Unhealthy UFOs: Skepticism, UFOs, and The Universe: UFOs Blitz Mexico!

That is  story of my 1996 Tour of ‘UFO Hotspots’ in Mexico. It’s tailored from Chapter 21 of my 1998 guide UFO Sightings – The
Proof (Prometheus Books)

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In all probability the realm of the best UFO exercise and pleasure in
the world as we speak (1996) is in and round Mexico Metropolis. UFO proponents typically
cite the UFO “proof” from Mexico because the strongest
anyplace. When the pinnacle of the American UFO group CSETI, Dr. Steven
Greer, appeared on the “UFO Coverup”  TV particular on Larry King Dwell, 
October 1, 1994, which was broadcast open air close to the so-called
“Space 51” within the Nevada desert, Greer chided them that it
shouldn’t be vital go to inaccessible locations to see UFOs: “Within the
final three years there have been a whole bunch of video tapes of those
objects maneuvering over twenty-two million individuals in Mexico Metropolis.”
A Nationwide Enquirer story of July 23, 1996, titled “UFOs Blitz
Mexico,” made equally outstanding claims.

The Nationwide Enquirer, July 23, 1996

The fashionable part of UFO exercise in Mexico started with the entire
eclipse of July 11, 1991. With a period of totality lasting about
seven minutes, almost the utmost potential, and crossing Mexico’s
most populated areas, it was one of many nice eclipses of the
century. 

The greatly-overexposed picture of the eclipsed solar in Mexico, and its a lot fainter mirrored picture at left.

The Birthplace of Quetzalcoatl

Lots of
the pictures confirmed artifacts just like the one seen above. A number of
had been offered to us by a lady in Amatlan de Quetzalcoatl, in
full sincerity, as a real UFO. (That place is meant to be the birthplace of  Quetzalcoatl, making it a kind of Aztec Bethlehem.) The significantly overexposed object, clearly an
picture of the eclipse, was purported to be an enormous UFO, and the dimmer ring-like object, was purported to be the eclipsed solar.
Nevertheless, that evaluation is backwards. The overexposed object isn’t any
anomalous object, however reasonably the solar, which although solely a tiny sliver
or “diamond ring” stays uneclipsed, is nonetheless fairly
brilliant sufficient to overexpose the movie when photographed immediately. The
fainter picture is in actual fact simply an inner reflection of the eclipsed
solar itself, attributable to gentle reflecting off the surfaces of the
particular person lens components, and onto the movie aircraft. Many 1000’s of
individuals, photographing the eclipse with easy cameras, obtained
outcomes much like this. Folks concluded that they will need to have
photographed OVNIs (the Spanish acronym for UFOs), and enterprising
promoters perceived a possibility to make some fast pesos. The
nice Mexican UFO flap was on.

 

In April, 1996 I had the chance to examine this out for
myself after I went on a UFO-related Mexican tour organized by Past
Boundaries, a ‘paranormal journey’ company. This group has additionally
organized journeys to the U.Okay. to analyze Crop Circles, and to
Puerto Rico to take a look at an space reputed to comprise chupacabras and
an Interdimensional Portal. A chupacabra, actually “goat
sucker,” is a fabled creature stated to assault livestock and
drain them of blood. Truly, this story is simply the acquainted
“cattle mutilation” legend, informed with a Latin twist. If a
rancher speaks English, his lifeless livestock could have been molested
by house aliens; if he speaks Spanish, it’s going to have been carried out by a
chupacabra.

One of many tour
organizers was Rubin Uriarte, of MUFON Northern California. Two of our tour members labored for the Bigelow-funded Nationwide
Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) in Las Vegas. Considered one of them was Air Pressure Lt. Col. Peter McDuff, the opposite was nuclear engineer Ted Rockwell (1923-2013), who I used to be aware of
due to his earlier critiques of skeptics. A lot of the different
individuals had been ‘true believers;’ in actual fact, the 2 NIDS guys and I
earned the status of the ‘group’s skeptics,’ as we had been
unwilling to consider outstanding claims with out seeing proof. On the time, claims had been extensively being
made that UFOs had been being seen extensively at sure locations in Mexico,
together with the airport in Mexico Metropolis. You solely wanted to go there if
you wished to see them, it was stated; in fact, that wasn’t
true. We flew out and in of that airport, and did not see something uncommon. Our itinerary took us to among the most UFOlogically-active
areas in the whole world, and we met with lots of the main
UFOlogists in Mexico. Was Mexico actually experiencing a “UFO
blitz”? Here’s what I discovered:

Jaime Maussan met with us.

Maussan additionally produces movies about Kennedy assassination
conspiracies, and “miracles” of the Virgin of Guadalupe. As
is perhaps anticipated, his studio incorporates a substantial amount of
state-of-the-art, computer-ontrolled video enhancement gear. The
downside is, nonetheless, that except one is ready to look at an unique
UFO unfavorable or video in its un-edited, unique state, it’s
nugatory as “proof” of something. Maussan displayed what
was both a distressing naivete, or else disingenuousness, when he
informed us straight-out that “Mexicans don’t make hoax UFO
pictures.” He rapidly added, nonetheless, that People do.
By the way, Maussan informed us that he doesn’t consider the ‘UFO
abduction’ tales which can be the fad within the U.S.; they’re just too
weird for him to just accept.

Maussan’s studio in 1996, the place his workers produced video tapes selling crazy stuff.

Maussan claimed to have entry to large quantities of radar UFO
proof from the airport at Mexico Metropolis, and he appeared to have the ability to
contact the airport radar operator at any time on his mobile phone,
which he did whereas talking to us. One of many NIDS individuals took a eager curiosity in getting
tapes and different knowledge from the supposedly frequent appearances of
UFOs on the radar, for evaluation within the U.S. Nevertheless, when Maussan was
requested to supply onerous knowledge from the radar, all of the sudden for causes that
had been unclear to us that knowledge grew to become very tough to acquire, when
only a second earlier than it was current in huge element, albeit in
anecdotal kind. Maussan talked about UFO proof and onerous knowledge a
nice deal, however none was seen. He promised to ship us reams of UFO
proof that his group had amassed, and took down the names and
addresses of researchers. Nevertheless, nothing was ever
obtained.

Maussan claimed that his group makes use of a scientific course of
of laptop enhancement which distinguishes real UFO pictures from
hoaxes, based mostly on the presence of ‘vitality fields’ which encompass solely real objects. He claimed that this enhancement
course of, which was illustrated in an article in every situation of the
journal Contacto OVNI (“UFO Contact”, a sensationalist UFO publication of which Maussan is
a consulting editor), would reveal the presence of magnetic fields,
vitality fields, spectral luminescence, and many others. surrounding an actual UFO. I
strenuously objected that no such evaluation was potential from an
atypical video or picture, and Maussan appeared unprepared to confront a
educated critic. He fell again to the place that he was solely a journalist, repeating what his
scientific marketing consultant, a physicist, had informed him. To avoid wasting face with
the group, he organized to have his physicist meet with us the
following day.

We did meet with Mario Torres, Maussan’s scientific marketing consultant.
It seems, nonetheless, that Torres isn’t any physicist, however really one
of the editors of Contacto OVNI. Torres claims that the software program and
algorithms utilized to research the pictures are his personal. Whereas he has
some training in science, and claims to have produced some patent-able innovations, Torres was fairly unable to explain to us any
legitimate scientific rules on which his analyses had been made. Whereas he
claimed to have the ability to measure “thermal vitality”, “electromagnetic vitality,” and
“ranges of vitality” from pictures or movies, after somewhat
questioning it grew to become clear that he was unable to defend his
statements. Torres stated he based mostly his analyses upon a dialog he
as soon as had with the late physicist Richard Feynman, who informed him that
gentle is an electromagnetic phenomenon. All the remainder of the
supposedly “scientific evaluation” is predicated upon his personal
conjectures as to what that means about what {a photograph} will and
won’t comprise. Torres informed us, as did Viadas and Maussan, that
he didn’t consider the ‘UFO abduction’ tales coming from the U.S.;
they had been just so weird as to defy perception.

The Nice Pyramid of the Solar at Teotihuacan, Mexico.

Close to Mexico Metropolis are the good pyramids at Teotihuacan, inbuilt
pre-Aztec instances roughly 1800 years in the past. The famous crop circle
guru Colin Andrews, prudently branching out into different fields of
paranormalism, had been on one of many earlier Past Boundaries’
Mexico journeys. He claimed to have detected ‘vitality traces’ whereas
standing on high the good Pyramid of the Solar, so we had been informed to be
alert for this. Once we reached the summit of that magnificent
historic monument, most of us stated that we did not really feel something, apart from the exhilaration of getting
climbed as much as a powerful place, on the excessive elevation of Mexico
Metropolis. Nevertheless, one member of our group stood wanting up on the sky,
his arms outstretched, as if ‘drawing down vitality’. This gesture
attracted appreciable consideration, and shortly others had been following his
instance. As we had been departing, some individuals had been nonetheless ‘drawing down
vitality’. I’m wondering if maybe our group began a brand new occult follow?

“Drawing down Vitality” atop the Pyramid of the Solar.

From Mexico Metropolis we went to Tepoztlan, within the state of Morelos,
not removed from Cuernavaca. That is the New Age heart of Mexico, typically
in comparison with Sedona or Taos. It incorporates many retailers promoting crystals,
New Age literature, and many others. The Lodge Tepoztlan is a ‘holistic well being
resort’, with its personal naturopathic physicians and natural pharmacy on
the premises. Its restaurant is solely vegetarian. It gives its
company very affordable charges on various well being companies, and was
then providing a particular low cost on a colonic irrigation, which I nonetheless declined.

The mountains surrounding the city are stated to ‘glow’ at evening
with mystical vitality, and in fact they often appear to. The
city is surrounded by excessive, steep cliffs very like Yosemite valley, at
evening the light-colored rocks replicate the lights of the city. Brush
fires had been roughly regularly burning someplace close by, and
remoted flames on the mountains had been known as out by some as suspected
UFOs, till calmer voices and a peek by way of binoculars persuaded
them that they had been simply seeing fires. In California, we spend
tens of millions of {dollars} per yr preventing 1000’s of brush fires within the
wilderness. In Mexico, nonetheless, missing the assets to fund such
huge efforts, fires in sparsely-inhabited areas are normally
allowed to burn themselves out. We spent two evenings holding a
“skywatch” on the rooftop of the resort, which gives an
unobstructed view of the UFO-infested city of Tepoztlan. No anomalous
objects of any sort had been seen, despite the prepared availability of
some very superb beer and Tequila.

Carlos Diaz (dealing with digital camera), mentioning the magical highlights of Tepoztlan from the roof of the resort.

Our fundamental contact in Tepoztlan was maybe that city’s most
well-known citizen, UFO superstar Carlos Diaz. Carlos is a
skilled photographer, who takes pictures of what he says are
“plasma ships” piloted by extraterrestrials. When Shirley
Maclaine was in Mexico she stopped by to go to him; Carlos confirmed us
a photograph of the 2 of them collectively, beaming. Carlos possesses a really
charming, boyish character, and instantly turns into overly-friendly
with these he meets. Little doubt many discover this reassuring, however with me
it has the alternative impact of setting me on guard, because it calls to
thoughts the slick method of a used-car salesman. Up on the rooftop of the
resort, Carlos identified to us the UFO highlights of the city. He
indicated a rock function that he stated resembles the male organ. When
seen from the opposite aspect of the mountain, it resembles feminine organs,
he stated. Because of this, he stated, the Aztecs knew it as “the
Mountain of Life,” though I would not care to guess any cash on
that assertion. Close to the bottom of that mountain is the place the alien
spacecraft most continuously land.

The way in which Carlos tells his story, it has three ranges. At every
stage, you’re saved unaware that he has much more weird stuff that
will later comply with, issues that logically he ought to have talked about
earlier. Apparently that is in order that he can lecture to totally different
teams, of various ranges of gullibility. Our group acquired it from all three barrels. Some members of our group possessed
credulity of really cosmic proportions, and the remainder of us saved our
mouths shut.

The primary stage is the story of Carlos the UFO spotter, a
skilled photographer who typically sees and images alien Plasma
Ships on the outskirts of Tepoztlan. After about an hour of this, we
take a brief break, then he begins the second stage: the story of
Levitated Carlos, who has really been taken on board the plasma
ships, a reality he someway uncared for to say throughout the earlier
phase. Sadly, when he was taken aboard he wasn’t capable of
see a lot. Apparently, the “Plasma” that contains the alien craft is one thing like a mixture of fog and
chewing gum. Strolling in any path was tough, and irrespective of
the place he would go all he might see was extra plasma.

Following one other brief break, we heard the story of Carlos the
Adamski-style contactee. His outer house buddy typically lands, they usually
go for lengthy nocturnal walks within the desert, the place the alien dispenses
cosmic knowledge. The night concluded with an apocalyptic warning of
impending ecological doom except mankind repents of its sinful
egocentric methods and stops harming the planet. This obviously-heartfelt
message is particularly important coming because it doesn’t merely from
Carlos, who is perhaps safely ignored, however as a substitute from the
extraterrestrials themselves!

Carlos Diaz sells autographed offset prints – not pictures – of
his supposed “Plasma Ships” for US $20 every, a worth which
would strike me as fairly excessive even in New York Metropolis, not to mention in
Mexico. We had been discreetly warned to not belief Diaz by paying prematurely, as others had not obtained prints that they had paid for. His UFOs look principally like featureless blotches, and even
Jaime Maussan privately admitted that he has a tough time accepting them as
genuine. Curiously, Carlos informed us that he doesn’t consider the
“UFO abduction” experiences coming from the U.S.; they’re simply
too weird for him to swallow.

Warning! Evacuation of the Earth in Tepoztlan!

There was an enormous banner strung throughout the primary avenue of Tepoztlan,
proclaiming a coming “evacuation of the earth” through flying
saucer, below the supervision of the Ashtar command. I requested Carlos
what this was about. He shrugged and replied that he is aware of nothing
about it, because it was put up by a unique UFO group.

Searching for “vitality traces” on the spot the place Diaz meets the Plasma Ships.

We went to the soccer discipline close to the supposed “Mountain of Life” (male aspect), the place Carlos supposedly encounters the Plasma
Ships. On a earlier journey, Colin Andrews had detected “vitality traces” on this spot, too, and he traced them out in a
rectangular grid utilizing his dowsing rod. A number of individuals tried dowsing the “vitality traces” with out a lot success, till lastly the
rod was picked up by a lady who claims a sample of repeated UFO
abduction. She rapidly dowsed a sample of “vitality traces”
on the soccer discipline, and other people had been directed to face to mark the
positions the place the “vitality traces” crossed. What this
train completed, if something, was unclear, as was the
definition of the supposed “vitality” she claimed to dowse. No severe
try was made by the group to find out whether or not or not these
“vitality traces” symbolize something actual. This was an
train in group psychology, not in physics.

Leaving Tepoztlan for Metepec, within the state of Puebla, the
volcano Popocatepetl got here into view, one of many largest on this planet.
Actually, the realm was on volcanic alert, and a few minor eruptions had
occurred in current months, showering the realm with volcanic ash. This
volcano figures prominently in UFO lore of the area.

Mario Arminas with one in all his UFO drawings.

UFO witness and investigator Mario Arminas of Metepec claims to have
made quite a few sightings of UFOs within the neighborhood of the volcano, and
confirmed us no less than a dozen of his drawings. Considered one of
them depicts a complete fleet of UFOs taking place into the volcano’s
crater. One other depicts an enormous and really ornate UFO, reportedly 300
meters in diameter, with many home windows. Mario gives to promote
individually hand-painted drawings of his UFOs, US$ 20 for the
smaller ones, $30 for the bigger. These stunning handcrafted watercolors supply higher worth than Carlos
Diaz’ printed sheets.

Mario has a conspiracy idea involving UFOs and the volcano. The
final eruption was provoked, he says, by the earth’s superpowers, to
acquire a provide of sulfur. (Apparently our nation’s sulfur
scarcity has been saved nicely hidden from the general public.) He and others
declare to have seen fleets of army helicopters flying as much as the volcano, and again once more. The previous
administration of Carlos Salinas is rumored to have really bought Popocatepetl to overseas pursuits, who covet its UFO secrets and techniques, as nicely
as its sulfur. Mario was nervous that our group may need come down
to Metepec on behalf of the U.S. Authorities to acquire UFO secrets and techniques
from the volcano, and he was unwilling to speak with us except we
swore we weren’t engaged on behalf of the U.S. authorities, or any
associated company. All of us gave him our solemn phrase.

The volcano Popocatepetl

In Metepec, our main contact was Norberto Gil, chief of the
group IFO-IEGA. The group gathers recurrently for UFO skywatches at
Punta Marconi, a small farm on a hill simply outdoors Metepec, providing
an unobstructed view of the sky, and a spectacular vista of
Popocatapetl. Even after darkish, a volcanic plume may very well be seen rising
skyward from the crater. On this website the IFO-IEGA group has
constructed a shack or clubhouse for higher consolation throughout their UFO
vigils. This is without doubt one of the websites that was utilized by the American group CSETI on Mexican journeys. We held a
skywatch there on two consecutive nights. The positioning is nearly immediately
below a fundamental air visitors hall between Mexico and South America, and a few members of the group appear to have
issue distinguishing UFOs from airplanes. Typically the UFOs are
stated to maintain to common nocturnal timetables, which additional compounds
the confusion between UFOs and scheduled worldwide flights.

Folks introduced tapes of supposed “UFO noises” and
“crop circle noises,” and practiced group meditation, all
in an try to speak with, and hopefully summon, the UFO
beings. These are the strategies of CSETI, which IFO-IEGA realized nicely from their
American colleagues. Norberto led the group in meditation and
inventive visualization. He informed us to visualise ourselves slowly
rising up from our locations within the discipline, to a sequence of factors
successively increased above the bottom, then lastly out into house past the moon, the place we might encounter an enormous UFO. We
would implore it to come back and reveal itself to us tonight, a lot as
one may implore every other celestial being. The impact of his discuss was very like that of a minister main his congregation
in prayer, imploring an unseen celestial being to grant us our
fervent want.

The UFO Clubhouse in Metepec.

When no UFOs had been seen after we had been anticipating about an
hour and a half, the group retired into the clubhouse to have snacks
and get comfy. Norberto picked up his accordion and led the group in track. He later switched to his guitar. They sang
their songs, we sang our songs, the sense of camaraderie and good
spirits was unmistakable and infectious; all we lacked had been UFOs to
make the evening full. The next morning, simply earlier than our
departure from Metepec, Norberto informed us {that a} UFO had been seen
simply ten minutes after we had left the earlier evening. Darn it! However UFOs are
like that, at all times cleverly concealing themselves each time the hazard
of their public publicity is the best. Like the opposite Mexican UFOlogists we met, Norberto informed us
that he and the others in his group don’t consider the American UFO
abduction experiences; they’re simply too weird to just accept.

Searching for a gravitational anomaly.

One morning in Metepec we stopped on the website of a supposed
“gravitational anomaly” close to Punta Marconi. The tourbus was
purported to roll uphill on what was stated to be a downhill slope. A
complicated sample of native slopes confuses the attention as to the place “stage”
actually is. Sadly, the bus refused to cooperate. Norberto
tried for instance the thriller and get the bus rolling, giving it a
heroic shove. He’s a really sturdy fellow, however the tourbus refused to
hold rolling in any path, up or down.

In close by Atlixco, we visited the house of Sr. Lino, an legal professional,
in whose yard UFOs are stated to have landed a number of instances. A hoop in
the grass was reportedly left as proof of every touchdown, though
none had been seen on the time of our go to. His 16-year-old daughter
Adrianna claims to have seen a UFO land within the yard outdoors her
window. She has since begun receiving apocalyptic visions of the
earth colliding with an enormous asteroid, larger even than Jupiter. The
most dramatic bodily proof offered to us on the whole journey
was when Sr. Lino displayed a small stick that he stated had been
damaged when the UFO landed.

Touchdown proof – a stick damaged by a landed UFO.

We returned to the U.S. in good spirits, but disenchanted that
the first goal of the journey was not met: to witness among the
fabled Mexican UFO encounters with our personal eyes. Regardless of holding 4
evenings of Skywatches in two of the principal UFO hotspots in
Mexico, no anomalous objects of any sort had been seen. We met with the
main UFO proponents in Mexico, but had been proven no uncommon bodily
proof of any sort, and noticed no clear or convincing pictures or
movies. We did see a number of pictures and movies that seem like
honest misinterpretations of prosaic phenomena. It appears that evidently
regardless of the tales we hear within the U.S. in regards to the supposedly frantic
tempo of UFO exercise south of the border, if you happen to really go to the
hottest UFO hot-spots in Mexico and get the main UFOlogists to
present you their greatest proof, you will discover nothing extra outstanding
than the identical blurry pictures and hazy tales we’re accustomed to
discovering right here.