Unwelcome Guardians: Watchers from Above

 

UNWELCOME GUARDIANS: WATCHERS FROM ABOVE

By Scott Corrales ©2000

Music video enthusiasts might fondly remember a 1987 clip by British rocker David Bowie which portrayed angels filming all details of human existence--even the most sordid ones--with suitably "angelic" white-painted cameras. The concept of God's minions looking upon our every act is central to many religions, along with a belief in the existence of angels.

In the 1960's and '70s, a number of researchers and theorists began to examine the possibility that the UFO and attendant phenomena were merely a new or "retooled" version of the same old story mankind had been living since the caves. Although their findings were initially well received, the field became increasingly polarized between advocates of extraterrestrial technological intervention and believers in mundane solutions to the riddle. Suggestions that angels or non-physical beings could be involved in the UFO question were brushed aside by more material-minded investigators.

 But when we put our own religious (and scientific) beliefs aside and consider the question dispassionately, we begin to consider if such beings could actually exist, their motivations, and the reason for their outright interference in human affairs, whether as mediators between humans and the Deity or merely invisible entities who have influenced humanity since the beginning of time.

      The Hindu Devas

The Persian Empire under the Achaemenid Dynasty was one of the largest land empires of antiquity. Stretching from Macedonia to the Punjab and from Uzbekistan to Egypt, the Persians managed a far-flung realm that included most of the civilized world of its time. Between 486 and 465 B.C.E., one of its rulers, Xerxes--better known to posterity as biblical King Ahasuerus in Ezra 4:6 and in the book of Esther--contended with a number of wars and uprisings throughout his kingship and left detailed records of his response to each of these crises. One of them is particularly interesting:

"Speaks Xerxes the king: When I became king there were among these lands which are written above [some which rebelled]...by Ahuramazda's will such lands I defeated, and to their place I restored them. And among those lands were some where previously the Daivas were worshipped. Then by Ahuramazda's will of such temples of the Daivas I sapped the foundations, and I ordained: the Daivas shall not be worshipped. Where the Daivas had been worshipped before, there I worshipped Ahuramazda with Arta the exalted..."

If the Persian Daivas can be identified with the Indian Devas, perhaps the words of Xerxes predate the angel's admonition to Saint John about not worshipping such divine messengers: "I am thy fellow servant...and of thy brethren," which appears in the book of Revelation and has been quoted by other researchers on the subject.

Vedic mythology gives us the supernatural and beneficent Devas, whose existence is invisible to humans yet share the human characteristics of being doomed to an endless cycle of birth, maturation, death and reincarnation. The word to describe these entities comes from the Sanskrit term which means "beings of light" or "glowing ones". Living in a dimension adjacent to our own, the purpose of these etheric presences is to keep the physical universe which we inhabit running smoothly--roughly akin to a maintenance department, out of sight but ever present. The Devas are assigned to three distinct environments: the heavens, the upper atmosphere and the earth, and have control over the lesser nature spirits which exist in everything from clouds to trees to rocks.

Persian Zoroastrianism did not share such a sanguine view of these entities. The Devas became known as Daivas and were associated with the forces of evil--the semi divine creatures that chose the path of druj (untruth) over the path of asha (truth). Zoroastrian teachings and the Vedas agree that this order of non-human creatures is often at war with another order of beings, and that their struggles often spill over into the mortal world.

These clearly non-human yet humanoid-looking entities have appeared before startled onlookers in guise of sylphs, undines and dozens of creatures of medieval and ancient legend. While trolling through folklore for evidence is hazardous work at best, we can readily find a number of traditions (Native American, Middle Eastern, Asian) in which a human mates with one of these "more than human" quantities and has offspring, or like the unfortunate hunter who spied on the goddess Artemis as she bathed, meets his or her doom.

 

     Fascination with Mortal Love

Salvador Freixedo's La Granja Humana (Posada, 1989) presents the high-strangeness story of a young Mexican named Jose Luis and his bizarre friendship with a small child/man known only as "Fair" due to his blond hair.

Jose Luis told Freixedo that he had first encountered his odd friend during a camping trip: a group of schoolboys had pitched their tents in the woods and encountered another boy their age (or so they thought) who led them to his own "tent" -- a rectangular, shiny affair resembling an excursion bus. From that moment on, "Fair" became a fixture in the lives of Jose Luis and his friends, visiting them at school to fill their heads with tales of space travel and the future, and making it a point of visiting Jose Luis at home on his birthday year after year. The strange little visitor earned the affection of Jose Luis' parents "because of the good advice he always imparted" to their son and his companions. In a manner worthy of an Outer Limits episode, people noticed that "Fair" never seemed to age with each subsequent birthday visit, but said nothing either out of fear or due to a belief that the small figure may be suffering from a glandular disorder. But his enigmatic visitor's apparent lack of development was the least of Jose Luis's problems.

"Fair’s role in the Mexican youngster's life seemed to be, suggests Freixedo, to groom him for future greatness (whether this greatness has been achieved remains unclear) by clearing any and all obstacles. When Jose Luis took a humble job in an important corporation, a number of managers supposedly died of a variety of symptoms until Jose Luis found himself in a powerful position--all of this after consultation with "Fair". Something similar occurred when Jose Luis remarked that he was in love with a married woman:

The fact is that one day, when Jose Luis was feeling particularly depressed, "Fair" told him: "You're sad and I know why."

     J  Jose Luis tried to deny that he was particularly sad about anything...but "Fair" insisted: "You're in love with a young woman who can't correspond your affections because she's married. You're saddened to see that achieving your wishes seems impossible [...] Don't worry. Within a year, when I come back to visit you, you'll not only be married to the young lady, but you'll also have a child by her--no matter how impossible it may seem." (Freixedo, p.210)

 

 And so it was. The method used to remove Jose Luis' "rival" from the picture isn't mentioned.

 Freixedo elaborates further about the experiences of Jose Luis and his mysterious friend, but the above will suffice for our purposes. Did the diminutive and ageless "Fair" belong, as the author suggests, to the order of intermediary beings between humans and angels known in the Islamic world as the Djinn? Citing Gordon Creighton's work on this order of non-humans, whose reality is accepted in religious courts throughout the Middle East and North Africa, Freixedo discusses their capricious behavior toward humans, often selecting one of us as a protégé or even as a pet, and manifesting a fascination for human reproduction and human affairs (much like the abducting "Greys" our own time).

 How far does this interest extend on the part of this powerful yet far from divine order of beings? Anthony Roberts suggests that the large-eyed, black-haired and pointed-faced Mesopotamian love goddess Ishtar was of their number (said physical traits being common to ultra terrestrials, in his opinion) along with other similar entities. Ancient myth had it that no mortal--understandably--was immune to the goddess of love. But what about today?

 Some twenty years ago, a curious little book entitled UFO Encounters of the Fourth Kind (Zebra Books, 1978) explored the carnal obsessions evinced throughout history by these beings who appeared to us now in as "space people".  Author Art Gatti made reference to a 1969 epidemic in Morocco having to do with "Aycha Kenaycha", described as a "dark demoness" or succubus who appeared to drug users undergoing astral experiences by summoning each of them in their mothers' voice. The drugged-out astral traveler would find himself facing an astral form capable of stealing their souls, not just their astral selves. Gatti states that the nationwide epidemic which filled insane asylums and jails to capacity ended in the 1970's, and that its end was brought about by the Islamic equivalent of exorcism rites...or a drastic reduction in hashish consumption.

 

     Wars on Earth Below

That the Gods choose sides in mortal conflicts is hardly a new idea. A quick glance at the Iliad shows us the Olympian deities backing human contestants much like a human might favor a sports team, and even lending assistance to support their favorites. But when examples of supernatural intervention appear in our own wars, both in antiquity and in the recent past, this gives us reason to pause. Are warring human factions supported by non-human parties, or is this just a belief fostered by belligerent to hearten their own troops with the notion that "God is on our side"?

During the second Egyptian campaign lead by the Syrian monarch Antiochus; his troops were encouraged by an aerial display of "armed horsemen in golden armor" who charged at each other in the sky. Almost a thousand years later, beleaguered Spanish knights would be equally heartened by the apparition of the Virgin of Covadonga, spurring them on to win a major battle which marks the beginning of the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. The entities in this particular conflict didn't mind playing both ends against the middle--during the battle of Alarcos in 1195, the forces of Alfonso VIII claimed seeing a fully armed St. James on a white steed flying overhead, leading them into the melee, while Muslim chronicles tell us that the Moorish forces, who eventually won the encounter, saw above their numbers none other than Mohammed himself, astride his magical steed al-Borak.

The reader can dismiss all of the foregoing as little more than charming folklore that has percolated down to our times. But supernatural forces continued aiding and abetting different factions in conflict, especially during the European conquest of the Americas. Chronicler Pedro Cieza de León, whose writings describe the conquest of Peru and the Pacific coast of South America in general, mentions an odd situation experienced by conquistadores: when the Incas turned against Pizarro's invaders in the mountain city of Cuzco, the European forces numbered little over 180 horse and foot, while Manco Inca (sic) had more than two hundred thousand warriors at his command. But native sources told Cieza that the Inca defeat was attributable to a "heavenly figure" who appeared during battles and "caused the natives great harm" (Cieza, Ch.119).

Pedro de Valdivia, who conquered modern day Chile, wrote a letter to Charles V of Spain informing him of a strange event which occurred during a conflict with the natives in 1541, while Araucanian warriors besieged his makeshift fort: "[...] the native Indians say that the day they came to our fort, at the very same time that our horsemen rushed forth against them, an old man riding a white horse fell among their numbers, urging them: Flee, for these Christians shall slay thee! Such was their fright that they turned about and fled."

Valdivia's letter notes that three days earlier, a "beautiful lady clad in white" had appeared among the natives and given them as similar warning.

The Spanish conquistadores were bold, brutal and vain. While attributing their success to divine intervention might ingratiate them with Church authorities, it also showed the direness of their predicament--something they would have normally been loath to admit. Again, the reader might chalk all of this up to the rantings of a soldier far from home, trying to make a good impression on his superiors.

But what can we say when this "divine intervention", for want of a better term, occurs during our own century?

 On August 26, 1914, the survivors of the British Expeditionary Force were retreating from the battle of Mons with the German cavalry in hot pursuit. Unable to make it to safety, the bedraggled force turned around to face the attackers and make a last stand. To the astonishment of the British "Tommies", a line of ghostly cavalry stood as a buffer between their position and the onrushing Germans. Contenders on both sides insisted that the spectral army had indeed been an angelic host, although official reports only indicate that the Germans refused to attack the retreating British due to the presence of a large body of troops in the area.

 

Wars in the Heavens Above

It has long been suggested that our earthly conflicts mirror the struggles of our planet's unseen "overlords". "It looks as if a long war has been fought in the immediate vicinity of this planet, and that this war is far from over," observes Anthony Roberts in his book The Dark Gods, further cautioning that "the purpose now must be to see this long war in its more universal application...to reconcile the cosmic connection with the cosmic battleground in which the whole saga of existence takes place."

Roberts posits that these battles rage on the physical and spiritual levels much like a human war might take place on land and sea simultaneously. The spiritual dimension of the conflict, as suggested by Roberts, bears a resemblance to the premises of certain works of heroic fantasy in which the opposing sides are the forces of Law and Chaos, always striving to overcome each other.

The author cites the beliefs of certain religious traditions concerning Man's role as a tool or plaything in the hands of these vast forces, going as far as to cite the Theosophical belief that the lost continent of Atlantis was destroyed by the excesses of its black magicians (another idea brilliantly portrayed in fictional form by J.R.R. Tolkien). At this point a slight digression may be in order: While scholars may be outraged by this notion, epigraphers working on deciphering Brazil's controversial Ingá Stone -- an intricately carved structure of dark stone located in northeastern Brazil -- claim to have deciphered a curious name. Epigrapher Francis Schauspelier has suggested that the word su-me which appears repeatedly on the Ingá Stone translates as "black hand" in certain Indo European languages. Could the Sume have been one of these Atlantean black magicians?

 Leaving Atlantis to rest in its watery grave, let us retake the thrust of our argument.

In the early 20th century, Charles Fort turned his keen intellect to the concept of struggles taking place at a level far beyond mortal ken. In his inimitable prose style, he suggested that a "vast, black, brooding vampire" large enough to "obscure a star or shove a comet" held sway over this world and perhaps others; perhaps even defending its fiefdom against other entities--space-scavengers who may have picked off entire terrestrial civilizations like that of the Mayas. "Something now has a legal right to us," wrote Fort. "by force or by having paid out analogues of beads to the former, more primitive owners of us..."

Decades later, his line of thought would be expanded by those who saw a similar relationship arising in the Scriptures. Was the biblical "war in heaven" merely the retelling of an event in which mighty non-humans fought for possession of our world, perhaps even our universe? Were the figures of Yahweh and Azazel mentioned in the Pentateuch simply the names of each ultraterrestrial or semi-divine faction? Which one was in control first? Again, Salvador Freixedo explores this issue in his book Defendámonos de los Dioses

(Quintá, 1985), suggesting that these ethereal forces struggled for the Earth with one party defeating the other, which has ever since struggled to reassert itself. While for all our external differences, notes Freixedo, we are all equally human. The same cannot be said for these non-human creatures, which do not appear to belong to a common order of beings, and are not even aware of other non-humans they may have encountered during incursions into our own reality. "The struggle which according to theology erupted between the angels before the creation of the world...is ongoing and the rivalry among spirits is not over, given their jealousy of rank and prerogatives." (Freixedo, p.21).

     This is all well and good, the reader may think, but what are they fighting over?

A number of authors have dared to suggest that these improbable beings are fighting over us -- lowly humans who are largely at their whim. But much like an actor needs an audience or a politician needs voters, these beings need the energy we appear to feed them through human wars, suffering, mass worship and other group activities. Freixedo, Keel, Creighton, Roberts and David Tansley all seem to be in agreement on this point, which echoes Charles Fort's only partially humorous assertion that these superbeings wanted us for "our greasy, shiny brains."

 

 

Noel Rigau: A Close Encounter at El Yunque (Puerto Rico)

 Puerto Rico: A Close Encounter at El Yunque (Caribbean National Rainforest)

By Noel E. Rigau 

On Saturday, October 20, at approximately 6:00 p.m., a group of nine people arrived at a trail leading to the summit of El Yunque—a mountain about 1,065 meters high—with the specific intention of observing UFOs, should any appear. The group consisted of Heriberto Ramos (an engineer), Juan Jiménez (a commercial pilot), his brother Luis Jiménez, a university student named Efraín Arroyo, and a high school teacher accompanied by four of his students; all of them preferred to remain anonymous. The group was equipped with a camera and infrared film, flashlights, and signaling devices (possibly flares), as well as food and camping gear. While ascending the trail toward the summit of El Yunque, they crossed paths with three young women and a young man coming down the same route; this smaller group had only one flashlight among them. The members of the expedition found it quite strange that one individual from this other group asked for directions to the main road, given that it was beginning to get dark and there were no other vehicles parked at the trailhead—only their own. According to José Jiménez, the three young women were very attractive, resembled one another, and were dressed identically: in blue trousers and red sweaters. All these details were confirmed by Efraín Arroyo during an in-depth interview we conducted with him on November 9, 1973.

Around midnight, one of the expedition members remarked to his companions that he felt as though something—or someone—was watching them. Then, they heard a sound, prompting Juan Jiménez to begin taking infrared photographs in near-total darkness, pointing his camera toward the direction from which the noise seemed to originate. They then approached the site and, by the light of a flashlight, observed deep footprints in the flattened grass, as well as some broken branches. Shortly thereafter, Heriberto Ramos and Efraín Arroyo separated from the main group and descended the mountainside. In the dim light—occasionally illuminated by the moon peeking through the clouds—they spotted four beings coming down a narrow path. "We could only make out shadows, silhouettes moving back and forth across the path in a zigzag pattern..." One of them appeared to be the leader; they advanced a bit further and then stopped. "We proceeded with great caution, not knowing what we might encounter. The creature in the lead seemed to be holding a small device—perhaps electronic—that emitted green, blue, and red lights; it was moving it up and down. It wasn't a light source, but rather something... that featured these little lights." They could hear the noise the beings made as they brushed against the trees. By then, they were much closer. At that moment, one of their companions, who was following behind, shone his flashlight on one of the creatures. They immediately moved away. Arroyo notes that this was the closest they ever got to these strange beings. In that instant, they felt an unusual sense of calm—something they had never experienced before. They repeated the process, approaching the creatures, which, in turn, moved away once again.

Throughout the rest of the night, the group kept a constant watch. At 5:30 a.m., they began their descent from El Yunque and discovered that the entire trail down the mountain was covered in footprints much larger than those of a normal-sized human foot. These tracks not only extended across the terrain on both sides of the road, but were also accompanied by other, smaller types of marks. Furthermore, the branches of nearby bushes were broken—in some cases, completely severed from the plants to which they belonged. The tracks led all the way to where the vehicles were parked.

It was estimated that the minimum distance between the creatures and the witnesses was between 15 and 20 feet (approximately 4.5 to 6 meters). Details could only be discerned when the creatures were illuminated by a flashlight. According to the eyewitness accounts: "There were four creatures, between 5 and 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 meters) tall, with long arms. We didn't see their hands, but we got the impression that they were large." When illuminated, "we observed a creature with large eyes, a nose, pointed ears, and horns—though not all of us agreed on this last point." Their movements were rapid, "almost like leaps; it felt as though they might have been grabbing onto tree branches to vault from one side of the road to the other. A great deal of pressure must have been exerted to leave such tracks; our own shoe heels barely left any mark at all."

Upon returning to their respective homes, commercial pilot Juan Jiménez took his infrared film with him. On October 21, while sitting on the balcony of her home with a neighbor, Jiménez’s mother was able to... ...hearing "a strange movement, as if someone were tampering with the film or pulling out the reel." A neighbor also heard this sound, which frightened both women. In fact, they fled the house and did not return until the rest of the family came back a few hours later.

The following day, Efraín Arroyo took the film from his home to a commercial laboratory to be developed. That same night, his parents heard strange noises: "The floorboards seemed to move on their own; we heard thuds on the roof and something that sounded like a bell. Suddenly, an electric fan rolled across the floor." According to Arroyo, the strange noises—which we are inclined to believe may have been the result of *poltergeist* activity—ceased after a few days. The infrared film was developed, but yielded no significant results; consequently, it was discarded shortly thereafter.

Other witnesses to the mysterious events in El Yunque reported having terrifying nightmares shortly afterward—among them, a student who chose to remain anonymous. He claimed to have seen an apparition: a creature that told him he would forget everything that had happened. Following an exhaustive investigation, the case received extensive media coverage, largely because the witnesses were serious, highly respected individuals within their social circles.

(Cr: Awareness, Summer 1974)

Noel Rigau: The 1973 UFO Wave in Puerto Rico

 

Noel Rigau: The 1973 UFO Wave in Puerto Rico

[Eminent ufologist Noel E. Rigau’s casebook includes the intense UFO activity in Puerto Rico during the year 1973, particularly November of that year. Activity began earlier, of course, with the humanoid incident at El Yunque (Caribbean National Rainforest) and William Rosario’s stunning UFO photograph in Mayaguez, events from October of that year which we shall refer to individually. UFO events in the Caribbean and South America would extend into 1974 and even 1975 – SC]

Early November 1973 (exact date unknown). While the exact date is uncertain, at some point during the first part of that month, 55-year-old Mrs. Monserrate Cancel, together with some neighbors, observed a UFO for 15 minutes. At 9:30 p.m., the witnesses were praying in the backyard of a house when they suddenly saw a strange, round object featuring green and yellow lights; it was hovering about 30 feet (approx. 9 meters) above them and spinning on its axis. The object remained stationary for a time but then slowly moved away until it was lost from sight.

November 2, 1973: In the Piña neighborhood of the municipality of Toa Alta, witnesses claimed to have seen a strange, oval-shaped object "flying very low, almost silently, with a silvery phosphorescence." Its pilot appeared human; he waved and gestured, and was wearing a helmet and goggles of an unusual type. The UFO "hovered in the air for a few minutes, as if about to land, but then made a sharp right turn and headed north." Witnesses confirmed finding a "warm, ash-like dust" on the ground, a sample of which we were unable to obtain.

Later that night, a young man named Andrés Acevedo, from the neighboring Quebrada Cruz neighborhood, saw a UFO flying northward; it displayed a light positioned high up and another lower down, as well as two "antennas."

November 9, 1973: A biology teacher, Edwino Lebrón Lebrón, was reading in the backyard of his home in Villa Nevares, San Juan, at 8:00 p.m. ...of that day, when he saw "two luminous discs in military formation (one parallel to the other) flying at high speed from west to east."

November 10, 1973: Dozens of people in the town of Maricao saw "a very bright flying object that appeared to be rotating and seemed to be emitting 'flames of fire'." This event occurred at 8:30 p.m. and lasted 15 minutes.

Among the witnesses was Mr. Enrique Sánchez Rosado.

November 11, 1973: On this date, during the night, a series of UFO sightings took place, primarily in the vicinity of San Juan, the capital. At 6:30 p.m., a group of young people at El Morro saw six UFOs moving from north to south, heading toward Cataño. The objects were "round in shape, with a red light on top." At 7:00 p.m., Ms. Ana Soldevilla and her family saw a luminous object above the Parque Urbano Floral that they initially mistook for a star. However, the object "remained motionless for 5 minutes, emitting numerous twinkling lights," and then moved away from the area. At that same time, Mr. Guillermo Gandía and his family (Raquel, Walter, Edgardo, Iván, and Madeline) witnessed a UFO in the Sagrado Corazón urban area that "remained motionless for 5 minutes." This UFO was oval-shaped and featured a row of small lights at its base forming a ring that "spun rapidly." The UFO then began to move swiftly toward the west, at which point another object appeared in the spot previously occupied by the first. This second UFO was seen more clearly. "It appeared to consist of three layers arranged horizontally, one above the other; the predominant color was reddish-orange." Suddenly, this object accelerated toward the first one, changing to white; both objects hovered over Río Piedras for 10 minutes. At the end of that period, a commercial airliner passed nearby; both UFOs moved away vertically and then disappeared toward the north, passing out of sight.

November 17, 1973: A 20-year-old man (R.A.) was returning home at 10:30 p.m. after visiting a friend in the Santana neighborhood of Sabana Grande. While walking and carrying a flashlight, he saw a luminous object descending from the sky toward him. The young man quickly turned off the flashlight and hid behind some trees. The UFO, without making a sound, made a sharp turn and ascended again. The young man's mother later confirmed that he arrived home very frightened and nervous and told her what had happened.

November 18, 1973: Several residents of the Ramón E. Betances housing complex, in the municipality of Cabo Rojo, recounted to journalist Reinaldo Silvestri  the sighting of a strange object that was "flying relatively low and at high speed."

November 22, 1973: Mr. José A. Arroyo, a 43-year-old Social Security employee, recounts that at 3:30 p.m. he was in the garden of the Guanajibo Homes subdivision in Mayagüez when he saw an object that was "extremely bright and looked like a tilted saucer, moving silently and at high speed" at an altitude of about 400 meters. The UFO was also seen by a neighbor, Gerardo Molina, and by Luis Alicea, as well as by the witness's wife, Carmen C. de Arroyo. It all happened within a span of 10 to 15 seconds. The UFO was moving in a southwesterly direction.

November 24, 1973: During the afternoon, several radio stations in Mayagüez received numerous calls regarding an unidentified object flying over the town. At 2:00 PM, J.A. Ríos reported seeing a "cube-shaped" flying object coming from Cerro Las Mesas at a very low altitude, moving northeast at "high speed." He observed a sort of protrusion on its upper section. According to the witness, the object was spinning on its axis. At 6:30 PM, Ms. Marta Troche and her daughter saw a red UFO "with a white light circling it" throughout its journey toward the northeast.

At 8:00 PM, Ms. Nidia del Valle de Agrait heard a "sound like a vacuum cleaner" while hanging laundry in the backyard of her home in Cabo Rojo-Boquerón, located at kilometer marker 8. She looked up and saw a strange object—positioned almost directly in front of her—about 15 meters away and no more than 10 meters above the ground. The object was not clearly defined due to the dim evening light. The main witness, who was accompanied by her three children, described it as "an eye-shaped object with a light or window in its central section; ...it was like a pure eye." Faced with this unexpected situation, Ms. de Agrait began to scream loudly. The UFO then started to ascend slowly "while tilting to one side." At that moment, the local power supply dropped significantly. Two neighbors spotted the UFO after it had gained altitude and was moving away toward the west. Curiously, prior to this incident, Ms. de Agrait had experienced two dreams she considered "strange." In them, extraterrestrial creatures took her to another "place" where they showed her the wonders of their world. It is worth noting that Mrs. de Agrait is a teacher and is highly respected in the local community.

Late November 1973 (exact date unrecorded): At a time that could not be determined, Isabel Padilla de Madura, a lawyer residing in La Rambla (Ponce), observed a "group of luminous objects traveling in a 'V' formation at high altitude" over the city at 11:00 p.m. The UFOs were moving from the beach (to the south) toward the mountains of Adjuntas (to the northeast).

Mexico: UFOs Over Chihuahua (1973)

 

The 1973 UFO Wave in Mexico

 

1973: UFOs Over Chihuahua (From the book *UFOs Over Mexico* by Santiago García)

 

 Heraldo de la Tarde. Chihuahua, August 15, 1973. Believe it or not, flying saucers visited us last night—or at least one appeared near the state capital, about 35 kilometers out on the highway to Cuauhtémoc. If you feel like laughing, go ahead—just as many of my colleagues here in the newsroom did when we first heard the news. But we are in the seventh decade of the twentieth century, and it is time to take seriously certain things that our ancestors dismissed as legend or witchcraft. 

 

The eyewitness (to use a term currently popular in cinema) is a thoroughly serious and responsible family man: Mr. Rogelio Yapor González, a Social Security employee in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc. Mr. Yapor says he was traveling with his family to Ciudad Cuauhtémoc—from where he called us via long-distance—when he spotted a luminous object, roughly 50 meters in diameter, hovering quite close to the ground. The object—which he called a "flying saucer"—would occasionally slip behind the clouds, only to descend again at the speed of a jet. 

 

According to the witness, this went on for 45 minutes. He says he watched it from the *Mirador* (lookout point), about 35 kilometers from the capital, all the way to a point 40 kilometers further along the road—a journey they made slowly, precisely to admire the spectacle, which must have been truly marvelous. 

 

"Suddenly," Mr. Yapor told us, "at breakneck speed and heading toward the mountains, the saucer sped away until it looked like a mere star-like point, before finally vanishing." Could it be true? Perhaps. But... would *you* make a long-distance call to a newspaper newsroom just to share details like these? After all, Mr. Yapor didn't even give us his name until we asked for it.

 

(Translation ©2026 Inexplicata with thanks to Santiago García) 

Argentina: Multidisciplinary Research Team on the Trail of UFOs

Source: Noticias Radio Reflejos (Argentina) Sierra de la Ventana, Tornquist, Buenos Aires Province.

Date: October 9, 2026

An article by Arnaldo Botto

 Argentina: Multidisciplinary Research Team on the Trail of UFOs

A team of researchers has arrived in the region to gather local accounts, analyze light patterns, and use technological tools to understand the nature and intelligence behind these events.

 A multidisciplinary research team investigating the UFO phenomenon and luminous anomalies is currently carrying out a new phase of fieldwork in the area. The initiative aims to delve deeper into the study of various unusual manifestations in the region, combining the collection of firsthand accounts with technical analysis and approaches drawn from the social sciences.

 The group consists of lawyer and researcher Esteban Lingeri; Hugo Daniel López, the team's founder and a pioneer in the field; and anthropologist Patricio Parente, who brings a human sciences perspective to the interpretation of the accounts.

 Speaking on the radio with journalist Arnaldo Botto, Dr. Esteban Lingeri outlined the scientific approach of their expedition:

 "Basically, what we want to do is see if we can unravel—or at least begin to understand—this phenomenon. It encompasses a wide range of manifestations, though it is predominantly characterized by light-based phenomena."

 Lingeri explained that these apparitions go by various local names, depending on the specific area or the nature of the encounter:

 "There are lights—strange lights of all kinds: those in the sky, those that hover close to the ground, those that move. People call them *luz mala* [evil light], or refer to them as 'phantom cars' or 'lanterns'—they go by many different names depending on the region."

 First-person accounts and interaction with witnesses: "Pure gold"

 For the researchers, the firsthand experiences of the local residents and observers are an essential pillar of the study. Lingeri issued a special appeal to the community to contribute new accounts:

 "We value testimonies and witnesses—the accounts provided by witnesses—as pure gold."

 He also highlighted the importance of reports from protected area staff and park rangers; due to their constant presence in environments with minimal light pollution, they frequently record unique events:

 "We have received various reports from other provinces and elsewhere from direct witnesses who are park rangers."

 Among the local experiences mentioned during the interview, the account of a tour guide at Cerro Tres Picos stood out. During a night excursion where the weather deteriorated drastically—bringing rain and wind—a luminous phenomenon guided the group to a natural shelter.

 "This speaks to the intelligence we refer to; it is not simply something like a balloon carried by the wind, but rather something that possesses intent—and that is what we emphasize."

 Field methodology and equipment

While in the region, the team conducts night observations tailored to weather conditions. Paradoxically, cloudy days offer specific methodological advantages:

 "For us, cloudy days are interesting for observation precisely because of what we might see beneath the clouds—phenomena we can immediately rule out as being orbital or astronomical."

 Regarding technical equipment, the team uses binoculars and infrared viewers, and is considering the addition of a spectrograph (or spectrometer) developed by Santa María, an Argentine inventor based in Switzerland.

 "It is a device that measures the light source. If we point it at a household lightbulb, a streetlamp, or even the sun, it registers a specific signature... The goal is to try to capture light that defies classification. That is when we would be looking at something of extraordinary and unknown origin." 

Dissemination of Research Material

The team is currently working on organizing its archives—which include photographs, field records, and witness interviews—to make them available to the public. Updates regarding the group and its founders are shared via Hugo Daniel López’s social media channels and the *Escarabajo Cósmico* outreach channel.

 [With thanks to Marcelo Metayer]