by Javier García Blanco

"That thing had the side 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 worn 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, some time 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, losing itself in 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 nor 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."

That 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 rive 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...