HUMANOIDS AT PAMPA DE AGNIA, CHUBUT, ARGENTINA (1978)

 

Driving two F-100 pickup trucks, Alfredo Giannoni and Jorge Castillo were faced with the prospect of a 634 kilometer drive along National Route 25, linking the communities of Trelew and Esquel, communities located in the Province of Chubut.

 

They had departed at 19:00 hours on 12 October 1978, driving at an average speed of 80 Kmh. Upon reaching the Las Chapas Wilderness, Castillo overtook his companion and remained at a close distance. Around 22:00, and some 10-15 Km after Las Plumas, in the Los Altares Valley, Castillo was startled to see a small light in the sky through the windshield: it increased in magnitude, toward the right and running distantly to the left.

 

As the source of silvery light grew in intensity, Castillo’s disquiet toward the phenomenon also rose. He decided to stop and consult with Giannoni about the observation, who unhesitatingly tells him it is a “flying saucer”

 

The shocking presence of the UFO: After filling up, the headed to the restaurant of the Automovil Club hostelry, where they state having eaten fish and consumed some cold sodas. Feeling considerably more tranquil, they discussed their experience with the person running the location – which we have been able to confirm – and renewed their journey at 02:15 in the morning. They would stop every so often along the road, chatting a while to keep from falling asleep and staying close to each other at a 30 meter distance. Giannoni was up ahead until he stopped at a given point, complaining of a headache, and saying he could go no further. Castillo replied that he would go ahead, as they were very near their destination. At that time, he was about to get down from the pickup truck when both men witnessed an object measuring 3 meters in diameter with an intense white, phosphorescent light that appeared to emit a sound similar to that of a teletype machine (“beep-beep-beep”). The object was suspended one meter above the ground and some 10 meters from the startled witnesses. Upon seeing this portent, Jorge Castillo entered the pickup truck while Alfredo Gianonni – still drowsy and feeling the headache – managed to quickly pull away from the site.

 

It was then that UFO rose into the air, making itself plainly visible in a matter of seconds. Castillo, stepping on the gas, managed to catch up with his traveling companion.

The strange occupants: In these conditions, a startled Jorge Castillo looked through his rear view mirror and saw “a thing with many lights and two square things in the rear of the pickup truck” where he carried four drums of ink for the Esquel newspaper in the city of the same name.

 

After having driven some 10 kilometers and around 3 in the morning, near Pampa de Agnia – a locality that only appears on the map – Castillo looked through the mirror again and saw four “square” figures in the payload that appeared to be “looking” at the drums. He continued driving nervously, glancing at the figures without stopping. According to one version of the story (2), upon delivering the ink, operators found it to be much more fluid than previous deliveries from the same factory and lot number.

 

They had covered another 15 kilometers prior to going up a long, steep rise when Giannoni, who was following closely but without seeing anything odd, said he was going to stay behind, as he was fatigued. Curiously enough, Castillo said that he could still see the humanoid figures through the mirror as well as an oval grey cloud that appeared to follow him on the side. Nonetheless, the witness gave the impression of contradicting himself when he points out Giannoni’s location with regard to his own. It is necessary to add here that at no point did Giannoni see or become aware of the presence of the alleged occupants, despite the fact that they shouted to each other from within the cabs of their pickup trucks, driving close together along the road.

 

When he saw those figures, Castillo was driving at some 70 Kmh (bear in mind that the vehicles were in a break-in period) and when he turned on the cabin lights to see if the beings were still behind him, since the sight couldn’t be clear, he noticed to his surprise that there was nothing there, just the four ink drums. However, when he turned off the light, he could see them once more.

View of the mountains: Alfredo Giannoni could go no further and decided to stop a while to sleep. Castillo, on the other hand, chose to continue the trip with great fear. Upon reaching a steep rise, he noticed that “the mountains on the side of the road joined as if they were made of rubber – they joined together and shut the road before me. Perhaps I was ill and grabbing my head, I stopped and thought: do I go through or not go through, will they take me away or not take me away…” However, moments after turning off his lights, the mountains returned to their rightful places. Suddenly, he sees two humanoids approaching him swiftly, walking along the desolate Patagonian road. They were a meter and a half tall, looking like astronauts in white outfits. Upon seeing them, he turned on the lights again and the disquieting vision vanished. He figures that it lasted barely a second.

 

 

 

Facing this circumstance, he tried in vain to go and find Giannoni, as he was exhausted and with a pounding headache, and pain in his arm. His pickup truck was diagonally across the road, with all of its lights on. He tumbled onto the seat, covering himself with some rugs he carried as samples, allowing an indefinite period of time to go by. Giannoni appeared out of nowhere, urging him to continue the trip. Traveling at 80 kmh, Castillo was some 10 to 20 meters behind, all the time seeing the mysterious cloudy object through his rear view mirror.

 

An unusual turn of events? : With less than 60 km to reach Esquel, in the vicinity of the Tecka River, Giannoni’s pickup truck “slid on the shoulder and went up in the air, landing in a very deep ditch,” according to the description given by Castillo, who did not hesitate in ascribing it to the strange phenomenon he was seeing, adding that the vehicle “was lifted from the front, without overturning any cement barriers, passing over them as though lifted. Furthermore, there’s nothing broken on it. Just a dented roof, as if they’d lifted it and turned it around.” Giannoni rested against the steering wheel, and while somewhat bruised and with a clamped leg, he exclaimed that he was okay. Castillo then got down rendering assistance and getting the motor going again with the lights on. He brought his companion back to his own pickup and they arrived in that vehicle, reaching Esquel after 6 in the morning.

 

 

Upon performing our investigation, approximately one year after the event had taken place, we covered the 634 kilometers that Alfredo Giannoni and Jorge Castillo covered between 12-13 October 1978, passing through the localities of Trelew, Las Plumas, Paso de Indios, Pampa de Agnia, Rio Tecka and Esquel. With the exception of areas near the communities that were the origin and destination of the journey, the vast Patagonian region crossed by the witnesses has desert-like, desolate characteristics – an obligatory crossing between both southern communities and a nexus between the Atlantic coast and the Andean Range.

 

A cursory review of the report shows that the alleged anomalous events described by the witnesses are the following:

 

a. Sighting of an unusual aerial phenomenon.

b. Sighting of humanoids that vanish swiftly before Castillo’s eyes.

c. A vision of mountains that close the road before him.

d. Unsual overturning of Gianonni’s pickup truck.

e. Story involving a suggestive change in the density of the ink being transported.