UFOs: Theirs, Ours or Whose?

UFOs: Theirs, Ours or Whose?
By Scott Corrales

In recent years, the news has been filled with stories about drones – unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) -designed for a variety of purposes, perhaps most visibly military operations in the Middle East. In recent days, however, the media has been abuzz with stories of Amazon.com receiving authorization to deploy its own drone fleet... could Barnes & Noble be far behind? We may then be able to say, paraphrasing the wisdom of Master Yoda, “begun the drone wars have.”

The presence of these pilotless aircraft in over our heads will no doubt give rise to more reports of unidentified flying objects patrolling the night skies – unless they can be readily identified as the Domino’s drone on a pizza run. New York magazine treated us to a fine feature on the ubiquity of drones in the contemporary world (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/drones-the-next-smartphone.html) mindful perhaps that New Yorker magazine had done one in 2012 (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/05/14/heres-looking-at-you), citing the use of Predator drones by law enforcement in stalking a dangerous militia from an elevation of 10,000 feet. A quote from the article reads: “If you don’t have unmanned aircraft, or if you don’t have plans to get them, you’re seen as a caveman.”

Much as with the Argentinean case published in INEXPLICATA earlier this month (“Argentina: No UFOs in Rio Cuarto, Just Drones”) a number of recent UFO cases (CE-1s) and photographs may well be disproved as being manmade UAVs. This creates another problem – throwing the bona fide UFO photos and reports out with the electronic bathwater.

Dismissing UFO sightings as incidents involving airplanes is not new, but blaming them on prototype tests, experimental aircraft and the wonders of the military-industrial complex can only be taken so far.

The situation was articulated best by Spanish UFO researcher Marcelino Requejo in his book OVNIS:Alto Secreto (Vigo: Editorial Cydonia, 2009) in a section titled “La estúpida hipótesis del prototipo” (the dumb prototype hypothesis):

“Let us now compare the object sighted by Antolín Medina in Chantada in March 1980 with one of the UFOs photographed in Belgium nine years later, specifically during the 1989 flap. […] It was said at the time that the triangular flying objects seen and photographed in 1989 and 1990 over Belgium were nothing more than U.S. B-2 bombers. This is the last straw – someone had to say something! But the problem is that were facing the same old story. “Someone” took the citizens of the late 20th century to be imbeciles and hicks. See here: These modern bombers, 21 meters long and 52 meters wide, make a deafening noise as they fly, lack any kind of nocturnal illumination to avoid detection. In other words, not in the least similar to the silent and “disco-friendly” triangular objects seen in the skies over Belgium, measuring at least 70 meters from side to side, spinning on their own axis, and able to remain suspended barely 50 meters over the ground on more than one occasion.

“Wait, there’s more. If Northrop Grumman, the airplane’s builder, delivered the “Spirit of Missouri”, the first B-2, to the U.S. Air Force on 17 December 1993, how could this device have flown over Belgium four years earlier? Who can believe that an experimental aircraft with a 2.1 billion dollar price tag could be sent for nocturnal flights over Belgium, when the only operating base for the aircraft at the time was in Whiteman, Missouri?

“The Belgian Air Force itself scrambled several F-16s to intercept it, which is unexplainable when we consider that a bomber belonging “our American pals” or NATO (the same thing) would supposedly have the Belgian authorities’ permission and awareness.

“And what can we say about the artifact seen over Chantada (Galicia, Spain)? Another U.S. B-2 bomber? Well, if that’s the case, the American air force was “on sale” in 1980, because they sent the crème de la crème to Galicia…a lovely bomber measuring nearly 2 kilometers long! This, at a time when the B-2 was still on the drawing board!”

Similar efforts were made in the 1990s to explain away triangular UFOs in Argentina as tests of TR-3B reconnaissance airplane over Patagonia. In later years, triangular craft over South America were explained not as tests, but overflights of less-than-friendly governments such as landlocked Bolivia. The reason? Inspections of an extensive uranium deposit that allegedly exists in the Los Frailes cordillera, with reserves in excess of 100,000 tons, and which have attracted the attention of another less-than-friendly government: Iran. The inevitable question arises – wouldn’t spy satellites be better suited for such a task, and might the true nature of these triangle sightings have little to do with espionage or military hardware tests?

During a spectacular lightning storm in the Bolivian city of San Ignacio de Velasco on 17 January 2012, an amateur cameraman picked up what appeared to be a triangular UFO with lights at each vertex. The video was broadcast on Bolivia's UNITEL network, causing a tidal wave of controversy between those who considered it a fake and those who accepted its authenticity - either as UFO or a U.S. intelligence craft. The video can still be seen at https://youtu.be/k1V-dxzwaTw.

Spain: Incident at the Rogelio Farm (Possible CE-2, 1976)

Spain: Incident at the Rogelio Farm (Possible CE-2, 1976)
By Manuel Ramirez, Red Nacional de Corresponsales
From the Collection of Ignacio Darnaude

"It was around four or five in the afternoon on a spring day. I was working, cutting grass at the farm, and my position afforded me a good look of the surroundings, as the house is higher than the rest of the property, being located on a small hill. I looked at the sky and was able to see an object that drew my attention. It was a sort of very large sphere, like the size of an average car, and it appeared to be surrounded by some sort of steam or smoke..."

After much hearsay and a bit of news appearing in the media, members of the Red Nacional de Corresponsales - a UFO research center - visited Alcalá de Guadaira, specifically the area known as "la Lapa" and its surroundings. Repeated questioning led them to get in touch with the ranger of the Rogelio Farm, located in the community.

A small property surrounded by orchards which allow for a dairy farm to be maintained. A flat surface with low vegetation, some eucalyptus trees and pines. Sedimentary rocks are found in the vicinity and chalky, compacted sand. At this location, a fifty-five-year old man, father to a numerous family - three boys and a girl - with no other livelihood than his work and without time to waste on far-fetched scientific notions, recalls how one spring day, while working, he saw an object that caught his eye.

"The object was some 200 meters over the ground and some 300 meters over me. I watched it for about five seconds. I wanted to call my wife and daughter, who were the two ones at home, to come out and see, but the minute they arrived, and I turned my head, the object had vanished. I ran to get a better vantage point, but no use. There wasn't a trace left."

There is no further information, no exact dates are provided, but there is something strange in the air. The investigation is ongoing, questions are asked here and there - some time having elapsed from the original sighting - but there is an item that begins to clarify things, bolstering the underlying storyline...

Leopoldina Becerra, at five thirty in the afternoon on 19 April 1976, went to purchase milk at the Rogelio Farm. She was accompanied by a cousin. Leopoldina, an uneducated woman, remembers the events...

"My cousin and I went to the Rogelio Farm to buy milk, as we often did. It would have been five thirty in the afternoon. We saw something odd in a bend on the road: something seemed to be on fire on top of a dung heap near the farm wall. At first we thought it might be the dung heap itself, because a lot of smoke seemed to come out of the ground, but it wasn't the case. We saw an egg-shaped object, dark in color, suspended in the air, about a meter from the ground. I alerted my cousin, a much more educated and learned person than myself, and she said that thing could be a UFO. The object was some fifty meters away from us. We broke into a run and were truly scared, thinking that the object would head our way at some point. As we ran, we fell and screamed, since the ground is very rough in that area. One of the ranger's children came out to help us. What happened, he asked. We pointed toward where the object was, telling the boy to look at the sky, that something strange had come out of the dung heap. When he looked, there was nothing to be seen, but I'm sure there was something there."



There is a close relationship between some statements and others. These are two other direct witnesses to the case, and a long time has elapsed from when the event took place to the investigation. Neither woman wants any publicity. "Because, you know, some people do not believe in these things, and in a village, well, you understand..." and they are completely uninterested in the UFO phenomenon, having never found themselves in a similar situation.

The members of the Red Nacional de Corresponsales managed to contact two more witnesses who appear to be connected, but this pair refuses to make any comment whatsoever, while the ranger at the Rogelio Farm and Leopoldina Becerra remember the event vividly. On that spring afternoon, specifically on 19 April 1976, an unidentified flying object landed in Alcalá. One witness saw it at an altitude of two hundred meters; another witness saw it fifty meters away, suspended a meter off the ground. It was an egg-shaped object that issued smoke, and was dark in color...

(Translation (c) 2015 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Ignacio Darnaude)

[NOTE: In his landmark The Mothman Prophecies (NY: Signet, 1975) John A. Keel mentions the persistent connection between unidentified objects and "dirty" places much like the dung heap on the Rogelio Farm. "In early times," wrote Keel, "fairies, demons and even human witches practicing their Black Sabbath rites, chose gravel pits, garbage dumps, cemeteries and crossroads for their appearances. Modern hairy monsters and UFOs select the same sites..." An aspect to be taken into consideration in this case? -- SC]

Spain: An Early Triangular UFO Sighting - Through a Telescope

Spain: An Early Triangular UFO Sighting - Through a Telescope
By Antonio Ribera
From "El Gran Enigma de los Platillos Voladores"

[One of the oldest controversies in the UFO field was whether astronomers see UFOs through their instruments or not. Surveys in the US and the former Soviet Union indicated that this was indeed the case, but for a number of reasons, mainly having to do with prestige and the very real possibility of "academic suicide", expert stargazers played their cards close to their vests. This case appears in the late Antonio Ribera's El Gran Enigma de los Platillos Voladores (The Great Flying Saucer Enigma) and was sent to him in a letter by Father Antonio Felices of the Dominican Order in the city of Valladolid, dated 2 February 1966 -- SC]

"In regard to the UFO that appeared her on September 16, [1965] I have little more to add to our phone conversation. According to the Villanubla base, the UFO placed itself over the city at three in the afternoon, but we did not get to see it until 6:45 pm local time. Yours truly was in church, supervising work, when a brother came in to tell me that a very strange light was over the school. I broke into a run. Indeed, there was a scintillating object over the school, having the apparent size of a grapefruit. Fearing that it might take off when we least expected it, I stayed there watching while the other brothers came out to see what was going on. Moreover, the nuns and servants of the school had also noticed the strange object and were looking at it. Finally, a young priest and yours truly decided to set up the telescope we keep in our physics laboratory. It took us a while, as this telescope is rather large and hard to handle. We placed it on two tables, since the UFO nearly on top of us, and the telescope had to point to a very sharp angle.



"By seven twenty everything was ready. I focused the telescope and...what a sight awaited me. It was a very large METALLIC object at a considerable altitude (23,200 meters, according to the instruments at Villanubia). It was nearly motionless, except for a slight wobble from side to side, as an ocean liner would while anchored at sea. It was silver, with an enormous belly, and the upper section was the "delta" or triangular shape proper. It covered one square kilometer, according to our calculations.



"I would not dare attest - and indeed refrained from doing so in the article that appeared in Flying Saucer Review - that I saw two very small luminous dots breaking off from the UFO. I say that I wouldn't dare to attest because it could have been a product of my imagination. In a case such as this, no matter how impartial one may want to be, even the best observer can be deceived without intending to. So I'm merely telling you without ascertaining it.

"The first stars began to rise around seven o'clock. We were then able to verify that the object was between Beta Cephei and Epsilon Draconis. The UFO began rising at five minutes past seven quite rapidly, vanishing completely from sight.

"It caused a tremendous impression. Nearly all the other priests who were there with me were highly skeptical, and having seen it through a telescope, and ascertaining that it was in fact a metallic object, left no doubt in their minds that it was an unidentified flying object."

Ribera - playing devil's advocate - does not overlook the possibility that the UFO could have been a "tetrahedral weather balloon" launched from the French weather station at Las Landas.

Spain: A Monster in Málaga (CE-3, 1966)

Spain: A Monster in Málaga
By Manuel Ramírez, Red Nacional de Corresponsales
From the Collection of Ignacio Darnaude

A news item caught the attention of several newspapers on May 28, 1965. One news flash read succinctly: "A spherical metal object has been floating in space this morning over the town of Martos in Jaén. It is apparently motionless."

Subsequently, on July 24th of that same year, two glowing objects were seen by numerous people around midnight on a street of that community. When they were strolling past the place known as Casa de Dean, many people of acknowledged solvency saw two white objects with a shape that at times looked like the full moon. These objects crossed the horizon heading toward the south-southeast with ten minute gap between them.

Only days later, in Seville, María Díaz Trigo, seated at the terrace of her home around nine thirty or ten o'clock at night, saw burnished aluminum object resembling a Cordoban hat traveling at some sixty meters over the ground in a north-south direction before vanishing behind some housing blocks at this location. However, the strangest case that occurred around this time was in Málaga, specifically on February 3, 1966.

Trinidad Gómez Sánchez was getting ready for bed after having done her house chores. Only minutes before going to bed at around twelve thirty at night, she went out to her yard to check the doors and take a look at her plants. Nothing abnormal, purely routine activity at the moment. However, unable to explain how it happened, a strange being suddenly appeared in her yard (an inner courtyard with no access to the street). The creature was very thin, lean, long-haired and scarcely one meter tall. Its hair looked like that of a newborn child and it did not utter a word. Ms. Gomez fled the courtyard, calling for help. She was never able to explain the sensation caused by this strange apparition.



Something very similar occurred to Manuel Hernández in Córdoba on May 16, 1966. He was returning from the countryside in the vicinity of Mezquita. A hundred meters from where he stood, he saw a disc-shaped object land and disgorge small beings resembling "green birds". After wandering around the craft for a few moments, they re-entered it and it took off again.

[Translation (c) 2015, S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Ignacio Darnaude]

Spain: From Linares to Mulhacén - a '50s UFO Sighting

Spain: From Linares to Mulhacén - a '50s UFO Sighting
By Manuel Ramírez, Red Nacional de Corresponsales
From the collection of Ignacio Darnaude

The time was exactly ten minutes to five on the afternoon of February 2, 1953 when an object soared noiselessly over the skies of Linares (Province of Jaén) from north to southeast. The object flew at high speed and left black smoke in its wake at an altitude of three thousand meters. The speed - according to the CIFRA agency - was such that the object's shape could not be seen and the dense contrail of smoke lasted a few minutes. The next day - could it have been the same unidentified flying object? - another strange smoky wake crossed the skies over Bailén (Jaén) adopting an elliptical shape as it dissipated.

Certain time had to elapse before the media and the UFO research organizations recorded new sightings. Thus, in Cartaya (Huelva), on December 19, 1954, Messrs. Moral Bernal and Riquelme Camacho - according to a Barcelona paper - were at a place called "Tavirona" when they saw a circular craft on the ground, some fifty meters distant from their position. When they approached the object, they were startled to see that it lifted noisily into the air and flew off toward Portugal. Subsequently, in the month of May, 1956, in the Straits of Gibraltar, a mysterious radiant object was seen by numerous witnesses as it flew over this location. The object was shaped like a green sphere and was suspended for some ten minutes at an altitude of fifteen hundred meters, descending very slowly over the village of Benzú, vanishing at high speed.

These were not the only cases from the 1950s, or at least the ones to be known. At El Padul (Granada), on the evening of April 30, 1958, Messrs. Jimenez Leyva and Torcuato Sánchez witnessed a very bright craft, some ten meters in diameter, descending to the ground over a hill. Shortly after, the strange object began to rise into the air, disappearing at high speed toward Baza, leaving a yellow wake.

However, one of the most important cases of that decade was, without a doubt the one that occurred on pico Mulhacén (Granada), at the summit of the "Mojón Alto" peak, at an elevation of three thousand meters and an ambient temperature of ten to fifteen degrees centigrade, under clear and dry weather conditions, in August 1956. Three witnesses observed an object that rested on the ground for a quarter of an hour, some four kilometers distant from their position. The estimated its height at between eight and ten meters, and its shape was similar to a rocket on three legs. It was seemingly metallic (shiny like steel) and reflected light. It made no noise whatsoever - according to sources of the C.E.I. (Center for Interplanetary Studies) - and rose into the air, increasing its speed rapidly, heading toward Alvica.



It was precisely on New Year’s Eve, 1958, when a reliable sighting took place in Andalucía. Rafael Salas was on his way back to Seville in a truck rented from the Acha trucking company and ordered the driver to stop a kilometer away from Cuesta de las Doblas, to ring in the New Year. The driver pulled over to the shoulder. Before stopping -- as they subsequently told ufologist Manuel Osuna, also noted by the Red Nacional de Corresponsales - there was nothing visible on the ground. No sooner had the truck stopped than a pointed cylindrical object flies upward, a meter and a half away from the truck's passenger door. The witness tried to get out and opened the door; a second object with similar characteristics emerged from the ground, more clearly visible than the first. According to the information provided by Rafael Salas, it measured some thirty centimeters in diameter and two meters tall, with a dark phosphorescent red color, with a noise similar to that of a mixer in operation. Both objects vanished at terrific speed.

[Translation © 2015 S. Corrales, IHU, with thanks to Ignacio Darnaude]

Mexico: The Ticul "Sierrita" - Ideal for UFO Watching

Source: SIPSE
Date: 03.19.2015

Mexico: The Ticul "Sierrita" - Ideal for UFO Watching
By Jorge Moreno, SIPSE

An unidentified flying object was seen over several nights from the summit of the Perla del Sur in July 2004.

MERIDA, Yucatan - During the second Alerta OVNI (UFO Skywatch) held last month, a recurring question was what would be the best place for seeing spaceships (sic) and above all, which would be the most famous place, or the one where most cases of this sort have been reported. The unequivocal response would be the municipality of Ticul, since given its geography and background; it has been the most famous site at least in the past decade.

In fact, a few years ago we remarked that the second most significant UFO flap in the history of Yucatan had taken place in this municipality, known as "La Perla del Sur" (Pearl of the South), the first one having taken place in Homún in the Seventies.

Everything started in early July 2004, when young César Mata, a native of the city of Ticul, circulated a video he had recorded a few days earlier to the media. The image showed a UFO flying at low altitude toward that city's San Juan neighborhood.

Astonished voices can be heard when the UFO appears and Mata wastes no time, jumping onto his motorcycle to chase the light and record it for a longer amount of time. A group of experts analyzed the video and confirmed it wasn't hoaxed. What was recorded in the sky that night was real, and as if that wasn't enough, several people reported seeing the same light around the San Benito district, located at the entrance to Ticul, next to a hill known as "La Sierrita".

Within a matter of days, dozens had already gathered in the area to see the UFO, which kept its nightly routine in that area, between 9 pm and 2:00 am in the morning.

I had the chance of visiting the site within days, specifically on July 17. At the time I was accompanied by six members of CIFEP. We arrived around six o'clock in the evening to interview a family that lived on the slopes of the hill and claimed to see the UFO every day.

After interviewing Fidel Chan Chuc, the head of the household, we positioned ourselves on top of the hill. A few hours later, after it had become dark, the gentleman and his children shouted: "There's the UFO!" but upon looking upward, I saw it merely an airplane.

As I was starting to think that perhaps this is what they were seeing on a daily basis - nothing more than a false alarm - they shouted once more: "There's the UFO!" and this time they weren't wrong.

Along with my companions, I was able to see a flying object that was slightly larger than an airplane, but completely circular, and an orange light that turned on and off irregularly. We were at the summit and visibility was perfect. The UFO traced a sort of circle in the sky and shortly after made a U-turn.

According to my coordinates, I can state the object was heading from the municipality of Muna toward Sacalum. Subsequently, it deviated and vanished in the direction of Santa Elena. It reappeared ten minutes later, making a slow zig-zag motion. The lights kept turning on and off irregularly, but not making a single sound. By that time there were over 50 people along the slopes of the hill, near a baseball field. Hours later, the number of curiosity seekers had swelled to 400, but the UFO did not turn up again.

The UFO was seen for a total of twelve consecutive days until it vanished for good, and the description was always the same from residents of Mérida, adjacent municipalities and even other states, as well as national and foreign journalists who covered the case and were able to see it. In fact, the summit's height was ideal for commanding the area for several kilometers around, and for that reason both the first and second UFO skywatches also included Ticul.

[Translation (c) 2015, S. Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology, with thanks to Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO and Jorge Moreno, SIPSE]

Argentina: An Unusual Photo from Cerrito Sur

Source: Planeta UFO
Date: 03.22.2015

Argentina: An Unusual Photo from Cerrito Sur
By Pablo Miladinoff with material from Rubén Latuf Irsiger
(Courtesy Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO)

March 19, 2015 approximately 12:30 hrs. I finished lunch after a morning at work and sat down for a few minutes to take photos along Ruta Cerrito Sur, which is clearly visible from my back yard. I must've taken some 150 photos and went about reviewing them. Look what I found...doesn't it look like a flying submarine?

This is craft has no classification. It is of considerable size and was flying from south to north. Its appearance is diffuse - it may perhaps be circular and has on its upper section what appear to be spheres or a light colored ball. I leave it to the viewer's discretion. I am attaching a panoramic view and enlargements.

A Close Encounter or a Visitation?

A Close Encounter or a Visitation?

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to cite the work of Juan José (J.J.) Benítez with regard to the Fuentecén robot, information taken from what I consider to be one of the finest and best-written ufology books in Spanish, La Quinta Columna (The Fifth Column), published by Barcelona’s Editorial Planeta in 1990, just as interest in the UFO/extraterrestrial/paranormal field was rekindling worldwide. Aside from presenting fascinating follow-ups on events that made the pages of Spain’s regional press (some of them even making it to the hallowed pages of Flying Saucer Review), Benítez injected a great human element into his search, turning witnesses of the impossible and the incredible into living, breathing beings whose photos and stories reminds us that ufology is the study of the human element, as the non-human element is beyond our reach, perhaps forever, if certain theories hold true.

Citing the Fuentecén case prompted me to re-read the book, coming up with cases that are no less astonishing now than when Benítez toured the Iberian Peninsula on his round of interviews. One of them clearly comes from that border realm that we’ve come to know as high strangeness, although the believer in ETs will ascribe it to space aliens, the paranormalist to ghosts or elementals, and the contactee as visitations by the kind space brothers.

On page 147 of the 1990 edition, the author mentions the following story, told to him by an anonymous experiencer who had been a soldier – the experience had been sufficient to turn him away from the profession of arms.

“It happened in 1980. Around August 15, approximately. We were traveling from Madrid to Asturias. In passing through the province of León we stopped in an area with castles. We had tents with us – “Canadian type” – and decided to set up camp in that lonely area. A river runs through this beautiful place. We had dinner and went to sleep around eleven o’clock in the evening,” says the anonymous source.

“I shared one of the tents,” he continued, “with my wife and sister-in-law, but we found it hard to sleep. Something abnormal was happening to us, or was perhaps happening in our surroundings. In any event, everything lit up in the small hours of the morning. It was amazing: the night vanished and the place became as bright as is if lit by the midday sun.

“Almost at once, a human head started forming in mid-air. And we felt fear. Indescribable terror. Yet I’m not sure if you’ll be able to understand us: at the same time that we were overcome by this sense of anguish and fear, another feeling manifested itself, as real and powerful as the previous one. As the “head” acquired shape, we were invaded by a strange “wave” of peace. The entity kept materializing in the air until it achieved complete and full definition. This is also curious: its “materialization” appeared to be subject to the degree that we were willing to accept the phenomenon. It’s so hard to describe!

“It was a man. That much was evident. But a three meter tall “man”, seemingly middle aged, perhaps forty-five years old. His tanned features were perfect. I don’t know what the standards of beauty are, but that guy had it in spades. I’ve never seen anything like it. His long hair had a whitish hue to it, and his blue eyes stood out from the rest of his face. He didn’t wear any insignia, weapons or anything similar. He irradiated peace and trust. As he spoke, he moved his arms, and speak he did. His words were the key to changing the path we were on, and our philosophy of life, one hundred eighty degrees. The shock of it all made me want to go off with him, but when he said farewell, he made a ‘calm down’ gesture with his hand, and vanished in seconds, taking the brightness with him. Everything recovered its normal rhythm. Everything except us, of course.”

The author goes on to add that the encounter had the effect of making these people reconsider the existence of ‘other paths’ than the one they were following, and from that moment on, they became part of the peace movement.

Readers would be right to dismiss this as just another anecdote from the nebulous world of the paranormal, as there is no evidence beyond trust in the words of the spokesman for a group of campers. To others, however, it may be a reminder of the fact that non-human forces have always been in our midst since the distant past, and that such subjective experiences are likely to be taking place somewhere on Earth, even as these words are typed, or as your eyes read them.

Mexico: A UFO Over the Teotihuacán Pyramid?

Prof. Ana Luisa Cid has shared a photo taken at Mexico's Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán. She adds: "I took many photos at the Pyramid of the Sun. Some of them show things I didn't see with the naked eye. At this very moment, people were "charging themselves with energy"...a UFO?

Spain: The Benacazón Humanoids (CE-3, 1976)

Spain: The Benacazón Humanoids (CE-3, 1976)
By Manuel Ramírez, Red Nacional de Corresponsales
From the Files of Ignacio Darnaude

“The object was shaped like a phone booth or something similar, with a sort of porthole or entrance on the upper part, from where it emitted some red and white flashes…”

The day was January 27, 1976. Miguel Fernández, a twenty-four-year-old laborer was heading toward Benacazón on a practically clear night with a waning moon. The time was one thirty in the morning, when suddenly…

“…I saw something like a star fly over me. Shortly after, it did it again, or perhaps it was another one, but this time closer to where I was. It all happened at twelve thirty in the morning. Around one in the morning I saw an object dropped vertically before my very eyes, only some five meters distant.”
At first, the case was very similar to one that occurred recently in Albacete as part of the UFO flap that seemingly took hold of Spain in recent months. Only a few weeks after unidentified objects were seen over that capital city, and according to a press correspondent, in the town of Chinchilla, near the Los Llanos Base and on the property of the military maneuvering ground recently acquired by the Army.

This new UFO presence was witnessed by three people: a married couple and A. Sanchez, who retold their experience with astonishment, much like the laborer from Benacazón.

“The time was around seven in the evening,” said one of them, “when I saw two objects, measuring some four meters, over the summits of the Sierra de Chinchilla. They were two discs about the size of a traffic light that gave off a bright orange hue. The disks hung in space for some four or five minutes before descending at high speed and hiding behind the mountains.”

The sighting by M. Sánchez, the young man from Albacete, occurred some twenty kilometers away in a road that leads to La Felipa.
“A half hour later, two other objects with the same size and characteristics showed up, coming in behind the others. They made the same maneuvers: they remained still for some minutes and then descended behind the mountains. But before this, the four objects gave off a powerful beam of white light aimed at the ground. It gave the impression that they were looking for something, or lighting the area as if hoping to land.

M. Sánchez watched the area and the objects’ maneuvers until nine o’clock at night. This all happened on Thursday, October 23, 1980. The strangest part of his story was the following: “Moments before nine o’clock at night, I saw a jet arrive. It was a clear, moonlight night and was able to see the plane’s wake. Well, no sooner did the jet arrive did the four objects vanish, and I didn’t see them again. I was also surprised to see them descend as orderly as they rose. One set would do it first, followed by the others.

In this Albacete case there were multiple unidentified objects, as we said, but there were no humanoid cases or anything that might lead one to think of such. However, in Benacazón on the evening of 27 January 1976, Miguel Fernandez – the 24 year-old laborer – would explain it thus:
“As I was telling you, a star flew over me, and shortly after another, or maybe it was the same, but closer to where I was. Its color was dark green, without markings or windows. Solid, metallic-looking, with an approximate size of two meters wide by three and a half meters tall, legs included. It was equipped with a door that opened as if on hinges. Its upper section had something resembling wings or ailerons, semi-circular pieces that looked like arms.

When members of the Olivares UFO Research Group reported to the site, they didn’t find any prints, since some days had elapsed since the sighting, according to the main witness.

“The noise,” remarked Miguel Fernandez “was very similar to that of a tractor’s treads, but with greater intensity. It also had a moveable ramp that extended when the door opened.”

What makes the Albacete case so different from the Benacazón one is what happened next, according to Miguel Fernández.

“It was then that two beings appeared. They wore suits similar to those worn by frogmen – close fitting and phosphorescent. They wore buckled belts, at whose center they had something resembling a light that projected soft, rhythmic red flashes.

Miguel Fernández was unable to discern heads, feet or hands. But he did hear them speak in perfectly human voices but in an unknown language. These strange beings were approximately two meters tall, and they spoke to each other without noticing the presence of Miguel Fernández, who fled at that moment, just as the object took off at the same time, producing a flash-like effect and projecting something like smoke that blackened and slightly singed Fernández’s beard hair and mustache. He was later seen to at a hospital, and the orderly who treated him, as well as Miguel’s sister had their hands stained. It appears that a sample of the product that caused the spotting was subsequently sent to Madrid for an in-depth analysis of its properties.
Miguel Fernández is not sure how he made it home, as he nearly fainted. He barely remembers anything about what happened. His relatives subsequently explained that he had been found around two thirty in the morning in the entrance hall to the house after having entered.

No human explanation can be found for this case. However, a 24 year-old laborer, not prone to fantasy, a man completely uninvolved with the UFO phenomenon, indeed had an unforgettable experience on January 27, 1976 as he walked to Benacazón. What started by seeing something similar to a star ended with the presence of two beings dressed like frogmen, speaking in human-sounding voices after descending from an allegedly phone booth-shaped UFO, with lights on their belts. After this, he came close to fainting and does not know how he was able to get home. But there he was, hours after the bizarre event, unable to remember what had transpired.

[Translation (c) 2015, S. Corrales, IHU]

Supplementary Note: INEXPLICATA contributing editor Manuel Carballal - one of Spain's leading researchers of the UFO phenomenon, aside from his interest in other fields like theology and criminology, where he has made valuable contributions - made the following observations on the Benacazón case well over a decade ago. There is a discrepancy in the dates of the event - one source says 1976 while Carballal's article gives 1978:

Miguel Fernández Carrasco's experience should occupy a privileged position in European ufological history: on the night of January 28, 1978, Miguel, who was then 24 years old, had dropped off his girlfriend, Carmen Alvarado Sáenz, age 20, at her house around midnight, and returned home from Sanlúcar la Mayor to Benacazón, some four kilometers away.

According to his report, he noticed a "shooting star" around twelve-thirty a.m. A few minutes later, the "star" turned in to an unidentified craft which landed some five meters away from the witness. The object had a parallelepipedal configuration, much like a telephone booth "but much larger" (some two meters wide by three and a half meters tall)--similar to the one described by Manuel Castro in Galicia, having a sort of dome on its upper section which issued read and white flashes. Near the upper edge of the vehicle's "trunk" were two appendages shaped like fins. A kind of door in the shape of a half-archway opened, spinning on hypothetical hinges. At that moment, a blinding light issued from the inside of the ship, and a ramp projected toward the floor.

According to the young man's story, he was frozen in terror as two humanoid beings standing some two meters tall emerged from the craft. They wore tight-fitting coveralls "like a frogman's wet suit", according to Miguel, and a thick belt whose buckle emitted soft, rhythmic red flashes. Despite his terror, Miguel managed to control his panic and broke into a run. The humanoids promptly returned to the object and it "took off". Looking behind him as he ran, the witness claims that the UFO rose in a great puff of smoke, heading toward him--which only served to increase his panic. The craft soon overtook him, and Miguel felt that he was hit with "a burning exhaust or emanation" from the UFO. The young man remembers nothing more until he appeared at the entrance to his house.

He was taken to the emergency room of Seville's Hospital San Lázaro where he underwent extensive tests. According to the report I found at said institution, he was found to have strange burns and ocular irritation "similar to having been exposed to a very powerful light". The most surprising fact about the case is that a Seville judge called Miguel to testify, giving place to the only court action ever taken in a case of UFO aggression in Europe. A legal action which, I might add, was lost in the shuffle of paperwork and took me many days to obtain, involving an adventure which touches the limits of the unimaginable. This legal action constitutes, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary documents in European UFO history, and the strange premature aging of the witness over the past years should also be cause for reflection on the matter.

Spain: A Spectacular Landing - With Robots (1981)

Spain: A Spectacular Landing – With Robots (1981)
By Manuel Ramirez - Red Nacional de Corresponsales
From the files of Ignacio Darnaude

1981 started the same way that 1980 ended. If throughout this series we have related numerous experiences in the UFO field, there are still days in which the media does not surprise us with new sightings or spectacular landings. Following the flap of December 1980, during which the EFE news agency tells us there were sightings in many parts of Spain, there was a considerable drop the following February. However, that same month, on the night of the 12th-13th, the “Pueblo” newspaper reported that a UFO landed in Fuentecén (Burgos) and witnesses were able to see a small robot emerging from its interior. Fuentecén, according to “Pueblo”, is some 17 kilometers from Aranda del Duero heading toward Valladolid. The witnesses were Luis Domínguez, his wife and his child. Contact took place around four thirty in the morning, and it is Mr. Domínguez himself who told the story to the newspaper.

“We own a drinking establishment and we closed early that night. I was leaving the house when I saw two red lights level with the ground. I approached them – they appeared to be some 150 meters distant – thinking they were the lights of car. But I saw them rise into the air, and shortly after watched them descend once more. I headed home with my wife, and with the lights off, we looked through the window. We saw the object made a strange rotation, and couldn’t tell if it was solid. I told my wife to go get our child, since it would be good for him to see this. She went for him.”

When asked by a reporter whether the object was motionless, Luis Dominguez said no, that it moved backwards and sideways with undulating movements. “The three of us saw these things. My wife decided to go to bed later.”

The object, according to the main witnesses of the sighting, let go what appeared to be a rocket at certain intervals, lighting up the area like daylight.

“We saw all this for over half an hour, and shortly after the vehicle touched ground, we could hear footsteps. We saw what you might term a robot, about a meter forty tall and some sixty centimeters wide. It was a square robot. We couldn’t tell whether it had a head or arms. It had an overall metallic appearance. We saw that it stood near our fence, a meter from the house. We have a small dog that barks all the time. The robot was imitating the dog’s bark, albeit slowly. At that point I stopped watching through the kitchen window and went to the bathroom window, as there’s a small window there from which all that was going on could be seen better. In fact, I was able to view the robot in detail. First I was scared. I had goosebumps and a strange sensation. After watching the whole thing for nearly an hour, I felt no fear whatsoever. Then I asked my son: “Do you know where the flashlight is?” I found it and armed myself with a hunting knife against anything that might happen. I unlatched the door, and upon opening to go out, I noticed the robot had disappeared and that the vehicle was rising, only to hide behind a stand of trees to the right of our home. The vehicle made a strange noise, like the one made by high-voltage wires. We probably saw the robot for twenty minutes. I was able to tell by then that it had no head or arms. Just a square body, nothing more. We also heard the noise the robot made when it was by the woodpile. It wasn’t a good night and rather dark. I believe that was the reason we could only see its square body. Subsequently, the ship took off and directed flashes toward our home, I was startled to see that the red lights were either close or separated by three meters distance. Then they vanished. We keep a circle of burned wood right where the robot was. In the field, where the vehicle was, we found areas of burned soil and grass. There are also holes. It left some half-moon shaped signs in its wake.

Finally, reporters from the “Pueblo” newspaper visited the place where the witness claimed having seen the vehicle and the robot. They were able to ascertain that the site was slightly burned, but oddly enough, these scorched remains did not seem to have been produced by a flame, but by a powerful blast of heat that swept over the landscape. No deep burns were evident; the surface was not evenly singed, only where the heat blast had touched it. Reporters also found three deep, circular holes, approximately thirty centimeters long and two wide. There was a distance of a meter and a half between them, and they were diagonal, slanted, running up and down. They looked like the three points of support of a tripod.

[Translation (c) 2015 S. Corrales, IHU]

Supplementary Note: As fate would have it, author and journalist J.J. Benítez would also revisit the Fuentecén “robot” in his book La Quinta Columna (The Fifth Column, which yours truly endeavored to translate back in the very early ‘90s). Benítez paid a visit to the witness in later years, presenting the following interview with Luis Domínguez:

“It was around two thirty or three in the morning. We closed the bar, and as I headed home, I saw some red lights right there, in the field. I was alone and the first thing that came to mind that they were car taillights. There had been serveral thefts in the town at the time, so thinking that bandits could be involved, I walked in that direction. But when I came within a hundred meters, hell, the lights rose into theh air, making a weird turn to the right! I was frozen. That “thing” was silent and descended again, landing in the field. I still get goosebumps just thinking about it. I ran away from there. I woke up my wife and we both watched it from the kitchen window with the lights out.”

“I was scared from the start,” added his wife. “It was weird, very weird. Besides, the dog barked like mad. I did everything within my power to keep Luis from going back outside.”



“In fact,” continued the head of household, “I was willing to rile up the whole town. That was worth seeing. No sooner did it move back, it also moved sideways, always with an undulating motion. We also woke up my son José Francisco. Me and the kid were dying of curiosity while fear was killing my wife.”

Benítez’s interview also collected more specific information on the bizarre robot.

“Then there was that thing…fifteen meters from the window and on the other side of the fence. It looked like a box, or more precisely, like a washing machine: square and made of metal. It protruded over the fence by about one fourth. That’s how I figured it was about a meter something tall, maybe 1.40 and 1.50 meters. I told the kid not to move and I went upstairs for a better look. In fact, it was wide, some sixty or seventy meters thick and just like a washing machine or small icebox. I didn’t see anything else. No head, no feet, no arms… I went back down at full speed and asked my son to get the flashlight, telling him not to turn on the lights. Then I grabbed my hunting knife and opened the door, intending to approach the fence. No sooner did I step outside the door did I hear a sound similar to the sparking noise made by high voltage wires. The “box” had vanished. But the red lights remained on the ground. They rose into the air again in a matter of seconds, vanishing into the treeline. We never saw them again.”

Argentina: No UFOs in Rio Cuarto, Just Drones.

Source: Planeta UFO
Date: 03.12.2015

Argentina: No UFOs in Rio Cuarto, Just Drones.

As if dealing with Photoshopped hoaxes and "Blurfos" wasn't bad enough, a wave of drone aircraft - civilian and military - have entered the picture. This is clearly happening now in Argentina, where Telediariodigital.com.ar managed to find an explanation to the rash of sightings over Rio Cuarto. You guessed it: drones.

The following appears on their website, http://www.telediariodigital.net/2015/03/afirman-que-el-ovni-de-rio-cuarto-era-un-drone/:

The images captured last week by residents of this city, suggesting an alleged UFO that left a green wake in the sky, turned out to be in fact pictures of a drone. "The are no UFOs in Rio Cuarto. There are drones. A group of RC aircraft hobbyists get together to fly their LED-equipped remote control aircraft. My husband flies this drone (the one in the photo), said Soldemar on Telediario's Facebook page.

Our thanks to contributing editor Guillermo Giménez for keeping us informed!

Mexico: Uproar in Mérida Following UFO Sightings

Source: SIPSE and Planeta UFO
Date: 03.12.2015



Mexico: Uproar in Mérida Following UFO Sightings
By Jorge Moreno, SIPSE

MERIDA, YUCATAN - Perhaps as a result of the last two "UFO skywatches" people have become more inclined to look at the heavens, causing a notable increase in UFO reports in the city of Mérida. I have received 21 cases throughout February and up to this date in March, both by phone and e-mail.

Never before had I received so many reports in that brief span of time, showing the interest that the subject has caused among Meridans in recent dates. Another factor could be the case of the truck driver who recorded at least 5 spheres flying around in broad daylight back in December 2014 in downtown Mérida - a case that has given much to talk about even internationally.

While it is true that the 21 reports do not contribute unquestionable evidence that confirms the presence of vehicles from other worlds, we do have information that allows us to believe we are not dealing with objects having a logical explanation.

One of the reports came from the Ampliación Juan Pablo II District from Mr. Fernando Ku Carrillo:

"I was returning home along the Anillo Períferico Poniente(beltway) on 18 February. I had just about reached the entrance of the Susulá sheriff's office when I suddenly saw a zig-zagging light, a fact that caught my attention, as I thought at first that it looked like an airplane light, but by the movements it made, it was impossible that what I saw was a plane, as these [movements] were very quick. Furthermore, I travel through the area frequently and am accustomed to seeing airliners turning to make their final approach to the airport."

Don Fernando points out that the time was around six thirty in the evening: "It was still bright, and it was a light that became stronger at intervals. It couldn't have been a satellite, much less a star. It shocked me so much that I pulled over (on the beltway) to take a look. When I got out of the car, I managed to see it making the same movement, and when I was about to take a picture with my cellphone, it took off at full speed and vanished in a matter of instants. I know it's hard for you to believe me, as I have no proof, but I wanted to send you this report in case others have seen something similar in this are or in another section of the city."

Elsewhere, Aaron Vela, who lives in Ciudad Industrial - near the airport - submitted a report almost identical to the previous one. He saw the object on March 3 (15 days after Don Fernando) and saw it to the north of his current position, that is, along the same road. A similar object was seen on the far end of the city in the Salvador Alvarado Oriente district, near the bridge at the Anillo Periférico over by Fidel Velázquez Avenue. It was there that Mrs. Josefina Manrique remarks that she was waiting for her son, who had entered a shop, and she casually looked up at the sky, noticing what she first took to be a star. "It was around nine o'clock at night. The star's light caught my attention, as it outshone all others. Suddenly, to my surprise, I saw it move quickly and disappear. My son think's I'm nuts, but I'm sure about what I saw."

Next week we'll discuss other reports we have received, since at least ten of these reports contain information that cannot be considered relevant.

[Translation (c) 2015, S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO]