Spain: The Alleged UFO That Brought Valladolid to a Standstill in 1965
Source: Tribuna de Valladolid
Date: 26-Sep-2026
An Article by Miguel Angel Fernández
The Day Valladolid Looked to the Sky: The Alleged UFO That Brought the City to a Standstill in 1965
Valladolid was in a festive mood that Thursday, September 16, 1965. The San Mateo celebrations filled the streets, and the city was enjoying one of those afternoons where attention was focused on the holiday program. Yet, for a few hours, something caused a large number of Valladolid residents to forget what was happening on the ground and turn their gaze toward the sky.
A large, luminous object had appeared over the city. Those who observed it described a triangular silhouette—whitish or silvery—that seemed to remain virtually motionless while swaying slowly. It was neither a fleeting flash nor something that vanished in seconds; the phenomenon remained visible for hours and could be seen from various points in Valladolid and neighboring provinces.
The following day, *El Norte de Castilla* featured the incident on its front page. The report noted the numerous calls the newsroom received from readers eager to know what they had seen overhead. The newspaper described an object of unidentified origin and recounted how residents had rushed into the streets and out onto balconies and terraces to track its movements.
The story would go on to become one of the best-known episodes in Spanish ufology. Yet, behind the label of "UFO" (Unidentified Flying Object) lies a far more down-to-earth tale: that of a city looking up at the heavens, a pilot attempting to approach the object, a priest training a telescope on the strange body, and various hypotheses that—six decades later—remain part of the story.
A Triangle Over the Pisuerga
Subsequent reconstructions place the start of the sighting around four in the afternoon, although the surviving accounts show discrepancies regarding the exact time. Some sources place the phenomenon later in the afternoon, around 5:30 PM. However, the various accounts agree on one thing: its extraordinary duration.
The object appeared to be at a high altitude and had a shape that particularly surprised those who observed it through optical instruments. Later accounts describe a triangular, metallic-looking structure featuring a sort of central dome or protrusion and small extensions at the tips.
News of the event was not confined to Valladolid; sightings were also reported from towns such as Tudela de Duero and Boecillo, as well as other parts of Castile. An estimate published at the time by *Semana* magazine suggested that around 300,000 people across various locations might have witnessed the phenomenon. This figure should be viewed as a journalistic estimate from that era rather than an actual headcount of witnesses.
The pilot who decided to approach
One element that has particularly fueled the legend is the appearance of a uniquely qualified witness: Heliodoro Carrión, a civil aviation pilot.
According to accounts later gathered by various researchers, Carrión was flying over the Tordesillas area when he received a radio report from the vicinity of Villanubla regarding a bright, triangular craft. The pilot decided to head toward the indicated location.
His description largely matched that of the witnesses on the ground. Carrión reported seeing a "whitish" object that seemed to oscillate slowly and rotate on its axis. He also recounted being able to visually compare it with a passing airliner, noting that the strange object had a wingspan several times larger.
The incident thus took on a particularly striking dimension: it was no longer just a matter of hundreds of people gazing at a bright point in the sky, but also involved the testimony of an aviation professional who claimed to have approached the object. The priest who turned a telescope toward the sky
Another key figure in the story appeared at the Arcas Reales school: Father Antonio Felices, a Dominican friar and teacher with a background in physics and astronomy.
Alerted to the object's presence, Felices went to the laboratory and set up a four-inch telescope. His letter to Father Severino Machado—dated September 18 in Valladolid, just two days after the sighting—would eventually become one of the most frequently cited documents regarding the case.
Through the telescope, Felices claimed to see something very different from a mere point of light. He described a massive triangular craft featuring an elongated central structure and fin-like appendages at the ends. He also stated that the object appeared to be swaying slowly.
The Dominican friar estimated the object to be of extraordinary size and produced a drawing based on his observations. His testimony would be revisited years later by specialized publications and programs dedicated to the UFO phenomenon.
The letter is particularly interesting for another reason. Felices claimed that the object remained in the sky until approximately 8:05 PM, at which point it began to gain altitude and eventually disappeared.
An unknown craft or something far more terrestrial?
The term 'UFO' does not necessarily mean 'extraterrestrial spacecraft.' In its original sense, it simply describes a flying object whose identity has not been determined. And that is precisely where the true mystery of the Valladolid incident lay.
The press of the time sought explanations almost from the very beginning. *El Norte de Castilla* proposed possibilities such as an unknown artificial satellite or a large weather balloon. They also consulted meteorologist Vicente Oliver Narbona, who pointed to a far less spectacular possibility: a small 'nacreous cloud' (or 'mother-of-pearl cloud'), a type of stratospheric formation capable of displaying brilliant reflections.
Over the years, however, the stratospheric balloon hypothesis gained traction. A subsequent investigation linked the incident to a French scientific balloon launched from the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) facility in Aire-sur-l'Adour. That French center was dedicated specifically to launching stratospheric balloons for scientific experiments and had been operational since 1964.
According to this theory, the balloon would have traveled across the Iberian Peninsula, driven by high-altitude winds. The investigation further notes that, a few days later, a balloon was found in Almería bearing instructions in French and references to a scientific operation named 'Nimbus 91.'
However, there is a problem that necessitates caution: the available sources do not fully agree on the identification of the object or the exact launch dates. Historical flight records from Aire-sur-l'Adour indicate a launch involving a spark chamber on September 17, 1965, whereas research linking the Valladolid incident to the 'Nimbus 91' balloon points to a launch on the 15th.
Therefore, the balloon explanation stands as a reasonable, well-documented hypothesis, but not as definitive proof of what the people of Valladolid actually saw.
The mystery that outlasted 1965
The curious thing about the case is that time did not erase the story. Quite the opposite; the sighting was revisited over the decades by specialized publications, ufologists, and television programs.
In 1978, the program *Más allá* (Beyond), hosted by Fernando Jiménez del Oso, dedicated a segment on UFO sightings in Spain specifically to the Valladolid case of September 1965, centering the broadcast on various eyewitness accounts.
The British magazine *Flying Saucer Review* also covered the incident, publishing details about the object observed by Father Felices, including data attributed to instruments at the Villanubla airfield.
Thus, that bright point of light became a small part of Valladolid's collective memory. The enduring image is almost cinematic: a festive afternoon, a city gazing upward, balconies crowded with onlookers, a pilot veering off course to approach the object, and a priest setting up a telescope in a schoolyard to try and identify what he was seeing.
Perhaps it was a French scientific balloon reflecting the sun's final rays. Perhaps there is another meteorological or astronomical explanation. Or perhaps, one day, a document will surface that finally closes the book on the incident.
What is undeniably part of Valladolid's history is not the proven presence of an extraterrestrial craft flying over the city—something the available sources do not support—but rather the event itself. What is truly documented is that, for several hours on September 16, 1965, thousands of people believed they were witnessing something they could not identify. And during that afternoon, in a city celebrating its festivities, the sky became the main attraction.
[Special thanks to Gloria Raquel, Miguel Angel Fernández and Tribuna de Valladolid]










