Ground Truth: The Mexican CE-IIs Examined

by Scott Corrales

          A tired nocturnal driver rubs his eyes, groggy and unable to face the prospect of the monotonous drive through a rugged landscape barely illuminated by his headlights. He pulls off the road into the parking lot of an abandoned diner. As he collects his thoughts, an eerie glow bathes his vehicle: not too far away, saucer-shaped object is slowly about to land, its powerful lights making the desert sand acquire an orange glow. Completely dumbfounded, the driver can do little more than stare at the events unfolding before him...

          These images mark the introduction to one of the most memorable television series to ever approach the subject of UFOs: the original The Invaders, starring Roy Thinnes. While one hundred percent science fiction, the series opening shots replicated an oft-repeated feature of real-life UFO chronicles and the event which would later become known as a "close encounter of the second kind" or CE-II.

          CE-IIs are not as impressive as CE-IIIs--otherwise Spielberg's 1977 movie would have probably not achieved the levels of success it did.  In his recent work The UFO Book (Visible Ink, 1997), UFO historian Jerome Clark rightly suggests that "by their nature, CE-IIs ought to be the most important of all UFO cases," (p.83) given the fact that the physical traces left behind by putative alien craft may actually lead to a better understanding--if not prove--the phenomenon's existence and origin. Overshadowed by more compelling accounts of alien contact and abduction, CE-IIs have been relegated to "supporting actor" status and have played a minor role throughout the 1990s.

          But the very decade which chose to downplay them has experienced some of the best cases of this type, as we shall see

          Car 16156, Where Are You

          It was a regular nocturnal patrol for officers Enrique Torres Sedeño and Israel Valdivia Gutiérrez: the seemingly endless beat of the Gustavo A. Madero delegación (precinct) driving through the darkened streets of the world's most congested city in squad car 16156. The city's police force had been on the receiving end of controversy in recent years, with allegations of kidnapping and murder being brought against its officials, and the less-than-glowing reputation that its supervisors and lieutenants had earned since the 1970s excesses of Superintendent Durazo's corrupt tenure. But like in any other city in the world, the patrolman's lot remained to serve and protect the community...even in situations that escaped any police academy training.

          At around two o'clock a.m. on the morning of February 14, 2000, a bright light coming from a soccer field located within the Center of Technical Research and Investigation facing Vocational Scholl #8 in the Santo Tomas drew the patrolmen's attention. Suspecting a fire, the police cruiser headed straight for that direction. Now, months later, the officers wish it had indeed been a fire or something similar. At first, they could not believe what they were seeing: suspended in mid-air, some ten feet off the ground, was a strange artifact projecting an array of intense multicolored lights and two searchlight beams which changed hues from red to green and blue. In spite of their astonishment, the patrolmen managed to estimate the unknown object's diameter at some 10 meters. The powerful lights suddenly became intermittent, and a slight buzzing described as similar to the sound "produced by whirling a stick at the end of a piece of string" became apparent. This was too much already, even for seasoned veterans of the mean streets of Mexico City. One of the patrolmen grabbed the microphone from the dashboard and promptly radioed the dispatcher for assistance. The local time was 02:13 a.m.; the object remained visible for a little longer before staging a sudden disappearance at 02:20 a.m., leaving Gutiérrez and Dueñas with the only tangible evidence of their close encounter with the unknown: both officers' analog wristwatches were frozen at 02:20 a.m., magnetized by whatever strange energy issued from the shining object. As in hundreds of UFO cases before this one, the timepieces would never work again.

          Perhaps the most curious note the encounter is that when the patrolmen left their vehicle to enter the research center and get to the football field above which the vehicle hovered, they were prevented from doing so by members of the building's security force--evidence of a basic lack of trust in the city's watchmen and their motives.

          Mexico's Secretariat of Public Safety's dispatchers did not tarry in alerting other units throughout the city about the bizarre events which had just taken place in Santo Tomás: the crews of police cruisers 16079 and 11616 of the Azcapotzalco Precinct, along with units 01127, 01899, 01875, 01127 y 13843 of the Gustavo A. Madero precinct, would eventually radio in to report contact with the multicolored intruder, which was seen again at 02:45 local time in another neighborhood of the same area. The crew of unit 01127 reported having seen the object flying over the Palmititla neighborhood, not far from Chiquihuite Hill in the Gustavo A. Madero precinct, where it would remain for 12 minutes.

At 03:10 local time, the purported UFO was already on the other side of the city, this time over the rural area known as Desierto de los Leones, not far from a police station. Here, the object remained in view for only three minutes before vanishing suddenly, as it done earlier.  By 03:13 a.m., the dispatcher for the Secretariat of Public Safety would advise its patrol cars that the unidentified flying object had disappeared in a southerly direction behind Tenayo Hill in the municipality of Tlanepantla, state of Mexico, and that its whereabouts were unknown.

          As if the 16 pairs of eyes belonging to the "trained observers" prescribed by ufological dictum were not enough, there was independent corroboration for the case from a third trained observer, newspaper photographer Saúl Navarro, who managed to take photographs of the object while covering a story involving protesters from Mexico's national university (UNAM) outside a detention center known as Reclusorio Norte.

          While capturing the images of the protestors and their tent city erected outside the jail, Navarro became aware of a "bright light which remained perfectly still beside Chiquihuite Hill," as he would later testify.

          His task in the area completed, was heading toward his car when he noticed that the lights on the strange object next to the hill were beginning to blink. "It was still, and couldn't have been an airplane, given an airplane's inability to remain suspended in mid-air. It suddenly resumed motion until it hovered above the rooftop of a nearby house for some 10 to 15 seconds. After that, the object lost itself behind the tree line." Navarro also confirmed the multicolored flashes of light seen by the patrolmen.

          It could perhaps be argued that the Azcapotzalco event does not represent a "true CE-II" because the unidentified object in question never actually touched the ground. Still, the stopping of the patrolmen's wristwatches would meet the criterion of "exerting temporary or permanent effects on machinery" that the definition calls for.

          Curiously enough, Officer Valdivia would later relate that he and his partner were equipped with photo cameras as part of their standard gear for photographing suspects at the time of arrest, but that none of the photos taken of the Azcapotzalco saucer came out. Another of the police cruisers--16105--was also unsuccessful in taking photos of the object. The effects on machinery also extended to a cellular phone aboard squad car 16074, whose battery was completely drained at the site. The phone itself is allegedly inoperable as well.

          The Azcapotzalco events were submitted to the court of public opinion on July 11, 2000, when Mexico's Marta Susana talk show held an open forum on the event, featuring the tried-and-true "skeptics vs. believers" format which has come to characterize UFO debates in that country. The police officers were joined on the stage by two air traffic controllers--Enrique Kolbeck and Alfonso Salazar--who stressed the importance of the UFO phenomenon and the fact that it is a classified matter in most countries. The controllers mentioned the startling fact that some three hundred UFO incidents had occurred over Mexican air facilities in the past five years, most notable among them being an incident in which an airliner's landing gear was struck by an unknown object.

          Much research has yet to be conducted in this case (as of this writing, no medical information been forthcoming about any effects on the patrolmen's health), but the fact that the event occurred over Mexico's Center of Technical Research and Investigation has created a compelling rumor: Dr. Rafael Lara Palmeros, research coordinator for the Center for the Study of Paranormal Phenomena (CEFP, in Spanish) has been advised that biological specimens in the institution's laboratories experienced "mutation and growth" as a result of the object's presence. But until confirmation for this can be obtained, it remains just another tantalizing rumor.

But Why Chiquihuite Hill?

          An interesting article by Mexican researcher Roberto S. Contreras (Inexplicata #1, Fall 1998) suggests that Chiquihuite Hill, mentioned several times during the northern Mexico city events earlier this year, is inextricably tied to the UFO phenomenon for many years. It would seem that this geological formation and its vicinity are a "place of pilgrimage" for strange vehicles, to judge by the " lights of bright color and metallic hues which appear to scan the ground in search of something unknown and incomprehensible to local residents", as Contreras puts it.

          In late 1995, two brothers climbed onto the roof of their house at dusk to take snapshots of an adjacent pig pen in order attract potential buyers for their animal husbandry business. Upon developing the photos, one of the brothers discovered on film a golden object suspended in mid-air which had not been visible at the time the pictures were taken. The strange golden object had managed to appear in a number of scenes which showed the animals, the surrounding trees, and other local landmarks. A lens flare? The brothers tended to think not.

          Contreras's article also notes that the area is prone to visits by diminutive fireballs or bolides which "appear to be fire, and remain static for seconds or minutes prior to making sudden and incredible changes in direction. On other occasions, the objects seem to be looking for something, only to disappear as suddenly as they appeared."

Mexico's History of CE-IIs

          In 1957, when most ufologists were still debating the wisdom of publishing reports indicating that UFOs could in fact land and leave ground traces, Mexican newspaper El Universal Gráfico published a comprehensive account on the alleged landing of a discoidal object in the community farms of San Juan de Aragón, an event witnessed by farmer Gilberto Espinoza. Although the incident had taken place in November of the preceding year, the newspaper ran its story in January 1958.

          A decade later, while on their way to visit a number of South American locations, Jim and Coral Lorenzen took advantage of a layover in Mexico City to meet with APRO correspondent Jesús H. Garibay. APRO's "man in Mexico" proceeded to brief the organization's directors on the most significant cases at the time. One of them involved two witnesses (a father and daughter) to the landing and takeoff of a UFO, with the added benefit of the photographs taken of the event.

          "The principal witness," wrote Coral Lorenzen, "is a mechanical engineer, and the other is his daughter. On May 6, 1967, the two were driving between Durango and Mazatlán. At 11:00 a.m., they spotted a disc-shaped object on the ground off the highway. They stopped the car and took three photos as the object was taking off. The first shows the object at the level of the treetops, partially hidden by a tree. Two parts of its landing gear are clearly shown. The second shows the object apparently in flight against the clear sky: no landing gear are visible in this exposure. The third photo showed nothing. APRO is still on the track of this set of photos, and not knowing if the principals want publicity or not, we have decided not to release any names at this time." (UFOs Over the Americas, Signet, 1968 p.65)

          A glance at Mexico's ufological history reveals a number of cases in which fly-overs by unexplained vehicles resulted in physical effects. A fair share of such cases occurred in the 1960's, when widespread electrical blackouts appear to have been UFO-induced. During the month of September 1965 , the city of Cuernavaca, some fifty miles south of Mexico City, would suffer three separate power failures. The Ultima Hora newspaper indicated that the blackout had been caused by a large luminous flying saucer which crossed the heavens over the city--an inverted soup-bowl device which was seen not only by thousands of citizens but by city mayor Emilio Riva Palacios, who was attending the opening of a film festival with members of his cabinet. The lights went out during the showing, and upon going outside, the city fathers were treated to the sight of the massive object's glow, which reportedly filled all of Cuernavaca valley.

          But the force behind all these aerial phenomena appeared to be enamored of la capital, Mexico City, with its juxtaposition of massive colonial structures, modern skyscrapers and ancient ruins: it chose September 16, 1965-- the one hundred fifty-fifth anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain, to manifest half a dozen luminous objects over the city's skies, casting downtown Mexico City into unbreakable gridlock as drivers left their vehicles to take a better look at the phenomenon. Newspapers reported that aviation authorities had received in excess of five thousand telephone calls from people asking if they had also seen platillos voladores.  On September 25th, a citizenry weary of craning their necks skyward endured another leisurely display of the unknown as a vast luminous body passed overhead, remaining motionless for a while before shooting out of sight at a terrific speed. Only days later, two smaller objects would buzz the gilded dome of Mexico's Palacio de Bellas Artes, a turn of the century structure that dominates La Alameda park. The early evening sighting was witnessed by a few dozen people waiting at a bus stop; they described the objects as "enormous luminous bodies with intermittent sparkling lights."

          By this point in time, some of the world's major newspapers had picked up on Mexico's saucer situation. Paris's Le Figaro reprinted an editorial from Italy's Corriere della Sera on the subject: "Mexico City International Airport has officially recorded, of late, some three thousand cases of mysterious apparitions described in detail. At nightfall, people gather on the terraces and balconies of their homes to search the skies...a clamor of voices can occasionally be heard, saying: "There goes one! Can you see it?" Invariably, what follows is this: traffic is paralyzed on neighboring streets, since drivers also want to partake of the spectacle. The roadways grind to a halt, leading to monstrous traffic jams. After a while, witnesses to tho the event are willing to swear that the presence of platillos voladores causes engines to stall and plunges homes into darkness. Throughout Mexico, the number of blackouts has been inexplicably high..."

Multiple Witnesses to a UFO CE-II

          The experts have always insisted that "one witness is no witness", despite the fact that the bulk of ufology is made up of precisely such single-witness encounters and experiences. However, when twenty children and their school teacher see a phenomenon that is at first blush unidentifiable, then the "quality of the witnesses" becomes an issue. In any event, the multiple witness sighting which stirred the residents of Poza Rica, Veracruz on May 22, 1992 was classified by the local media as a bona-fide encounter with the unknown.

          Second grade instructor Zita Azuaria described the case to reporters from a the Mexican tabloid INSOLITO, who covered the event. She indicated that it was a very warm, sunny day and that the time was 10:30 a.m., when all the children were enjoying recess by playing in the school's basketball court. According to Ms. Azuaria, a number of children soon approached her, claiming to have seen a bright flash produced by what they held to be a spacecraft.

          "The children were telling me: "Maestra, it's a flying saucer!" but I paid them no attention. They came to find me at least two or three times and event then I paid them no attention. It wasn't until eleven o'clock, when we were heading back to the classroom, that I noticed all of them looking skyward. Once inside the room, I started assigning work, but noticed that a few students were missing."

          Upon asking their whereabouts, Ms. Azuara was told by the other children that they were outside looking at the flying saucer. Intrigued, she decided to take a look for herself, followed by the students.

          "It wasn't saucer-shaped," she told journalists. It resembled a wall-like structure, like a highly polished mirror, at least three meters tall. It was at least three kilometers away from our location, and there are small hills and a lot of vegetation in between."

          Ms. Azuara detailed some of the children to inform one of her colleagues to witness the event. When the colleague arrived, the scintillating structure wobbled and appeared to have been sucked into the ground. It emerged once more to everyone's amazement, then vanished into the ground once more. "Later that afternoon," she continued. "the authorities phoned me at home and asked me to retell my experience for the record. I insisted that it may have been nothing at all anomalous, but an experiment of some sort that was being conducted."

          A number of strange circles were found on the soil at a nearby ranch known as "El Edén", which lasted eight days before being engulfed by the local vegetation. Ms. Azuara believed that the circles had been produced by the strange, shining object that her students had seen on May 22nd. Visiting the ranch personally, she complained of feeing a strange sensation within her body, leading her to suspect that there might have been some form of residual radiation in the area which no one had bothered to check. Other visitors to the ranch had indicated that the stones within the scorched circles appear to have melted and bubbled, as would a piece of metal heated to its melting point in a furnace.

          Another multiple witness event sure to satisfy even the most conservative researchers occurred on October 7, 1993, when hundreds of people attending a fair honoring of St. Francis in the city of Pachuca, state of Hidalgo, were stunned to see a massive fireball streaming across the skies headed in a southerly direction. A group of musicians who were among the entertainers present at the event indicated that they had seen similar fireballs in the town of Valle del Mezquital, not far from the ruins of Tula. The musicians added that after the event, imprints allegedly made by the "landing gear" of a strange device were discovered.

 The Tandil CE-2

          This account takes us from Mexico to the Southern Hemisphere--namely Tandil, Argentina--where UFO activity restarted in earnest in early 2000, attracting national and international attention.

          On Tuesday, May 9, 2000,  Hugo Macías, 60, faced the task he had been performing--some might say heroically--for the past 37 years: delivering the city of Mar del Plata's La Capital newspaper to a number of locations along national highway 226. As he woke up in the pre-dawn hours to do his job, Macías began his paper route at the Gendarmería Nacional (national police force) building in Puerta del Abra on the road between Tandil and Mar del Plata. After dropping off copies of the paper, Macías drove on for a quarter of a mile when he felt a loud, unusual sound approaching him from behind. He stated that a cylinder of light "encircled" his vehicle, and placed the light's diameter at some 50 meters (160 feet). The unknown beam of energy "seemed to pierce the rooftop", according to the deliveryman.

          At that point, explained Macías to an interviewer from the Diario de Tandil newspaper, his car radio inexplicably shut off, with the vehicle's engine and headlights following suit. Despite the engine shutdown, the cone of light transported the car an estimated 600 meters (1700 ft.) before abruptly disappearing and leaving the automobile by the roadside. "Everything came back to life," stated Macías, referring to his vehicle's electrical system, "and I found myself staring into a dark but starry night. In the sky above, [at an altitude] of some two thousand meters  (6000 ft.). I could see a cylinder-shaped light heading toward a nearby mountain range...the whole ordeal lasted a matter of seconds, but they seemed endless. There were no other vehicles on the road that night: I may have passed two cars during the remainder of the trip."

          Macías retold his experience to a group of friends and a Army officer. The duty officer at the Gendarmerie building later advised him that similar phenomena had been seen "five or six times" and that a burned circular shape had been found in a nearby prairie.

          But the deliveryman was also made privy to a highly intriguing piece of information that appears to be a constant factor in Latin American UFO cases. The Gendarmerie, he was told by a local sheriff, discourages talk of UFOs out of a fear that stories "will attract NASA's attention, a fact which creates disturbances [given the fact] that NASA has an airplane with six scientists and an all-terrain vehicle which can go anywhere in the world to inspect different sites...many locals are troubled by the presence of such strangers." Stories of official-looking foreigners flashing NASA credentials and in clearly marked vehicles constitute a common experience in UFO cases from Mexico to Puerto Rico to the Southern Cone. Does the great esteem in which the U.S. space program is held outside the country represent a perfect cover for military or governmental investigators?

          Hugo Macías cherished his brush with the unknown, and was proud of "having the satisfaction of having been contacted by something which many researchers would like to see and yet never have." His only complaints in the wake of the CE-2 were of a physical nature: while he felt no bodily effects at the moment of the incident, he came down with a migraine, laryngitis and a number of other ailments two days later.  Such side-effects have been reported in cases around the world: during a wave of "boomerang"-shaped saucers in Pennsylvania and western New York (1994), many eyewitnesses complained of similar physical maladies (cold or flu-like symptoms).