Mexico: The 1973 UFO Wave
By Alfonso Salazar (Aviation Technician)
Reporte OVNI No. 58, Year 3, October 1995
The year 1973 was a generous one when it came to major cases and UFO landings in different parts of the world, but Mexico in particular, where even the city’s airport managed to pick up these unidentified flying objects.
One of the first sightings of this year became known in the El Siglo de Torreón newspaper, which reported the following in its 25 March 1973 edition:
“Strange Object Seen Over San Pedro – A countless number of people contacted this newsroom to confirm that at 9 o’clock at night, a luminous object crossed the heavens in an east to west direction at an extraordinary rate of speed, leading to the belief that it was a UFO.”
What is interesting about this is that regular commercial airline flights did not fly over this community. As regards the “extraordinary speed of the UFO”, to which the news item makes reference, the fastest airplane in the world at the time was the Concorde, which obviously did not fly over Mexican territory. In turn, the people who reported the event were largely engaged in farming activities, gaining nothing at all from making up stories about strange objects in the sky.
The following UFO sighting was made known by the El Mexicano newspaper concerning a possible close encounter of the third kind (CE3K) as classified by Dr. J. Allen Hynek. It took place in El Parral, Chihuahua.
According to the story, on the night of 14 March 1973, two brothers – Juan and Rubén Hernández – were working at a mine known as “La Prieta”, located in Parral, Chihuahua. Suddenly, the saw a round thing in the sky, looking like a fireball or a reddish light that appeared to be observing them.
“The light approached us to the extent that we were frightened, and alerted all the staff, even the secretary on duty…”
One of the miners who witnessed the UFO subsequently reported that the object was hanging there for a few moments, motionless, as though spying on them, watching the goings-on in the mine. It subsequently gained speed – which they considered to be incalculable – until it vanished from sight.
In response to questions posed by reporters from the aforesaid newspaper, miner Rubén Hernández stated that “the thing” had flown away swiftly toward the Zone of Silence, and that some of his co-workers had managed to see strange lights that descended or vanished in the air on several occasions.
The story about the sighting in the skies over Chihuahua was still hot in the press when another event became known – one that had occurred a few months earlier in the state of Michoacán.
On the Road from Uruapan to Paracho
The exact date of this occurrence was set in the month of February 1973, according to the newspaper that made the information known. It took place on the road leading from Uruapan to Paracho in the state of Michoacán.
Sales agent Alfonso Pulido claimed having been overtaken by a “ball of light” after leaving Uruapan.
According to Pulido, he was at the wheel of a Datsun automobile and accompanied by Leonardo Valdéz, who in turn corroborated the information provided.
“It was at a considerable distance. It looked like one of those stars that appear to move every so often. Suddenly, the ball of light became larger as it approached us, eventually hovering over the Datsun. It subsequently projected a bluish beam that lit up the road. It then began to cause interference – the car radio, for instance, could not be heard clearly, only as a buzzing sound. The object escorted us for some 5 minutes before flying off to the north. Thank God nothing bad happened.”
A Truck With Asbestos Sheeting Bursts Into Flame
Several different cases were reported during the month of May throughout the Mexican Republic, among them the case involving a truck that burned while transporting asbestos sheeting and bags of cement (widely discussed in issue 31 of REPORTE OVNI magazine).
On May 9, a Sinaloa newspaper reported the following: “They claim that a flying saucer followed them. What were they smoking? (News writers often took a skeptical slant, providing such headlines to UFO related information).
“Los Mochis, Sinaloa, May 9, 1973. Manuel Ruelas de Palomares and Martín Antonio Luque, peasant farmers of the locality of “El Aguajito”, township of Heraldo de Zaragoza, had the fright of their lives this morning when they were pursued by a flying saucer, or so they say, at a place known as El Vallado.
“Still in shock, the two peasant farmers appeared before the police authorities of Higuera de Zaragoza to retell the incredible event, stating that it was entirely true.
“According to their story, they said that on that day (9 May 1973), the time being three o’clock in the morning, approximately, they were coming from the fishing grounds in a mule-drawn cart. At a place known by all as “El Vallado”, they saw that a large flying object was heading toward them, giving off a bright yellow light covering over two meters. The peasant farmers stated that the ‘flying saucer’ approached them until they were bathed in its light, taking off at a dizzying rate of speed only to fly back toward them. Unable to endure this, they broke into a run, deserting their cart and plunging into the dense vegetation. Vidal Costa Valdéz, who held the role of trustee of Higuera de Zaragoza, reported to the area to confirm the story. Cota found the men’s footprints as they headed into the wilderness. He also found some of the fish that had fallen off the cart during what appeared to have been a desperate escape.
The information, along with some cases researched in-depth by the authorities, was made known to Santiago García, a 70s-era UFO researcher.
[Translation © 2018, Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology]
via Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology http://ift.tt/GCRz8J
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