By Guillermo Daniel Giménez
The year 1978 marked some significant chapters in the UFO chronicles of the Republic of Argentina. The entire region of Necochea, in the southeastern end of the Province of Buenos Aires also echoed these manifestations of UFOs, landings and even encounters with the occupants of these objects.
But there was an incident of significant characteristics that took place in late August of that year some 56 kilometers from the city of Necochea, more specifically in the locality of La Dulce, a rural community located northwest of the city in question.
The incident was important not only because of the events that transpired, not only due to the presence of a large object over the ranch, but also the presence of amorphous entities that surveyed the location. But let us see what the TELAM news agency had to tell us around that time:
Necochea, Sep. 7 (Télam) – Two small lights descended from the strange object and reached a shed. They later moved swiftly and something like two silhouettes or hard-to-define figures emerged. That is how the story begins, as experienced by the Arias family, today the publishers of the local newspaper Ecos Diarios. The family, made up by Manuel Arias and his wife Leonor Turiella, said that on the night of August 31, 1978 shortly before 10 pm, there was a blackout. Suddenly “we felt drawn by an extraordinary source of light originating from a sector of the ranch” – which they occupy in the town of La Dulce.
[The couple ] was able to see “a very large object, similar to a grain storage silo, either stationary or suspended in the air some 800 meters from the house.” Two lights broke away, according to the Ariases, which “also appeared to float in the air, “The newspaper adds that another neighbor, Lorenzo Parrachini, as “a singularly bright object suspended over some trees when the city was plunged into darkness due to an blackout. I went to find other witnesses, but since I couldn’t find any, I returned to the site just in time to see how the light went away, giving off some greenish flashes. The time was 23:15. Drivers on Provincial Route No. 88, according to the appear, also saw the strange object.”
This is the information provided to us by TELAM. An incident that captured public attention and also that of the UFO community due to the presence of strange amorphous creatures – seldom seen in the Argentinean Republic.
La Dulce, Ground Zero
As stated earlier, La Dulce is 56 km northwest of the city of Necochea, 48 km along Provincial Route No. 56, with geographic coordinates of 38º 20´ Latitude South and 59º 12´ Longitude West, at an elevation of 88 meters above sea level. Its name commemorates Nicanor Olivera, owner of the La Dulce Ranch, which took its name from a lagoon located in the vicinity. His children founded the train station and in 1908, Nicanor Olivera yielded property for families to occupy and for the town to be laid out. It is surrounded by fertile soil that enables it to have a large agricultural yield (wheat, corn, sunflower) and good cattle pastures.
The UFO and the Amorphous Entities
At 21:55 hours on August 31, 1978, a storm lashed the area. At that time, Mrs. Leonor Beatriz Arias (neé Turiella) was taking a shower and was startled by a sudden blackout. She was forced to leave the bathroom and head to the kitchen to find a dressing gown. It was there she noticed that a strong light was pouring through the window to her house. Her husband, Manuel Arias, 55, had gone to bed to due to the blackout and did not see the light coming in through the window in question.
Leonor remarked: “The glow was hard to describe, but its intensity gave me the sensation of having gone right through my body.”
The phenomenon was like a compact beam of light, iridescent white in color that poured through the window blinding her. “When I tried to see myself, I couldn’t,” Mrs. Arias would later remark. The light appeared to be coming through the walls of the house. Its point of origin was from the exterior, piercing the farmhouse’s right corner. Outside the farm, there was a large dark object suspended, oscillating, over a group of 6 silos located some 30 meters away from the house.
Mrs. Arias decided to wake up her husband, who moved quickly toward the window. Both were now witnesses to the [object’s] maneuvers. The object was moving away from the house, flying over some cultivated land 80 meters away from the witnesses. It continued its horizontal trajectory slowly, perhaps at 15 meters over the surface, until it paused over a eucalyptus grove some 800 meters away.
This object had an estimated diameter of 8 meters. It was dark, had an oscillating motion, and seemed to be solid, according to Manuel Arias, Leonor’s husband.
There was a row of 10 luminous windows that surrounded the object’s central section. The windows were rectangular, vertically elongated, separated by fine dark artitions. They issued an intense light that varied between bright white and orange. The UFO’s upper section was dark and oval shaped, while the lower section was less visible, as it merged with the surrounding darkness. The Ariases believe that it was also oval in shape. The UFO was to the right of the wilderness. From their vantage point, the Ariases were privileged witnesses due to the excellent visuals they had from their kitchen. The object emitted a buzzing sound that could be heard despite the intervening distance, and which was similar to a turbine, according to Arias, increasing and decreasing in cycles, while the same occurred with the lights. At that time of night, the winds were strong and the darkness did not allow them to see the reactions of the animals to the proximity of the phenomenon.
A few minutes went by and two objects resembling flashlight bulbs came out of the object, descending softly and moving one behind the other toward the witnesses. These bulbs [appeared to correspond to] dark silhouettes moving at an approximate speed of 20 kmh.
Their estimated heights were between 0.70 and 1 meter, and their aspect was impossible to ascertain due to the prevailing darkness the light sources appeared to constitute the faces of these amorphous entities. These beings did not touch the ground; rather, they floated only centimeters from the surface. Their movements were continuous but rigid. When they reached the barbed wire fence, the beings avoided it by rising in the air and descending on the other side, continuing their march. The entities came close to a shed that contained machinery and vehicles. They made a 90-degree turn and entered a space between the shed and wire fencing. They disappeared for a few moments and then reappeared, dodging other obstacles such as the eucalyptus tree stand and a timber chute with a brick floor, measuring 2 meters wide and 13 meters long.
At this point, the beings were close to another shed, reducing their speed to a more normal stride, a slow one. These beings or enigmatic figures made a second circuit of the area, and perhaps many others, always around the shed, while the UFO continued hovering in the sky and making the buzzing sound. It was then that the Ariases decided to go to their bedroom and give up on the observation. Moments later, they came back to the window and ascertained that the large object and the beings had vanished. The entire phenomenon had an estimated duration of almost an hour.
At the time, the Arias family was made up of Manuel, 55, his wife Leonor, who was younger than her husband, and their 3-year-old son. No footprints were found after the event. Mrs. Arias experienced a nervous breakdown as a result of the sighting. The area where the family’s house is located is rich in agricultural and cattle activity, being producing fields. At the time that the incidents took place, the property belonged to the four Arias brothers, but have now been subdivided. There is a large saltwater lagoon located 3 km southwest of the place where the events occurred.
Related Phenomena
During the events experienced by the Arias family on the night of August 31, 1978 at Estancia La Dulce, Necochea, Argentina, there was a blackout in the area. Manuel Arias believes that the blackout affected not only his ranch, but the entire area as well, due to the passing of the UFO.
The local newspaper, Ecos Diarios of the city of Necochea, reported that: “Strong winds caused a power outage in several sectors of the region.”
After these events, the news spread by word of mouth throughout the town of La Dulce and neighboring communities until journalists from Ecos Diarios covered the story. The entire country soon learned of the incident.The Arias family found having to deal with all of the print and/or TV media journalists onerous. It was around this time that the local police “invited” the Arias family to file a formal report on the facts.
It is because of all this that Manuel Arias no longer wants to know anything about the case. Moreover, he says that if he should ever see another UFO and beings descended, he would tell no one. His wife remarked: “Now I feel more tranquil. I have no doubts about what we saw and ever since that night I look outside, knowing that
they are there, that they’re near us and want to communicate. They have no intentions of attacking us. If they came back today, I think I would go outside without any fear whatsoever. I’m not a fan of the subject, although I do read something, but I never watch science fiction movies that could have influenced my thinking.”
Days after the event, Leonor Arias herself was a witness to other UFO manifestations in the area. Manuel Arias says: “It was a craft, a module, let us say, suspended in the air giving off light. I think they always do the same…they flood everything with their lights and then take off. They do whatever they want and then leave…”
It should be noted that a mini-flap of 21 UFO cases occurred in the vicinity of Necochea in the months of August and September 1978.
• Case 1: 22 August 1978, Necochea, 20:20 hrs. A circular object, very luminous, flew from East to West on Tuesday 22 August, having its origin in the southeastern section of Buenos Aires Province, extending to La Pampa, Rio Negro, Neuquen and then Chile. Simultaneous observation in over 30 cities.
• Case 2: 22 August, vicinity of Coronel Dorrego, 20:30. Three hunters thought they heard strange footsteps similar to those of a man or a very heavy animal, coming from a small forest. After a fruitless investigation, they ascertained that the meat they were roasting on a spit tasted of sulfur, making them ill later. When they boarded their pickup truck, they saw an object measuring 30 meters in diameter and 1 meter tall, surrounded by a potent white light and with a black turret. The UFO approached and the electrical system of the vehicle shorted out as the UFO flew over them at an altitude of 50 meters. After it was gone, the vehicle started up and the hunters that they were traveling in the opposite direction to which they were heading before seeing the UFO.
• Case 3: 22 August. Ramón Santamarina, Necochea, night, 21:45 hs. Saw a strange “gaseous cloud” with a transparent aura, emitting a powerful light.
• Case 4: 22 August. Ramón Santamarina, Necochea, night. An object, larger and brighter than the Moon, flew at low altitude and approximately the witnesses’ car swiftly, accompanying them for a brief stretch before pulling away, issuing flashes.
• Case 5: 22 August, Coronel Dorrego, night. A UFO maneuvered slowly over the town.
• Case 6: 25 August, Ramón Santamarina, Necochea, 20:30 hs. An object issuing a strong intermittent light was seen over a tree stand, issuing strong red and orange flashes, vanishing later.
• Case 7: 31 August, Estancia La Dulce, near Necochea, 21:55 hs.
• Case 8: 31 August, vicinity of La Dulce, Necochea, night. Another local resident reports: “A singularly bright flying object suspended over the trees” while the city was dark due to a power outage. ” I went to find other witnesses, but since I couldn’t find any, I returned to the place just in time to see how the light departed, giving off greenish flashes.”
• Case 9: 31 August, night. At approximately the same time,drivers traveling along Route No. 88 also saw the strange object.
• Case 10: 4 September, San Cayetano, night. A young man sees a powerful light, 30 meters long, behind a stand of trees.
• Case 11: 4 September, San Cayetano, night. A farmer heading toward this town sees a UFO traveling toward the west.
• Case 12: Early September, Paraje San Jose, Necochea, night. Two witnesses see a luminous UFO.
• Case 13: 5 September, Route 86. Mrs. Arias (protagonist of the 31 August event at La Dulce) sees a medium-white, glowing cloud transform into a reddish half-moon. It increased in size before vanishing.
• Case 14: 8 September, La Dulce, Necochea, 20 hrs. A false sun lit the entire field, bathing it in throbbing red light for 5 minutes.
• Case 15: 8 September, Route 86, Km. 20 (a few kilometers from Necochea). At 20:15 hours, a beam of blinding red light lit a ranch from a stand of trees. Horses were spooked and two recently butchered lambs began to roast due to the heat issued by the UFO.
• Case 16: 9 September, Necochea, noon. Three luminous objects flew over this city’s downtown area.
• Case 17: 10 September, Route 86, Km,.85, night. A potent light appeared to be “resting” on a high-voltage line. It departed swiftly after 15 minutes.
• Case 18: 12 September, La Dulce, Necochea. A “star” breaks off from a powerful light, descending in 8 successive stages.
• Case 19: 14 September, Necochea, night. An object issuing alternating red and green lights flew overhead at high speed from West to East.
• Case 20: 14 September, Juan N. Fernández, Necochea, 22:30 hs. Took place 500 meters from a house at an altitude of 30 meters. A silver object producing a powerful light hovered over a stand of trees.
• Case 21: Mid-September, Necochea, night. A large, oval, red-colored light passed over the city toward the north.
A Similar Case
We can provide, as an example of a similar occurrence, an incident that took place 120 km from Necochea, where the Estancia La Dulce events befell the Arias family in August 1978.
It occurred in the early days of January 1988, when Leonardo Fuster and his friend Gabriel (surname unknown), both 18, residents of the La Serena district of Mar del Plata, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, were leaving a get-together at a friend’s house and were walking around a corner in the cited district, when they became witnesses to an anomalous event. The time was nearly 1:00 a.m. when Gabriel saw a white light coming from the Peralta Ramos forest. It was about 100 meters away, the light was larger in size than a star and looked much like a streetlight, according to the witnesses.
The object was making circular and zigzagging movements at high speed, not making any sound whatsoever. They were staring at for a minute until Leonardo told his friend: “Quit staring at it.”
They continued to walk and talk until a powerful beam of white light approached them and engulfed them, leaving them completely blinded. Moments later, the beam turned off and a kind of multicolored fog or smoke began to emerge; after it dispersed, a small creature appeared. Gabriel used his jacket to cover his face and not see any more, since he was frightened, while Leonardo continued to look. The being, or “the thing” as they called it, was between 50 and 60 cm tall, brown-colored and had two square red eyes. It had no arms, legs, hands, nose, mouth … no other feature aside from the eyes.
What was the reason for the number of so many UFO manifestations and the presence of strange beings in the region, in so short a time? A new UFO incident is therefore added to the global case history, with the presence of entities or beings of enigmatic appearance, highly reliable witnesses, in the southeastern end of the coast of Buenos Aires, in the Necochea region.
(Translation (c) S. Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU)