Spain: Francisco Franco's Flying Saucers

Source: Planeta UFO
Date: 12 August 2018
An article by Jaime Noguera

Spain: Francisco Franco's Flying Saucers

On Saturday, 18 December 1971, Francisco Franco was spending some days with his family at Mudela Castle in Viso del Marques (Ciudad Real) when four unidentified flying objects hovered above the palatial residence. The Spanish "caudillo" was about to perform a minor electrical repair, consisting of fixing a plug, but he was sabotaged by aliens who left him in the dark (perhaps they were red, that is to say, from Mars).

The mind-bending story that appears below was collected in the book Franco Top Secret (published by Temas de Hoy) by José Lesta and Miguel Pedrero. According to the project, this near-close encounter of the third kind occurred thus:

Franco, accompanied by his wife Carmen Polo and his son-in-law, the Marquis of Villaverde and other guests, was relaxing and shooting game at the place where La Mancha meets Andalucía. Protecting the dictator, his friends and guests were members of the 6th Guardia Civil Company, guarding Mudela Castle, provisional residence of the Franco family. Armed officers were stationed at four different points. In the event of an attack, a secondary protective ring had been set up with other members of the armed forces. Half of the state police was looking out for their leader's safety.

On Saturday, 18 December 1971, the busy dinner party turned into a lively social gathering that lasted until eleven o'clock in the evening. At that time, Isidro Pradas Toledo, the estate manager, left the palace to head home, some hundred meters from the building. Something strange appeared in the sky (as he recounted to author J.J. Benítez).

"...suddenly, as I walked home, I saw that thing. Four lights. The flew overhead, slowly and not too high up. They were silent, flying in perfect formation. Two in front, two in back. The space between them wasn't too large. They glowed intensely, with a significant white light. I stared at them, stunned. They went by slowly, unhurried, heading toward Almagro. I saw them drop around the farm we call Casa Lato, and then they vanished. Fifteen minutes later, I returned to the castle, rather troubled. I recall remarking about it with the Caudillo's driver and to Federico Pajares, the engineer. They were playing cards, but apparently no one had seen a thing. Then something strange happened. Franco had requested an electrician, as his bedroom's overhead light had just blown out. Equipped with my tools I went up to General Franco's rooms. Mrs. Franco was in bed, reading. Franco asked me for a screwdriver and tried to loosen the outlet's faceplate. He wasn't able. I asked him to let me try, and I couldn't do it either. Then the lights went out. To tell you the truth, the blackout never made any sense to me. In the end, the Caudillo put his arm around my shoulder and said: "We're quite the experts!"

It appears that J.J. Benítez found another witness to the sighting: a Guardia Civil captain who was part of the Caudillo's security detail in the palace.

"I had just stepped into the enclosure that surrounds the palace when a corporal came out to meet me, saying: Nothing to report, my captain, other than we have company. He pointed skyward and following the direction indicated, saw the lights. Four of them, motionless overhead. Two were larger than the others. They were white and very bright. The guards, I was told, had witnessed their arrival earlier and there they remained, silent. We lit cigarettes and discussed the matter, never averting our gaze. That's what we were doing when suddenly, two of the lights became larger, leading us to interpret that they had descended..."

Possible Explanations to the Event

1. According to some saucer buff websites, there has been speculation that [the event] involved a test flight of some military aircraft belonging to one of the two superpowers in the year 1971: the USSR or the USA. But of course, what were they doing over Franco's palace? Were they listening in on the Caudillo's sexual activity? What American or Soviet secret military aircraft could fly from the USA to Ciudad Real in the 1970s and short out Franco's fuses before returning home? Was it worth spending a fortune in fuel just to plunge the head of state into darkness for a while. Was it a first notice, a payment due message?

2. Other saucer buff websites, of course, opted for an alien explanation. Gentlemen from other galaxies, perhaps newly arrived from the planet Raticulín (*) and with vast economic and technological resources to invest in fathoming the eminent mind of Francisco Franco. Perhaps after putting all the guests at Viso del Marques to sleep, the dictator was beamed onto their spacecraft to undergo all manner of tests. Then they returned home with a load of fine Almagro eggplants. Could they have been dwellers from the depths of the newly-discovered Martian lake? What were some Martian prawns doing spying on the dictator?

3. The third possibility is that given the long day and the wine consumed during the banquet, the estate manager and the civilian could have mistaken a street lamp for planes in formation, shooting stars or car headlights with alien spacecraft.

4. The fourth is that a journalist with an interest in UFOs could have made it all up.

(*) A planet conjured up by the mid-90s contactee Carlos Jesús, who believed himself to have a parallel existence on that world, as well as being a reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

[With thanks to Guillermo Giménez, Planeta UFO and Jaime Noguera]