Source: La Vanguardia
Date: 01.10.2016
Article by Alejandro Prieto
Uruguay: A Skeptical Take on a Classic UFO CE-2
MONTEVIDEO, Oct 1 (EFE). The strange phenomena that played out in 1977 at a rural location Uruguay, hitherto ascribed to supernatural causes such as unidentified flying objects or alien beings, can be explained scientifically, according to the latest book from Uruguayan mathematician Eduardo Cuitiño.
In his book "Estancia La Aurora", the Uruguayan author attempts to "somewhat organize the legend" surrounding a rural property located in the province of Paysandú in northwestern Uruguay, where several alleged UFO events have taken place, as the author explained to EFE.
One night in February 1977, arose the legend which - according to Cuitiño - "was Uruguay's great UFO event" as it was accompanied by a "strange luminous event" that left in its wake burns on several animals on the property and a circle burned into the soil.
The location's alleged mysticism attracts hundreds of visitors weekly and it is a place of pilgrimage for local and foreign visitors alike, seeking to benefit from contact with alleged aliens, or the supernatural forces in which they believe.
However, this Uruguayan author's stance is that such events can be explained by certain natural conditions ascribed to La Aurora.
The mathematician posits that "people are very likely confusing a natural phenomenon with that in which they want to believe" and his book suggest that a lightning bolt was the actual cause of the legend, given the thunderstorm that was unleashed that night.
Cuitiño told EFE that his book aims for a "dispassionate analysis" of the events that some believers have attributed to the monstrous Chupacabras, further adding that aside from eyewitness accounts, he provides "logical explanations based on concepts of geology and physics" that provide a rational justification to these superstitions.
The book came about as a result of a statement made by a female student in one of the classes he teaches. The young woman said her grandfather had been "abducted by aliens" near La Aurora, where luminous and magnetic phenomena indeed occur, which he suggests "could be investigated from a scientific standpoint."
For example, "it is the only place in Uruguay" where "meditation under high voltage wires takes place," explaining that their influence upon these activities could cause hallucinations.
The essay, which looks into these events through eyewitness accounts from believers, scientists and news media, "is a journalistic book that discusses what happens and is happening" in this Uruguayan ranch.
The book was presented at the 39th International Book Fair in Uruguay, held until October 10 at the Intendancy of Montevideo.
[Translation (c) 2022 INEXPLICATA]