The Talavera Le Real Air Force Alien Incident – One Of Many 1970s Spanish UFO Encounters

According to an account that appeared in the February 1978 edition of Flying Saucer Review (Vol. 23 No. 5), a case of paralysis during an apparent UFO and alien encounter occurred on 12^th November 1976 at Talavera le Real Air Force Base in Badajoz, Spain near to the border with Portugal. The incident was not only witnessed by three military personnel but also resulted in severe (if temporary) health problems for one of them.

It also featured the apparition and disappearance of a strange, glowing humanoid entity, one that appeared to defy logic and physics as it faced the barrage of military fire from the soldiers involved. Indeed, the Talavera Le Real Air Force incident is one of the most detailed and remarkable on record.

The fact is during the 1970s, as we shall examine, particularly the mid to latter part of the decade, UFO sightings in Spain were almost a regular occurrence, with sightings being witnessed by people in the street as they went about their daily lives, to airline pilots who held the lives of others in their hands as they witnessed such strange objects thousands of feet above the ground. And what’s more, many of these incidents also involved strange humanoid beings that would appear to be the occupants of these equally strange aerial vehicles.

The report of the Talavera Le Real Air Force incident entered the public arena in the previously mentioned Flying Saucer Review courtesy of UFO investigator Juan Jose Benitez (and was transcribed by Gordon Creighton).

A Sudden Ear-Piercing Whistling Noise

The incident unfolded at just before 2 am when two Spanish soldiers ^[1] – Jose Maria Trejo and Juan Carrizosa – were on sentry duty at the “fuel stock zone” when they heard a sudden strange sound that immediately caught their attention. They would describe it as at first sounding like “typical radio interference” which suddenly changed to an “acute, penetrating whistle” that was “so piercing” it caused significant pain in their ears.

Each was now alert to the real possibility of an intruder and so began to scan their surroundings. The whistling sound continued for around five minutes before suddenly coming to a stop. They would undertake a search of the perimeters, not finding anything untoward and no signs of a breach of security. However, only moments after this patrol was carried out, the bizarre whistling sound began once more. They would describe this second whistling as being “so sharp and so penetrating” that they feared it would drive them mad or that their “eardrums were going to be ruptured”.

Once more the ear-piercing whistling sound continued for around five minutes before suddenly ceasing. This time, however, when the sound came to a stop a bright light was immediately visible overhead lighting up a large part of the ground below. This unnerving glow lasted for around 20 seconds before it vanished, sending the area back to the darkness of the early morning hours.

Shortly after, a third soldier, Jose Hidalgo, joined the two bemused men outside, with him was one of the military Alsatian guard dogs. He had also seen the magnificent glow and was preparing to conduct a tour of the perimeters of the base. The two soldiers agreed to join him, and on their way made their way to a small hut where the guards and the corporal slept. They would wake Corporal Pavon and inform him of the potential situation unfolding. He would immediately order a full search of the area, which the three soldiers would undertake. As they set out, the entire area was completely silent and still once more.

Searching Of The Perimeters

To begin with, the search was quiet and uneventful. In fact, the three soldiers took a certain amount of solace from the fact that the guard dog was calm and far from worked up. However, as they were approaching the next sentry box, things changed. They noticed a “whirlwind” of sorts began around them, bizarrely only seeming to affect the area where the soldiers stood. The sudden wind made them reach for and load their rifles. They each stood as still as possible, their eyes darting around the area for signs of an intruder.

Then, the sound of breaking branches reached their ears. They would unleash the guard dog who immediately ran toward the area where the noise came from. The soldiers waited, watching the area the dog had run to, expecting to hear barks and snarls when it located whoever, or whatever, had made the sound. However, all they heard was silence. A short time later, the dog came back toward the group. The men immediately noticed how the animal appeared spooked or frightened, and appeared to stagger, “as though (it was) seasick”.

They would eventually manage to coax the guard dog into investigating the area in question several more times. However, each time it would come back to the men “whimpering”, eventually circling around them which is something they have been trained to do to indicate danger.

Needless to say, this only raised the levels of alertness and anxiety of the three men.

After several moments, one of the soldiers called out in an attempt to get a response from whoever was hiding in the shadows. By this point, the guard dog and begun to snarl at the unseen presence, while continuing to circle the three soldiers.

Then, things changed once again.

Something In The Darkness Behind Them

Suddenly, Trejo experienced a bizarre “sensation” that there was “someone” behind him. In fact, he was so spooked that cold shivers went right through his stomach. At the same time, he noticed the glow of a green light in his peripheral vision. Automatically, he turned to face the green glow.

In front of him, at a height of around 10 feet tall, was a humanoid figure at an approximate distance of 50 feet from where he stood. At this point, the other two soldiers had also turned to face the strange scene. One would later recall that the strange figure seemed to be made up of many different small points of light.

They would further describe it as having extremely long arms and a small head in comparison to its body. It also appeared to wear some kind of helmet. Although all of the soldiers felt sure the figure was on the ground, none could recall seeing its feet or legs, almost as if its lower body was without legs.

Trejo, who was by far the nearest to the figure was at first unable to move through shock and fear. Then, after gathering his thoughts, he raised his rifle and prepared to shoot. However, before he could pull the trigger, he found himself unable to move. What’s more, a piercing “weakness” permeated his body. He would later recall that this sensation only began when he “tried to press the trigger” of his gun. It was almost as if, he would suggest later, that “the being had guessed my intentions”.

He felt himself falling to the ground. Before he did so, he shouted out to his fellow soldiers, “Down! They’ll kill us!” With that, Trejo fell face-first to the ground, now unable to speak, and having problems seeing. Behind him, though, Carriozosa and Hidalgo were preparing to fire their own rifles.

It Faded Away Like “An Image On A Television Screen!”

As Trejo lay face down on the ground, the two remaining soldiers opened fire. They later estimated they unleashed between 40 and 50 shots between them. However, almost immediately after opening fire, the two men looked on in amazement as the figure simply vanished into thin air, one of them describing it like the “fading out of an image on a television screen”. Within several moments, the figure had simply vanished.

Once the entity had gone, Carriozosa and Hidalgo rushed toward Trejo to ensure he was not harmed. As they did so, the strange, ear-piercing whistle sounded out once more, this time lasting for around 15 seconds. Then, complete silence took over.

Although he was largely unhurt, Trejo had an intense bruising type of pain in his chest (despite not having fallen on it or being struck there). This would last for approximately 20 minutes before easing off and then ceasing altogether.

By this time, almost the entire base had heard the shots of the soldier’s rifles and had rushed outside, themselves now ready to confront whatever intruder might have gained entry to the base. The men did their best to explain what had happened to varying levels of disbelief.

As soon as the sun was up several hours later, a unit of around 50 men conducted a thorough search of the area. However, not only was no evidence of the apparent entity’s presence found, not a single cartridge case was discovered in the area the soldiers had fired their weapons.

Given that they fired around 50 shots, at least one (if not several) should have been discovered. In fact, they should have been littered everywhere. And later analysis of the men’s rifles proved that they had indeed been fired when they said they had (although the entire base heard the shots for themselves).

Perhaps even stranger, though, was the fact that not a single bullet mark was discovered in the wall behind where the strange being was stood. Although many of the shots should have hit the target, the two soldiers who fired the rifles were certain that at least some of the barrage should have hit the wall.

The entire unit, including the base superiors, was mystified as to the incident. Several days later, though, more intriguing events unfolded.

Lingering Symptoms Of A Strange Encounter

Several days after the incident, Trejo’s vision began to worsen, so much so that he could barely see. He would ultimately be transferred to the military hospital building where he would lay largely unresponsive for around 24 hours.

At first, it appeared as though he was recovering and was discharged from the sickbay. However, less than a week later, he seemingly relapsed with his sudden ill health and was transferred to Badajoz Hospital. He would remain there for 10 days while doctors conducted several tests and examinations on him. These ranged from eye and hearing tests to blood and stool samples, and various X-rays. However, nothing out of the ordinary was discovered.

He was eventually discharged from the hospital and returned to duty. After several days, though, the mystery illness returned, beginning with him temporarily losing his sight. Although his vision would return, the overpowering unwell feeling didn’t leave him and he was eventually, on 30^th November, transferred to the Hospital del Aire – the Air Force hospital in Madrid.

Many similar examinations and procedures were carried out on Trejo during his time at the hospital. However, like before, doctors could find nothing physically wrong with him other than a “nervous maladjustment”, likely to the terrifying encounter in the early hours of that November morning. After several weeks, he was again released. This time, it appeared whatever had been troubling him, at least in terms of his physical health, was over.

Ultimately, the soldiers were mystified as to what they witnessed that night but they were certain that “all three of us saw it”, adding that “the thing was something very much like a man, but very tall”.

The events and what was behind them remain a complete mystery. As do such details as to what happened to the cartridge cases and why there were no bullet marks in the wall behind the strange creature. As Benitez writes in his summary of the case there are many similar cases on record where “figures have appeared – generally of a human form – presenting a totally non-material appearance, and with an intense illuminous radiation around them”.

Waves Of UFO Sightings In 1970s Spain

The above account is intriguing, to say the least. It is, though, simply one of many intriguing UFO and alien encounters to have taken place in Spain during the 1970s. Whether these sightings and encounters are in any way connected to the incident that unfolded at Talavera le Real Air Force Base is not certain. Several similar details emerge in them, though, and they all point toward one thing – that there was something strange occupying the Spanish skies during this time, and, at least on occasion, making its presence known just as much on the ground.

The Humanoid Encounter In Baracaldo

Around two weeks before the Talavera la Real Air Force Base incident, on the evening of 29^th October 1976 in Baracaldo, another incident unfolded involving humanoid entities. The account entered the public arena courtesy of the research of J.J. Benitez in the book La Quinta Columna.

On the night in question, a group of six teenagers were playing in a field, in a walled-in area near to the cemetery when a sudden loud sound, similar to static, captured their attention. They began to look around in an attempt to locate where the strange noise was coming from. Two of the group eventually spotted a bizarre telephone booth-shaped object overhead, seemingly descending down to the ground near to where they stood.

Without waiting for the others, they rushed out from their relative cover and out toward the open field to see the object closer, arriving in time to see it land on what appeared to be three small legs. As it stood there a red and white light bathed the immediate surroundings in its glow. They watched for several moments waiting for any signs of activity. Then, something happened.

In the middle of the craft, an oval-shaped doorway suddenly became visible. As it opened a red light shone out from the inside. Moments later, two humanoid figures emerged, each extremely tall. They each dressed in what appeared to be “tight-fitting black diving suits” with a particularly wide belt around their waists. After quickly surveying their surroundings the two figures began toward the walled area. As they moved the two boys noticed the figures had “bright shiny eyes” but seemingly no other facial features (it is not clear if this is because they were covered or they simply didn’t have them).

They continued to watch as one of the humanoids banged on the wall before the pair moved to the center of the walled-in area. The remaining four young teenagers remained inside the courtyard area, uncertain what was happening.

Then, one of the humanoids reached into a sack clipped at his side and produced a strange stick from his bag shortly before they disappeared.

Encounter In Medellin

Two years before the two humanoid encounters, according to a report ^[2] in the December 1974 edition of Flying Saucer Review (Vol. 20 No. 3) titled Spanish UFO Fiesta by Eileen Buckle, an encounter in the early hours of 14^th June 1974 unfolded in the town of Medellin. The incident would even appear in the Madrid evening newspaper, Pueblo (the 22^nd June 1974 edition).

According to the account, 46-year-old Santiago Pulido Romero, a man who led a quiet and humble life with his wife and six children, would suddenly find himself at the center of a bizarre and intriguing UFO encounter.

The event took place in a “clay-colored field” within sight of the Castle of Medellin, with a spattering of trees nearby. On the morning in question, at around 5:30 am while it was still relatively dark, Romero was on his way to his father’s farm. However, as he passed the small group of trees, a “strong light” hit him square in the eyes. At almost the same time, a little way off in the distance, he could see a “funny-looking contraption” that was moving at “unbelievable speed” at around 300 feet above the ground. From his perspective, it appeared as though the vehicle was headed in his direction.

It was at this point, Romero switched off the headlights of his car and began to creep forward very slowly. A short time after he killed the headlights, the moving device appeared to stop its pursuit of his vehicle. However, when he reached a hill in the road and switched them back on again, the “apparatus came towards me again at very high speed”. Once more, when he turned the headlights of the car off, the moving lights “faded off”.

He continued on his way with the lights off, and while the object remained in view, moving along the open fields, it did not directly approach him. Upon arriving at his father’s farm, he ran inside the house and locked the door behind him, giving himself several moments to gather his thoughts. After several moments, and after recovering a pitchfork from the property, he opened the front door and peered outside.

He could see the device – whatever it was – simply hovering patiently over the farm. He would elaborate that “the light it gave off was so intense that it looked like daytime”. Then, he made his way quickly back to his car and proceeded to flash the headlights at it in an attempt to elicit a response. As soon as he did so, however, the “thing headed for me like a bat out of hell”. He immediately turned the lights off once more, and within a moment the object had calmed again somewhat, returning to hovering over the farm.

Romero would describe to Buckle how the object both moved at great speed while spinning at the same time, sometimes zigzagging or even moving like the pendulum of a clock. He would further describe the object as “round on the bottom with a cone-shaped tower on top” further elaborating that the round section was completely transparent with a “great yellow light” coming from the inside. The coned tower appeared to be made of some kind of shiny metal and was approximately 30 feet high while the bottom section was around 60 feet across.

Even more fascinating, he could see “three men” inside the transparent section of the craft. They were approximately six to seven feet tall and appeared to be manipulating switches or levers and each was wearing some kind of helmet.

Ultimately, he would observe the object for another 90 minutes or so until the sun began to rise fully. At that point, the object moved away from the farm and disappeared.

Romero would state that even if he “lived to be a thousand, I’ll never forget that experience!”

Buckle would also note several other witnesses who also viewed the strange glowing object in the Medellin region at around the same time. One of these was a young boy who was heading toward La Oliva and who would see it from the road on which he was walking, while a couple in the San Benito region also witnessed it.

Sightings In The Months Before The Medellin Encounter

In the same article, Buckle would further highlight several other strange UFO encounters that took place during 1974 in the months leading up to the Medellin incident. For example, on the evening of 20^th March, a local resident of Gerena in the Seville Province, Antonia Diaz Romas witnessed a strange object land in her backyard. Her sighting was even given newspaper coverage, and the fact that she was a “well-known and respected lady” perhaps only gave the sighting more credibility.

She would state how she was clearing up the kitchen as she normally would be with everyone else in the house other than her father already in bed. Suddenly, an intensely bright light appeared out of nowhere and “momentarily blinded” her. The next thing she realized, a “deafening, high-pitched squeaking” noise assaulted her ears.

When she managed to focus out of the window, she could see some type of strange egg-shaped object or device had seemingly materialized in the yard outside, approximately around 12 feet away from her home and hovering around three feet from the ground. A red “twinkling” light shot from the object, lighting up the immediate area around it. She would further offer that inside the device she could see “two black, bulky objects”.

The object remained visible for several minutes, appearing to inspect the environment outside as it did so. Then, without any warning, the object rose into the air and disappeared. At this point, Antonia was screaming out loud, which prompted her husband, Manuel Valderas Fuentes to rush into the kitchen. By the time he arrived, though, the object had disappeared.

Several weeks later, on the evening of 2^nd April, came a sighting of a strange aerial object with several witnesses. Once more the incident reached the media and was given significant coverage. The witnesses were two married couples – Paulino Torner and his wife Josafina Gisbert, and Bartolome Rubio and his wife Francisca Bonaguera, along with their three children – who were in a field at the time of the sighting.

They would recall how they heard a “very loud noise” which sounded like a “train traveling at great speed”. In fact, at first, they thought it was a train until they realized that the train track was a considerable distance from where they stood. A few seconds after hearing the unsettling sound they noticed “something heading directly” toward them at “very high speed”. Suddenly, whatever it was “stopped in its tracks”. They continued to watch it, noting how it hovered in the same place yet continued to spin. After a few moments, it simply shot away.

The Mothership Sighting Of Adrian Sanchez

Only weeks earlier on the morning of 20^th March at around 11 am another intriguing incident unfolded when a pocketbook salesman, Adrian Sanchez, had a surreal encounter in Castillo de las Guardas.

Sanchez was “making the rounds” of his customers on the morning in question when he suddenly noticed something falling out of the sky. He believed, at first, that it was an airplane about to crash to the ground. He immediately ran toward the area the object was headed, thinking he might be able to aid any survivors. However, when he arrived close to the destination, instead of the mangled remains of an airplane, he was confronted with an airship-shaped object. He would estimate this otherworldly craft was between 500 and 600 feet long.

He remained where he was, fascinated rather than frightened, his mind struggling to truly comprehend what he was seeing. Then, he noticed a door opening at on end of the craft. Seemingly out of nowhere from three smaller craft appeared. They were, Sanchez recalled, in the shape of “yo-yos” and were approximately 25 feet long.  He watched as each of the smaller vehicles – which appeared to be made of an aluminum-type exterior – entered the larger one. That is, except for the last one, which suddenly changed direction and headed straight for him.

As soon as it did so, Sanchez turned and ran back to his car, starting his engine as soon as he touched the seat and drove off as fast as he could. The smaller object followed his vehicle for several minutes before ceasing the pursuit and disappearing at “extremely high speed”. All the while, the object didn’t make a single sound. Sanchez also recalled that there appeared to be nothing to suggest there were windows or a door on these smaller objects.

According to the report, Sanchez did report the incident, but the local police feared ridicule if they became involved in such an apparently outrageous claim.

Sightings Of Strange Craft All Over Spain

Only a week later on the evening of 27^th March, a “spindle-shaped” object which shined brightly was witnessed by multiple people over the town of Malaga, with the editor of the newspaper Sur even managing to capture a picture, which you can see below.

On the same evening, multiple witnesses of the Cadiz region would report sightings of a strange aerial object. One such witness was a local 13-year-old boy, Pedro Aguilar. In his report, he would state that he and several friends were out on the hills at around 8:30 pm on the night in question, near the housing estate where he lived. Suddenly, he noticed a strange, oval-shaped object overhead and realized instantly that it was “neither an airplane nor a helicopter” and was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

Aguilar managed to recall a detailed description of the bizarre object, noting that it appeared to have windows around the side “with red, revolving lights”, while on the top a “very strong green and amber light” appeared to blink regularly. It was hovering at around 25 feet from the ground and remained there for approximately 10 minutes. Then, without warning, all of the lights went out and the object shot upwards into the air. Within moments it had disappeared from Aguilar’s view.

The next morning several residents witnessed a similar object seemingly hovering near the horizon, further describing it as disc-shaped and “very bright”. Even more amazing, after watching it for several minutes, a smaller object merged from the disc, and several moments later each of them disappeared.

The following day, another sighting was witnessed by multiple people, this time over Vigo during the Fiesta of the Reconquest celebrations, with a report even appearing in the Madrid publication ABC two days later.

One witness, Juan Minguela Dominguez, was at home asleep on the night of the sighting. He awakened at around 3 am to the sound of his three hunting dogs howling and acting in an extremely agitated way. He also noticed an “unbearable heat” around him, as if the night had suddenly turned extremely hot. Suddenly thinking there might be a fire outside (which would possibly explain the agitation of the dogs) he got out of bed and made his way to the bedroom window. The sight that met him from outside shocked him, to say the least.

There in front of him was a huge egg-shaped object hovering a relatively short distance from his coastal home and appeared to be only several feet above the surface of the water. He would estimate that it was around 300 feet tall and approximately 100 feet wide and emitted “enormous sparkling flashes”. By the time he realized the object was seemingly approaching his home, he reached for his shotgun. He initially contemplated hiding in one of his cupboards – even stepping inside at one point. However, he decided against it and returned to the window once more.

As he looked out, he saw the object now rising into the air, slowly becoming smaller and smaller until it had disappeared out of sight completely. He couldn’t recall exactly how long he was at the window, but it was most likely several minutes. Even after the object had gone, though, the three dogs remained in a severely agitated state. In fact, they remained this way the following morning, refusing to be moved for their morning walk.

Interestingly, several other residents of the area reported almost identical sightings at the same time of the morning.

A Double Sighting On A Lonely Spanish Road

Another incident that occurred in late March 1974 is also of interest to us here and was reported on in the 29^th March edition of the Spanish newspaper La Gaceta Regional. The witness was a 21-year-old truck driver named Maximiliano Inglesias from Salamanca. He would claim that on the night in question he was returning to his home at around 2 am when he was suddenly “dazzled by a very strong light”.

At first, he believed the source of the lights came from an approaching lorry leading him to dip his own headlights. As he did so, however, instead of seeing another truck approaching him, he saw a bizarre object sat right in the middle of the road approximately 700 feet ahead of him. He would describe the object as looking like a “saucer placed on top of a plate”. What’s more, an almost identical object was hovering a short distance overhead.

Even more alarming, two strange beings suddenly emerged from the object on the road, with one of them immediately pointing toward his truck. Before he could do anything more, though, the beings returned to their craft which then rose into the air. Then, both of the objects shot off into the sky. Later that day he would travel down the same road when he suddenly realized it was blocked once more – only this time there were three objects parked across the road.

He brought his vehicle to a stop and ultimately left the cabin when he noticed several of the strange figures headed toward him. He would eventually take cover in a ditch at the roadside where he remained until the creatures had returned to their strange vehicles.

Sightings Over Madrid

The month of May 1974 brought with it two more strange incidents to the Spanish skies. The first was reported in the 9^th May 1974 edition of the daily Spanish newspaper Informaciones. The previous morning, at around 7 am in the city of Cucenca, a group of three people were heading toward Madrid when they noticed something strange near the town of Alto de Cabrejas. The main witness, Amadeo Villar Garrote, was with his daughter, and with his chauffeur who was driving the car.

All three of the group saw the bizarre oval-shaped craft, which appeared to spin as it hovered and flashed red lights. It remained in sight for around 40 seconds before it rose high into the morning sky and disappeared.

Just over two days later on the evening of 11^th March at a little after 8 pm just outside Madrid, another similar sighting unfolded. Esteban Alfonso Martinez was driving toward the city with his family when they noticed a huge cigar-shaped object in the sky. Martinez would later estimate that it was at least twice the size of a jumbo jet aircraft.

It remained stationary, simply hovering at an approximate altitude of 3000 feet (although he wasn’t certain of how close or far the object might have been from their location).

Martinez had by this time brought his vehicle to a stop in an attempt to get a closer look. However, the object soon disappeared behind the trees at the roadside. He quickly started the car again, looking to locate the strange object once more, however, he was unable to locate it.

When he eventually arrived at their location, though, his family spotted another strange object in the sky as he was attempting to park the car. This one was much smaller than the first and appeared in the shape of a “child’s spinning top”. The first object also appeared back in sight, with the smaller object seemingly docking on board it.

The San Antonio Harbor Incident

Although it wasn’t reported until 1999 with the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), an incident on the afternoon of 1^st May 1974 is also of interest to us here. On the day in question, at around 5 pm, the main witness was sat on a sea wall at San Antonio Harbor with two friends when they suddenly noticed a strange bright object appear near the horizon.

The witness would claim that the object “flew up, performed a loop and plunged into the sea”. Even more remarkable, the object appeared to “shrink” as it descended, with the light also getting smaller, but brighter. Throughout the entire episode, the object made no noise whatsoever, not even from an apparent impact with the water (although the witness contemplated that it might have disappeared over the horizon).

At first, the three friends contemplated that it might have been a firework. However, after discussing it for several moments – noting how fast and purposeful it moved – they decided that was unlikely to be the explanation. What’s more, the object left a “glowing trail” behind it which made the clouds glow for several hours after it had gone. In fact, as the sky grew darker, the clouds appeared to glow even more.

What the object might have been remains unknown. It is interesting, though, that yet another sighting of a strange aerial craft appears to have some kind of residence or familiarity with the world’s seas and oceans.

The Las Bardenas Reales Encounter

An account relayed in Timothy Good’s excellent book Beyond Top Secret is most certainly worthy of examination here, not least as it took place over another Spanish military facility.

On the evening of 2^nd January 1975, at around 11 pm at the Las Bardenas Reales neat the Zaragoza Air Base, six Spanish military personnel witnessed two objects hovering at a low altitude over the facility. One of the witnesses managed to observe one of the objects using binoculars and would describe it in his report as looking “like an inverted cup”. It had a row of white lights at the top and bottom of the object and an occasional flashing amber light near the middle.

The object was observed for several minutes, with estimates of its size being that it was similar to a standard truck. When the objects rose into the air and disappeared, they lit up the ground in an intense bright light, although no sound was heard at any point from the strange craft.

An initial investigation by the Spanish military, perhaps unbelievably, suggested that all six of the witnesses had seen some kind of optical illusion instead of an unknown advanced aircraft. However, discreetly released documents in the years that followed showed that this was not at all what the Spanish Air Force believed.

According to these documents, not only were the witnesses questioned separately, but their accounts matched each other exactly. Even more, “…from their reports could be established the fact that…unidentified flying objects flew…at low speed and at low altitude above the ground and then ascended”.

In short, whatever the soldiers had witnessed, it wasn’t an optical illusion.

The Later Years In The Spanish Skies Of The 1970s

Although the early and mid-1970s did see an apparent surge of UFO incidents, the years that followed also recorded some equally intriguing encounters. And many encounters featured remarkably similar details, such as the persistent appearance of humanoid entities, or sightings that featured glowing objects heading out toward the sea. Indeed, the later years of the 1970s in the Spanish skies were just as active as the opening years of the decade, if not more so.

The Bizarre Encounter Of Pablo R – Yet Another Spanish Humanoid Case

According to an account in the book The Great Contactees, at around 2:30 am in the early hours of 5^th July 1978, a motorist near Alicante had an encounter with a humanoid figure as he drove down the lonely highway. The witness – a businessman known as “Pablo R.” – was bringing his car around a curve in the road when he suddenly appeared bright light ahead of him caught his attention.

As many people would in such a situation, his first thought was that another car was coming up ahead on the other side of the road. Then, the light disappeared momentarily. When it reappeared, though, Pablo realized it wasn’t the lights of an oncoming vehicle. Now the light glowed an intense orange color. It once more disappeared behind a curve in the road. When it reappeared, it was much closer to Pablo’s moving vehicle. It was at this point that he slowed the car considerably.

When he focused on the bright orange glow, he could see that it was clearly a solid object in the shape of a disc. Now, a little more than spooked, Pablo pressed down on the accelerator, wanting to vacate the area as quickly as possible. As soon as he did so, though, the lights of the disc-shaped object dimmed, and his car engine suddenly cut and the headlights went out. The car came to a stop and Pablo suddenly realized how dark his surroundings were. Then, he heard a strange voice calling his name.

Terror surged through him at the sound of the voice, even when he contemplated that it must be someone he knew him to use his name in the first place. His eyes darted around the blackness outside his vehicle and eventually spotted the faint shape of a person a short distance ahead.

The closer it got he could see that it was at least six feet in height and dressed in a “tight-fitting, semi-transparent coverall” – certainly not attire suitable for such a warm evening, Pablo thought. At this point, he could see the being’s face. It appeared completely human aside from the large, elongated eyes.

At this point, rather than feeling scared, a feeling of “peace and tranquility” ran through him. What’s more, the entity’s voice appeared once more in his mind. According to Pablo, the figure telepathically answered his questions, stating he was an alien (to Pablo) and his visit to Earth was a peaceful one. It further informed Pablo that its home planet was unknown to scientists on Earth as it resided in a “dark zone” that our telescopes were unable to reach or see into. Furthermore, the “outdated technology” used by humans would mean it would take them hundreds of years to even reach this planet. Further still, his race traveled through space in ways that were “totally incomprehensible to current Earth physics”.

This strange entity also stated that his race was “humans just like you”, with slight differences, perhaps the main one being their evolution with such realms as the “mental, astral, and spiritual”, adding that humans were “still evolving in the physical plane”.

The pair proceeded to have a telepathic conversation, with the apparent alien stating that it didn’t matter how long they spoke, the episode would only last a few minutes on Earth time.

Incidentally, when the conversation was over and the craft was disappearing upwards and out of sight, the time on Pablo’s watch read 2:33 am. As the entity had stated, despite them seemingly speaking for some time, only three minutes had passed for Pablo.

The Guadiamar River Incident

Just short of half a year later on the evening of 24^th November 1978, according to the September 1979 edition of the APRO newsletter, another humanoid encounter unfolded. On the night in question, four friends were hunting in the Seville province near the Guadiamar River. The night was dark, but calm, with a reasonable temperature and with overall good visibility, although each of the hunters carried a powerful flashlight.

It was around 3:30 am when one of the group decided to return to the car. The other three pressed on, wading through a stream in order to follow a rough road left by the many tractors that used the area during the day. They used the beams of the flashlights in an attempt to highlight a potential target. It was as they were doing so when they spotted something much more remarkable.

One of the hunters, Manuel Gordillo, would recall that they suddenly noticed strange red lights up ahead that appeared very similar to car taillights. When they realized the lights were seemingly moving in the air and on the ground they immediately turned off their flashlights. Then, with caution, they moved forward toward the strange glows.

They soon confirmed in their own minds that the red lights were definitely not part of a car. The closer they got, they realized whatever it was, it was on the other side of the river. They quickly agreed to discreetly cross the river, putting themselves on the same side as the lights. Once on the other side, though, Gordillo unintentionally became separated somewhat from the other two. He would whistle in an attempt to locate his fellow hunters. Upon doing so, they turned on their flashlights so he could find them, which he duly did. It was then they told him they had spotted the strange lights again. A short time later, Gordillo saw the red glow again in the trees slightly ahead. He quickly made the decision to enter the woodland and get a closer look.

As he made his way through the trees, he could see that the red glow was not one or two lights, but an entire row of different colored lights on the side of a solid, round object. This object – which hovered a very short distance above the ground – was approximately 10 feet high and around 15 feet in width, with a solid glow on the top of it. What’s more, a strange, human-like figure was walking around in front of them, and although he couldn’t make out much detail, he got the impression the figure was particularly tall, perhaps as tall as seven feet.

Although the witness was at a visual disadvantage due to him observing events while laying on the ground, he would state that the man was wearing some kind of shoes or boots and was speaking in a strange way, “as if he was in a deep well”. He wasn’t certain, but it appeared the figure was wearing some kind of helmet, similar to a motorcycle helmet with a visor. The man was taking constant, but slow steps, and consequently would temporarily disappear from his sight. When the figure appeared to be approaching them, the men quickly broke cover and ran away from the scene as fast as they could.

Incidentally, following their reporting of the incident, UFO investigators would conduct a study of the location several weeks later in January 1979. According to their report, they did indeed discover a strange circular area where the witnesses claimed the object had been hovering. What’s more, they found a “curious footprint” that appeared to have been “impressed into the ground many days before”. Furthermore, they also found three distinct markings in the soil, possibly suggesting some kind of “legs” for the elongated object.

Near-Collision November 1979 Incident

Described by Timothy Good as “one of Spain’s most dramatic airline encounters with UFOs” when a Super Caravelle of the Spanish Air Transport company narrowly avoided a mid-air collision with an unknown object as it approached Ibiza having traveled from Salzburg in Austria. The incident occurred on the evening of 11^th November 1979, with the plane, under the charge of Captain Francisco Lerdo de Tejada, carrying 109 passengers to one of Europe’s most popular holiday destinations.

Tejada would report later to investigators that the crew suddenly received a communication from Air Traffic Control in Barcelona asking them to switch their communication to 121.5 megacycles – which is an emergency frequency. They did as requested but were not at all prepared for what was to come next.

The frequency brought nothing but “the noise of a transmitter” which meant nothing to the captain or the crew. Then, as they were listening to the bizarre noise, two red lights suddenly became visible up ahead. The red lights were “powerful” and were heading toward the plane from their 9 o’clock position. Tejada noticed immediately that the lights moved in perfect alignment with each other. Of more concern, however, was the “staggering” speed with which the object was approaching. They appeared to narrow the gap of approximately 10 miles (when they had first been seen) to less than a mile within moments.

It then appeared to “play” with the plane, “moving upwards and downwards at will” and moving around the plane while “performing movements that would be quite impossible for any conventional machine to execute”. He would estimate the size of the strange craft to be a similar size to that of a jumbo jet.

Realizing he was in danger of colliding with the object, Tejada turned the plane sharply, although the object remained in the general vicinity. It would later come to light that several of the passengers also witnessed the strange “zig-zagging” object outside the plane, with one elderly gentleman even collapsing from what he saw.

Tejada would contact Manises Airport in Valencia and request permission for an emergency landing, which was duly granted. The Spanish plane touched down there shortly before midnight. When it did, the strange UFO was clearly visible to anyone on the ground who cared to look upward, which included the director of the airport.

Not long after the emergency landing, Captain Tejada and his crew were interviewed by members of the Spanish Air Force as to what they had seen. At around the same time, a Mirage F-1CE jet was scrambled by the Spanish Air Defense Command through the Pegaso Operations Center. The pilot was Captain Fernando Camara and his brief was to investigate unknown lights over Manises Airport and the port of Valencia. At around 2:20 am – around three hours after the lights were first sighted – Camara arrived over Valencia, flying at an altitude of around 7500 feet.

At first, he couldn’t see any sight of the red lights, and his radar screen showed nothing untoward either. However, several moments after arriving, a “siren-like” noise erupted through the communication channels. At the same time, Camara noticed the red light slightly ahead of him. He immediately received orders to intercept it.

He chased the light for a considerable time, and although he could see it visually, his radar screens still showed nothing. Ultimately, though, he was unable to get anywhere near the light, which avoided the jet with ease. Once he was a significant way over the Mediterranean Sea, he turned around and headed back inland.

He was soon directed toward another light in an attempt to intercept it. However, much like before, as soon as he got near it, it simply shot away with great speed. Also at this stage, several instruments on the Mirage began to falter, including the onboard camera, with which Camara attempted to film the object. The pursuit was eventually called off and the Mirage returned to base. However, all the way back, the strange light remained with the jet and continued to jam its instruments.

Just short of a week later, Pegaso Operations Center would find themselves tracking another unknown object in the Spanish skies.

“Hello! How Are You?”

On the evening of 17^th November, only six days after the incident over the skies of Valencia, at 5:20 pm, the Pegaso Operations Center would begin tracking an unknown object around 40 miles south of Granada. The object appeared to be in the vicinity of a radar facility. It remained stationary for around 15 minutes before heading toward the Spanish coast.

A Mirage fighter jet was scrambled from Los Llanos Air Force Base at 5:45 pm with its mission to intercept the unknown object. A little over 20 minutes later, it arrived in the same airspace as the mystery vehicle. However, as the fighter approached its target, the object vanished from both the jet’s and the control tower’s radar systems. What’s more, the pilot had made no visual contact and still could locate the object.

By 6:15 pm the Mirage began its return journey to base. However, within minutes, three “red-yellow” lights in the shape of a triangle were visible a short distance away. The pilot immediately headed in the direction of the lights, setting his radar on at the same time. It wouldn’t, though, pick up anything on its screens. Furthermore, although he was traveling at a considerable pace, he didn’t make any ground on the lights, which headed out over the water in the approximate direction of Algeria.

The Mirage continued the pursuit for several more minutes before breaking off the futile chase. The bizarre events, however, were not over. As the pilot approached the runway at Los Llanos Air Force Base, a sudden sound of laughter – as if from a child – broke out over the communications channel. This was followed by a strange voice, speaking in Spanish which said, “Hello, how are you? Hello! Hello!”

This would last for around 30 seconds and was clearly audible to the pilot. However, when he reported to his superiors it would come to light that this interference was not audible in the control room – consequently, he was the only one who heard it.

Fishing Crew Cone-Shape

Another account from APRO – in the Vol. 29, No. 11 edition of the APRO Bulletin – occurred just over a year later in the early spring of 1981. And while it didn’t feature an encounter with a humanoid entity, the craft itself is very similar to the one witnessed by those at the Guadiamar River incident.

According to the report, at around 7 pm on the 25^th March, a fishing boat (the Moguer 5) left Ayamonte and headed out to sea on a standard fishing operation with six other similar boats. However, when they were only a little over 1000 feet from the port, they witnessed a strange “conical-shaped” object around 300 feet in front of them.

The first member of the crew to spot the aerial anomaly was Eugenio Burgo Gomez. After contemplating what he was looking at for several moments, he quickly brought the rest of the crew’s attention to it. Shortly after, the crews of the other vessels were made aware.

Gomez would state that the object was hovering only several feet from the surface of the sea and was “revolving around itself in a clockwise direction”. It was approximately 170 feet high and around 160 feet wide at its base. He also noted a row of tallow lights at the top of the object and another one at the bottom. Despite its obvious movement, no sound whatsoever came from the object, nor were there any visible or obvious signs of propulsion.

Gomez would estimate that the object remained visible for around 60 minutes before suddenly shooting into the air with great speed and disappearing, still without making a single sound.

It is perhaps worth noting that there are several airfields and army bases near the vicinity of the sighting and that the witnesses were more than familiar with the usual planes and other aerial vehicles they would normally see.

The Michelin Man Sighting Encounter

It is also worth our time examining an incident that occurred in the early summer of 1960 as it also featured details of a humanoid entity. According to an account in the June 1980 APRO Bulletin by Miguel Peyro Garcia, a school teacher, Don Miguel Timermans Ceballos, was riding his motorcycle in the Cadiz region of the country at around 1 pm on the afternoon in question when he noticed a truly bizarre humanoid figure approximately 50 feet in front of him. The figure was beginning up an incline of the road ahead.

He would recall how the entity was between six to seven feet tall and was “completely red, from head to foot”. The figure walked like a “mechanical doll”, as though he was having great difficulty taking steps.

By the point, Timermans had brought his motorcycle to a stop in order to get a steadier view of the bizarre figure. To his amazement, as he watched the robot-like being, a second, identical figure (although slightly shorter) appeared at the roadside near the first one and then proceeded to follow it. Timermans later recalled that this second figure had a single black boot on one of its feet (although he couldn’t recall which foot it was).

Then, with the schoolteacher not daring to take his eyes from the pair, they crossed over the roadway. Due to the road being made mostly of “white earth”, the garments and general shape was remarkably clear for the witness. He would recall clearly seeing their “ringed outlines” that gave them a shape like that of the typical “Michelin Man”.

Although he was aware that he might be putting himself in danger, Timermans decided to try to get a closer look and restarted his motorcycle. He crept forward a little, eventually reaching the start of the highway’s incline. However, much to his surprise, the two figures had completely disappeared. He would estimate that the entire incident lasted around 30 seconds.

He contemplated leaving his bike and searching for the two beings, but due to him being alone he ultimately decided against this and continued with his journey. Incidentally, other sightings of these Michelin Man-type figures have been reported in other parts of the world also.

“…Difficult For Official Quarters To Admit!”

As we can see, then, just by examining a small handful of the UFO and possible alien encounters to have occurred on or over Spain during the 1970s alone, we can see that it had more than its fair share of such incidents. Many of them involving bizarre humanoid figures, not least the incident at Talavera le Real Air Force Base.

That there was a presence of strange vehicles and creatures in the country during this time would appear to be a certainty given the number of accounts on record. Of course, whether those vehicles and strange humanoid beings were extraterrestrials is perhaps still open to debate.

It is perhaps interesting to note the words of the Spanish Air Force General Carlos Castro who, in 1976, stated that he did “believe in the existence of UFOs”, but that it was “as difficult for official quarters to admit that something exists as it is for the Church to affirm that this or that is a miracle”.

Indeed, we might note that authorities in Spain (and many other countries in Europe) take the subject of UFOs a lot more seriously than the United Kingdom, for example, which for all intents and purposes simply ignores such reports, leaving any cataloging and investigation to independent organizations (at least officially).

And, as we have examined in our article looking at the 1995 Galicia UFO Wave, these sightings of strange objects have continued over Spanish skies right into our contemporary era. Indeed, Spain, like many countries around the planet, boasts regular UFO sightings today as we begin negotiating our way through the 2020s.

The video below examines UFO sightings examines some of the best alien encounters in Europe.