Argentina: The Bartolomé Bavío Sphere - Eyewitness Report from Luis Bianchi

Source: FAO / ICOU

Date: 05.18.2022

 04. The Bartolomé Bavío Sphere - Eyewitness Report from Luis Bianchi

 "Good afternoon to you all. My name is Luis Bianchi, I'm a photographer and videographer by trade, and an illustrator as well. I'm a member of FAO, the Fundación Argentina de Ovnilogía (FAO) in the city of La Plata, and I also belong to Investigadores de Campo Unidos (ICOU), a group devoted to UFO research within the national territory of the Republic of Argentina. Within ICOU I belong to AFI, a subgroup of ICOU, which stands for Analisis Fotografico y Filmico (Photo & Film Analysis) and we are devoted to analyzing any and all photo and video evidence complementing a UFO sighting along with a group of professionals.

 "I'm joining this round of video testimonials to discuss my personal experience a little. I have had three sightings, but the most significant of them occurred on July 16, 1984. It was winter, and I lived in the city of Ensenada, Province of Buenos Aires, and it took place in the early hours of Monday as I got ready to travel to [the town of] Magdalena. I was performing my obligatory military service at that community, some 60 kilometers distant from the city of La Plata, and my father decided to take me to the base that morning so I could report for duty.

 "And so we did. We set off on that cold winter morning - I remember it was very cold, the sun wasn't out yet, sky was clear -  and as we drove along Route 11, more than halfway to our destination, passing the town of Bartolomé Bavío, or rather the entrance to that locality, I was looking through the passenger side window when something caught my eye. There was something out there, over the level of the horizon. That's when I asked my father to pull over; he asked me if I was noticing some kind of mechanical issue with the car, to which I replied no, to please stop the car as I wished to corroborate something.

 "We stopped the car on the shoulder, pointing toward Magdalena. I asked my father to step out of the car to see if he could see the same thing I'd noticed. We both got out, it was very cold, we were almost in the middle of the wilderness, and we were able to see...from the southwest heading northeast...that is to say, from the interior of the province toward the shores of the River Plate, [there was an object] I compare to a steel ball, an incandescent one. It had a spherical look and an orange-reddish cast, like red hot metal. It traveled at an average speed, I wasn't able to calculate it. It gave us enough time...let's say its horizontal displacement lasted some six seconds, perhaps. Between six and ten seconds, which gave us enough time for a detailed observation of this object, which was coming in from the southwest, flew in front of us at a distance of some 200 meters. In other words, it crossed the road, heading toward the opposite side of the wilderness, perhaps another 600 meters, at which point it made an adjustment to its flight path, going up into the sky at a 45 degree angle, when it vanished at an incredible rate of speed. It became a point of light.

 "As I said, it flew some 200 meters in front of us. Its size was comparable to that of a small car. This thing was traveling at a height that was almost flush with the ground, between 7 and 10 meters high. My father and I exchanged looks and got back in the car. It was very, very cold. We remained there for a few minutes, stunned. We exchanged opinions about what we had seen, or if we had seen the same thing, and evidently we had. We continued the journey. My father made me promise him that I would say anything about this when we reached our destination, and [the sighting] became a sort of family secret. A matter that was kept within the family group and never discussed. This is one of the few times that I have broached the subject in public so openly.

 "So essentially this was my most startling experience. I was curious about the subject since childhood, and I think it is a matter characteristic to our generation, fostered by everything that was going on in the world - the space program, humans reaching the moon, the first deep space probes. All these things nourished me and gave rise to my interest in aeronautics and astronautics. This sighting of mine has made me become more involved in subject, in one way or another. In fact, I became fully involved upon becoming a member of FAO in the year 2012. That is my eyewitness account; I wanted to share it with all of you, and we hope to have even more accounts to come. Good day to you all and thank you."

[Transcription and Translation (c) 2022 S. Corrales with thanks to Luis Burgos and Luis Bianchi]