Sunday, February 21, 2010

Mexico: More on the Hidalgo Incident














A UFO in Hidalgo? An Interview with Francisco Roldán Mendoza
By Prof. Ana Luisa Cid

Several versions of the story have appeared with regard to the event that took place in Hidalgo on February 10, 2010.

First, it was a meteorite, then Russian space junk and now, a new channel of investigation presents itself.

Background

Multiple reports were received on February 10 regarding the sighting of a fireball crossing the skies over Mexico. Messages and phone calls came mainly from the states of Hidalgo and Puebla; some residents of Mexico City also claim having seen the phenomenon. The initial version that appeared in the media suggested that it was a meteorite.

Later on, the likelihood of space junk (a fragment of the Cosmos 2421 satellite) was put forward, but the Russian government dismissed this information, stating that none of their space artifacts fell on Mexican territory on the date in question.

The authorities and independent research groups have tried to located physical evidence that may enable us to determine with certainty what happened that afternoon. However, their efforts have been fruitless to date.

A UFO?

As I wrote in another installment, I learned of the incident by the messages I received (via e-mail) from residents of Hidalgo and Puebla) telling me their experiences, going as far as to quote a letter from Héctor Pérez. As fate would have it, it turns out that Hector is the brother of Lic. Fernando Pérez, a newscaster with XENQ. Bear in mind that this was this radio station received the story first.

On February 12 I received a letter from Lic. Fernando Pérez telling me that he was not in agreement with the Russian space junk hypothesis. Furthermore, he was aware of an eyewitness account that should be considered during the investigation.

This was the eyewitness account of Francisco Roldán, who claims having seen a device (resembling a multiple-pronged piñata) descending into the mountains near Cuautepec before rising again. According to the witness, this was the cause of the detonation on the afternoon of February 10. Mr. Roldán appeared before XENQ Radio on February 11 to tell his story; Mr. Pérez asked him to sketch the object he had seen.

In the opinion of the renowned journalist, the witness appears to be sincere, free from guile or an urge toward self-aggrandizement. Francisco Roldán is a simple man, a cobbler who lives in Tulancingo, Hidalgo. He earns a living by going door to door and mending footwear, and it was precisely during one of his errands (near El Capulín) that he claims having witnessed a malfunctioning unidentified flying object.

A Quest for Evidence

Francisco Roldán told the journalist that he could take him to the site where the vehicle descended to find any ground traces or remains. Contact has not been made with Roldán, as he went off to the state of Puebla and lacks a cellphone; we are waiting for him to return to point out the area and provide additional details.

During a phone conversation, Lic. Pérez remarked:” I went on Saturday with the Army to the place where the alleged impact occurred. All we found was somewhat odd sand. I later found out that National Defense was going to collect the sand for testing purposes.”

Moreover, Héctor Pérez points to an investigation that he and his friends conducted, clarifying a very important point: Where did the report of a 30-meter wide crater come from? “Ana Luisa, the report of the crater came from engineer Rubén López, who works for the State Regional Office of Hidalgo, located in Tulancingo. He stated that these were the words of residents of Las Puentes, and it turns out that the alleged crater is a hole o small lake with thermal water, emitting steam.”

(Translation (c) 2010, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Ana Luisa Cid)

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Book Review: INVASORES by Alejandro Agostinelli









INVASORES by Alejandro Agostinelli
Buenos Aires, Editorial Sudamericana, 2009
347 p., ISBN 978-950-07-3061-7

A book with a title like INVASORES (“The Invaders”) conjures up images of David Vincent pulling into an abandoned diner, rubbing his sleepy eyes, only to look up at the image of the archetypical flying saucer, all lights and strange sounds. But INVASORES is an conundrum: a book about the UFO phenomenon written by an acknowledged skeptic. But in Alejandro Agostinelli’s own admission, the skeptics somehow come out worse for wear in this important book.

For INVASORES is written lovingly, in a unique style that causes the reader to “see” the mythical, magical UFO landscape of Argentina in decades past. It isn’t a casebook or another book regarding claims of this alleged sighting or that alleged crash – it carefully examines the social, cultural and political underpinnings of Argentinean society during the turbulent, saucer-active decades of the 1970s, when colorful – if not downright bizarre – characters appeared on the national scene to claim alien contact or simply draw attention to themselves.

It can also be described as a two-act play: Act I looks back to the early days of the contactee era, which was as active in South America and Europe as it was in North America: groups of believers ascending to the heights of the tallest skyscraper in Buenos Aires to witness – at a date set by supposedly non-human intelligences – the maneuvers of an unidentified flying object; a gallery of fathers, sons and siblings involved in metaphysics, spiritism and nascent ufology, and an unbeatable touch of humor masterfully delivered by Agostinelli’s hand: a Russian mathematician involved in the time-honored practice of table-tipping, prone to giving the table a good kick. When reproved, he would reply: “These things are like cars. They must be primed first!”

The backdrop throughout the first act – the madness of the ‘70s – is Argentina’s unstable political situation: a rotation of governments, both military and civilian, and uncertain economy, and the quiet anguish of a population unsure of the next move. A situation ripe for charlatans and spectacular claims, such as those of Francisco Garcia, a septuagenarian, self-avowed half-human/Martian hybrid whose rantings about Earth’s involvement in a cosmic war between Mars and Jupiter would supposedly be made good by the arrival of the Martian fleet at the Chascomús Lagoon on August 20, 1973. When the event did not take place (a strategic redeployment by the Martian Admiralty?) a crowd of five thousand spectators turned on García, who was forced to beat a hasty retreat into the pages of contactee history.

The second act of INVASORES centers on more familiar fare: the Argentinean cattle mutilation wave of 2002, Valentina de Andrade's LUS saucer cult and its dissident member “Commander Clomro”, and the otherworldly amours of contactee Martha Green. While the book remains available only in Spanish, it offers interested readers a glimpse into the human frailties and hopes which, after all, are the backbone of what we call ufology.

INEXPLICATA rating: Five stars (* * * * *)

To read more about INVASORES, or to order a copy, please visit
http://invasores-ellibro.com.ar/

Friday, February 19, 2010

Argentina: UFO Activity Intensifies Over Magallanes












Source: El Pinguino (newspaper)
Date: 02.19.10


Argentina: UFO Sightings Intensify Over Magallanes

"Sightings of UFOs are frequent in this sector. Once we shut off our electric generator, the darkness is pitch black, allowing us to see the night skies clearly," says Ms. Oyarzún.

She says that she saw the last object around 12:30 a.m. as she walked past one of the windows of her home. "I went to get the cellphone and I saw a powerful flash of light in the sky. We generally see them at considerable heights, but this one was flying at an altitude of under 100 meters."

Ms. Oyarzún adds that she was able to take the pictures as her video camera is always ready to record any funny thing that her children might do.

"It struck me greatly to see it flying at such a low altitude. I'm aware of the subject, as I used to listen to Rodrigo Fuenzalida's radio show," said the woman.

Another sighting occurred around midnight yesterday: an anonymous caller reported the presence of a strange light visible from the San Miguel district. However, the sighting was brief and could not be recorded by the witnesses to the UFO.

(Translation (c) 2010, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Chile: A Rest Stop UFO?












Proof that there's no telling where or when an unidentified flying object will be seen and/or photographed: Our colleagues at Chile's IIEE have posted this image (from the "La Estrella de Arica" newspaper) dated February 17, 2010. It appears that fans of the San Marcos de Arica soccer team, on their way to Antofagasta for a match, paused their bus to relieve themselves -- oblivious to the object overhead.

(Special thanks to the IIEE)

Monday, February 15, 2010

Follow-Up on Mexico's Hidalgo Crash















According to authorities, the explosion phenomenon that occurred somehwere between the Mexican States of Puebla and Hidalgo last week remains -- to the disappointment of those claiming meteorites or alien spacecraft -- the result of reentry debris from a Russian satellite.

At 10:36 hours on February 12, the NOTIMEX news agency reported that scientist Fernando de la Peña determined that the remains of Cosmos 2421 crashed between the borders of the Puebla and Hidalgo. Miguel Angel Martínez, director of the Puebla-based Civil Protection System (SEPROCI) reported that authorities had swept the area following an alleged meteorite impact in the region, stating that reports had been received from Ahuazotepec, Puebla and Cuatepec, Hidalgo. However, no object had been located.

Moreover, NORAD reported that not meteorite falls had been detected in the confines of the states of Puebla and Hidalgo on Wednesday afternoon. Stacey Knott, a NORAD spokesperson, said "nothing was recorded in that region," adding that "we are not always monitoring all areas."

Police officers in Pachuca (Hidalgo) combed a wide area searching for an object reported as a "brilliant fireball" (El Universal, 02.12.10) without finding anything. Rita Hernández, a resident of Ventoquipa, observed: "I don't know how it happened. All I recall is hearing a powerful noise; my house shook and the doors and windows appeared to brake. My son woke up and ran out to the back yard, and I ran out behind him."

Marina Cruz of Metepec shares a similar story. "I was eating with my mom when a sudden loud noise [was heard]. We thought something had crashed. The windowpanes shook and the curtains lifted." She ran out to the street in fear, and looked up to the sky to see "a light lika a blowtowrch, and as I looked, I thought about the omens regarding the end of the world in 2012."

As of this writing (Monday, February 15, 2010) no further information is available from Mexican sources as to the nature of this event. INEXPLICATA will endeavor to report any discoveries of meteorite fragments or space junk, should these come to light.

BREAKING NEWS:

On Tuesday, February 16, 2010, INEXPLICATA received a message from Prof. Ana Luisa Cid regarding the Hidalgo Crash. NOVOSTI, the Russian news agency, published a communiqué from Alexandr Vorobiov, spokesman for the Russian Space Agency, denying that fragments of Cosmos-2421 had fallen on Mexican territory.

"The media reported that fragments of Russian satellite Cosmos-2421 fell over Mexico. When dealing with Russian spacecraft for civilian application, all of these remain in orbit. With regard to military satellites, the Ministry of Defense has not advised ROSCOSMOS of any incident whatsoever."

The Russian Ministry of Defense reports that military satellite Cosmos-2421 was disconnected and decomissioned after having experienced damage. The communiqué goes on to say that the satellite experienced a breakage of its solar cells after having collided with a small space object.

Costa Rica: UFOs and Volcanoes















Costa Rica: UFO Over the Turrialba Volcano
By Carlos Vargas Solano

As he does every morning, Carlos Valverde, a resident of Turrialba, turned on his computer and entered the website of the Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico (OVSICORI – Volcanic and Seismic Observatory) to see what was new with the volcano in his area. But on January 27 (2010), the image displayed on the webcam did not display the colossus – enshrouded in fog – but rather, a strange object passed in front of the camera and Valverde saved the image immediately.

OVSICORI installed the camera in early January and the image refreshes ever 10 seconds, displaying the active Turrialba Volcano. Just as the image refreshed on the screen, the strange object appeared. Valverde believes it to be a flying saucer.

The object appeared in a single image. Following updates did not show the strange oval mark. “The computer is in my room, and I always get up and load the page to see the volcano. That day the object drew my attention and I pressed the Copy Image function. Much has been said about seeing UFOs in the volcano, and upon watching the photo one thinks that it is like a flying saucer, a half-moon shape,” says Valverde. OVSICORI installed the camera to monitor the Turrialba Volcano’s behavior following an increase in activity and ash eruption.

The recorded image was sent to UFO photo analyst Edgar Picado Chacón, who claims that at first sight, the object must measure between 25 and 30 meters. “Given the object’s distance from the camera, some 600 meters from the crater, one could venture that it is a very large object. I will be performing some analyses and dismissing some theories. However, I do not see any evidence of photo manipulation. The pixels are contiguous; it cannot be a bird or a rock hurled from the volcano, because no trajectory is visible. Any object that passes in front of the camera leaves a trace, and none can be found in this case.”The expert says that one can speak in terms of a UFO, as it is a fact that the object was flying at the location. “I cannot tell you that its a vessel from somewhere, as that would be highly irresponsible on my part. But it is something very interesting that does not look like a bird in any respect. I have a video of an object leaving the Arenal Volcano and seeing this photo reminds me of its very similar shape,” he indicated. Picado adds that the image drew his attention and unlike other photos he has analyzed, it cannot be a flash of light, as the conditions displayed on that day show cloudy conditions. The expert says that he has received several reports of UFOs in the country’s various volcanoes.

(Translation (c) 2010, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

Argentina: Strange Activity Over the Paraná River











Source: Rosario 3 and Ovnipress.com
Date: 02.15.10


Argentina: Strange Activity Over the Paraná River

A resident of the city's downtown claims to have seen strange activity in the area of the islands. He said that that an unidentified flying object flew over the area. During a radio interview with Radio 2, Osvaldo (surname withheld) claimed seeing an object with red, white and green lights half an hour past midnight on Tuesday. The object flew over the riverine islands for a little over four minutes.

When interviewed by Ciro Seisas for the "A Diario" program, Osvaldo said that a series of strange motions in the sky drew his attention: "I was in bed, looking upward, and I saw something fly by. I told myself, what a strange airplane." However the aircraft's movement and a series of lights led him to suppose that no airplane was involved. "It had red, white and green lights that spun constantly."

According to this local resident, the strange event over the islands brought up the possibility of extraterrestrial life once again. The object "flew over the river in the vicinity of the islands, and descended, vanishing from sight a few minutes later," Osvaldo explained, asking that anyone else who saw the object to step forward and corroborate his claim. "I'm certain it wasn't an airplane."

Other locals claim having seen something strange, while others rejected the possibility that a UFO could be involved.

(Translation (c) 2010, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

UFOs: The Religious Approach









UFOs: The Religious Approach
By Scott Corrales

Toward the end of 2000, the faithful were stirred once more, this time in the Uruguayan city of Rosario, by an image of the Virgin that shed tears “running from her right eye down to her chin,” according to a report from the ANSA news agency. Most believers did not hesitate to qualify this event as “miraculous.”

The tears were discovered on the day of the Immaculate Conception, on the face of a statue kept within a glass box in a grotto. The story spread quickly throughout Rosario, and hundreds of faithful began making their way toward the location in the province of Colonia to see the manifestation. Among them was Monsignor Carlos Collazi, who advised caution and told the media:” the Church is always very prudent in such matters."

The artisan who had been entrusted with restoring the statue shortly before the “miracle” told reporters that his assignment had consisted mainly on repainting the venerated statue and at no time did it extend to any work on its features. The sculpture--the Virgin holding the baby Jesus in her left arm--was made of wood, but the faces on both figures' faces were coated in a porcelain-like substance. The artist did not hesitate to reject that this could be a case of "water coming out from within...” but that he couldn’t think of a rational explanation.”

A recent story gleaned off the Spanish news service EFE makes it seem as if religious apparitions are close to achieving a new "critical mass": José Arturo Céspedes, 15, from San José, Costa Rica, recently told the media that he is in regular contact with the Virgin Mary since 1990 and that She entrusts him with messages to be transmitted to the rest of the world. Catholic authorities have played the Costa Rican apparitions down. Msgr. Ramón Arrieta, Bishop of San José, has stated, in the fine tradition of religious authorities before him, that the young man experienced nothing more than "optical illusions". This declaration has not kept dozens of believers from visiting daily the barren expanse of terrain where Céspedes claims to speak to the Virgin--their fervor can be attested from the growing number of rosaries, personal items and prayer books deposited on a tree stump where the apparitions are said to occur.

The volume of apparitions is by no means diminishing. In May 1994, over ten thousand Argentinians gathered in the town of Rioja to see two images of the Virgin which have appeared on a church dome. Described as two triangular figures that can be clearly discerned on the shingles of San Fransisco Church, the parish priest nonetheless refuses to grant the images any credence, stating that they are merely rust and moisture stains caused by wear. In neighboring Brazil, the population of Louveira, Sao Paulo (Pop. 13,000) has been in commotion over a tearful statue of the Virgin--Our Lady of the Mystic Rose--which sheds tears on the thirteenth day of each month. Researchers from the University of Campiñas managed to collect over a hundred cubic centimeters of the fluid (enough to fill a small glass), who noted that if the usual explanation of liquid being released by the wooden statue were to be invoked, the amount of liquid produced could by no means exceed twenty cubic inches. "Physical hypotheses have been discarded as inadequate to explain this phenomenon," said medical chief Fortunato Bardan.

The stories have all the elements particular to other world-renown religious sightings: the adolescent boy or girl, the desolate location chosen by the entity, the ecclesiastical authorities' rebuff and the hordes of believers slowly making their way to a nearly-impenetrable location to pray to the apparition. From Tepeyac to Lourdes and from Fátima to Medjugorje, locations separated by space and time, the re-enactment remains the same. Will we soon be hearing about "miracle of the sun" in San José, Rioja or Louveira?

The strong resemblance between certain UFO contactee experiences and these religious apparitions has been the subject of a number of books by authors of international distinction, and the UFO dimension has been particularly evident in the more recent cases. In retrospect, we can see that it has been a major feature in the prior ones as well.

Vicka Ivankovic, one of the original experiencers of the Medjugorje apparitions, saw a completely white ball of light on the rocky hillside where the Virgin appeared. When she reported this detail of her sighting to her sister, she simply remarked: "That was a flying saucer." On the third evening of the sightings in June 1981, the six children who would become the central focus of the Medjugorje apparitions plus a thousand spectators who had climbed Podbro Hill witnessed an unexplained beam of brilliant light which passed three times over their village and the general area. According to the young percipients, this was the signal given by the Virgin to indicate where she would meet them. The light was seen by non-believers as well: two Communist social workers were nearly run off the road by the light, which they later saw illuminating the hill on which the apparitions were taking place.

Religious apparitions are not a proprietary feature of christianity, by any means. They have occured within some of humanity's major religions, and were quite common in the past. In ancient Greece and Rome, the Mysteries often culminated with the real or feigned apparition of a deity, and in certain temples, the deity would appear on a regular basis. We learn from a scroll of the Antonine Dynasty (97-196 A.D.) that the god of medicine, Aesculapius, routinely appeared to the faithful in his temple on an island in the middle of the Tiber. In the case of a doctor named Thesallus, Aesculapius reportedly said: "Lucky Thesallus, today you are honored by a god, and tomorrow by men, when they learn of your deed." The deity proceeded to reveal the secret of astrological botany (the culling of medicinal herbs according to the zodiac) to the astounded human, who went on to enjoy great success. For years, a thaumaturge from Asia Minor, Alexander Paphlagonicus, amazed the ancient world with Glyco, his human-headed "oracular serpent", which would materialize out of thin air.

Religious apparitions in later centuries tended to appear to embolden their armies in battle, as can be attested by the Blessed Virgin's manifestation during the battle of Covadonga, between Visigoths and Moors in 718. A sword-wielding horseman identified with the Prophet is said to have led many Muslim charges against the medieval christian forces. St. James routinely appeared to Spanish armies as late as the conquest of Mexico in 1521, although historical commentator Bernal Díaz says that he "wasn't pious enough to have witnessed it." And it is Mexico, ironically, where the first major apparition of the Blessed Virgin took place, initiating a series of nearly identical "contact" experiences which continues taking place even today.

Embellished by numerous retellings, the apparition of the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe still influences the belief of millions of contemporary worshippers. It differs from the more recent sightings in that its lone protagonist was not a child or adolescent, but a recently-converted man in his fifties named Cuauhtlatoatzin, immortalized by his baptismal name, Juan Diego. He received no special powers during his contact experience, no crowds gathered, and there was only one cure: his uncle Juan Bernardino, healed of a serious malady.

While traversing the barren hill of Tepeyac, a young woman appeared out of nowhere to Juan Diego, telling him to go to the Archbishop of Mexico to tell him that she desired a temple built for her on that very spot. When Juan Diego unsuccessfully tried to comply with her wishes, she ordered him to gather roses which bloomed at a site where nothing would grow, and to take them to the Archbishop as proof of whom she claimed to be. When Archbishop Zumárraga saw the fragrant Castillian roses, he witnessed a more incredible sight: the image of the Virgin had appeared on the inside of Juan Diego's cloak, which he had used to gather up the roses. It now hangs above the main altar of the Basilica erected on Tepeyac, as ordered by the apparition. There is an interesting sidebar to this story: The hill of Tepeyac had boasted a temple to Tonantzin, the Aztec mother-goddess, ruthlessly destroyed by one of Cortez's lieutenants. The stones of this demolished temple served to build the impressive Basilica which can be seen today.

But the apparitions go far beyond the oft-mentioned healings and apocalyptic prophecies. Some of the Virgin's apparitions--or at least her communiqués--have discussed the UFO phenomenon explicitly. Veronica Leuken, a "contactee" who delivers brief written messages from the Holy Virgin, issued one such specific instruction in the winter of 1973: "Many agents of Hell are now loosened upon the Earth, and they have their own means of transportation. Do not be deceived by the false theory that believes that life exists beside that of the Kingdom of Heaven. Satan is sending such vehicles before your eyes to decieve and confuse you. These objects flying in your atmosphere come from Hell. They are the false miracles of your age, and are not a product of Man's imagination."

The diabolical beings using the abovementioned conveyances are also described in Leuken's messages from the Virgin: "They are horrible to look at. Mostly they are small, have elongated eyes and long mouths. Their faces inspire fear. Some of them have something on their foreheads that is the color of silvery ash, a viscous thing that reminds one of death. They are repugnant."

Can we believe this to be a descripion of the "Greys" delivered in the early 1970's? The bulk of cases in the "Year of the Humanoids" (1973) featured an array of beings, but the contemporary Greys were not in evidence. Leuken continued delivering messages from the Virgin throughout the decade concerning the threat posed by UFOs. In another message dating back to February 1978, it was stated that "The UFOs which you admire come from the plane of Satan. They are false images that promote the mistaken notion that there is life on other planets. There is no life, as it was created only upon Earth. Satan creates many false miracles [...] They are the means of transportation of Hell, and can be found nowhere else."

This raises a few thorny issues, the foremost of them being that Ms. Leuken could simply be projecting her own fears and beliefs rather than those of a heavenly denizens. As has been stated elsewhere, the entities manifesting themselves through automatic writing tend to be inveterate liars or even if the message is bona fide, it could well turn out to be the "propaganda," for want of a better term, of one group of entities against another.

If the apparitions phenomenon dovetails so well with some of the paranormal explanations offered for UFOs, and UFOs and their occupants are indeed a negative influence, could the urgent tone of the Virgin's communications be interpreted as a warning from the Earth (or "Gaia") itself against these forces? Was Wilhelm Reich correct in assuming that UFOs represented malign energies? In his book Defendámonos de los dioses, Salvador Freixedo refers to so-called religious apparitions as a means by which entities living on a much higher evolutionary scale than our own manage to get certain "subtle energies" that they crave out of the human brain, and who manage to have their way with us by stimulating our need for the spiritual and posing as deities. Strong emotions like awe, fear, and excitement are released in the act of worshipping one of these apparitions, and in Freixedo's theory, serve the purposes of these highly evolved forces.

The late Andreas Faber Kaiser, author of Las Nubes del Engaño (The Clouds of Deceit), went as far as suggesting that the entire conquest of the Americas by a handful of armed Spaniards was logically impossible, and that divine apparitions played a major role in making the native cultures bow down to the invaders. Faber Kaiser provides several examples of intervention by a "force" with a vested interest in assuring the invaders' victory: in 1541, during the Spanish conquest of Chile by Pedro de Valdivia, the natives stormed a fort built by the invaders. According to a chronicle of the event sent to the King of Spain, an old man on a white horse materialized among the native ranks urging them to "run and hide, for these christians will slay you all!" The panic caused by the apparition was so great that the attackers fled. The chronicle goes on to state that the captured natives told the Spaniards that three days before the attack, "a comet" fell to the ground in their territory, and a beautiful lady all dressed in white emerged from it, telling them to "serve these christians and fight them not, for they are very brave and will kill you."

Lest it appear that we have strayed too far down the assumption-ridden paranormal garden path, it is perhaps worth remembering that our awe of religious apparitions, specifically those of the Blessed Virgin, have been exploited by the very real entities in our governments. In April 1982, while the world was distracted by the Falklands War, hundreds of Cubans witnessed a huge explosion of tremendous brilliance, which immediately gave way to an image of the Virgin suspended in the night sky. Reports that trickled out of Cuba stated that "Our Lady of Regla"--Cuba's patroness--carried neither cross nor Christ child in her arms, smiled beningly and was clad in a snow white mantle. Other reports indicated that while the image lasted only minutes, it was there long enough to be peppered with rifle fire by frightened sentries. The "holy" image's provenance was never determined, but the Cuban government blamed a hologram beamed by a U.S. submarine in Havana Bay. The display's purpose, ostensibly, was that of reanimating a superstition in the Cuban people's mind about the Virgin's appearances signalling an imminent change in government, such as the sightings of the Virgin in 1933 and 1958, which heralded the downfall of the Urrutia and Batista regimes, respectively.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Mexico: Cosmos 2421 Was The Culprit








Source: www.analuisacid.com
Date: 02.12.10


Mexico: Cosmos 2421 Was The Culprit

Prof. Ana Luisa Cid, following up on developments in the story of the "Hidalgo Crash", informed us today at 3:02 pm Eastern Time that the Mexican Space Agency (AEXA) has determined that "Cosmos 2421, a Russian naval reconnaissance satellite placed in orbit on June 25, 2006, broke up in February 2008 leaving 15 fragmetns. These fragments were catalogued by NORAD as space junk. An analysis of Fragment 33006 of Cosmos 2421 allowed its reentry to be predicted on February 10, 2010...."

Mexican television has carried the story as well. The video (in Spanish) can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBtFTtV6eMI

Visit the AEXA website at:http://www.aexa.tv/

Mexico: Airliners and "Unidentified Traffic"








Reports of encounters between Mexican aviation and unidentified flying objects are far from over, as we can see from today's message from Prof. Ana Luisa Cid.

"According to a report from Alfonso Salazar, a commercial airliner encountered an unidentified flying object over the Gulf of Mexico.

"The TCAS radar detected it for five (5) minutes, alerting the airliner's crew to the presence of unidentified traffic nearby. It followed them and maneuvered above them.

"[The airliner] involved was Magni Flight 774, flying between Mexico City and Cancún, registration number XA-MAI (Boeing 737-300)

"There were several reports of encounters between UFOs and airliners in the skies over Mexico during the month of January."

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jokOhV0uEjA

(Translation (c) 2010 S.Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Ana Luisa Cid, www.analuisacid.com)

Mexico: What Crashed in Hidalgo?













INEXPLICATA recieved a message yesterday morning from Contributing Editor Ana Luisa Cid regading the collision of an unexplained object in the state of Hidalgo (central Mexico) -- initial excitement over an "extraterrestrial" event was replaced with more conservative comments about "Soviet-era space junk", "meteorites" and even "an explosion in a local mine"

News items received today read thus: "Meteorite allegedly left a hole 30 meters in diameter and caused houses and buildings to shake in five municipalities of Hidalgo and Puebla.

At 18:30 hours on Wednesday, [February 10, 2010] a light accompanied by a powerful rport caused homes and buildings to shake throughout five municipalities in [the states of] Puebla and Hidalgo. The event was attributed to a meteorite impact.

The thunderous impact was heard in Ahuazotepec and Huachinango, communities in Puebla, as well as in Tulancingo, Cuautepec and Metepec, in the state of Hidalgo.

According to latest reports, the meteorite caused a bridge to collapse in the municipality of Cuautepec (Hidalgo) without any material or human losses reported.

State Civil protection reported that emergency phone lines collapsed due to the number of frightened citizens asking for an explanation about what was going on, after the detonation caused windows to shatter.

The agency's director, Miguel Garcia Conde, said that flight logs were checked at airports when the report was received, out of concern for an airplane crash, however "there was no report regarding a loss of communication with any airliner."

Military units cordoned off the area where the 30-meter hole was found - produced by the meteor impact - as oil pipelines belonging to PEMEX cross the area.

(Translation (c) 2010, S. Corrales. Special thanks to Ana Luisa Cid and El Economista.com.mx)

Of course, only minutes after posting this news item to the site, a message rejecting the "meteorite" theory was received - and rejecting the affirmations that a 30-meter hole was proof of the impact.

The following was reported by Publicaciones NorOeste - México (http://www.noroeste.com.mx/publicaciones.php?id=556316) and reads thus:

Intrigue Over "Space Junk"
What fell in Hidalgo was neither a UFO nor a meteorite (02.12.2010)



MÉXICO (UNIV) -- Scientists consider that it was either a bolide or the remains of a satellite. To many, it was a smokescreen employed by the government to levy new taxes, or even a crashed UFO that is now in the hands of NASA. Ufologist Jaime Maussán took it all very seriously and sent a reporter to the area to commence "an investigation" to be presented on his Sunday "Tercer Milenio" program.

The stories agree that the "fireball" allegedly witnessed by residents of municipalities in Hidalgo and Puebla had a cosmic origin. However, it was impossible to record it or photograph it. The bolide crossed the atmosphere in fractions of a second. A loud sound was heard first, followed by a reddish light. Thousandths of seconds later, no one knew what became of it.

When advised of these reports, Daniel Flores, a researcher for the UNAM Astronomical Institute and an expert in space debris and meteoritics, said that the so-called "fireball" has all the traits of a bolide, that is to say, a mass of cosmic matter than, as it moves between the planets, eventually crosses the atmosphere in a matter of seconds without reaching the ground, unlike meterorites that do crash.

News of the fireball sighting, followed by an explosion recorded on Wednesday afternoon in Tulancingo del Valle, Hidalgo, y Ahuazatepec, Puebla caused elements of the fire departments and Civil Protection agencies to mobilize. The rumor caused Miguel Garcia Conde, Director of Civil Protection in Hidalgo, to complain about having spent 24 sleepless hours over what he qualified as a "very serious error by the media" since the object was dubbed a meteorite.

The so-called "fireball" gave rise to all manner of speculation on the Internet. 24 hours after residents saw the bolide, the news item already had 140,000 links on the Google search engine.

Speculation was rife: that it had left a crater 30 meters in diameter and that the army was unable to find the enormous hole produced. Others concluded that it was a rumor similar to that of the "Chupacabras"


(Translation (c) 2010, S. Corrales. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO Publicaciones NorOeste)

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Jacques Bergier - Guest Blogger














I would like to think that Jacques Bergier - always on the cutting edge of experimental science and though - would find some humor in seeing himself referenced as a "guest blogger" on a minor weblog. Some of INEXPLICATA's younger readers may not remember Bergier, or have read Le Matin des Magiciens, the cornerstone of the paranormal revolution of the 1960s. Bergier's thought process influenced millions, serving perhaps as sort of mental lubricant that allowed the hinges of the mind to open to new and outrageous possibilities - scientific, social, mystical and magical.

In 1992, the late Ron Bonds of Illuminet Press considered publishing my translation of Bergier's La Guerre Secréte de L'Occulte (The Secret War of the Occult), but desisted from the project. We offer our readers a chapter of the translation (no copyright violation intented - this is purely for purposes of study and admiration) that reappeared decades later on a diskette. Enjoy thewisdom of Jacques Bergier!


A Mental Wasteland or a Psi Paradise?
By Jacques Bergier

In the spring of 1978, as this book is written, ten years after "Prague Spring", it is natural to state in Paris that Czechoslovakia is hell, "a mental Biafra". This may seem a bit extreme, since no one is being executed there and no concentration camps have been set up. The greater part of the regime's critics do not speak a word of Czech and are unable to read what is published there. For example, they are unaware of the book Hledame Kosnicke Civilizace by Karel Tacner (Prague: Kotva). This work, whose title translates as "A Study of Cosmic Civilizations", is the best in the world on this subject both in text and illustrations. I could quote a dozen books of similar importance published in 1978 alone.

But what interests me foremost is that in the area of the occult, Czechoslovakia has had a great number of experimental discoveries. Toward 1973, the first congress of what the Czechs call "Psychotronics" was held in Prague. Furthermore, investigation into this field is authorized; researchers can be easily questioned and photographed, as is the case with Karel Drbal, Robert Pavlita, Jana Pavlitova-Zapadlova and Zdenek Rejdak. The patents of their inventions can be consulted without any problem. If their hypotheses are confirmed and if their applications become numerous, the Socialist bloc then has a significant advantage over the capitalist bloc, given its tight-fisted control over Czechoslovakia, to the extent that it has been in Prague that Brezhnev has chosen to give his most important speeches.

What discoveries are these? We shall begin with those by Pavlita, which are analogous to those by Volta in the late 18th century, and which still remain unexplained. Just as Volta demonstrated that two threads of different metals produced, when joined, an energy capable of making dead frogs move, and more so, the effects of static electricity, Pavlita has discovered that metallic objects produce energy under certain conditions, such as the metals being well-defined and the generator having a given shape.

To begin with, Pavlita is a textile engineer. He has been awarded several patents and has demonstrated close to 70 generators that can attract and reject matter or make it spin. One of them can make an aluminum wheel spin within a copper ring--in other words, all that is needed is to hook the wheel to a dynamo to produce free, non-polluting electricity. But where does this energy come from? According to Pavlita and his aides, among them his own daughter, the great principle of energy conversion, the most fundamental of thermodynamic laws, has not been violated. They do not claim to have achieved perpetual motion, which has always been considered impossible.

So then, does the energy come from matter, from the cosmos, or from the experimenter's own nervous system? The question still remains unanswered. In any case, it is a task rich with potential: one of Pavlita's assistants has stated that he could get extra mileage after having exposed his car's gasoline to a generator. I myself obtained an identical response when I introduced lithium hydride into fuel in 1938, an experiment that regrettably had to be interrupted.

Three explanations are possible. There is always a fourth--fraud, which has been excluded by all those who have known Pavlita, among them American researchers Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder. We would be dealing with the disintegration of matter, a hypothesis which is difficult to prove experimentally: if a generator weighing many kilograms lost a milligram a year, it would be enough to supply energy to the phenomena observed, and it is hardly measurable. Said lose of weight could be a factor of rust or surface reduction. But if some kilos of steel, copper or aluminum, arranged in a particular way, provided an indefinite supply of energy to move an electric car, light or heat a home, it would cause an unprecedented technical revolution and our entire civilization would be transformed.

The second possible explanation is that neutralization, interrupted by cosmic energies, would tend toward equilibrium by nature. Such a theory appears to confirm in various experiments carried out in the past by the German scientist Oscar Korschelt and by the American, Cameron, in which, by using metallic bobbins and coils, it would be possible to produce energy without any external force. This research has been properly verified, and Korschelt himself has been granted German patent #69340 in the post-war numeration. Experiments of the sort conducted in France have shown in the same manner that without an external energy source the bobbins can produce an energy field, creating radiation. I am not certain about this. Mathematician Jaroslav Mrkvicka is currently developing a theory about Pavlita generators.

The last possible explanation would state that the experimenter himself produces the effects of the Pavlita generator. Czech and Soviet researchers have created the term "bioplasma" to this effect, in order to designate a very unusual gas, consisting of polarized particles, surrounding every living being. The existence of "bioplasma" has never been proven in the laboratory. This third explanation, while not containing quite as many practical applications, would revolutionize parapsychology, since a Pavlita generator could instantly measure the psychokinetic potential of an individual.

After the experiments of Galvani and the implementation of the Volta battery, Benjamin Franklin supposed that the energy released was similar to that of lightning, and Cavendish went even further. Ultimately, the electromagnetic theory and the electron would take care of satisfactorily explaining the phenomenon, but technological creations such as electric lighting and the electric motor do not hold to such explanations. Will this be the case with the Pavlita generator? As far as he is concerned, Pavlita believes that setting these devices in motion requires a catalyst provided by the inventor's will, and he believes in starting them up by touching them or just looking at them. The weakness of all inventors is to believe that their presence is indispensable to insure the proper operation of their device. The history of technology is filled with similar anecdotes. Everything will be clarified when large-scale generators are built after the findings have been published.

Going back to Galvani and Volta, it is well known that metals contain a gas--electron gas--whose density varies according to the metal, and that a bit of electricity can be produced by joining a copper thread with an iron one. The results are better if a bit of acid is used to oxidize the metal, and that is the source of the different chemical batteries that we use for our flashlights. Meanwhile, the easiest way to produce electricity, suggested by Ampere and suggested by Gramme, consists in making a metal wheel spin inside a magnetic field. This is the method we still use to get the electricity that gives us light, only that sometimes the wheel is powered by a steam turbine, heated by atomic energy. It is possible that Pavlita will manage to produce an equally simple source of energy. One hundred and fifty years have been necessary to develop the electric industry, the electrochemical industry and the electronic and nuclear industries, starting from the superimposed metals of Volta and Galvani. Our means of investigation are faster today, and it would be possible to create a Pavlita industry in fifteen years or so. The energy crisis would then not just become a bad memory--we would see electric vehicles on the streets, and all methods of travel, including space, would undergo a vast transformation.

Another case that merits our attention is that of Karel Drbal. He plainly justifies, in my opinion, Chesterton's immortal phrase: "Life's most sublime lesson is that fools are often right". This learned engineer has paused to study what many have taken to be a typical example of foolishness: pyramid power. After many centuries, there are still some nuts preaching about the magical virtues of the Egyptian pyramids, believing that by placing any object within a pyramidal structure it becomes possible to interrupt the rotting process of organic matter, make oxidation disappear from metal surfaces and transform chemical substances. Foremost among these researchers was Antoine Bovis, who placed a dead cat within a scaled down pyramid and managed to mummify it. Before his death, Bovis wrote a book published in 1913, which attracted Drbal's attention.

Drbal verified all of Bovis' discoveries and was able to see for himself, as he said, how rust faded from spent razor blades. In 1959, he obtained Czech patent # 91304, and Drbal's pyramids began to sell in Czechoslovakia, the United States, and all over the world. They were made of either cardboard or plastic. Many took an interest in them, even Marshall McLuhan's son, Eric. Other researchers have managed to obtain similar results as far as the dehydration of substances and the growth of semiconductor crystals, but the vast majority obtained nothing at all.

Later on, Drbal replaced his pyramids for a beam of green light emanating from a laser. According to his claims, identical results were obtained: interruption of fermentation and the stabilization of certain chemical reactions. Some of his conclusions have been gainsaid by others, which means nothing, since all major scientific, physical, chemical and biological experiments have been replicated by researchers who found nothing at all, as was the case with Michelson and Morley, which was the springboard for Einstein's theory, whose research was declared null and void by hundreds of publications. (No discussion of the pyramids, incidentally, would be complete without mentioning my friend François le Lionnais' statement, which is the most beautiful revelation of the secret of the pyramids: "The pyramid's very shape tells us that, in Ancient Egypt as well as today, builders worked less every time").

The concept that the shape of a structure can produce effects akin to energy, regardless of the material it's made of, comes straight from occultism without a doubt. This idea is not entirely absurd. It is enough to see that shape does play a role in clearly scientific structures, such as that of radio telescope, for instance. Other shapes can apparently modify or suppress the reception of microwaves, so its effects could have military value. German scientist Ottmar Stehle, with NASA, devotes himself to the study of pyramids on the generation and interruption of radio waves. In Czechoslovakia, there exists the study of natural structures where radio waves cannot be broadcast, such as the Arabian deserts and Brazil. All of the Czech researchers agree that the material substance is not important, and they delve into all kinds of forces produced by different shapes: cones, pyramids...

Other Czech researchers have taken an interest in obtaining antigravity through the use of a particular shape. Pavlita has already demonstrated the effects of attraction and repulsion between metal objects submerged in water. One such application is that the force field produced is converted into ultrasounds that move the metallic object. For this very reason, it becomes necessary to build an entire net of detectors for the radiations known to science and for others that remain hitherto undiscovered. This is how, in 1970, another Czech émigré in the U.S., Jan Merta, created a detector that can pick up the energy emitted by a subject producing a psi effect. The UNESCO magazine Impact provides copious details on this, in an issue devoted to paranormal phenomena, as well as in the important Handbook of Psychic Discoveries, by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, published by Berkeley Medallion, U.S.A. The totality of Czech research goes toward the detection and eventual utilization of non-electrical, chemical or nuclear energies that exist around us. In my opinion, I believe that theoretically, what we have come to know as electricity, electromagnetism and nuclear energy can also manifest themselves under guises that remain unknown to us.

A Czech scientist wrote me to say that he had obtained results worthy of an alchemist's interest: if the large-scale transmutation of elements by simple procedures became a reality, this would allow the industrial transmutation of radioactive wastes into non-radioactive substances, making the development of nuclear energy a lot easier and compensating for the horrors of a nuclear accident. Even the effects of a neutron bomb bombardment could conceivably be neutralized. And, without a doubt, we would see the inception of nuclear powered cars. I will pause here to make a few technological explanations: atoms, like electrons, possess wave properties. This great idea by Louis du Broglie allowed my cousin George Gamov and Professor Edward U. Condon, who later attempted to demonstrate the non-existence of UFOs and explain natural radiation to me. This is the same wave effect that causes the electron cloud surrounding the atomic nucleus to penetrate it in a certain way. This permits nuclear reactors to be influenced by chemical means, a fact that has been confirmed in recent years. Centuries ago, the alchemists maintained, contrary to official science, that it was possible to transmute elements based on chemical reactions. Recently, Dr. Novak has discovered a catalyst in this type of phenomena, possibly what alchemists referred to as the "Philosophers' Stone". Bear in mind that a catalyst is a substance that brings about a reaction and remains intact after the reaction has taken place. It exists in nuclear chemistry, such as the carbon that permits the Sun to function and the mobile mesotron that facilitates the transmutation of hydrogen. Dr. Novak has also managed the transmutation of sodium into beryllium, the basic compound of emeralds. This transmutation is a true achievement of alchemy, more so than changing lead into gold.

The alchemical method of transmutation in principle allows the experimenter to work with large quantities of matter. Atomic waste, on the other hand, consists of low-energy radioactive byproducts, but even so, their half-life is longer and they are dangerous is brought into contact with the human body.

If a catalyst similar to Dr. Novak's were discovered in liquid form, it could transform the radioactive product into a stable isotope, totally harmless, and the release of energy would then be very weak--a fraction of its power. Military applications are clearly evident, but the civilian ones aren't quite so obvious: it is possible to set a car in motion with atomic waste originating from a power plant. It would suffice to vent the radiation of these wastes into the air, which would produce hydrazine upon contact with atmospheric nitrogen and air humidity. Hydrazine can be burned in an internal combustion engine and power a car much like gasoline: as it burns, it would produce air and water vapor. The nuclear industry would be overjoyed to be thus relieved of its wastes.

The hitch is that those wastes are radioactive. In the event of a head-on car crash in Place de la Concorde, it would become necessary to evacuate all of Paris, or to find a means of neutralizing the radiation immediately. This is where alchemy steps in.

I remember that Louis Pawels and I obtained a prize in 1975 for the best European TV drama, entitled Le Président Faust, in which the consequences of a similar discovery were described: Faust had reached the presidency of a multinational conglomerate in our times, and his counselor, Mephisto, suppressed the application of the alchemical product that the conglomerate was about to acquire in order to keep mankind suffering from energy crises and oil wars.

I shall not discuss here other applications of the occult that have been formulated in Czechoslovakia, such as a means for birth control that requires no pills or devices. It simply uses the natural rhythms of astrobiology, with statistically significant results.

The chapter closes on a question: why this concentration of amazing discoveries in Czechoslovakia only? The regime's adversaries will say that the wretched inhabitants of that country study the occult in order to escape the persecution that they are subjected to. This reasoning is obviously ridiculous--if it were true, we would be witnessing a prodigious display of scientific and technical developments in the land of Idi Amin Dada. I am aware that my explanation will disturb the most obtuse rationalists, those of the rationalist "union", for if we were discussing genuine rationalism, I would promptly enlist in their ranks. I believe that we are dealing with a genius locii, as the streets of Prague still contain the magic and alchemy practiced in that land for centuries.

Uruguay: Alleged UFO Over Atlántida







What are we to make of these photos of so-called "invisible UFOs" (anomalous objects not apparent to the photographer at the time the photo was taken)?

On the one hand, they are held up as proof of alien visitation; on the other, decried as blurry shots of local avian life. Only one thing is for sure: we haven't seen the last of such images.

Today's photo, courtesy of Luis Burgos of the FAO and his team (http://ciencia-ovni.blogs) was taken by Graciela Aguirre on January 27, 2010 on the Atlántida coastal road in Uruguay -- on the opposite side of the River Plate from Argentina.

A bird? A plane? Superman? You decide.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Mexico: UFOs over Iztapalapa















Contributing editor Ana Luisa Cid writes: "On January 21, 2010 Mr. Alfredo Mosco recorded a shape-shifting flying object over San Miguel Iztapalapa, to the east of the Mexican capital.

"This is the first time that the witness has recorded a video of this nature. He was in the company of his wife, in-laws and a 5-year-old niece. He claims having seen the object for over 30 minutes at noon.

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8-uYXRfcac

"On that same date, another person from a neighboring community recorded something similar at 4 o'clock in the afternoon: it was Daniel Sánchez, a respected attorney and skywatcher."

(Translation (c) 2010, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Prof. Ana Luisa Cid)

Thursday, February 04, 2010

High Strangeness at Punta Indio



























High Strangeness: Incident at Punta Indio
An Interview by Proyecto CATENT

{Arguments over which government has information on nuts-and-bolts spacecraft have kept us from paying attention to the overwhelming incidence of high strangeness events around the world. Perhaps it is easier to demand action from something we know all too well, and love to hate – our planet’s political establishment – than to take a long, hard look at cases that clearly show the presence of superhuman (or perhaps supra-human) forces at work in our midst. Since these events are not quantifiable, and are usually dismissed as part of the journalistic “silly season” (which no longer exists, in a 24-hour media cycle), they are relegated to less-distracting fields, such as folklore, cultural anthropology, etc. But when “folklore” materializes before the eyes of sober witnesses, or wanders into town, we ought to take a closer look at the matter.

This is precisely the subject of the following article/interview from our colleague Carlos Iurchuk’s El Dragón Invisible journal. Not enough can be said about Iurchuk’s work in the field of the paranormal and ufology, and his publication has become a safe haven for narratives that do not easily fit into the accepted paradigms. While the events occurred in 1990, they are no less fresh or relevant today – S. Corrales
]


Punta Indio, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date: February 1990
Location: Punta Indio, El Descanso Recreation Area
Witnesses: Emilio Cabot, Marcelo, Graciela and Nancy. Their surnames are unknown.
Research done by Proyecto CATENT


Transcript of the Interview conducted by researchers Mariela Verónica de Tomaso, Miguel Angel González Pombo and Claudio Miszka, members of Proyecto CATENT.

Q: When this did occur?
A: February 1990, at Punta Indio, the El Descanso recreational area. I belonged to an institute where I studied Parapsychology and the instructor was also a guide to metaphysical groups. He told us to start practicing mediation and that he...this was in 1989...and that the next year we would get together with other groups. And so it was. We had our first experience in December 1989 at Monte Grande, and that’s where the February 1990 date was set. A large group from San Miguel which, according to his statements, was very experienced in matters metaphysical and turned out to be exactly the opposite.

We arrived in the morning. There were six of us riding in a car. Then the entire group came in a microbus and got lost, arriving at 1800 hours more or less. We camped there, and we took the most favorable spot, having arrived first. Allegedly, one Roberto Mota brought Zulma Faiad there, along with a bunch of other contactees. Well, we got together, the microbus arrived, and we were some 40-50 people. A presentation was held and we meditated at 12 midnight. It was also said that after meditation, we were going to see a supposedly submerged city in the River Plate – a dome of light that emerged after midnight. We meditated, and as we did so, we heard [a sound] like footsteps behind us. We were seated in a large circle, some 30 meters from the river. They told us that they were gnomes – that the entire area was full of gnomes. After we emerged from meditation, and after seeing the dome of light over the river, around 1 a.m., that submerged ethereal city in the River Plate, four of us – two girls and a fellow from Temperley: Marcelo, Graciela and I think Nancy, from Lanús – sat down to chat about our experiences and Marcelo said: “Look at those four little eyes over there.”
We’d seen a lot of loose animals in the area – cows, dogs – and thought they were dogs. We raised our flashlight and projected... and saw two gnomes. Old, dressed in Dutch-fashion and we were startled. We stood up, and when we stood up, they ran behind a bush there, and it seemed that they dove in headfirst. That was our impression that they dived behind the bush headfirst. We took a look and there was absolutely nothing there.

Q: What color was their clothing.
A: Dutch-style, old fashioned.
Q: Color?
A: Can’t remember well. They were two old men.
Q: Did they wear boots?
A: Grey belted trousers with a large buckle. That drew my attention, the broad, large belt.
Q: Could you see a hat or hair on their heads?
A: They wore something like a top hat, you know, those top hats.
Q: Were they bearded?
A: No, they weren’t. They had wrinkled faces. But...seeing them...I still recall...made me feel peaceful. I was startled, but seeing that entity (sic) made me feel tranquil.
Q: Were you afraid?
A: Not at all. From the moment we went, we ran to the bushes.
Q: How did they move? Did they run, walk...?
A: They ran. When we lit them up at a distance of 10 meters, they ran, but we had the impression that they dove headfirst, or else vanished at that moment. That was our impression.
Q: And when you lit them with the flash light, did all four of you see them?
A: Yes, we had three flashlights between us. I had a large flashlight. We lit them up right there, you see.
Q: What did you say among yourselves later on?
A: We remarked that it was rather surprising to see them. Then I learned that another fellow from San Miguel took a photo of the group the next day and a female gnome could be seen on one of the trees. She was also dressed in Dutch fashion, sitting on a tree-limb, watching.
Q: Did you see this photo?
A: No, the guy didn’t want to display it.
Q: What were their eyes like?
A: Normal, like those of a human being. What was remarkable is that they stood out in the dark.
Q: When they ran, could you hear the footfalls?
A: No.
Q: No sound at all?
A: No, I saw them run, but I can’t tell you for sure.
Q: Was the speed normal?
A: Yes.
Q: What was it you saw in your earlier experience?
A: A very large dome of light that appeared to have buildings silhouetted inside it. There was a dot of light going from one tip of the dome to the other, constantly. The dome was moving to the right, southward. We could see it for over an hour.
Q: How far away was it?
A: Twenty or thirty kilometers into the river.
Q: Did you associate the beings with the dome?
A: Both appeared at the same time.
Q: What was your meditation like?
A: The meditation...well, people sat in a circle with a guide that asks for protection, and the purpose is to empty your mind and seek your inner self.
Q: Was it independent or guided?
A: Independent. At the end of the meditation, everyone told his or her own experience and at that moment, someone looked at the river, saw the dome and shouted.
Q: Could there have been some suggestion on the part of the guide?
A: Suggestion came in later meetings. Everything’s a bit premeditated. My experience and the conclusion that I reached from all this is that it’s all mental manipulation. I came to the group due to a parapsychology course I was taking.
Q: Do you think that seeing these gnomes could be related to the mental manipulation?
A: No, no, no. The manipulation is with regard to the cult similarity, asking you disassociate yourself. I got involved to see what it was like to practice mind control and meditation, and to know what a metaphysical group was about. The experience was overall positive, because I realized to the extent that you can be controlled and the point to which they can make you believe you’re seeing things. The group broke up in ’92 or ’93.
Q: What do you think the vision of the city could have been?
A: several groups, not only that one, saw it. Many saw it.
Q: Is the coast of Uruguay visible from there?
A: No, not at all. The three times I went there, I saw the dome and no lights on the Uruguayan coast.
Q: What was the weather like that night?
A: An awesome night. Calm and starry. It was February.
Q: You had dinner that day...did you make any special preparations?
A: No. [...] we had meat and drank beer. They asked us not to eat meat 24 hours before and refrain from drinking. I paid no attention and had the experiences all the same.
Q: Are you afraid to go back to the are?
A: No, not at all. I want to go back.
Q: Were the other three witnesses afraid?
A: No, not in the least.
Q: One or two beings?
A: Two beings.
Q: Were they boys? (laughter)
A: Yes, yes.
Q: And you never returned?
A: Three times.
Q: Did you see anything else?
A: No. The second time we saw the dome again, in stormy weather, and the third time nothing at all.
Q: Why weren’t you afraid?
A: Speaking for myself, I don’t know what it is to be afraid. I’ve been in this for 30 years and when they tell me something odd is happening, I dive right in. I’ve had to be stopped.

(End of Interview)

Once again, an entirely reliable account about a nonsensical experience that would be utterly unbelievable for most people. Beings that do not, and cannot exist, yet appear in the middle of the night. They are seen by four people within the context of an experience with certain mystical overtones, yet the fact is that in other cases, the witnesses were people on their way to work and with their minds on quotidian affairs. Just as they suddenly appeared, they disappeared with similar alacrity, absurdly, jumping behind small shrubs that were quickly examined by witnesses without finding any traces whatsoever.

We returned to the exact spot with Emilio some months ago, and had a nocturnal watch at the very same location: a desolate riverine expanse Magdalena, which doesn’t even have a paved access road. The existing one is covered in riprap and is in poor condition. We saw nothing strange in spite of being in a suggestive state by the story and the recreation of the events by our interviewee. We did not the gnomes, or the dome in the middle of the River Plate. But we ascertained that in a place like that, anything whatsoever could appear without anyone ever finding out.

(Translation (c) 2010, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Carlos A. Iurchuk, El Dragón Invisible http://dragoninvisible.com.ar/ and Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO)

Monday, February 01, 2010

An Asymmetrical Relationship: The Chilean Military and Ufology
















An Asymmetrical Relationship: The Chilean Military and Ufology
By Raul Nunez, IIEE

The oft-commented relationship between Ufology and the Military has always been a subject of conversation worldwide. It is hardly a mystery that this relationship has always been marked by mutual mistrust, except for honorable exceptions that always prove the rule, and show us that some military men have indeed paid special attention to the subject of UFOs and have even taken the chance to make public comments to the displeasure of their superiors. In Chile the CEFAA (Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos) led by Gen. Ricardo Bermudez (Ret.) and General Luis Henriquez (Ret.) strove for mutual cooperation between researchers and the military. The reality is that there's been very little progress in deciphering the large number of UFO cases in this country. It should be added, at this point, that there has been a great decline in the phenomenon since December 2004. Perhaps one of the causes for this have been grotesque photos of alleged ET s and similar elements that have made the phenomenon disreputable in Chile. As of mid-2009, there has been an increase in sightings in many parts of the world.

There is mistrust on the part of official, governmental and military organizations toward persons who dub themselves “ufologists”, making it clear that the latter have never measured up to the circumstances by giving priority to television projects and pointless bickering between organizations that have never achieved concrete results. Many of these ufologists still believe that the Chilean military, or dependencies of these official bodies, are going to give them “confidential” information regarding the secrets of Chile’s enormous UFO case histories. Anyone entertaining such thoughts is deluded. Regarding this, former Spanish ufologist Juan José Benitez (known worldwide thanks to his science-fiction novels) has said more than once that former dictator Augusto Pinochet provided him with privileged information on the case known worldwide as the “Corporal Valdés case” – all this before the very noses of “long-suffering” Chilean ufologists who are supposedly trying to clear up these manipulated events. As of late 2005, matters remain much the same. Statements are made about the wonders of CEFAA, yet little or nothing is known about the ufologists. As for Corporal Valdés, we are well aware of his latest “cosmic and mystical” endeavors for some time now (See NOUFA, October 13, 2009)

At this point, it should be noted that journalist Patricio Abusleme has taken on the Valdés Case as a personal challenge. He has visited the place where the events took place in the company of Corporal Valdés himself, and has unraveled some myths that had emerged around the case, and we only have to wait for this project to be published in the near future, and hopefully the information will be available to more than just a few. In the meantime, we are still waiting for a book by Corporal – now a civilian – Armando Valdés Garrido.

The purpose of the foregoing is to illustrate the environment in which the UFO community exists with its eternal arguments. We can only believe that there “is no real conviction about reaching the end of the so-called UFO phenomenon” and everything else is superfluous and is only fodder for the press, and used by others to promote themselves on TV screens and other media outlets.

Who’s to blame for all this? Shared responsibility. Moreover when the subject of ufology worldwide is in the hands of non-specialized communication media and people who are unprepared for a real study of the phenomenon. If we add to this the almost non-existent budget available for such projects, little can be asked from it, much less transparency in actions of this sort. These projects are generally hobbled from the start, and only the enthusiasm and passion of some people leads to small achievements in very specific matters.

Finally, we must remember that the CEFAA (Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos) announced its return to the scene in December 2009. Given its prior performance, this announcement did not inspire much confidence in the national UFO community. One always must expect second efforts to be better than the first, particularly from errors committed along the way. Only time will tell.

(Translation (c) 2010 S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Raul Núñez)

Mexico: UFOs and the Presidential Airplane















Prof. Ana Luisa Cid sends us a very interesting photo, courtesy of researcher and aviation mechanic Alfonso Salazar. She writes:

"Another important item involving UFO and aircraft - and which was recently given to me - is a photo taken by Mr. Fausto Abaroa, who explains: "The photo shows a Boeing 757-200, Registration TO-01 (Presidential Transport 01). It was taken around 2 in the afternoon as the aircraft approached Mexico City for a landing along the San Mateo air corridor and over the Torres de Satélite (located in the state of Mexico). In my opinion, this is a highly valuable document of great worth, as it shows the Mexican presidential airplane next to a UFO. The image was taken last year, as President Felipe Calderón returned from a visit to the Caribbean."

(Translation (c) 2010 S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Prof. Ana Luisa Cid)