Roadside Encounters: UFOs, Aliens and Missing Time

 

Roadside Encounters: UFOs, Aliens and Missing Time

by Javier García Blanco

"That thing had the size of eight cars or more. In other words, when it was on top of us, it looked like a skyscraper..."

So certain were the words of Pedro Mateo, a veteran radio personality and graphic artists who kindly described to this author the UFO he had encountered during one of his journeys some twenty years ago. At that time he was in the company of his wife, Gloria Jiménez, and heading toward Barcelona, where they were scheduled to catch a flight that would take them to their destination, the German city of Dusseldorf. But Providence had something else in store for the couple.

"It happened on June 26, 1977. I have it etched upon my mind because we were flying to Dusseldorf that day, and most of what happens to me I write in a notebook. We had left Zaragoza very early--around five o'clock in the morning--and we were hoping to have lunch with my brother, who lives in Barcelona, before boarding our flight to Germany.

"When the event occurred it was already dawn and the sun was out. It was then, shortly after having passed [the town] of Los Garrigues, in Lérida, that we saw that thing appear on the other side..."

 "What did the object look like?" I interrupted.

 "Well, how can I describe it...it was disk shaped. A sort of..."

  I offered Pedro Mateo my field book and he quickly drew an oval object with an indistinct edge to it.

"When I saw it for the first time, it was at a distance. I wasn't overly concerned since it was so far away. But suddenly, it began to move with incredible ease...soundlessly, and at a rate of speed that quickly put it over my car. And I got scared," Pedro told us, visibly moved. "It was then when I noticed as sign that read: Gas Station 1000 Meters. I sped as fast as I could, and when I looked I was driving at 160 kmh. Seconds later, we noticed the object disappearing the same way we saw it arrive.

"To us, it was a matter of seconds, but when we looked again, there was the sign that indicated the gas station's existence 1 kilometer away. Well, I told myself, it must be another sign. When we finally got there, it was a very odd gas station. Highways have always had service stations, and we found this gas station with two posts and a broken down shed, with the kind of pump one sees in American movies. A man emerged when we reached the site. I'm 1.76 meters tall," Mateo explained, "and that guy must have been 1.90, very tall, and dressed in very faded blue coveralls."

Pedro Mateo and his wife, still frightened by the mysterious encounter they had experienced, quizzed the man regarding the unusual object.

"I asked the man, listen; did you see something strange in the sky? and he covered his face with something that looked like a sandwich to me. He replied that nothing had happened all morning. Since we weren't going to buy any fuel, he got into the shed once more, but at no time were we able to see his face, since he covered it with that thing he kept in his hands..."

Three Hours Lost

 Somewhat more relaxed, the Mateos decided to continue their drive to Barcelona, where they would meet their flight later on.

"I didn't look at my watch at the time," he gestured to his wristwatch. "and when we reached the airport, which can't be more than an hour away from where we were, it was already 2:15 p.m. and our flight was being called from the loudspeakers! Without knowing how or why, we'd lost around three hours. I was hoping to get there around 11:00 a.m., and my brother would be meeting us for lunch. However, when we got there, barely had time to catch the plane."

"But the most curious thing," Mateo explained with a certain degree of astonishment, "is that we didn't discuss the subject during the flight. Not for a long time. Not even on the way back."

Hours later and without further delays, they reached Dusseldorf. Having reached their hotel, Gloria Jiménez was ready to change her clothes when she noticed that her underwear was torn on one of its sides. In spite of this disquieting detail, some of the most disquieting and mysterious things would be discovered during the return trip, while driving in their Seat 1430.

"When we turned the radio on it played perfectly. But when we put a music cassette in the player, we realized it had been erased. We tried with all the others, but none of them worked. What's even more surprising is that we tried taping over the cassettes once we got home, but it couldn't be done.

 "And as if that wasn't bad enough, a pair of bifocals I used for reading and which I'd left on the glovebox had disappeared. They vanished after the event, and I've never seen them again. Furthermore, sometime after, the car's paint job --red in color--turned pinkish on the roof, on the hood and on the passenger side. The car got very ugly."

But not only the car and some of the objects within it had disappeared or experienced some sort of alteration. Pedro Mateo himself and his wife would find something in their bodies that would make them shiver.

"After our experience, someone left me a novel about some Americans, a racially mixed couple who'd experienced something similar to what we'd been through. Since then--and this is something I haven't told anyone--I've had a very strange wart on my testicles that doesn't hurt at all, and my wife has another on her genitals."

The incredible story of the Zaragozan couple would be completed some years later, when during supper with friends in a restaurant near Los Garrigues, they were able to prove that the strange filling station at which they'd stopped that day did not exist, and had never existed.

"We Lost All Notion of Time and Space..."

Only a year earlier, another Aragonese couple had lived through an experience similar to that of Pedro Mateo and his wife. On April 2, 1976, Alberto Ballarin and his wife, Maria Josefa Torres, were driving along highway N-240 heading toward their home in Monzón. At 10:30 p.m. they reached the town of Angües, where they made a brief stop.

 After taking on fuel at a local service station, they resumed their trip, leaving the town behind and getting into a long stretch of road some 3 kilometers long. It was then that they noticed the presence of something strange on the road.

"We were on the road again when after only a few minutes--two or three--we saw something very strange coming down on us."

In the distance, they were able to see a strange light moving at some 55 kmh on the other lane of the road and in the contrary direction. Their first impression was that it was another vehicle, but as it grew closer, they were able to verify that the object lacked headlights or wheels, and that it engaged in an oscillating motion, "as if riding the waves."

 The object, which was shaped "like a flattened pear," was some 3.5 meters tall by 7 or 8 meters wide. The UFO was hovering half a meter over the road surface and in perfect silence. Shortly afterward, the mysterious object crossed paths with the car and both witnesses were able to tell that the object gave off "large white or yellowish sparks, similar to those of a Catherine wheel." The husband urged the wife to turn around at try to see the license plate of the strange vehicle that had just passed them by. Logically, the woman only observed a bright light that rose heavenward at great speed, vanishing into the heights.

 "Look! look! my husband said," remembers María Josefa, "and I saw it up in the air, surrounded by a great brightness. Then, we suddenly found ourselves in front of the San Román parador. We didn't pass by the bridge or the town of Lascellas. We lost all notion of time or space for fifteen minutes."

 They reached home at 10:50 p.m., fifteen minutes faster than they should have, since that particular journey was one they always conducted at no more than 70 kmh given the difficulty presented by certain stretches of road. After the event, the couple felt "a great sense of calm, tranquility and well-being" which they experienced for a number of days. Furthermore, Mr. Ballarín noted that ever since, "the car runs better, has better engine performance, and even brakes better."

 hat very same night, Jaime Tresaco, Manuel Polo, Jesús Lleguet and Victor Bergua were assailed by a UFO on the N-136 highway linking Zaragoza and Huesca. Days earlier--on March 31 and April 1, specifically--other persons witnessed UFO activity in the vicinity of Huesca.

 

Car Chase at Los Monegros

 But these cases involving Aragonese couples should not be considered isolated events. Numerous individuals claim to have been the victims of harrowing UFO chases while peacefully driving along lonely roads--such as those found in the almost deserted region of Los Monegros and the Alcubierre Mountains.

  Jesús García, a 44 year-old truck driver, will never forget the ordeal he suffered during one of his many trips to the Aragonese capital. One night in early 1995, Jesus was going down county road 1104 in his Opel Corsa as he headed back to work in the capital city. The time was approximately 1:30 a.m. when he suddenly became aware of a light following him. At first, he took it to be another vehicle and gave it no importance, but shortly after, a quick glance at his rear view mirror proved the unconventional nature of the object behind him.

 "When I looked through the rear view mirror, I was able to see a rectangular object surrounded by multicolored lights blinking at regular intervals. That's when I became uneasy."

 Feeling somewhat nervous, Jesús continued on his way, trying to put some distance between himself and his unexpected companion. But the strange object seemed to have its own agenda.

 "I remember the radio being on and suddenly, the object sped up and got right behind me. The radio stopped operating at that point and I could only hear interference. Now I was really scared and I floored the accelerator. I had the car going at 140 kmh."

 Anyone who has ever driven down the highway joining the towns of Farlete and Monegrillo will know from experience that it is hardly suitable for high speed driving. In spite of this, the frightened witness sped away with the understandable intention of getting rid of his pursuer. A few kilometers later, and after putting a hill between himself and the unknown object, he lost sight of his unwanted "tail".

  A few months later, toward the end of July, another surprising encounter played out on Aragonese roads, specifically on the road that joins the locality of Alcubierre with Zaragoza. On July 25, Ana Casamayor was travelling along with her sister-in-law and youngest son along the road in question. But that summer afternoon would be different: "something" up in the sky would draw their attention. The journey proceeded normally until Ana became aware of something in the sky--a large oval-shaped object which remain suspended at a given altitude in mid-air.

 "We were coming down from the sierra when we suddenly noticed that thing to the right. It was quiet, silvery and without any edges. It was dish-shaped, but not so rounded. It was tilted at an angle and seemed metallic."

 In a matter of seconds, without giving them a chance to react, the mysterious object took off at high speed. After passing beside a hermitage nearby, the object vanished from sight, reappearing in the distance as it flew in a southerly direction.

 "We didn't stop. It took us by surprise; of course...it began moving only seconds after we saw it, almost passing right over us...it headed in the direction of Casino Montesblancos. After losing sight of it, we managed to make out a small, silver, shiny point, which receded into the distance..."

    

As Big as Bullring

 Another experience had occurred in the past not far from where Jesús García experienced his road pursuit. In the late 1960's, Francisco Martí Cuatrtero and four more young men who were doing military service in Zaragoza ran into a UFO of enormous proportions.

  In the early morning hours of November 1, 1968, the five recruits were returning to Zaragoza after a pass granted due to the feast of All Saints. It was around 4:30 hours as they drove along the Los Monegros road with only 40 more kilometers to go before reaching their destination. Suddenly, one of the fellows noted: "Look, the sun's coming up." Within seconds they realized that the luminous disc was not the sun, since it was rising on the opposite side of the horizon.

 The object grew closer, and when the car was half a kilometer away from the object, the radio stopped playing, the engine stopped and the headlights dimmed. The recruits would later notice that their wristwatches had also stopped at the very same time.

 Terrified and in the thrall of a nervous breakdown, the young men looked on in amazement as the gigantic disk --described by the eyewitnesses as being the size of a bullring--landed some 500 meters to their left. After three endless minutes in which the object remained silent, it rose again and after a sudden acceleration, vanished from the eyes of the recruits. Once the UFO vanished, the car's engine, headlights and radio returned to their normal operation. Upon reaching their destination, they reported the sighting to their superiors, who initiated an investigation and subjected the recruits to detailed questioning.

 In the Middle of the Road

  Burgo de Ebro is a small town located at a certain distance from Zaragoza. During countless occasions, its residents have witnessed strange lights over their community's skies. One of the locals, Baltasar Cavero Andreu, a humble shepherd, received the fright of his life when he ran into a trio of strange creatures in the middle of the road.

  It was sunset and Baltasar was headed back home in his motorcycle after having placed his flock of sheep back in their pens for the evening at a distance of some 2 kilometers from the town. Halfway along the road, he noticed three men standing in the road. Despite the poor highway conditions and the fact that Baltasar could not drive very fast, he came within some 40 or 50 meters of the strange entities.

     "I thought: it must be the Guardia Civil," he says. "But it wasn't..."

 Puzzled, the witness turned on his high beams. The "men" turned around and began running downhill. Deciding to find out exactly who they were, Baltasar followed them some for some 200 meters, but after doubling a curve, he was unable to find any trace of them. "I even stopped my motorbike, but I couldn't see anyone. I had no idea what could have become of them."

  The three "men"--standing approximately 1.80 meters--were clad in white and had blue bands on the back of their outfits that reached from their shoulders down to their waists.

  Cavero returned home feeling disturbed, surprised by the unusual event he had witnessed. There was a further surprise in store: "I ran into them again two days later."

 On that occasion, Baltasar was heading to the pens to make sure his animals were well when he noticed something unusual was going on: the sheep and sheepdogs were exhibiting strange excitement--the animals were huddled against one of the walls. As he tried to open the lock to the pen's large door, he noticed two of the strange beings in white he'd seen earlier. They were still dressed in white and were flattened against the wall as if to avoid detection. The terrified shepherd fled the scene and headed for the Guardia Civil headquarters. Unfortunately, the beings were already gone by the time officials reached the pens.

 Baltasar Cavero's case--researched a few years ago by J.J. Benítez--is only one more of the numerous encounters which occur on the lonely roads and trails linking the thousands of small towns of our geographical region.

 Conclusion

     Antonio Ballarín, Jesús García and Pedro Mateo are only some of thousands of witnesses who have had close encounters with UFOs or humanoids as they drove their vehicles along Spanish highways. These cases evince the phenomenon's interest in the human being and a desire to let itself be seen.

 What is the purpose of the frantic high-speed pursuits in the middle of the night? Why do they assail frightened witnesses, turning a normal drive into a dangerous "adventure"? Who knows. The fact is that at this very moment some confident driver may be at verge of becoming the protagonist of an anguished "experience" as he/she drives on some deserted road. And don't forget--you could be next...

 [Translation ©1999, 2026 S. Corrales, IHU, appearing originally in Inexpicata # 3]

Portugal: Some 20th Century Cases

 

 

Unusual Heavenly Phenomena in Portugal: A Historical Roundup

by Dr. Rafael A. Lara Palmeros, CEFP (Mexico)

 

      Portugal is no exception when it comes to unusual heavenly phenomena. For many years now, and in a number of countries, these events which have become known as UFOS, were called "pillars of fire", "sky monsters", "circular luminous bodies", etc.

      The following is a presentation of some of these extraordinary phenomena:

      * Estación de Casa Blanca, Montemor el Nuevo. 14 September 1946: At 4 p.m. on this day, an enormous disk casting off a greenish iridescence appeared in the skies over this community. The strange phenomenon, which was witnessed by a great number of railroad passengers, remained motionless for approximately 5 minutes after which it turned southward before vanishing altogether (1).

      * Viana de Costelo, 17 September 1946. Shortly after 21:00 hours, a luminous body much greater and shinier than a star passed over this city, traveling in a north/south direction. The phenomenon was a cause for great wonderment among the population, giving rise to opinions among the population that it was somehow related to the some of the "mysterious luminous projectiles which have been mentioned in the press lately." (2).

      * Lisbon, 15 December 1946. At approximately 18:40 hours, a curious luminous projectile was seen traveling at an extraordinary altitude, leaving in a brilliant wake in its path. The object followed a southerly trajectory from the northeast. It gave the impression of being some new kind of "flying bomb", having great range and tremendous speed, similar to those which have been reported over the Scandinavian  peninsula and other parts of Europe. Duet to the time, the putative missile travelled along the coastline resembling a meteorite, going unnoticed by the majority of this city's residents. (3).

       Comments

       As we have noted, these events are centered in the "pre-modern age of ufology", considering that after Kenneth Arnold's sighting in June 1947, the whole world would become aware that the skies above were filled with strange objects catalogued by many as extraterrestrial spacecraft.

      Sightings in Scandinavia, Brazil, France and other nations made us aware that Man has always been accompanied by this strange phenomenon -- which remains a mystery to us until the present day.

 NOTES:

 1. Diario do Noticias. 15 September 1946. Lisbon, Portugal

2. Diario do Noticias. 18 September 1946. Lisbon, Portugal

3. Diario do Noticias. 16 December 1946. Lisbon, Portugal

Mexico: An Investigation Into Strange Winged Beings

 

 An Investigation into Strange Winged Beings

By Ing. Marco Antonio Reynoso Ballesteros

President, FUNDACIÓN COSMOS A.C.(*)

Monterrey, Mexico

During the last two weeks of July 1994, a strange winged creature—half-human, half-bird—was spotted prowling near a cemetery close to the "Los Sabinos" ranch (owned by a member of Fundación Cosmos A.C.) on the Allende–Atongo highway. The sighting was immediately reported to us, prompting an urgent investigation.

The incident took place on July 20, 1994. A ranch worker was heading home for a meal around 11:00 a.m., taking his usual route that passed near the cemetery, unaware of what fate had in store for him further along the path. He was walking calmly when, at first paying it little mind, he glimpsed a figure emerging from a converging trail about 50 meters away. Initially, he thought it was another person, but as he drew closer, he was astonished to see a half-human, half-bird being; the creature showed neither surprise nor agitation at the worker's presence. The strange being continued walking along the same path, and upon reaching an intersection, it seemed to puff itself up, spread its enormous wings, and turn. By the time the worker reached the intersection, the being was already about a kilometer away, walking on until it disappeared from sight around the bends of the desolate landscape.

On July 25, 1994, the being was spotted again, this time by a woman wandering through the cemetery. We received a report of this new sighting and decided to take immediate action, organizing an expedition to investigate the strange winged being. On July 29, 1994, we headed to that ranch, the researchers equipped with necessary gear such as two-way radios, video and still cameras, binoculars, flashlights, and so on. We arrived around 8:00 PM and set up our equipment. We began walking the paths where the creature had been sighted, yet found no trace of that mysterious figure. Around 11:30 PM, we entered the cemetery. It was a clear, full-moon night; everything was perfectly visible without the need for flashlights. An indescribable sense of peace and tranquility filled the cemetery, accompanied by a pleasant breeze. We split up to cover the entire grounds but found nothing unusual, so we eventually retired for the night.

The next day, we headed to Mireles Creek and spent the morning exploring it, finding only the skeleton of an animal the size of a medium-sized dog. The vegetation reminded us of the jungle setting from the movie *Predator*. We continued searching the creek in hopes of finding some trace or footprint, but luck was not on our side; we found nothing—neither the creature nor any sign of it.

That afternoon, we were able to interview the worker and record his testimony on video. According to his description, the creature had gray plumage; the upper half of its body—from the waist up—was human, while the lower half was covered in feathers and featured chicken-like legs and two enormous wings on its back. He told us he made no attempt to approach it for fear of attack, noting that this was not the first time he had seen it.

This incident brought back memories of past experiences for several of us—experiences I will recount below. According to Mr. Héctor Urdiales—another dedicated researcher from the Cosmos Foundation (Fundación Cosmos A.C.)—during Holy Week in 1984, he decided to investigate an area behind Cerro de La Silla (Saddle Mountain). This area forms a rather desolate, horseshoe-shaped canyon, and he chose to explore it following reports of a winged being roaming the region. The route there follows the road to San Ronque; where that road ends, a trail continues toward Ojo Azul. Further along, past a stream lined with *sabino* trees, he would—unknowingly—stumble upon something that would astonish anyone.

Héctor was accompanied by a friend, and together they headed toward a small roadside stall run by a disabled man. This man had provided the testimony regarding the strange creature—the very account that had prompted Héctor to launch the expedition, given his familiarity with the area. The man told them he had seen the creature's shadow pass over his modest shop and had even glimpsed its silhouette from his seated position. He pointed out a spot for them to camp, and they set up their site in the indicated area. They spent the day and night without incident; however, the next morning, while combing the banks of the stream, they noticed a swarm of flies hovering over some vegetation beside a large *sabino* tree. Upon closer inspection, they found the decomposing entrails of an animal. They then noticed blood dripping from the trunk of a *sabino* tree and followed the trail with their eyes until it led them to a tree limb high above......at a height of 8 to 9 meters, where they saw a wild boar—gutted and split open—draped over a tree branch.

The scene horrified them; what kind of animal could have done that and hoisted the carcass to such a height? It was unlikely to be a human—the tree had no low branches for climbing—and no feline in that region was large or strong enough to butcher and haul up an animal weighing at least 100 kilograms. Only a winged predator of enormous proportions could have accomplished such a feat. They estimated that the boar had met its tragic end a day or two prior. Unfortunately, they had no cameras—let alone video equipment—at the time to provide solid proof of the existence of a massive, carnivorous flying creature.

Another terrifying experience befell me— Marco A. Reynoso—in the autumn of 1979. I recall that I was in the final semester of my degree program, carrying a heavy course load and beginning work on my thesis, so I usually arrived home late at night. On this particular occasion, for reasons I no longer recall, I left the university early and arrived at my parents' house around 8:00 PM. It is a large, old house with high ceilings; the kitchen is located at the back but is easily visible from the entrance. I never imagined what I was about to encounter inside. Upon opening the door, I realized the house was empty. The kitchen light—a white light—was on, clearly illuminating the table situated next to a window, though at that moment the table was obscured by the window curtain.

I headed straight for the kitchen without turning on the hallway lights, as I was hungry. When I was about three meters away, the curtain moved; I wasn't surprised, as I assumed it was simply being stirred by a draft. But immediately afterward, the table was partially revealed, and a figure in profile emerged, standing atop it.

 It was a figure roughly 30 cm tall with a human-like body covered in glossy black fur and a spread-out, bat-like wing. I couldn't make out the head, as it was obscured by the curtain. It all happened in seconds. My immediate impulse was to lunge at this peculiar winged being and try to trap it with the curtain; I felt no fear at that moment. As I took another step to carry out my plan, the curtain suddenly snapped back against the window, knocking over bottles and other items on the table, while the creature vanished without a trace. It all happened in seconds. I went out into the yard—where the window faced—hoping to get a better look at the strange creature, but there was nothing left. Later, I analyzed the experience more closely and was terrified, convinced it was neither an optical illusion nor any known animal. The colors of the kitchen setting—the table and the curtain—were distinct, as was the contrast between the white lighting and the black figure. There was no doubt; I was absolutely certain of what I had seen.

That event completely changed my life, as it cemented the passion for the unknown that had been growing in me since the age of eight. It led me to join the *Ovni Club Internacional A.C.* in 1980 in search of more information regarding my experiences. There, among the case files, I found reports of a being identical to the one I had seen in my yard.

Years later, in 1986, sightings of this strange being increased, and I even met a Belgian biologist named Sergio Leguyon. He mentioned that he was conducting doctoral research in zoology on certain species of winged beings—possibly pterodactyls or "Mothmen." He claimed to possess evidence of these creatures' existence—such as photographs and bones—and even knew the locations of their nesting grounds. He recounted that caves inhabited by these strange beings existed behind Cerro de La Silla in the state of Nuevo León, as well as in the municipality of China within the same state. He also pointed to a remote location in Communist China—in the Far East—that served as a prime sanctuary for these living fossils.

I never had the chance to see this evidence, and I do not believe he ever showed it to anyone else; he was extremely protective of the information. I also learned that he had commissioned the construction of cages to transport live specimens back to Belgium. He claimed that throughout history, these creatures had been mistaken for witches, vampires, and even *La Llorona*. They emitted a wail and a strange screech, walked on two legs, were grayish-brown or black with red eyes, and stood at least three meters tall.

We have since lost touch with him and are currently trying to track down his whereabouts; we hope to learn the results of the research he was conducting on this strange winged being.

(*) Fundación Cosmos A.C. became defunct in the early '00s. Mr. Reynoso withdrew from active research. 

Spain: Saucer Exhibitionism and Close Encounters

 

Saucer Exhibitionism and Close Encounters

by Manuel Carballal

 It had happened again. Upon reaching the small village of Lestedo, scant kilometers from Compostela, I ran once more into what I've come to term as "UFO exhibitionism". The recent landing case of a supposedly unidentified craft posed a scenario I had already seen in many similar cases, only that on this occasion it was positively shameless. Now we were dealing with a "flying saucer", described by the female witness as a "large disk with borders filled with yellow lights, having a slightly larger and reddish light in its middle..."

Dunia Sinde, a delightful eight-year old girl, was home alone on that October night. Her parents were busy running the cafeteria they own in Santiago. At around two in the morning, Dunia was startled by a strange sound like that of "a felt tip pen while drawing on a piece of paper." A strange yellow glow poured into her room from the exterior. She got out of bed and headed to the window. That's when she saw it. Right in front of her. Some 80 meters away. Almost touching the ground but without contacting it: it was a "flying saucer."

When I reached the landing site a few days later, both Dunia and her father, Alejandro Sinde, patiently answered my questions, allowed me to tale soil samples, take photographs and make video recordings. What they could not explain was why that object--whatever it was--should have chosen that site to "show itself off."

The Sinde family's home is discreetly isolated. Right in back of the house, where Dunia's bedroom "happens" to be located, there is a 150 meter long lawn surrounded by eucalyptus trees. This expanse is cut down the middle by a bushy row of trees. Why did this object choose to land precisely next to the house? Why didn't it land at the other side of the trees, which would have made it completely invisible to prying eyes? From an aerial perspective, this situation is clearly visible. If a pilot--alien or human-- wanted to land without being seen, it would do so on the left hand side of the expanse, beyond the trees. However, the object chose to land a few meters to the right, on the other side of the trees--just enough to be seen by the witness. It landed, allowed Dunia to look at it for a few seconds, and then "started making the felt tip pen sound again before leaving and vanishing from site..."

 

UFO Exhibitionism

 Regardless of how much information they may amass, the reports they may file, or how much data they feed into their computers, those ufologists who do not engage in field work will never be able to understand certain facets of the UFO phenomenon: aspects, sensations, intuitions or even events that only become apparent while burning shoe leather and beating the same roads, trails and highways where the slippery saucers have allowed themselves to be seen. The contempt expressed by certain self-appointed "scientific ufologists" like Ricardo Campo against what they term "picnic ufology" leads them to miss out on certain aspects of the phenomenon, which are indispensable for its comprehension.

 Hoofing it to the geographic sites where close encounters have occurred gives us precisely this perspective. That's why when I reached the remote village of Mansilla in the province of Burgos, I felt that sensation yet again. I was accompanied by Carmen, a young graduate in Geography and History who had gone through an uncanny experience precisely at the same place where we stood.

 Carmen was returning to her home in Burgos in the fading hours of the afternoon. While driving along the road between the villages of Mansilla and Arroyal, she was surprised by a luminous object that swooped down on her car...

 I managed to find burned shrubs and strange prints at the exact location of the "encounter". While taking samples which would later be analyzed by Reia Lab Scan, S.A., it suddenly dawned on me that the object had "landed" only 30 meters from a discreet hollow where it could have remained invisible to any indiscreet glances from Carmen or anyone else driving along that road.

 Carmen agreed to undergo all manner of tests, including two hypnotic regression sessions--one of which I witnessed-- performed by Dr. José Andrés Lozano from Burgos. We were unable to extract a reasonable answer to this evident UFO exhibitionism from her stories, whether awake or under hypnosis. It is as if the object had been expecting one witness in particular, at that place and time, and chose to "act" upon him or her...

 The cases catalogued by the late J.Allen Hynek as "close encounters" are often accompanied by this disconcerting attitude, leading certain researchers, myself included, to believe that the old ufological theory--so popular in the '60s and '70s--of alien scientists being caught unawares by indiscreet witnesses is false. Landings and humanoid encounter cases, or at least a fair share of them, appear suspiciously "forced". The witness appears to find him/herself at exactly the right time and place for a UFO or its shameless occupants choose to allow themselves to be seen. One of the most graphic examples of this UFO exhibitionism has taken place on a number of Spanish beaches.

 

Strangers on the Beach

 I found fresh evidence of UFO exhibitionism when I travelled to Punta Hidalgo on the island of Tenerife [one of the Canary Islands--Ed.] to research some notable UFO sightings which had occurred there over the preceding months. However, none of them had been seen closely as the case experienced by Olga and José, a married couple, scant weeks before my visit. Olga and José were inside their vehicle, admiring the spectacular night sky as seen from Punta Hidalgo as well as from many other spots on Tenerife. Although they did confess that their visit to the area was prompted by constant stories of UFOs in the area.

 

The couple suddenly noticed a strange, luminous, semi-spherical object approaching the coast. Motionless, the couple witnessed the uncanny event from their car seats: some strange, tall entities, with long hair and completely human-looking, had "landed" on the sands of Punta Hidalgo before their very eyes...What ufologist could even dream that some "alien scientists" wishing to remain anonymous would exit their craft on a beach, right in front of the only car parked in the entire area?

 The fact is that Spanish beaches have been the stage--and I underline the "stage" part-- of an infinity of UFO incidents. Can there be a less suitable place, and more devoid of shelter, for protection against curious glances than a beach?

 Having reached this point, it is inevitable to mention the Conil case, without a doubt one of the most famous and controversial UFO cases of the past years. When the TASS news agency stunned the world in 1989 with news of a UFO landing in the Russian city of Voronezh, it eclipsed all subsequent UFO stories. For this reason, the media paid no heed whatsoever when a new UFO incident took place 2 days following the events at Voronezh, this time in the town of Conil near Cádiz in southern Spain.

 Dozens of researchers made the pilgrimage to Conil in search of new information on the elusive saucer phenomenon. The witnesses endured, with saintly patience, the questions of a thousand and one ufologists, and retold their experiences on the beach at Conil an equal number of times--a case involving two strange humanoids that allegedly emerged from a UFO. I took the trouble to climb the hill located on the right-hand end of the beach to take some general photos of the "encounter". A glance at these photos will suffice to show that beach features much more discreet locations than the point, which is right in front of the town center and several hotels and small businesses, where the supposed aliens were "accidentally" seen.

 This behavior has remained a constant in similar cases. Months after the Conil case, a new "humanoid landing" took place on another Spanish beach. A case hitherto unknown, as so many others. But on this occasion we must travel to the other end of the country, more than 1000 kilometers away.

 Much like the Conil case, this new incident, which was shared by multiple witnesses, took place in the town of Sada (La Coruña). And I use the word "shared" because as at Conil, a group of witnesses observed strange lights in the sky--"UFOs"--shortly before other witnesses noticed the strange humanoids on the beach.

 On that night, right at midnight, D. José Francisco García, director of the Radio Oleiros station, was driving in his car accompanied by his wife and in-laws, bordering the beach at Sada. The four witnesses managed to see the strange luminous, cigar-shaped object "completely surrounded by light bulbs" as it crossed the sky. Their observation lasted some 5 to 6 minutes, as they would later tall me. Upon visiting the area, I learned that another couple had an even more surprising experience on the same beach. As Juan (a witnesses who demands the utmost anonymity) would tell me, he and his wife were on the beach that night a few hours after José García and his family witnessed the strange aerial object. They suddenly ran into two strange humanoids who appeared to emerge from the sea. Both of them, as in the Conil case, were dressed in long tunics and carried a kind of bag "into which something was being poured." My investigations in the area show that it is probable that other people witnessed the manifestation of the entities from a greater distance, but why in that precise area of the beach and not by the cliffs, which is much less conspicuous? One could honestly believe that the two entities were there, and at that moment, for the benefit of Juan and his wife.

 

The Transcendent Experience

 This "UFO exhibitionism" -- as if the phenomenon were choosing precisely the right time and witness to appear -- leads us to a further question: the fact that encounters that UFOs and their alleged "occupants" go far beyond representing a casual incident in a witness's life. Without arguing if these experiences are real or a sort of mystical experience, I can still state that these experiences are more than an "accidental" and isolated event, at least in most cases. Certain authors, largely from the U.S.A., believe that encounters with alleged aliens forms part of a follow-up in the witnesses' lives, thus implying that new UFO incidents will occur over time.

 D. Manuel Castro is an airport operator. He has spent a considerable part of his life linked to the world of aeronautics, performing maintenance on airplanes. It is for this reason that he has never been able to identify the strange artifact that he saw land in a Galician town in the summer of 1958. Out of this object--completely atypical in UFO lore--there emerged three humanoids dressed in tight-fitting outfits that then proceeded to collect soil samples. This amazing and "casual" encounter with the humanoids appeared to be an isolated experience in his life until he had a repeat UFO experience in the Nineties. One of them, which took place in the heart of the city, was so impressive that it led him to immortalize his experience on canvas. D. Manuel's painting, which depicts the UFO that surprised him in the middle of the night, is impregnated with the full emotional burden that a UFO witness can convey.

 It is precisely this emotional factor, the trembling in the voice, the beads of sweat on the witness's forehead, which cannot be captured by any questionnaire submitted by mail from a ufologist. It is all too often that so-called "analysts" or "armchair researchers" miss out on this dimension of the phenomenon. A dimension that is of the greatest importance, to my understanding.

 The emotional burden in many cases constitutes an invitation to reflection. As well as the disquieting coincidence of details in witness accounts, separated by hundreds of kilometers or dozens of years. These coincidences, not only in the shape of the objects but in the description of the devices, are perceived by the field researcher even in the use of language, in the comparisons made by the witness, or in the emotion arising from the retelling of the experience. Could these similes be attributable to chance? Perhaps, if the experience being described was archetypical, in other words, a story involving a "flying saucer" brimming over with macrocephalic little green men, which have been made commonplace by the media or films. But, what if the witnesses are describing the same phenomenon, completely different from the psychosocial influence of the cinema? When Manuel Castro, for example, drew in my field notebook strange phone-booth shaped UFO one from which three "astronauts" in tight-fitting coveralls emerged, I found it absurd. I had to traverse the nearly 950 kilometers separating Galicia from Seville to find a "twin" case, only better documented.

 Miguel Fernández Carrasco's experience should occupy a privileged position in European ufological history: on the night of January 28, 1978, Miguel, who was then 24 years old, had dropped off his girlfriend, Carmen Alvarado Sáenz, age 20, at her house around midnight, and returned home from Sanlúcar la Mayor to Benacazón, some four kilometers away.

 According to his report, he noticed a "shooting star" around twelve-thirty a.m. A few minutes later, the "star" turned in to an unidentified craft which landed some five meters away from the witness. The object had a parallelepipedal configuration, much like a telephone booth "but much larger" (some two meters wide by three and a half meters tall)--similar to the one described by Manuel Castro in Galicia, having a sort of dome on its upper section which issued read and white flashes. Near the upper edge of the vehicle's "trunk" were two appendages shaped like fins. A kind of door in the shape of a half-archway opened, spinning on hypothetical hinges. At that moment, a blinding light issued from the inside of the ship, and a ramp projected toward the floor.

 According to the young man's story, he was frozen in terror as two humanoid beings standing some two meters tall emerged from the craft. They wore tight-fitting coveralls "like a frogman's wet suit", according to Miguel, and a thick belt whose buckle emitted soft, rhythmic red flashes. Despite his terror, Miguel managed to control his panic and broke into a run. The humanoids promptly returned to the object and it "took off". Looking behind him as he ran, the witness claims that the UFO rose in a great puff of smoke, heading toward him--which only served to increase his panic. The craft soon overtook him, and Miguel felt that he was hit with "a burning exhaust or emanation" from the UFO. The young man remembers nothing more until he appeared at the entrance to his house.

 He was taken to the emergency room of Seville's Hospital San Lázaro where he underwent extensive tests. According to the report I found at said institution, he was found to have strange burns and ocular irritation "similar to having been exposed to a very powerful light". The most surprising fact about the case is that a Seville judge called Miguel to testify, giving place to the only court action ever taken in a case of UFO aggression in Europe. A legal action which, I might add, was lost in the shuffle of paperwork and took me many days to obtain, involving an adventure which touches the limits of the unimaginable. This legal action constitutes, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary documents in European UFO history, and the strange premature aging of the witness over the past years should also be cause for reflection on the matter.

 Does this extraordinary pursuit by an unknown craft represent a unique case in Spanish ufology? Not at all. I would now have to travel to Barcelona to research a case disconcertingly similar to Miguel's.

 This case involved Juan Soler Cintas, a resident of Manresa, who lived through a chase quite similar to Miguel's. The protagonists of the event were a cigar-shaped object and humanoids dressed like "astronauts". Could three men from Galicia, Cataluña and Andalucía have invented such similar characters while having no contact between them?

 These coincidences, these significant "chance events" in UFO stories can only become visible in the field researchers logbook, when he or she has had the opportunity to interview the witnesses in very similar cases, even though these may be separated in space and/or time. It is said that an image is worth more than a thousand words, and when three witnesses separated by time and space draw an apparently identical phenomenon in my logbook, it is hard to attribute this coincidence to "chance".

 In 1996, I visited the community of Proaza in Asturias to investigate a series of close encounter events. One of them was experienced by Monserrat and Camilo Rivera. It was 21:35 hours when the young couple observed an enormous white light descending over the trees near their house. The luminous sphere stopped 50 meters from the house at treetop level. Once again, the phenomenon chose to appear within full view of the witnesses and not in the concealment offered by the nearby woods. It had a kind of "door" in its middle and suddenly projected a sort of "multicolored ramp of lights". According to the witnesses, the enormous sphere terrified them. In fact, Monserrat was the first one to run into the house to protect her children from "a thing that wasn't of this world". When Camilo Rivera drew what he had seen in my logbook, I was left dumbfounded. The humble Asturian farmer had drawn an object suspiciously similar to the one described by the witnesses of the UFO landing at Galdar (Las Palmas, Canary Islands) many years earlier. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

 A new landing would take place long afterwards, this time in remote spot called Ferreiras, in the municipality of Friol, and that's where I was headed. José Manuel Castro, an illiterate worker, was the main protagonist of this incident. According to his story, an enormous, spherical object resembling the full moon descended over the treetops scant meters from his home. Gripped by panic, Jose Manuel ran into his home; peeping through the window and shielded by a pane of glass, he noticed how the gargantuan sphere had stopped over the trees and projected a halo of light "like a rainbow".

 The description made by José Manuel Castro in Friol was astoundingly similar to the one made by Camilo Rivera regarding the sphere that had hovered over the trees at his home in Proaza, 250 kilometers from Ferrerías. But there's more. When Jose Manuel Castro looked out the window and saw the "ramp of light looking like a rainbow", he could also see a group of three or four small humanoids descending along it, while an equal number of 2 or 3 meter tall beings remained on board. Even more surprising is that after analyzing the terrain on which the object had supposedly landed, we found the prints of--landing gear?--forming a triangle measuring 8 x 8 x 10 meters and some completely unidentifiable "footprints". We managed to make plaster casts of the prints, which could not be attributed to any known animal after analysis at Universidad de Santiago and by zoologists in the city of Lugo.

 What is boggles the mind is that this utterly illiterate farmer had drawn several "giants" within the sphere, suspiciously similar to a classic UFO incident which took place thousands of miles away and twenty years earlier. When we visited Galdar on the island of Grand Canary, we managed to secure the exact same description of an object much too similar in appearance and behavior to the one in Ferrerias or Proaza to be "coincidental".

 

The Thousand and One Faces of a Myth

 Antonio Meilán López is a normal man leading a normal life. He owns a small store, is a devoted family man, and a football fan...like so many other normal men. As a teenager, he witnessed a completely amazing phenomenon: while returning home one afternoon in a small Galician town, he ran into a group of small beings wearing tunics. Steeped in Galician popular culture, Antonio Meilán identified those strange creatures with the Santa Compaña his elders had told him so much about. Like Antonio, many Galicians who have encountered strange entities in the night have identified them with the Compaña. When similar tunicked creatures have been seen in any city in Castille or Cataluña, or on a beach in Conil, they have been identified as "aliens". Only after having a "classic" UFO experience a few months ago (our reason for interviewing him) did he take an interest in ufology, and after reading a few books and articles on the phenomenon, he rethought his opinion about the creatures, believing them to be more closely related to outer space than to folklore.

 Antonio Meilán's experience should lead us to ponder. Anthropology and Sociology texts are laden with alleged "folklore" cases which undoubtedly conceal genuine "close encounters with humanoids" which could engross the files of any ufologist.

 Serafín Pena Tejeiro, for example, is a young resident of Cospeito (Lugo) who was catapulted to national prominence in the national media after recounting his encounter with two strange flying beings. As he told us upon visiting his home--a humble farm--Serafín had left home before dawn to reach the spot where a friend would pick him up every day to go to work. No sooner had he left his doorstep than he witnessed an amazing sight: over the treetops he could see a sort of "luminous stand" upon which two humanoid figures were walking. They reminded young Serafín of the Blessed Virgin that can be seen in the town chapel, and who else could it be? The unspecialized media dubbed the story "The Virgin Appears at Cospeito". However, any student of Marian phenomena would notice that Serafín's encounter lacked any of the elements which characterize Marian events. There were neither messages nor mystical phenomena; the witness was not a clairvoyant; there were no healings, and the apparition never repeated itself. Serafín employed a simile that matched his cultural context to describe what he had seen--just like thousands of other witnesses. To identify the nature of the phenomenon by means of what the witness transmits to the researcher is very daring and often incorrect.

 In very few cases can we illustrate this concept more clearly than in the series of "apparitions" which occurred in the gypsy neighborhood of Penamoa (La Coruña) in the mid-'80s: over days, if not weeks, the residents of Penamoa and some researchers who joined them, patrolled the surroundings of the town, armed with rifles and handguns in an attempt to hunt down the strange humanoid that had been seen in the vicinity. The discovery of some animals slain under mysterious circumstances, plus the strange lights in the sky that accompanied the manifestations of the humanoid, were overlooked by non-specialized chroniclers. To the gypsy community--strongly influenced by evangelical churches--the apparition had to be demonic, and the services of a group of Pentecostal exorcists were recruited in an effort to banish the entity through prayer.

 As had occurred in similar cases, such as the apparitions of humanoids in Vega de Coria or Santander following repeated sightings, the humanoid disappeared along with the enigmatic lights in the sky. Was it a diabolic apparition, as the Protestant pastors claimed, or a new UFO humanoid incident?

 Beyond all the anthropological, religious, folkloric or even ufological explanations that can be put forth, we have the eyewitnesses' own testimonies. Accounts which may coincide despite the effect of time or distance and which often point to an incomprehensible exhibitionism on the phenomenon's part; accounts of phenomena which will be identified by the witness according to his or her cultural context. However, aside from all our conjectures and speculations, "they" remain out there--lurking in the shadows for the right place and time so that one of us, perhaps even you, becomes an involuntary witness to the absurd phenomenon known as UFO.

 Fear of the Unknown: The Ultimate Evidence

 In 1997, the overwhelming UFO wave in Galicia caused us to wander some 2000 kms. from one town to another in the Spanish northeast. Each investigated sighting bore rumors of a new case in another town, and the car's front end immediately pointed in that direction. Finally, after collecting testimonies from several witnesses on the border between Galicia and Asturias, a powerful snowstorm trapped my car, lacking chains for the tires, on a mountain pass where the interviewees had warned me of the presence of wild bears. Such are the hazards of field research.

 Shivering from the cold -- the Lada Niva lacked a heater -- and mindful of any noise in the surrounding forest, I remained there for a few endless hours awaiting the arrival of the tow truck I'd requested through my cellular phone. Hopefully it would reach me before the bears did. The mechanic found me huddled in the seat, defending myself with a ridiculously small knife. I must have been a sight when he knocked on the windshield and made me jump out of my body. "I can see you weren't exaggerating over the phone, boss," the fellow in the blue coveralls remarked, "you were pretty scared, huh?" He was right. I wasn't lying when I phoned the nearest shop and said I was in an emergency; the fact is that real, sincere and spontaneous fear is one of humanity's most eloquent elements, including the UFO phenomenon.

 An even more eloquent and revealing case came from Sierra de Outes (La Coruña). We met with the witness, Manolo Javela, in the town's only bar. When told that we had travelled the distance because of the UFO experience, he knotted his brow and violently denied all of the rumors that had reached us: "I made that stuff up, and besides, I didn't see anything!" Having travelled hundreds of kilometers to interview the man, we dejectedly finished our coffee and sandwich before leaving. Only when we made it clear that we weren't journalists and no photos of him would be published did his attitude change. For Manolo Javela had been through two traumatic experiences: a close encounter with humanoids and the pitiless mockery of the press. It had led him to conclude that it was better to be taken for a joker than a madman (and I invite all "pseudo-skeptics" to reflect upon this).

 

On the day of the incident, Manolo had been found by some neighbors huddled inside his car and shouting for help. When they managed to get him out of the car, he wouldn't stop screaming that a flying saucer and some little green men had attacked him. "I never saw a man gripped by such visible fear," said one of the locals who found him. To the people of Outes -- putting aside all journalists, armchair ufologists and pseudo-skeptics -- Manolo's fear was sufficient proof of the honesty of his encounter with the "little men", because everyone in the town remembered how when a gang of toughs arrived in town to start a fight, Manolo Javela had faced them all alone and run them off. Javela is a brave character who isn't afraid to take on delinquents by himself...but the creatures who descended from above that night managed to shatter his resolve, turning him into the umpteenth victim of terror of the unknown. A questionnaire send by mail, fax or e-mail by the armchair ufologists shall never manage to understand this aspect of the UFO phenomenon.

  

The Issues Raised by the Phenomenon

 Are UFOs alien craft wanting to show off? Not in my opinion. The problem with applying the ETH (extraterrestrial hypothesis) to the UFO phenomenon is that it is much too simplistic.

 In fact, no serious astronomer discards the possibility of ET's in the universe. What is untenable is that said ET life should visit us, since it would involve a technology capable of surpassing the speed of light, which is unimaginable according to our physics. Let us suppose that there is a technology capable of neutralizing the increase in ship's mass, proportional to its acceleration. Or let's imagine that an astronaut is able to break down to the molecular level, travel at lightspeed, and reassemble himself at the arrival point. We can imagine a technology capable of flying through black holes, etc.--these are all science fiction conjectures. But let's suppose such technology really exists. Would a civilization having such spacecraft use internal combustion engines? Would it be ignorant about anesthesia? Would it not have cloaking devices? It is hard to imagine a technology able to surpass the speed of light leaving burned grass at a landing site, since any carbonization would we due to an internal combustion engine...not to mention a ship that toys with black holes needing hydraulic landing gear with "legs". It is paradoxical that these prodigious machines should appear on radar screens, when we earthlings have had "invisible aircraft" since the 1940's. It is galling that during a UFO abduction or act of aggression a witness should undergo traumatic "tortures", when our own hospitals have techniques to avoid pain, or to even erase any memory of said operations.

 The conclusion is evident: if UFOs were alien, they should be much more than vehicles, and if they are vehicles, then they are not alien. Unless, of course, all the "evidence" of the phenomenon (landing marks, burned grass, radar detection, scars on witnesses) are a "means of expression" for the phenomenon, just as the witness might imagine a "spaceship" to look and behave. In this order of affairs, either everything is due to a strange physical manifestation of the witnesses' beliefs and prejudices--according to his cultural background--or what is more disquieting, a real phenomenon alien to the protagonist him/herself which uses the archetypes of Western technological civilization to make itself visible "in the likeness" of what the witness would believe if faced with an alien craft.

 Ultimately, to continue arguing about the extraterrestrial or non-extraterrestrial provenance of UFOs strikes me as absurd. As our physics indicates, it is absolutely ridiculous to believe in physical and solid craft like the ones that appear on radar screens or leave the imprints of their "legs" on the grass they burn upon landing. We must go beyond the outward appearance of the phenomenon and venture into its true nature, which will more than likely have nothing to do with metallic "flying saucers" filled with small, bigheaded EBEs...

[Translation (c) 1999, 2026 Scott Corrales, IHU with thanks to Manuel Carballal. Originally appeared in Inexplicata #5, Winter 1999]