Return to Friendship Island: A South American Conspiracy, Revisited

In the summer of 1985, a strange light was observed by thousands of onlookers as it passed through the skies over Santiago, Chile. Among the observers present, a number of them believed they knew the origins of this seemingly “alien” craft, thanks to a story that had risen to popularity after appearing on the Chilean television program Ovni,which dealt with a mysterious island off the Southwest coast of Chile.

This object, they believed, belonged to the strange inhabitants of a place called Friendship Island.

Researcher Diego Zúñiga summarized the incident in an article for the Chilean magazine La Nave de los Locos, which also appeared later at the Magonia blog. In it,  Zúñiga notes that the incident became so sensational that, “the news department of Television Nacional de Chile, channel 7, used a special camera to record the object on videotape.” The object, however, was later revealed to have had earthly origins, and nothing having to do with the supposed “Friendship”: it was merely a weather balloon, released as part of a French stratospheric research project one month earlier.

“Too many people refused to accept the sad reality,” Zúñiga wrote, “and today they still insist that it was, in fact, a ship manned by inhabitants of Friendship Island.”

Indeed, the majority of the sources of information available on the web that discuss the sordid details of the Friendship Island affair still attribute the entire things to “alien beings” who, rather strangely, were said to resemble humans of Nordic appearance. Based on this description, a variety of alternative theories have emerged as well that suggest everything from a secret base where escaped Nazis were keeping various technologies hidden, to more fanciful ideas about a joint-project between these Germans and American intelligence agencies, collaborating on a South American equivalent to Nevada’s most infamous USAF installation, Area 51.

Area 51, viewed distantly from Tikaboo Peak.

Apart from all the speculation, it is hard to know what to make of the Friendship Island stories. Back in the summer of 2012, I wrote a short piece on it here at Mysterious Universe, which despite only recounting a few of the most basic details of the case, went on to become one the of more popular English-language articles on the subject; in truth, this says much less about the depth of the article in question, but rather, it shows us just how little is known of the Friendship case outside the Spanish-speaking world.

In that original article, I detailed the essentials on how the story of the Friendship Island affair began, which presents most of the story’s key players:

It was 1984, someplace near the Southern coast of Chile, and a mysterious distress signal had just buzzed across the receiver of ham radio operator Octavio Ortiz. A business agent who operated a small 27-megacycle CB station in his pastime, Ortiz, who went by the ham operator’s handle Lucero or “bright star,” was mystified by what he was hearing, as it seemed to have to do with a bright celestial object of an entirely different kind.

The captain of a ship called the Mitilus II had been sending these strange messages Ortiz had intercepted, which pertained to an object in the sky it had been following… or perhaps, had been followed by. The Mitilius II was tasked under the Department of Oceanography for the nearby University of Chile, and had been in an approach for the Mitague lighthouse when a strange, bright object had appeared in the sky, then slowly began to descend. By the time Ortiz had come across the messages from Alberto, this strange object was now hovering directly over the distressed captain’s ship.

Shortly after Alberto’s distress messages were received by Ortiz, the light over his ship had apparently already gone. However, Alberto and Ortiz remained in communication after the incident, via their CB radios, and it was eventually related by Alberto that he had been hired by a group of foreigners for various smuggling jobs off the southwestern coast of Chiloe Island. These men, Alberto claimed, had taken him to a strange island where an underground facility existed, and after fitting his ship with various odd electronic equipment, tasked him with various jobs for them. Alberto had been introduced to these “gringos”, he said, by a man named Ernesto de la Fuente, a central character within the broader “Friendship” narrative, as he had not only claimed to have met the Friendship on many occasions, but had also been taken to their island and, incredibly, cured of cancer by the technologies they possessed.

Ernesto de la Fuente had risen to fame in Chile after he appeared on the Ovni episode detailing the weird story of the Friendship, although he had made earlier television appearances as well: one Chilean program from the mid-1990s depicted de la Fuente as an experiencer of various paranormal or “ghostly” phenomenon. For some, it had been de la Fuente’s ongoing experiences with the unexplained that seemed to diminish his credibility, although shortly after publication of my MU article, my colleague and fellow blogger Miguel Romero (also known as Red Pill Junkie) and I shared a brief exchange with de la Fuente’s nephew, Francisco Ilabaca, who now resides in the United States. Ilabaca was able to confirm, based on family information, certain details about the case:

“Ernesto De La Fuente is my great uncle. I’ve been trying to contact him but I now live in the US. According to my mother, the cancer was real. After the chilean tv show OVNI aired their story, he received countless phone calls and was constantly harassed for information by people wanting to get cured. Eventually he moved to the north of chile to a secluded town in the interior of the country, and converted to Mormonism. I haven’t talked to him or my aunt in years. He was also involved in a famous ghost apparition case in Chile that aired on TV. His first wife shot herself in their home and would appear from time to time. I spent many weekends of my childhood playing in that house, and only remember one weird incident.”

The stories about Friendship Island would continue, however, even beyond the involvement of Ernesto de la Fuente and the other initial players. Researchers Scott Corrales of the Hispanic Institute for Ufology, as well as researcher Raul Nunez, have continued to collect reports that appear to be somewhat related to the case (a number of these can be read here, and admittedly, some of the stories are quite fascinating).

My personal research into this case, while leading me to believe it has very little (if anything) to do with UFOs, has nonetheless left an impression there is still something to the entire affair. Little-known as it is in the United States, it was suggested to me by researcher Peter Levenda during an email exchange, and a subsequent Skype conversation, that the case does appear to bear some similarities to Levenda’s own experiences in Chile decades ago, when he visited a secretive — and infamous — commune in the Maule region of central Chile known as Colonia Dignidad.

Villa Baviera, as it appears today.

Today, the location in question is called Villa Baviera, although at the time Levenda went there in the late 1970s, it was a hideout for former Nazis that included Paul Schäfer, an accused child molester who had served as the colony’s leader and central figure. Levenda believes he was mistaken for being an Israeli Mossad agent, which led to him being detained briefly upon arriving, and thereafter ordered to leave the country.

Although little is said of Friendship Island in the English speaking world (Levenda, at the time he contacted me, had apparently not heard of it either), there are still occasional threads that turn up elsewhere. For instance, I managed to find a very peculiar English-language advertisement that appeared in 2009 in a newspaper called El Llanquihue, published in the community of Puerto Montt, Chile (near the alleged location of Friendship Island. Below is an image of the advertisement, which apparently ran for close to three weeks:

This is indeed a rather tantalizing clue to emerge, in the midst of an already odd case that, to the most skeptical among us, represents little more than another phony story around which a hopeful “UFO religion” has been slowly built in South America. Who knows, perhaps there is more to it after all… although as I stated previously, my feeling is that this case, and the grains of truth it represents, have much less to do with UFOs, aliens, angels, or miraculous healings, and instead probably represents another piece of the bigger puzzle that comprises secret, Cold War-era operations that were taking place in South America… some of which probably did, in fact, have something to do with the German presence there after World War II.

As always, I invite anyone who may have their own ideas on any of this to contact me about it via email, or you may, of course, use the comments section below this post just as well.

 TAGS: Colonia Dignidad, Friendship Island, Ovni, Peter Levenda, ufo

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

The UFO Phenomenon: Science, or Conspiracy?

In the modern lexicon used by most non-fringe writers today, the subject of UFOs would generally be referred to as a “conspiracy theory”. The general attitude behind this presumption holds that UFOs, if they exist, are something most “believers” presume to be extraterrestrial visitors; an unlikely possibility that, in order to remain unsubstantiated, would almost have to rely on world governments maintaining a degree of secrecy on the matter.

Thus, to believe in UFOs almost requires one to find acceptance with other fringe areas of thought just as well; such things as a “shadow government”, and equally-shadowy scenarios where the “real truth” about our universe is kept from the general public by those in authority. In other words, there would seem to be hardly any way the subject of UFOs can be discussed in a modern context, without an air of conspiracy eventually entering the discussion.

Interestingly, most writers and researchers within the UFO field have been accepting of the idea of a conspiratorial angle relating to UFO studies. Arguably though, these individuals would dismiss the notion (and perhaps rightly so) that the insinuation of a “conspiracy” is necessarily something that reduces the credibility of a pro-UFO argument. As historian Richard Dolan has noted, the usage of the term conspiracy theory actually has a history in the intelligence community; more specifically, the term began to see popular use in the years following the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, which became useful in marginalizing theories about the incident that fell outside the findings of the Warren Commission and its official report.

Decades ago, for the subject of UFOs to be referred to as a “conspiracy theory” might have seemed strange. However, in modern usage it is all too common to find articles in which terms like “UFO conspiracy theorists” are thrown about (in fact, I can think of one notable instance where Mysterious Universe was actually referred to as a “conspiracy theory website”, as stated by a writer for Snopes.com. Although some conspiracy theories are discussed here, I would also argue that a broad range of non-conspiratorial subjects are addressed here too).

In Michael Barkun’s book, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America (University of California Press), the author makes many examples of conspiratorial thought within UFO studies and belief. In the excerpt below, one of the most convoluted and polarizing situations in UFO history, which involved the controversial MJ-12 papers, are discussed, in relation to how the debate over their legitimacy has helped foment further advocacy for a conspiratorial nature to the broader UFO phenomenon:

In the years since the MJ-12 papers became widely known, they have taken on a life of their own. Additional, related documents periodically appear, some as recently as 1998. Just as with the Kennedy assassination, MJ-12 has generated a cottage industry of commentators, authenticators, and critics. More broadly, MJ-12 laid the foundation for elaborate conspiracy theories by suggesting that UFOs were of extraterrestrial origin, that the federal government was aware of them as early as the late 1940s, and that a secret bureaucracy had been created to study and control the situation. These claims allowed some ufologists to shift from observation of flying saucers to attempts to unravel alleged government machinations. The proliferation of MJ-12 documents and theories not only identified the enemy as a segment of the government, but— inasmuch as this “secret government” was supposed to have hidden all relevant information— allowed great latitude in what might be “revealed.” It mattered little whether publicly available evidence confirmed a claim; its author could always respond, “The government knows it, but won’t tell you.”

Perhaps it could be argued, without sensationalism, or even the insinuation of “fringe” ideas, that publicly available evidence does exist which seems to confirm — if not that UFOs as an extraterrestrial or other exotic technology do exist — that government agencies have at very least maintained an interest in the subject.

In many cases, this interest likely has had more to do with how belief in the subject might be controlled or influenced. For instance, if we accept the most widely-agreed upon explanation for the aforementioned MJ-12 affair — one in which the papers were determined to be forgeries aimed at misleading elements within the UFO community — it would certainly seem that we do not, therefore, acknowledge that the majority of the ideas expressed within the documents were legitimate. Nonetheless, if we recognize the broader context in which the alleged “leak” of those papers occurred, involving numerous similar UFO misinformation campaigns directed at notable researchers within the community, we do begin to see that government agencies played a clear role in the affair. More specifically, Richard Doty, who had been an AFOSI Special Agent at the time, had worked to assist with the careful presentation of information pertaining to UFOs to researchers that included Paul Bennewitz and a number of others, aimed at misleading and, thus, discrediting them.

Former AFOSI Special Agent Richard Doty

What I’ve presented here might be viewed as a justification, by some, for belief in conspiracies among the UFO community. To the contrary, this argument merely illustrates the way the “conspiracy theory” terminology and its related stereotypes have helped marginalize the UFO advocacy groups over time, despite the fact that historical precedent exists for actual “UFO conspiracies”, and even some degree of government involvement in them. However, it could be further argued that in a broader assessment of UFOs, a general belief in conspiracies among its proponents does not render any significant benefits.

Because of this, I have long argued the necessity for a more scientific and, when warranted, skeptical outlook on the phenomenon, applied by independent researchers and investigative organizations alike. In my recent essay, “Toward a Better UFOlogy: Applying Science to the Study of UAP“, I presented a number of reasons why the research community might benefit from less focus or adherence to the idea (or politcal movement, essentially) of UFO disclosure; in equal measure, I present a newly updated system of classifications for various UFO types, and finally, a set of “filters” for helping identify various unidentified flying objects, with the aim of being able to help observers make reasonable identifications of various conventional aircraft, objects, and natural phenomena that often lead to UFO reports. In my view, the proper ability to assess information in the truly “unidentified” UFO reports would help reduce our data set to a much smaller number of reports; the very best of these may then begin to represent a much clearer picture of what some UFO technologies (if they are indeed technological) actually are. 

In the end, if we are to ask whether UFOs are a matter of science, or one of pure conspiracy, there may not be any pure distinction. The UFO subject is inevitably linked to conspiracies, both of the real kind, and of the variety implied through popular terminology. However, despite the persistence of conspiracies in relation to all this, in order to reliably move forward in our understanding of this subject is to attempt to apply science to it; while UFOs may never fully escape the stigmas of fringe belief, they nonetheless represent a subject that could benefit from, and perhaps even be beneficial to, science.

Watch Out For The Women In Black

Right now, I have a new book out titled Women in Black: The Creepy Companions of the Mysterious M.I.B. It’s a book which, as the title suggests, tells a very strange and at times even disturbing story. It is a story that has pretty much consistently stayed under the radar of the UFO research community. This is hardly surprising, however, taking into consideration the fact that reports of the WIB are so often overlooked, or deliberately ignored, by saucer-sleuths. There is a very good reason why such a situation has occurred. For many people within Ufology, if it’s not good old “nuts and bolts” Ufology – of the kind that got Donald Keyhoe so excited decades ago – they don’t want to know about it. Much like those many dedicated Bigfoot-seekers who have no time for the weirder side of Sasquatch.

The Women in Black are clearly not a part of that aforementioned “nuts and bolts” domain. They’re much weirder – even though there is an undeniable connection to the UFO puzzle. Which, of course, raises big questions about the true nature of the UFO phenomenon. Just like their male, black-clad counterparts, the WIB are not the employees – or the “secret agents” – of any arm of government, of the military, or of the intelligence community. Indeed, just about all of the presently available data suggests they aren’t even human.

As I note in my book, none other than the recently departed Albert Bender – who, in near single-handed fashion brought the Men in Black mystery to life in the early 1950s – was exposed to the Women in Black enigma roughly a decade and a half before he had his own chilling encounters with the MIB. As I also note in the book, there’s no doubt that the Woman in Black and the MIB of the Bender family were connected. The link practically jumps out. The WIB connection to the so-called “Contactee” movement of the 1950s also comes to light – providing that one knows where to look for it.

In the 1960s, John Keel – of The Mothman Prophecies fame – came to realize that the Men in Black had their female equivalents, and he even incurred their ominous wrath. And their unsettling manipulation, too. By the 1970s, things got decidedly weird. Black-wig-wearing, pale-faced women were knocking on doors and terrifying those they visited, silencing UFO witnesses, and asking crazy questions.

And, as with the MIB, the Women in Black are always looking to spread their wings. We’re talking about WIBs silencing seekers of cryptozoological creatures, threatening those that delve into the world of the occult, and monitoring those investigating so-called “animal mutilations.” Then, there’s what is quite possibly the most alarming part of all. We’re talking about people quickly falling sick after encountering the Women in Black. No, I don’t mean the likes of panic-attacks or sleepless nights.

Rather, I mean serious physical illnesses – as if the WIB have the ability to somehow supernaturally “infect” us. Controversial? Of course! But, everything about the Women in Black is controversial – such as their sometimes-reported plastic-like skin, their uncanny knack of seemingly controlling the minds of the poor souls they target, and their “here one second and gone the next second” abilities.

Should you ever receive a late-night, slow knock on the front-door, be careful. Verycareful. Inviting one of the Women in Black into your home may not be a wise move. In fact, it may be just about the biggest mistake possible.

 TAGS: bigfoot, Men in Black, Women in Black

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }