Nicaragua: UFO Sightings That Caused Alarm

 

Source: La Prensa Domingo (Nicaragua)

Date: 24 August 2025

 Nicaragua: UFO Sightings That Caused Alarm

 Unidentified luminous objects fired up the imagination of the residents of the Nicaraguan communities, causing nervousness and alarm. Were they UFOs? Not exactly.

 If extraterrestrial life exists and has visited us, El Sauce appears to be one of its chosen destinations. Located some 117 km from Managua in the department of León, this municipality has been the locale of various 'sightings'

 On Friday, 18 December 2015, residents of the Los Limones No.2 community witnessed strange lights in the sky and figured that they were unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

 "I ran into a light that was over the standpipe (...) and did not move. It was static. A white light that gave off red flashes," said a witness to the official Channel 4.

 Shortly thereafter, in late February 2016, the events in El Sauce reached the Telemundo network's Al Rojo Vivo television program. According to this report, local residents were certain that the seismic activity in the area at the moment (attributable to the San Cristobal volcano) had attracted aliens.

 Videos taken by community residents showed round luminous objects crossing the skies. The phenomenon coincided with the alleged disappearance of a 4-year-old child, who vanished from the face of the earth only to reappear later some 10 kilometers distant, with no memory of the event.

 Another resident, who claimed having had extraterrestrial contact, explained that the visitors resembled "normal people, black or white" desirous of a world at peace and without wars.

 The aliens returned that very same December to El Sauce, allowing themselves to be seen by Hugo Sánchez Buitrago, who reported them to the Facebook social network. "The luminous phenomenon crossed the sky slowly from east to west, and to our astonishments, the light changed from an entirely metallic hue to red before vanishing," he explained.

 A sighting of glowing objects, by day or by night, is nothing new, but has become more frequent in modern times. Similar phenomena have been reported similar in various parts of the world, but the 'mystery' was confirmed when these turned out to be drones, satellites, rockets and even the ISS.

 In March and April 2020, an alleged recording went viral showing four dancing lights at daylight over Managua. The video's creator professed feeling nervous as he recorded the phenomenon from the yard of his own home. It proved to be a hoax. A special effects expert explained that knowledge of the After Effects software program would suffice to create "UFOs".

 16 years ago, Fabrice LeLous, current editor of Costa Rica's La Nacion, had a close encounter of the third kind while at the home of some relatives in Jugalpa, Chontales. He and a cousin witnessed a black, triangular flying object with lights at each of its corners. This event occurred on the evening of June 22 into the morning of Saturday, June 23rd. LeLous, a journalist of Diario LaPrensa, told his experience in a feature for La Nación. Shortly after he furnished details to Costa Rica's La Teja about what he saw in the skies of Juigalpa.

 "It was a black triangle with yellow, dim lights at its corners. Three lights. The object flew here and there at high speed, suddenly remaining still before retaking its course in a different direction, again, very quickly. The triangle plowed the skies noiselessly. The sight, which seemed magical at the moment, lasted some 20-30 seconds, but I remember that it seemed like hours," he noted.

 The object flew at high speed until it hovered all of a sudden of the heads of the young men, who ran away in fear. According to LeLous, and while there is no way of proving this, humanity shares the universe with other beings and there must be intelligent life on distant planets. The incident with the triangular object isn't a positive memory; however, he would like to experience something 'so rare, so unique' once more.

 A number of similar objects have been seen in other parts of the world, with lights on their vertexes. These have mostly been explained away as military aircraft (lawful or secret), atmospheric phenomena, optical illusions (suggesting a triangle) or drones.

 In November 2019, the Loon Google Project, designed to bring the internet to remote rural locations, frightened many in Nicaragua. Seen at a distance, the Google aerostats had the appearance of a giant jellyfish, clearly alien, but nothing of the sort. The project was shuttered in early 2021 after nine years in service, bringing connectivity to millions of users all over the planet. However, its profitability was questionable, and it did not find the investors needed to continue providing services.

 [Translation ©2026 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to La Prensa]

UFOs and The Interdimensional Hypothesis

The Courage to Face the Unknown:

UFOs and the Interdimensional Hypothesis

By Scott Corrales ©1998, 2026

Reprinted in honor of the declarations made by Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fl) concerning the interdimensional origin of the phenomenon, a fact acknowledged for decades. 

    In 1994, a number of European UFO researchers and authors met at the Santo Espíritu del Monte monastery in the Andalusian city of Valencia, Spain. Many of them couldn't help feeling like conspirators plotting the overthrow of an unreasonable political regime: they had gathered at this retreat for the purpose of furthering an alternative approach for the study of the UFO phenomenon. Admittedly, this was hardly innovative, but it was their intention to officialize their intention as a declaration, much in the same manner of those patriots who met in Philadelphia in 1776.

     The Project Delphos Manifesto, as it would come to be known, hoped to promote among its signatories the adherence to a single line of research aimed at proving that a considerable number of UFO sightings were of an interdimensional or paraphysical nature -- directly the opposite to the tenets of the ETH or Extraterrestrial Hypothesis.

     The initiative was spearheaded by French investigator Pierre Delaval, whose group, the Comission d'Etudes Ouranos, has long championed the belief that mankind has long been under the scrutiny of a non-human intelligence from another dimension or level of existence; Spain's Pedro Valverde and Ramón Navía, co-sponsors of the initiative, expressed the belief that "an extraplanetary force interferes in human affairs and with human minds, thwarting natural evolution since the beginning of time."

     Project Delphos intended to go farther than any other research initiative ever had before, setting for itself the almost impossible goal of discovering the manner in which non-human intelligences had  evolved on their respective dimensions and how it was possible for them to affect our own physical reality. In order to achieve this, a number of multiple fronts would have to be opened -- everything ranging from psychotronics to channeling -- in the hopes that "the invisible might be made visible," as stated by the organizers. But the use of these tried methods (albeit questionable) would not suffice for these purposes. It would be necessary to develop a new generation of technological devices capable of assisting in the detection of all manner of alterations (electromagnetic, thermal, etc.) which would assist in the physical detection of the phenomenon.

     Ramón Valverde summarized it thus: "an intelligence that needs a certain mental activity and a support-vehicle-body that isn't necessarily a dense physical structure [...] these intelligent creatures have taken advantage of our need to believe in something greater than ourselves, and our belief in a spiritual level, in order to usurp its functions. If we manage to understand their goals, it may be possible to avoid being manipulated by them."

 

The Ten Commandments of Project Delphos

1. The UFO phenomenon is partially or wholly alien to the problem of extraterrestrial life, to which it has been associated almost always.

2. Many manifestations of the UFO phenomenon enter the realm of the paraphysical, a level whose highly-subjective nature can elude conventional scientific analysis.

3. Large networks of researchers in both America and Europe have managed to gather enough information to prove that many of the phenomena classified as UFO belong to the realm of the paraphysical.

4. There is a sufficiently abundant case history of phenomena that can be classified today as UFOs, and which constitute a protohistory of the phenomenon within the framework of ancient mythologies and the origin of religions which have become institutionalized in the present.

5. These manifestations are merely one of the multiple facets of a plane of existence or hidden universe, alien to our material world, that is subject to the laws of space-time.

6. Their interference in human affairs must be inserted within the context of a real occult conspiracy, possibly aimed toward a new world order.

7. It can be concluded that the UFO phenomenon and other unexplained manifestations occur within the parameters of a vast plan of deception.

8. It can be concluded that this plot or conspiracy has interfered, and continues to interfere with, humanity's normal evolution and that of our psychic ability by means of trivializing the occult in a strategy essentially aimed at the young.

9. This course of action encompasses psychic manipulation, altered states of consciousness, personality modification, telepathic control, etc.

10. The continued presence of the UFO phenomenon and its interference throughout history is proof positive of an intention and a strategy at the command of a force. The line of action proposed by the members of Project Delphos seeks to counteract this subversive action, which takes place at both the physical and mental levels.

 

Interdimensionalism Examined

     For all its lofty goals, many observers of the UFO scene will remain unimpressed by Project Delphos, and will find fault with the items set forth in its manifesto, particularly the a priori judgements of the existence of a global occult conspiracy, the avowedly hostile aim of the phenomenon, etc. which have not been kindly viewed by U.S. researchers and are generally consigned to the vast pile of "crank" literature available on the subject.

     But the fact of the matter remains that this initiative by European researchers offers an organized counterweight to the mechanistic nuts-and-bolts alternatives which have come to prevail in ufological debates since the early 1980's. Nevertheless, pursuing such an effort is tantamount to performing a high-wire act, trying to maintain a balance between the status-quo ETH (extraterrestrial hypothesis) and the "UFOs as demons" view espoused by extremist religious groups.

     The first order of business is necessarily tackling the concept of "other dimensions" or "planes of existence" -- a relatively simple task for the science fiction author or fantasist, but a considerably harder job when trying to apply such concepts to the physical world.

     For purposes of this article, it will be assumed that the reader is aware of the properties of the first, second and third dimensions (the latter which is our own). A dimension can be defined as being the magnitude measured in one direction -- width, length or thickness -- employed to define a position in space. The oft-mentioned fourth dimension is a dimension of time as it applies to length, breadth and thickness in a space-time continuum.

     As illustrated charmingly in Edwin Abbott's Flatland, a tale of life a two dimensional universe, it is easy for us to imagine how a two dimensional world would look like and how its inhabitants would react to the incursion of a visitor from our own reality. Conversely, it is hard for us to imagine what the fifth, sixth, seventh or higher dimensions would look like, much less its inhabitants. The late Carl Sagan presented viewers of his Cosmos television program with a lucite representation of the fourth dimension known as a tesseract or hypercube, but even this falls far short of illustrating such a reality.

     The interdimensional theory of UFOs asks us to believe in the existence of creatures from these improbable points of origin. This seemingly unreasonable request is somewhat tempered by the global belief in another dimension or level of existence generally known as "heaven" and the less pleasant one known as "hell". Renowned researcher Dr. Greg Little has masterfully identified each of these places as the ultraviolet and infrared ends of the electromagnetic spectrum, respectively.

     Ufologist Salvador Freixedo prefers to speak of "planes" or level" since he admits being confused by the thought of dimensions. His layman explanation of the concept remains the most satisfying to the unspecialized reader: he envisions reality as a high-rise apartment building, with each level or dimension being a floor in the building. Occupants may share the structure, but ready access from one level to another is possible only through clearly defined communication paths (elevators, stairwells). It is only upon occasion that occupants of the different levels coincide with one another, such as when they are in the building's lobby or entrance. He argues that certain places on our world, which boast heavy paranormal activity, are precisely those points in common which we share with the denizens of other realities.

     Freixedo takes his argument one step further, stating that we could not possibly guess what the nature of the errands of these other dimensional creatures could be. He cleverly invokes the image of a squirrel running along a telephone wire, completely oblivious to its nature and the myriad phone calls it handles every day, the crews which monitor it, etc. The squirrel merely sees is as a convenient means of getting from one place to another. When human eyewitnesses see UFO occupants engaged in strange maneuvers, are we reduced to the role of the unsuspecting squirrel?

     Perhaps nothing can sum up this situation as the following quote from another Spanish paranormalist, Juan G. Atienza: " The UFO laughs at all of this, as we would laugh if we could see the desperate two-dimensional figures on the surface of a piece of paper. The UFO heals the sick, creates messiahs, brings messages of peace, removes the contents of skulls, sneers at supersonic aircraft and carries in its belly an entire zoo of beings ranging from Apolloesque, Hyperborean angels dreamed up by a devotee of Aryan philosophies to the elemental chimeras of childrens' tales and hagiographical accounts involving small demons with horns and even spiked tails. Technology? How absurd!"

 

     Greetings from Another Dimension

     While the stage of the modern UFO era was set by clearly physical events, such as the Kenneth Arnold sighting and the putative Roswell Crash, subsequent sightings and encounters would indicate that the phenomenon might not be as substantial as it originally seemed. Ufologist Allan Hendry concurred with this position when he enumerated the "alternate mechanisms to the ETH in the realm of the paranormal" ("The UFO Message-Part II", Saga UFO Report, Feb.1980). These events included UFOs and their occupants having the ability to disappear, more akin to ghosts than solid vehicles; reports of transparent, ghostly humanoids; instances of telepathic communication with UFO occupants; psychic experiences arising from UFO sightings or contact with occupants; instances of levitation by UFO occupants and/or their instruments; the ability of UFO occupants to walk through solid matter, and the sudden physical paralysis experienced by UFO witnesses in certain cases. We shall strive to provide a few examples of these in the following paragraphs.

     In his book Situation Red - The UFO Siege, the late Len Stringfield included a case of a morphing UFO which remains a classic: on September 3, 1975, in Tujunga, California, a couple known as the Cromwells heard a helicopter flying overhead. Mrs. Cromwell took this as a warning that a brush fire had erupted in the area and remained watchful of the developments.

     Both she and her sister-in-law managed to see the helicopter in question and notice that a bright, circular object appeared to hover over its rotors. Using binoculars, the women were able to distinguish a "light pattern" whose colors were bluish-green at the top and bright red at the bottom. To compound the strangeness of the situation, the object remained motionless in the sky while the helicopter maneuvered below. The object then proceeded to change shapes, from circular to diamond, to chevron and then into a classic "flying saucer" configuration. As it departed, the helicopter followed.

     The questions which arise here are obvious: was the helicopter a military aircraft intercepting the UFO? Was it a projection of the UFO, or was it also a cleverly concealed UFO? All three hypotheses have been considered in a number of books and magazine articles, and while we may think along the lines of the clever "cloaking devices" which have become part and parcel of science fiction movies, questions about the solidity of these devices still remain.

     Much the same happened in a Swedish case from 1959 told by Anders Liljegren in the UFO-Sweden Newsletter.Gideon Johansson ran out into the night to see if he could ascertain the reason an area-wide power failure in Mariannelund. He witnessed a glowing object making a slow descent through the trees and coming within a few feet of the ground. The startled onlooker was able to see that it was a craft of some sort, having a high transparent dome which revealed the presence of two occupants "with high-crowned heads and big, beautiful eyes."  Tge occupants appeared to engage in what Johannson took to be repairs and the object soon disappeared "like a ghost in the night".

     Some of these putative vehicles from an intelligent civilization on another planet have a propensity for exhibiting behavior best associated with poltergeist phenomena. Researcher Peter Guttilla mentions the case of one Grace Groswalther of Salyer, CA, who witnessed a "glowing hat-shaped UFO" fly silently over the treetops before losing itself in the direction of another nearby town. According to Groswalther, the effects of the flyover manifested themselves as houselights switching on and off, dead telephone lines, and violent, incessant pounding sounds against her home's walls and roof. Phenomena of this type are often encountered by parapsychologists.

     In October 1973, a number of Native American fishermen belonging to Canada's Quamichan tribe on Vancouver Island were witnesses to a strange object a few hundred feet away from their position. According to testimony appearing in the Canadian UFO Report, the object had three red lights rotating on its upper "deck" and intermittent lights moving counterclockwise on its lower surface. A white beam of light, resembling a searchlight, moved up and down the surface of the Cowichan River, terrifying the onlookers.

     But what truly astounded the Quamichan fishermen was the fact that the discoidal object changed shape into that of an airplane, making the characteristic engine sounds of an aircraft. It flew over the witnesses vanished beyond the treeline.

 

     The Mind-Benders

     While morphing UFOs may lead us to question the solidity of the entire phenomenon and its interplanetary nature (disregarding Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law which states that the technology of any sufficiently advanced will be indistinguishable from magic), the occupants which often emerge from these vehicles hardly resemble what human logic would consider to be teams explorers from another planet.

     In 1975, during a particularly heavy period of UFO activity in Puerto Rico, Orlando Franceschi, an ambulance driver for a Catholic hospital in the city of Ponce had returned home after 8 p.m. on the evening of April 17 when he realized that "something" was roaming around his back yard. Whatever it was, it caused Franceschi's dog to jump into the air in a furious attempt at jumping over the fence and away from the patio. Thinking that some children may be playing a prank on him, Franceschi went outside to take a closer look, arming himself with a shovel. The curious homeowner was soon faced by a creature he would later describe as a "zombie." The entity allegedly had long, pointed ears, a long nose, lipless mouth and appeared to have grayish, ashen skin. It had black spots for eyes, and a jawline reminiscent of an ape's. It ambled toward the human with a jerky, stiff gait.

     Taking no chances whatsoever, Franceschi struck the five foot tall intruder with the shovel. The creature suffered no ill effects from what Franceschi himself considered to have been a terrific blow. It merely backed off, allowing the human to strike it a second time with the garden tool, also without visible effect. When the ambulance driver was about to deliver a third shovel-blow, he felt himself becoming paralyzed and helpless. The zombie-like creature disappeared before his eyes.

     This high-strangeness case might cause proponents of the ETH to cry foul, since there was no UFO present during the event. However, its importance lies in showing that whatever the creature was, it was solid enough to resist two blows from a gardening implement and insubstantial enough to disappear before the eyes of its assailant. The following case is almost similar, but throws in a UFO.

     On June 4, 1972, a group of young men and women visited Wallacia, in Australia's New South Wales, for a lakeside picnic. At around 6 p.m., when they decided to reenter their vehicle to depart, they found themselves looking at a surprising object, resembling two saucers joined at their edges and with three landing struts, in a stationary position not far from their automobile. The craft pulsated with glowing lights.

     Panic seized the four men and two women in the group: some experienced piercing headaches and others heard an increasingly loud hum coming from the object. To worsen the situation, their car's engine erupted in flames, causing them to flee from the scene. But as the frightened picnickers tried to run for safety, they found themselves confronting a large, indistinct figure heading toward them: it had broad shoulders and arms ending in pointed "hands". In a last desperate effort, the humans concealed themselves in the grass as the creature glided past them, vanishing into thin air when it reached their stricken automobile.

     Since the late 1980's, researchers into UFO abduction experiences have been challenged by the increase in reports of tall reptilian creatures known by a variety of names such as Reptoids, Dracos or Alligator Men. This order of beings differs from the ubiquitous Greys and more elusive Nordics (the former impersonal and aloof, the latter greatly concerned with abductee welfare) in their outright hostility and highly sexual nature. Certain researchers have tried to establish links between these entities and those which have traditionally contacted by means of black magic in many cultures. Reptoids have been characterized as masters of illusion and disguise, passing themselves off as Nordics, Greys or even human beings, before reverting to their true form. Investigator Eve Francis Lorgen has expressed her belief that such creatures are interdimensional rather than extraplanetary, and further adds that many of the abductees she has dealt with believe that certain Reptoids --clad in black hooded robes or capes--are indeed the hidden controllers behind the abduction phenomenon. This belief has been echoed by other students of the phenomenon who have gone as far as to claim that human evolution has been directed by the Reptoids.

     The exploits of these unknown quantities transcends national borders. Mexican ufologist and author Luis Ramírez Reyes, who has had his share of unusual experiences, discusses a case brought to his attention in the early '90's by a colleague who visited the town of Tepoztlán (now a prominent New Age destination) and heard the following story: an elderly woman, Concepción Navarrete, had lost her teenage son to reptilian creatures who traditionally haunt Tepozteco Hill, a forested summit crowned by a small pyramid.

     Mrs. Navarrete's son enjoyed running up to the top of the hill since his earliest childhood, particularly when the presence of strange nocturnal lights caused blackouts in Tepoztlan. He finally vanished altogether one day, never to be seen again, and his mother was certain that his disappearance was related to the presence of the strange lights. One morning, she noticed a "very strange being" standing not far from her modest home. It had its back to her, and gave the impression of being "a giant iguana", standing erect and over six feet tall, with green scaly skin.

     The reptilian creature made a sudden about face, presenting an entirely different appearance. "He resembled a blond, friendly American" explained Navarrete, who was terrified out of her wits. The shapeshifting Reptoid told her not to be afraid; no harm would come to her and that her son was safe and well-cared for. Navarrete turned to a passing man to cry for help, and when she turned back to look at the shapeshifter, it had disappeared. 

     Noted ufologist Linda Moulton Howe has gathered information on the interdimensional nature of a possible conflict between these non-human factions. Several of her sources indicate that the hostilities between the Greys and the Nordics have led the latter to seek refuge in "other dimensions inaccessible to the Greys." In a 1989 article appearing in UFO Universe,  Dr. Jean Mundy best summarizes the interdimensional nature of these entities: "Some of the many creatures that inhabit the universe are native to the physical dimensions we are familiar with...Other creatures inhabit paraphysical realms, usually alluded to as "etheric". These realms consist of physical matter, but in forms that are less dense, more malleable, and more durable than matter in the chemical universe...These interpenetrating universes have been recognized for millennia world-wide by the esoteric traditions of every major religion and school of thought."

 

     Conclusion

     Veteran UFO researcher and author Jacques Vallée suggested the possibility that the UFO phenomenon could have an earthly nature without being related to any human agency, or even extraplanetary without involving the need for any conveyances. This seemingly contradictory notion can be explained through developments in physics which account for the elusive "dimensions" which are the occultist's stock in trade. Vallée cites the work of scientists such as Michio Taku and Jennifer Trainer, who manifest the need that traditional physics requires the existence of five dimensions in order to account for the Big Bang theory. Theoretical physics believes that our universe originally had ten dimensions, six of which collapsed or "curled up", leaving us with the four dimensional one in which we exist. In his book Alien Agenda, author Jim Marrs quotes as statement made by a leading physicist: a number of investigators claim to have found evidence of the existence of what they have come to term the "top quark", providing a model for a ten-dimensional universe in which time travel into the remote past is a possibility and in which holes in very fabric of space enable travel to other parts of the universe. According to the article, the seemingly immovable and eternal visible universe in which we all live may simply be one of many universes existing side by side "like so many soap bubbles in a cosmic froth." Can we even begin to guess at what kind of intelligent life may have developed in any of these parallel dimensions or other universes?

     While it is true that our notion of what bona fide interplanetary explorers should behave has been conditioned by the literary genre of science fiction, the entities involved with the UFO phenomenon hardly resemble the ambassadors of an advanced galactic society: their vehicles have radiation leaks that cause damage to their landing sites; the purpose of dentures, clocks or other items appears to elude them; they perform crude operations on terrified abductees with implements that do not match the capabilities that a society capable of crossing the voids of space should rightfully possess.

     Perhaps we would do well to heed the admonition--smacking of gallows' humor--offered by Arthur C. Clarke in his book Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations: it's not a flying saucer unless you can see the Mars license plate.

                            # # # #

Ecuador: UFO Startles Tourists in the Playas Canton

Source: Extra (Ecuador)
Date: 01.28.2026
An article by Ginno Zambrano

Ecuador: UFO Startles Tourists in the Playas Canton

A sudden and unusual silence gripped Puerto Engabao, a location in the canton of Playas, in the early hours of August 16, 2025. The relentless sound of the wind and the waves vanished entirely, giving way to an eerie atmosphere.

According to Cata Liveano, this silence marked the beginning what marked the start of the most impactful experience of her life: the sighting of unidentified flying objects (UFOs)

An Inexplicable Silence Overcomes Puerto Engabao

That morning, Cata visited that location with four friends to camp on the beach, considered a 'hotspot' for extraterrestrial phenomena.

The group did not reach the site by chance. They all shared an interest in securing evidence on the existence of life beyond Earth, whether by the observation of craft or by direct contact.

A Yoga and Campfire Session

At around 1900 hours that evening, they held a yoga session and around 2100; they gathered around a campfire to discuss the reasons that led them to investigate phenomena of this nature. The skies were clear until 2300, showing no signs of anything unusual.

It was at that time that Cata withdrew into her tent to rest. Up to that moment, she thought she would return to Guayaquil, her place of residence, with little more than a good tan.

However, at around 0500 hours, still awake, she perceived an abrupt change in the atmosphere. "It was warm already, but suddenly became much warmer, as if a heater had been activated. Furthermore, everything became silent," she said.

Luminous Craft in the Sky

Intrigued, she decided to emerge from the tent. Upon doing so, the heat diminished and the customary sounds returned. But upon raising her eyes to the cloudy skies, she observed six oval-shaped luminous objects that appeared among the clouds.

"They formed a giant symmetrical circle in the clouds and descended from there," she noted, describing the objects as shiny grey, projecting yellow and white lights.

Irregular Movements and Absolute Silence

Her companions also emerged from their tents upon noticing the change in the surroundings. No one spoke. They remained watchful as the objects moved silently, making irregular, noiseless movements.

Cata pointed out that the most striking feature was the absence of fear. "I knew this was abnormal, but I felt calm, at no point was I upset."

The UFOs vanished suddenly at sunrise. "They were gone in a blink,' she said. Minutes later, the surroundings returned to normal and Puerto Engabao recovered its customary appearance. However, this experience marked a before and after in her life.

[Translation (c) 2026, S.Corrales, IHU with thanks to Extra]

Cryptozoology: The First Documented Case?

 

Cryptozoology: The First Documented Case?

By Javier Resines (Spain)

 Any discipline worth its salt has a more or less well defined point of departure, based upon a specific event or the presence of a given researcher or any other reason. This situation can be hard to pin down at times, as can be the case with cryptozoology, where there is no definite date that marks the start of this science. The first photo of Nessie, perhaps? Or the publication of the first book by Heuvelmans? Each individual probably has a starting point in his or her own head.

 It is not our intention to kick off a debate on the subject, which we find absurd. What we want to show is that if there has indeed been a starting point with regard to the study of unknown animals, it occurred in an earlier age. A cryptozoological prehistory, so to speak, in which spectacular cases involving strange animals occurred, even if there were no researchers to disseminate the phenomenon explicitly.

 And apropos of this, we have perhaps come across what may be the first documented cryptozoological case in the history of Spain. Our reporter of the age is none other than Roman author and scientist Gaius Plinius Cecilius Secundus (23-79 B.C.E.) better known as Pliny the Elder. His vast work Historia Naturalis, which collects all of the knowledge of his age with regard to zoology, botany and other sciences in 37 volumes, mentions the case of a “polyp” that killed off all the fish in the wells of Carteia, a city adjacent to modern San Roque, in Cadiz, where the salted meat and fish works of the time were housed.

 Pliny mentions an item found by another Roman naturalist from the previous century – Trebius Niger in the third volume of his Natural History, in which he writes:

 [...] for he affirmed, that at Carteia there was one of these Polypi, which used commonly to go forth of the sea, and enter into some of their open cesterns and vauts among their ponds and stewes; wherein they kept great sea-fishes, and otherwhiles would rob them of their salt-fish, and so go his waies againe: which hee practised so long, that in the end he gat himselfe the anger and displeasure of the masters and keepers of the said ponds and cesterns, with his continuall and immeasurable filching: wherupon they staked up the place and empalled it round about, to stop all passage thither. But this thiefe gave not over his accustomed haunt for all that, but made meanes by a certaine tree to clamber over and get to the fore-said salt-fish; and never could he be taken in the manner nor discovered, but that the dogges by their quicke sent found him out and bayed at him: for as he returned one night toward the sea, they assailed and set upon him on all sides, and thereiwth raised the foresaid keepers, who were affrighted at this so sodaine an alarme, but more at the straunge sight which they saw. For first and foremost this Polype fish was of an unmeasurable and incredible bignesse: and besides, hee was besmeared and beraied all over with the brine and pickle of the foresaid salt-fish, which made him both hideous to see to, and also to stinke withall most strongly. Who would ever have looked for a Polype there, or taken knowledge of him by such markes as these? Surely they thought no other, but that they had to deale and encounter with some monster: for with his terrible blowing and breathing that he kept, he drave away the dogges, and otherwhiles with the ends of his long stringed winding feet, he would lash and whip them; somtimes with his stronger clawes like arms he rapped and knocked them well and surely, as it were with clubs. In summe, he made such good shift for himselfe, that hardly and with much adoe they could kill him, albeit he received many a wound by trout-speares which they launced at him. Well, in the end his head was brought and shewed to Lucullus for a wonder, and as bigge it was a good round hogshead or barrell that would take and containe 15 Amphores: and his beards (for so Trebius tearmed his clawes and long-stringed feet) carried such a thicknes and bulke with them, that hardly a man could fathom one of them about with both his armes, such knockers they were, knobbed and knotted like clubs, and withall 30 foot long. The concavities within them, and hollow vessels like great basons, would hold four or five gallons apeece; and his teeth were answerable in proportion to the bignes of his bodie. The rest was saved for a wonder to be seen, and waighed 700 pound weight. (Translation of the 9^th Book of Pliny by Philemon Holland, 1601)

 The description given to us by Roman chroniclers suggest that the animal could have been a giant squid more than any other species of Cephalopod. The large tentacles, supposedly in excess of nine meters long, and the monster’s morphological characteristics, appear to suggest this.

 Of what there can be no doubt whatsoever is the particular commotion caused by this event among spectators and citizens alike, who were later able to see this remains of this authentic predecessor of the mythic Kraken....

 [Translation (c) 2011 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Javier Resines] 

Argentina/Uruguay: New Stories Concerning Strange Phenomena and "UFOs" Emerge in the Region

 

 Source: Diario Río Uruguay
Date: 04.30.2026

New Stories Concerning Strange Phenomena and "UFOs" Emerge in the Region

Stories continue to surface on charrúa soil - facing the city of Concordia - including unidentified flying objects and strange sightings.

Sightings in the Region

A man claims to have witnessed luminous manifestations for several years, as well as a close encounter with an unknown figure in a rural sector of the Salto Department in neighboring Uruguay.

This eyewitness account can be added to so many other historical narratives that already form part of the charrúa region's culture (indigenous peoples of the region), geographically located facing the city of Concordia.

Rafael Alvez lives in Salto, and in his own words to Argentinean channel "La Señal (science and enigmas) he has undergone a series of experiences which, according to him, are ongoing.

According to his testimony, these experiences changed his life. They occurred on the country property of his uncle Marcos, located some 200 km east of Salto, on the borders of the Tuacarembó Department.

His story was broadcast by a program devoted to unexplained phenomena (Entrevistas-La Señal) in which Alvez went into detail about episodes that included sightings of lights, objects in the sky, and what he described as a close encounter with a figure having unusual characteristics.

Prior to the main event, Alvez set the departmental seat as the location for his initial experience. As he stated, on a given evening 10 years ago, walking home from a friend's house along one of the vast parks of Salto, he observed a structure suspended in the air. The object was sizeable - an estimated 30 meters (98 ft.) in diameter - with circular lights and making no sound whatsoever. This object, which he identified as a 'mothership', flew sideways and vanished in a matter of seconds.

However, the highlight of Alvez's story took place on 26 March 2020 at the country property belonging to his uncle, a place of difficult access and scarce infrastructure. According to his story, the witness observed a light at a distance of several kilometers that turned on and off. Subsequently, the phenomenon began moving at high speed close to the ground. The light slowed down until it came within some 30 metres of Alvez and his uncle. It stopped resembling a luminous spot and acquired instead a well-defined shape, beginning a communication that filled them with 'peace, harmony and love'.

Alvez maintained that his sighting was a triangular structure measuring some 2 meters tall, reddish hue and a 'gelatinous' aspect, with an internal movement that he defined as 'a being'. This figure did not walk; rather, it glided and issued its own luminosity without lighting up the interior. The encounter took place at a short distance, with both witnesses separated from the phenomenon only by a barbed wire fence.

According to the story, the figure remained before them for some minutes, engaging in movements that the witness interpreted as observation. At all times, however, both he and his uncle felt a sense of fulfillment that they had never experienced before.

Following the 'contact', the shape moved toward a higher part of the terrain and vanished. Minutes later, once they had returned home, both men observed three beams of light connecting the earth to the heavens at brief intervals.

[Translation ©2026 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Diario Rio Uruguay (Argentina) and Diario Cambio (Uruguay)

The Incredible Saga of Joao Prestes

 

The Incredible Saga of Joao Prestes

by Pablo Villarubia Mauso

      In 1946, almost a year prior to the famous incident at Mt. Rainier (USA) which heralded the start of the modern UFO age, a farmer died in a most hideous fashion in Brazil's back country. Within a matter of hours, a strange light had brought about the death of Joao Prestes Filho by intense burns, according to some witnesses, or as a result of his flesh falling off from the bones, leaving bones and tendons exposed--as others would claim.

      The answer to one of the most disconcerting and horrifying cases in the history of ufology started in the small, noisome "Minas Gerais" hotel where historian/ufologist Claudio Tsuyoshi Suenaga and I had lodged in order to research several alleged Chupacabras attacks in the region. We were in the town of Sao Roque--47 kilometers away from the city of Sao Paulo (Brazil) when my roommate called my attention, breaking the silence of night, to the pages of a newspaper he had found in the room's grimy bathroom.

      With a mixture of ecstacy and emotion, stumbling over words, the young Japanese-Brazilian read out the paper's contents, dated April 12, 1997: "The esteemed Roque Prestes died at 91 years of age on April 6th, at his home in this city,...he was the brother of Joao Prestes (deceased)..." To our astonishment, we had stumbled onto the trail of the parents of Joao Prestes Filho, the man who died a terrible death on March 4th, 1946: after having been attacked by an unexplained light, his flesh began to fall of his bones in chunks, especially off his jaw, chest, hands, fingers, and feet, dooming him to die within a mater of hours. To the horror and helplessness of onlookers, some pieces of flesh remained dangling from his tendons.

      The Hotel Minas Gerais was the mute witness to our insomnia and restlessness until dawn, when we contacted a son of the late Roque Prestes by phone. In a matter of minutes and at brisk pace, we reached the modest home of sixty year-old Luis Prestes on teh outskirts of Sao Roque. Luis was still in mourning for the recent death of his father, Roque -- a former soldier of the constitutionalist revolution of 1932.

      "Up to very recently, shortly before his death, my father recalled his brother's tragic passing on that distant year 1946. I was small--some 9 years old--but I clearly remember what happened to my uncle Joao. It was carnival week and Joao, who loathed such festivities, decided to go fishing and drove off in his cart. He lived in Araçariguama, a little village only 7 kilometers away from San Roque and a hitherto isolated and quiet community. My aunt went off to the festivities with the children and left Joao's supper already made at home." Luis Prestes would explain as we looked on attentively.

"I was in Araçariguama when I learned that my uncle was dying at a relatives house. I wanted to go in, but it was forbidden, since I was too young and Joao's physical condition could have caused a traumatic impression. My father did see him, and Joao told him that upon returning home and opening the window, something resembling fire or a "fiery torch" entered the room in which he was standing. He fell to the floor and felt that his body was on fire. Wrapping himself in a blanket, he walked over two kilometers into the village. My father said that Joao was only burned from the waist up, with the exception of the hair on his head. I managed to see my uncle when they removed him from the house to take him to Santana do Parnaíba by truck, where the nearest hospital was located. I remember that the sheets covering him were blackened, perhaps by the burns on his body. Joao died shortly before being admitted to the hospital." Prestes related as we caught his account on tape.

      "A number of books published in English, Japanese and even Russian have said tha Joao Prestes died in a hideous manner, with pieces of his body, such as his ears or parts of his face, melting off. Is this true?" I asked.

      "No. His appearance, according to my father, who escorted him to the hospital, was truly ruinous, but it wasn't that extreme. He had serious burns all over his body. His flesh was dark and he presented no bodily injuries," explained our interviewee, making partial changes to the story which had appeared in books and hundreds of articles published on the case. "My father was a deputy policeman at Santana de Parnaíba and requested the assistance of the forensic unit to research the case, but I don't know anything about the results. The fact is that nothing burned in the room where Jose was when the fire appeared. He had no enemies or anyone who'd be interested in doing such a thing to him. Even as he died, he repeated that the light had attacked him and that it was "otherworldly"," explained our interviewee. The following item of information brought us back to reality with a start. " Back then, people would constantly see fireballs known as "assombraçoes" (ghosts) in Araçariguama and its vicinity. Some believed they came from the gold mine that's now closed. Other weird things would happen, too. My late father told us that around 1922 he was able to see a lobisomem (wolf-man) while with my grandfather and an uncle. My uncle apparently threw a rock at it and hit its hand. The next day, a neighbor turned up with his hand bandaged. Other people told similar stories," Luis Prestes informed us. The idea that that the Sao Roque area could be some fantastic "window area" through which an astonishing variety and quantity of anomalous phenomena jelled in our minds.

      The theory seemed to match the following data imparted by our informer. "Something equally scary happened to Emiliano Prestes, my uncle and Joao Prestes' brother. A few months after his brother's tragic death, Emiliano was walking through an Araçariguama forest, in Agua Podre--the same one from which the lobisomen appeared in 1922 and where the light burned Joao. A fiery torch appeared above him, causing the terrified Emiliano to run to a canyon's edge when the thing fell on him. All he could do was kneel and pray for his life. He told us that he felt an intese heat, but luckily, the fiery torch moved away and vanished." Luis's account added even further mysteries to the area.

      The "fiery torch" or "fireball" was also seen on several occasions by Luis's father. The object would frighten horses and riders alike as they made their way through Araçariguama's dark nights to reach their humble abodes. "The lights wwre seen most frequently between 3 and 4 in the morning, and were three or four times larger than the Moon. People would feel their heat even at a distance, and they were able to move amazingly fast. My father stopped going to parties at night because of these lights," Luis Prestes recalled.

 Further Aggressions

      Before ending our interview, feeling satisfied by the new information shedding light on the Joao Prestes case, just as we were thinking to add nothing further to the proceedings, Luis Prestes gave us a valuable clue: the possible existence of the last witness have seen Joao's dying moments. "He's an elderly gentleman, but very lucid and strong. He lives close to my neighborhood in San Roque. This is his address."

      We immedately headed toward the residence of Vergílio Francisco Alves. Upon reaching it, his daughter advised us that her father was working in the fields in front of the house, clearing vegetation with a scythe. After some time had elapsed, Vergílio appeared. To our suprise, he produced his identity card proving his 92 years of existence in full health.

      Seated on a threadbare sofa in his modest home, Vergílio explained that he was Joao Prestes's second cousin. "I was born and raised in Araçariguama. That's where I began working in the Morro Velho gold mine at the age of 15 o4 16. There was a British engineer who couldn't write my name and called me garoto de ouro ("golden boy"). But I'll tell you what I know about the horrible death of Joao Prestes. It was in 1946 during the carnival season. He went fishing in the nearby Tieté River, riding in his cart, while the wife and children went to the festivities. It was the dry season and there was no rain. When he got back, he stabled his horse and fed it some corn. He put the fish in a pot and heated some water with firewood to take a bath. When he changed clothing, a sort of beam of light or yellow light had appeared  in his room. He felt his body burning and that his beard, while short, was burning. Panicked, and unable to move his hands, Joao raised the door latch using his teeth and ran into the street barefoot, since he never wore shoes. He ran screaming to his sister María's house, near the Araçariguama church. He dropped on a bed and said he'd been burned. The police chief, Joao Malaquías, went over immediately, who told him there was no one to blame for what had happened, because his attacker "had not been of this world". This was followed by lightning and thunder, and a powerful rainstorm..."

      This part of Vergílio's story reminded me of the Varghina case, which occurred in 1997 in Minas Gerais. A rainstorm the likes of which had never been seen in Varghina occurred after the appearance and alleged capture of one or more supposedly alien creatures. Significant atmospheric changes tend to occur in "fortean" cases.

      "So, you were able to see Joao Prestes on his deathbed?" Claudio Suegana asked Vergílio Alves.

      "Yes. My cousin Emiliano Prestes, who was my neighbor, called me over. When I got to María's house, I found Joao Malaquías, the sheriff, speaking with Joao. He was in bed and having problems using his tongue. His skin, which was fair, was toasted, reddish, as if he'd been roasted. His hands and face had the worst burns. The hands were twisted. His hair didn't burn, nor did his feet nor clothing. He was only burned from the waist up. His feet were torn up from running barefoot on sharp rocks.

      "Did you see Joao's flesh falling off in pieces at anytime?" I inquired.

      "No, no. His skin was burned, but it wasn't falling off. I think that the boitatá was to blame, since it had attacked him once before," Vergílio told us. Claudio and I exchanged looks of stupefaction as the lucid nonogenarian imparted his information.

      "Please tell us about this other incident," we said, almost in unison.

      "Well, when Joao was a tropero (cattle driver), he was still young and lived with his father in Araçariguama. One day at sundown, as he lead the donkeys over a hill, he saw a fire that fell from the sky--a fireball. He was near a chapel that had a cross, and he could feel the fireball passing him, almost knocking him down. Joao would tell me that at that spot you could sometimes see ten or twelve balls emerging from the sky. Some of them were red, others Moon-colored. Sometimes five or six of them would fall to the ground and explode. People would call them the boitatá lights..." Vergílio explained.

      I would like to digress to explain that the word "boitatá" is of native origin and desgnated mysterious lights that would pursue and even kill the native indians, according to Portuguese colonial chronicles and the stories of Canarian priest José de Anchieta in the 16th century.

      Vergílio himself witnessed the apparition of one of these lights, which emerged from behind the mountain were the gold mine was and landed on Mt.Saboao, another hill where strange lights always appear. "We also called those fireballs maes do ouro (mothers of gold). There was also the "golden lizard", an elongated tongue of flame that moved in a straight line, slowly, without making a sound."

      The mysterious Morro Velho gold mine is currently abandoned. Canadian general George Raston, who founded the mine in 1926, lived there until it was closed in the late 1930's.

      While we ate some delicious plantains grown by Vergílio on his own farm, he told us that wolf-men had also been seen in Araçariguama, thus confirming the information provided by Luis Prestes.

      "Who took Joao to the hospital?" I asked Vergílio in order to resume and finish our interview on the case.

      "Malaquías, the sheriff, wanted to take him to a hospital in Sao Paulo, but the road was in bad shape and they went to Santana do Parnaíba. An investigation was requested from the police but no answer was found for the case. They only said that nothing had burned in Joao's house, since some had said that he had burned himself with a candlestick.

 On the Road to Araçariguama

      Still stunned by the new information in our posession about the Prestes case, we got on the only bus that makes the trip between Sao Roque and Araçariguama. Since 1946, when it was a village without electricity, running water and sewerage, Araçariguama hadn't grown much and poisonous snakes were still abundant. It is one of the region's oldest towns and has 7000 residents. It was founded some 350 years ago, and was home to the bandeirantes, the conquerors of Brazil's vast interior.

      According to a report published in the 1960's by the late Dr. Walter Bühler, the police condemned Joao Prestes's house and it was later demolished, since his family was apparently afraid to return to the house, perhaps considered an accursed location.

      In Araçariguama we met with Fabiana Matias de Oliveira, head press secretary for the small township, and she led us to her uncle Hermes de Fonseca, nearly 70 years old and deeply knowledgeable about the history of the region and its occupants. As is the case with many Brazilians of his age, he continued working to earn a living, making small improvements to a farm close to the Town Hall. Hermes sat on a tree stump and told us about his life, his arrival in Araçariguama in 1945 and the fact that a rattlesnake had bitten his ankle--a scar he showed us proudly.

      "I knew Joao Prestes. I remember the date of his death perfectly--it was March 5th, 1946. He left behind five or six children and a widow. I never got to see the body--only a few people did. But they said that it was burned. The press would later say that his body had melted, fallen to pieces," the septuagenarian told us.

      "Weird things have always occurred here. A year after Joao's death, his brother Emiliano Prestes saw two fireballs rising and striking each other, rising again and repeating the same action, close to the cemetery. Suddenly the lights encircled him and he felt intense heat. He knelt and prayed until the lights left. Even today you can still see these lights, but with less innsity, over at Ibaté, between Araçariguama and Sao Roque. When they strike each other they let sparks fly, but don't disintegrate. Giomar Gouveia, a champion jockey and owner of some stables at Ibaté, saw a light hovering over his animals, giving off orange beams of light. This was in 1995." Hermes da Fonseca recalled.

      Enthused by our interest, Hermes continued, rememebering dates and details worthy of his appointment as the "official chronicler" of Araçariguama. "In 1960, Celso Gomide, a bus driver, was on his way from Sao Roque when he saw a red light that caused him to stop the vehicle. The light approached the cabin and Gomide, frightened, began to pray. The passengers were stunned by the uncanny light, which encircled them for some 20 minutes."

      "In 1955," he continued, "I worked on the construction of a cable car in the Santa Rita cement factory. It was supposed to be used to transport rock from a local quarry. It was August 24th of that year and the heat was unbearable when myself and other workers saw an object drifting in the blue sky as large as a truck tire, very tall, aluminum-colored, spinning and giving off smoke--circles of white smile. We saw it at a quarter past eleven, and by twelve o'clock, five or six FAB (Brazilian Air Force) airplanes arrived. They were smaller than the flying wheel, which distanced itself easily from the planes. On the following day, the "Folha de Sao Paulo" newspaper published an article about the fact that thousands of people in Osasco (near Araçariguama) had seen a flying saucer with the same characteristics."

      Less than a kilometer away from the town is the graveyard. We found the locak gravedigger, 53 year old Nelson Oliveira, who led us to the tomb where the mortal remains of Joao Prestes lay. On the cement box covered by earth there rose a crudely carved cross and an identification number. Claudio and I felt knots in our throats as we thought about the last moments of Joao Prestes' agony. Regaining our composure, we asked Nelson, who had been a gravedigger since 1976, if he had seen anything strange in the area.

      "Around 1989 I saw something weird, round, flying over the cemetery. It was like an upside-down hat made of aluminum, shining when it moved in a straight line and balancing. It was headed toward Sao Paulo," the gravedigger told us, using his own hat as an example.

      During a personal interview with ufologist Antonio Ribera in Barcelona, he expressed the belief that Joao Prestes could have been burned by an alien ship's propulsion system. "I don't think the aliens wanted to harm or kill the farmer. They simply didn't know what would happen if they came too close to human beings," Ribera said.

      We had much time to reflect upon the tragic death of Joao Prestes Filho as a ramshackle bus took us away from Araçariguama. "What do you think the light that killed Prestes was?" I asked Claudio. "Maybe ball lightning," he replied. "But, how can one explain the other lights and creatures in the region?" I insisted.

      Claudio Suenaga said nothing. He shrugged and cast a last glance on the church tower of that accursed village.

 The Prestes Case: A Study in UFO Intrigue

      The Joao Prestes Case only became known internationally as of September 1971, when ufologist Irineu Silveira announced the possible connection between the farmer's death and the UFO phenomen during the 2nd Symposium on Extraterrestrial Life, held in Sao Paulo.

      A number of investigators examined the case. Walter Buhler, one of Brazil's best known ufiologists, believed that Prestes' burns were attributable to a candlestick. However, the majority begged to differ, accusing Bühler of belonging to the "angelical" party of ufology--the side that preaches that ETs have come to Earth to do good rather than harm. Others, such as premier ufologist Fernando Grossman, were able to interview direct witnesses to the case in 1974, such as former apprentice orderly Aracy Gomide. Based on information supplied by Gomide, Grossman and physician Luiz Braga reached the conclusion that Prestes' burns resembled "the indirect effects of a nuclear explosion, as occured with certain victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Radiation affected living cells but not the dead ones, such as hair and the fabric of clothing. But, who in 1946 would have had a directed beam of powerful atomic particles anywhere near Araçariguama?

      "It's not an isolated case," Grossman commented during an interview he granted me in Sao Paulo. "There are many parallels between his death ant others which occured in the state of Pará (Brazilian Amazonia) in the late '70s and early '80s. The researcher pointed out that on the day of Prestes' death, an Aracariguama councilman named Alencar Martins Gonçalves saw a "fireball" near the cementary.

      Gomide's statements were internationally echoed and the majority of the articles appearing in books, magazines and bulletins based the Prestes Case on this witness exclusively. Much of the information provided by the former ordely does not appear to coincide with the recollections of Luis and Roque Prestes and Vergílio Francisco Alves. According to Gomide, Joao, upon returning from fishing, jumped through a window to get into his house, given that his wife had locked the door upon leaving. It was at that moment that he would have seen the intense light that burned him. Gomide, who had worked as an Army orderly, was asked to care for Joao Prestes, with whom he held conversations during the latter's 6 to 9 hour agony.

      The orderly disclosed that the flesh fell off the victim's arms, leaving exposed bones and tendons without any indication of pain. The most affected bodily parts were the face and arms, but without presenting any darkening--rather decomposition, an explanation that doesn't jibe with the ones given by Luis Prestes and Virgilio. On the other hand, all three accounts coincide in that Joao's shirt and trousers, as well as his hair, remained intact.

      Claudio Suenaga managed to recover Joao Prestes' death certificate from the Bureau of Vital Statistics and Notary of Santana de Parnaíba. Gomide stated that Prestes had died between three and four o'clock in the morning on March 6, when in fact, the event occured on March 4 at 22:00 hours and not on the 5th as was hitherto believed. Physician Luiz Caligiuri indicated the cause of death in the document as "cardiac collapse, generalized 1st and 2nd degree burns." Joao's age was believed to be 39, but the document indicates 44 years of age at the time of death.

 São Roque, Santana do Parnaiba y Araçariguama: Window Areas?

      The region surrounding Sau Roque, Santana do Parnaíba, Araçariguama and other towns neighboring one of the most densely populated cities on Earth (Sao Paulo, with its 18 million inhabitants) has been the scene of unusual phenomena for many years.

      The "Supysáua" Newlsetter (March '95), published by the Grupo Ufológico de Guarujá reported that three children had witnessed a glowing UFO on January 4, 1994 in Santana de Parnaíba, where Joao Prestes died. The object approached the backyard of the home in question and floated less than 15 meters over the witnesses. Its color was largely yellow and it posessed sparkling green and red lights. What was remarkable was that within the yellow light, the children could make out a semi-circular shape resembling a dome. The children were startled by the UFOs abrupt, zigzagging movements as it departed at high speed.

      In that same year and region, a married couple witnessed from the "Lila" ranch on Km 41 of Castelo Branco highway a spherical object measuring three meters in diameter which floated between the trees and made no sound whatsoever. It was red in color and was darker at its core. Its periphery was surrounded by several smaller, blinking lights, alternating between blue and red.

      In 1993, a 12-year old girl named Regiane Barbosa da Silva witnessed on the same ranch a spherical object measuring some 5 meters in diameter. The UFO suddenly fired a beam of yellow light that covered the girl's body and lit the surrounding area. After the event, Regiane experienced headaches and eye irritation. Three months later, another witness spotted the same object at the same spot. The watchmen of the "Lila" ranch claim having seen two humanoids floating over a brook on the ranch's property.

      An elderly Japanese woman who spent her youth in Santana de Parnaíba told Suenaga that she had seen a half-wolfman, half-centaur being in the vicinity of Sítio do Morro. San Roque has also experienced one of the most intense waves of Chupacabras activity in all of South America.

 [Mr. Villarrubia's article originally appeared in INEXPLICATA No. 6, Spring 2000 - a quarter of a century ago!]