? How do you respond to them from this critical perspective, such as the case of Friendship Island in Southern Chile, for example?

That alleged extraterrestrial island in Southern Chile, which made radio contact in the 80s with the Ortiz family, is the most interesting hoax from the sociological perspective, but there was never a single extraterrestrial there. It was an experiment, and from that point onward, a joke that wound up
snowballing, turning into a worldwide UFO myth.

[Translation © 2014 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO]

Argentina: UFOs Over Gualeguaychú

Source: Planeta UFO and El Intransigente
Date: 12.04.2014

Argentina: UFOs Over Gualeguaychú

Carlos Rieger reports that various lights - unidentified flying objects - have been seen over the Argentinean city of Gualeguaychú.

GUALEGUAYCHU - Carlos Rieger, a member of the Ufología Gualeguaychú group, reported recent sightings of lights in the sky over the Nandubaysal beach resort, the Pueblo Nuevo district and Plaza San Martin.

According to Rieger, lights were seen over the beach resort on Saturday, November 22, which were also sighted over Pueblo Nuevo. He added that last Tuesday, in the area of Plaza San Martin, a large, transparent violet-hued circumference had been seen.

"We have all of the reports, the times at which the occurred, the time of the most significant luminous point. Let us not forget that there is an air corridor over Gualeguaychú which comes from Aeroparque, a bifurcation of the domestic and international flights. Planes can be seen every ten minutes, but such lights are unmistakable. The luminous phenomenon is different. Everything leads one to suppose it is a UFO," he added.

The subject was brought up last weekend at the UFO research conference held in Máximo Paz, Province of Santa Fe.

[Translation (c) 2014, S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO]