Editor: Joseph Trainor
This week we’ve got two UFO landing stories, both from South America, but first let’s see what’s happening in the USA.
LARGE, SLOW-MOVING FIREBALL SEEN IN UPSTATE NEW YORK
On Saturday, May 25, 1996, at 10:45 p.m., a couple parked on the outskirts of Lyons Falls, New York spotted a “large fireball” in the sky.
“It was pretty impressive,” the male witness said. “It took about 25 seconds to cross the sky, moving from east to west. It was kind of a dull yellowish-white.”
Lyons Falls is on Route 12, just west of the Adirondack Mountains, approximately 36 miles northwest of Utica.
Note: Conventional meteors are visible for only 5 to 10 seconds. The Lyons Falls “fireball” was visible for twice the maximum time.
SEVEN MYSTERIOUS WHITE LIGHTS IN SONOMA, CALIFORNIA
On Sunday, May 12, a man out walking at 1:30 p.m. in Sonoma, California looked up and spotted seven white lights hovering in the clear blue sky. He described them as “a cluster of about seven yellowish-white lights hanging motionless in the air a good distance away. They were arranged like seven coins might look in your hand, some overlapping the others.”
Near the lights the witness saw “a deep red light that was very active and bounced around a lot. It also had a silver sheen to it. Then it started moving, still bouncing, towards me.”
The red-and-silver UFO “got to within a block” of the witness. At that distance, it seemed “to be about the size of a baseball. At that point, I got very nervous. I wasn’t ready for any spaceship rides.”
The red-and-silver UFO zipped away, and the lights winked out at about 1:45 p.m. Sonoma is on Highway 12, just north of San Pablo Bay and twenty miles west of Travis Air Force Base.
THREE DAYLIGHT DISCS CAVORT OVER MASSACHUSETTS
On Saturday, April 27, 1996, at approximately 6 p.m., a man standing on the eastern shore of the Quabbin Reservoir, just west of Petersham, Massachusetts, spotted three UFOs in the sky over the huge man-made lake.
“I saw them moving in a circular, sweeping sort of motion,” the man said. “They made no noise and produced only a brightening light that seemed to silhouette them against the sky.” At first “the UFOs appeared as lines in the sky,” he added, “but by their appearance I judged them to be flat or concave in shape. The area (of flight) was west of my position looking over the Quabbin. The objects were moving at what I would say was 30 miles per hour in a north-south rotation, switching directions in the air. I watched them for about five minutes until the objects zipped over the (Berkshire) hills to the west.”
MORE ON THE MINNESOTA SIGHTING
In UFO ROUNDUP #12, we told the story of Mrs. X and her 11-year- old son, who saw a disc-shaped UFO over their farm the night of April 27, the same night as the Quabbin sighting mentioned above. Mrs. X has now provided us with more details of her sighting.
Mrs. X’s farm is on Highway 10 in Andover, Minnesota, about thirty miles north of Minneapolis. The saucer, she reports, “was 45 degrees above the horizon and very bright. Its brightness remained constant and it was totally silent.”
“I have served in the U.S. Air Force in the past,” Mrs. X said. “And I worked around aircraft and flight lines. It was not like anything I’m used to seeing in the sky, including satellites. My son was very excited about it, and it was his idea to go online. Also, the weather was very good and there were very few clouds.”
The zigzagging saucer was seen at 8:50 p.m. Central time on April 27 and was last seen headed for Ramsey, Minnesota.
UFO LANDS IN PERU
The newspaper El Expreso of Lima, Peru ran a story about a UFO landing high in the Andes in its February 3, 1996 edition.
According to El Expreso, six UFOs appeared over a remote mountain meadow, Pampas Lampa, near the town of Recuay, which is 79 kilometers (47 miles) south of Huaraz. The UFOs badly frightened a group of Quechua Indian shepherds tending their flocks. Pampas Lampa is at a very high altitude, 4,200 meters (13,650 feet) above sea level.
Eyewitness Silvio Cancio Bedoya, 40, said the UFOs appeared before 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday, January 31, emerging from the Lago (Lake) de Cococha. Cancio said the UFOs formed a protective circle about a larger “mothership.” Then the flight proceeded north to the Rio Santo. The UFOs “illuminated the whole valley with a sequence of lights ranging from deep purple to light violet.”
The “mothership” landed upriver from the village of Romatambo. Two occupants emerged from the UFO. The Quechua Indians described them as “one meter tall” (3 feet, 3 inches) with large, oversized heads, long, spindly arms and short bandy legs. The occupants were wearing gunmetal gray helmets and matching one-piece coveralls.
Cancio said the UFO occupants took out transparent containers and, ignoring the shepherds, collected many samples, including soil, grass, mountain flowers, plus water and algae from the Rio Santo. At about 8:40 a.m., the occupants reentered the “mothership,” and then all of the UFOs “zoomed straight up into space.”
1962 ARGENTINA FLAP – “OVNI COMING IN FOR A LANDING!”
I know, I know–I promised the rest of the Argentina story last week. Unfortunately, it got crowded out by current events. Anyway, as Paul Harvey says, “Here it is–the rest of the story.”
In August 1962, the newspaper La Razon of Buenos Aires ran an astounding story. An OVNI (Spanish acronym for UFO) had landed at the airfield in Camba Punat, in the province of Corrientes.
According to La Razon, airport manager Luis Harvey was warned by his radar operators that an unannounced airplane was about to land. Running out on the runway, Harvey saw “a luminous object” circling the runway at high speed. Suddenly, the object came down and hovered four feet off the asphalt. Harvey and a dozen other witnesses described it as “a completely spherical body that hovered, spinning on its axis, a few feet above the runway.” All the while, the UFO emitted blinding green, orange and blue lights.”
As Harvey and his crew approached the UFO, it soared upward and “vanished at staggering speed.”
This, however, was only a warm-up to the big event…
On December 20, 1962, at approximately 2:15 a.m., radar operator Jose Besutti was staring at his scope in the Flight Control Tower at Ezeiza International Airport, just west of Buenos Aires. Suddenly, he saw an unidentified blip and contacted airport manager Horacio Alora. As the tower crew watched, the UFO landed right smack dab on Ezeiza’s main runway.
Grabbing a pair of binoculars, Alora spotted a silvery disc-shaped UFO sitting on the runway 2,000 meters (600 yards) from the tower. An “hombrecito” (little man) climbed out and walked around on the asphalt as if it were a road. The UFO had flashing red and white lights.
Just then, the tower radio squawked, “This is Pan-Am 609 Heavy, nonstop jet service from Rio de Janeiro, coming in on final approach.”
“Made de Dios!” Alora shouted, “Tell him not to land.”
As one operator raced to the radio, the tower crew heard another transmission from the four-engined Pan American DC-8. “Ezeiza Tower, this is PanAm 609 Heavy. Just passing the outer marker.”
Grabbing the microphone himself, Alora shouted, “PanAm, go around! Repeat, go around! Do not attempt to land.”
“Passing the inner marker,” the pilot said, “Jesus H. Christ! Who left that truck on the runway!?”
“That’s no truck!” Alora shouted, “It’s a flying saucer!”
Besutti and the others opened the tower windows and began yelling at the UFO occupant. “Get out of there! Hurry!”
The occupant simply stood there. Just then, the big jetliner dropped out of the overcast, lights on and engines whining. Startled by the sight of the DC-8 descending toward him, the occupant dashed back to the UFO. A hatch popped open in the bottom hemisphere, and he dove through it.
Suddenly, the UFO began glowing. As the DC-8 touched down, it rose to a height of 600 meters (1,980 feet) and then zoomed eastward toward Uruguay “at a vertiginous (dizzying) speed.” Five seconds later, the DC-8 on its rollout rushed right over the spot where the UFO occupant had been standing.
Close call, eh?
Next week we’ll be bringing you more UFO stories. Until then, enjoy the Memorial Day holiday weekend and keep watching the skies!