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]