While we in the U.S. continue to marvel that The New York Times published an investigative report on the U.S. military pilots who have seen UFOs, El Tiempo (The Time), the largest daily news source in Colombia, has gone one step further. On June 11, 2019, El Tiempo published a report about “strange beings measuring more than two meters tall, speaking with a robotic voice, and dressed in black” in Guasimal, a small farming town near Zarzal on the west coast of Colombia.

“According to locals, the only thing that changed their daily lives is what happened in December 2012, when these beings began to be observed. Even today, these humanoids are still reported.”

In a U.S. city, a report like this on the national news would eventually lead to books, a documentary, an annual festival and possibly a movie with a Dancing with the Stars wannabe. However, back in 2012, there seem to have been some local media reports and a few videos (here and here) made by UFO investigators, but not much national interest in eyewitness testimonies of an estimated 300 laborers who claimed to have seen “disc-shaped objects” from which these “humanoids” emerged.

According to El Tiempo, it appears that sightings of the tall humanoids continued in the town periodically over the next six years, but attention never rose beyond urban legend status because there was no video or photographic evidence of them. That changed somewhat in December 2018 when farmer Diego Mondragón recorded his encounter with the beings who were seen at on a neighbor’s property.

“I realized what was happening because I had already had contact with them, but some of those on the farm were scared and there was a shot. I left the house and approached the fence of the farmhouse to tell them that they [the extraterrestrials] were calm, peaceful.”

Mondragón claims that because he had been in contact with these beings before, the five on his neighbor’s farm trusted him enough to speak to him in those strange robotic voices and let him record their message on his cellphone.

“We have been allowed to come and deliver a sacrificial message for humanity. It was a message of love and allegiance . Love one another because the human race will soon be wiped out ; take these warnings into account. “

There’s no indication in the El Tiempo article that the reporter heard the recording or is merely repeating Mondragón’s testimony, which moved on to more details about the “extraterrestrials.”

“Then, the supposed to be coming from another planet declared that they lived in the region of Guasimal for 60 years, where they claim to have an underground base of 5000 square meters, a space where they would house a mothership. They would come from the planet Orion.”

Police officer Manuel Velandia Márquez told El Tiempo that he responded to a disturbance call and claims he saw “these silhouettes about 2 meters high” and also recorded their message. According to Márquez:

“(They were) more human beings than we are. They will preserve something of humanity and prepare us for future events.”

Again, El Tiempo doesn’t say how he knows this nor whether his audio recording was played for the reporter. It contacted Cristian Ramos, a ufologist from the Contact Ovni Colombia group, who says he investigated the initial sighting in 2013, talked to Diego Mondragón, who was one of the original witnesses, and claims to have seen the ETs himself.

“In the distance, about 200 meters, there was a silhouette of about 2.30 meters, a thick build, black clothes, a black suit, boots. He wavered from left to right, never remained motionless. He watched us.”

Ramos says the beings had a hostile reaction when he pulled out a camera, which may explain why there are no photos or video of them or even their silhouettes. Seven years later, there’s still nothing more than numerous witness testimonies and the alleged audio recordings. El Tiempo says that local authorities refuse to deny the stories.

What should we make of the alleged humanoids of Guasimal? The witness accounts are as numerous and as detailed as many in the U.S. whose locations have celebrated them with festivals and documentaries. The fact that The New York Times published a serious report on the Air Force UFO sightings gave them credence. Should El Tiempo’s report do the same for the accounts of the Guasimal humanoids?

There have been many discussions and arguments recently about the difficulties facing those in the ufology, cryptid and paranormal fields when trying to gain acceptance and credibility. This case offers another good example.

As of June 12, I have a new book out. Its title: Flying Saucers from the Kremlin. The subtitle: UFOs, Russian Meddling, Soviet Spies & Cold War Secrets. It’s a study of how and why Russian Intelligence used the UFO phenomenon as a means to try and create fear, hysteria and paranoia in the West. Russian meddling: they are two words that just about everyone has come to know very well in the last few years. Only a fool – or someone with an agenda of a sinister kind – would deny that such meddling occurred. And on a large scale. It clearly did. The outrageous, almost flagrant, ways in which the Russians unfortunately succeeded in manipulating the United States’ political arena in 2016 are out there for one and all to see. Without the hacking, without the Russians’ widespread use of social media to influence the mindset of the American public, and without the shameful “no evidence of meddling” assertions of certain factions of the right-wing media, the United States would be in a far better shape than it is right now.

There’s little doubt that the Russians were practically in a state of glee when President Donald Trump chose not to take any significant action against the Russians for their intrusive activities. As CNN noted on July 16, 2018: “U.S. President Donald Trump, in a stunning rebuke of the U.S. intelligence community, declined on Monday to endorse the U.S. government’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying he doesn’t ‘see any reason why’ Russia would be responsible. Instead, Trump – standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin – touted Putin’s vigorous denial and pivoted to complaining about the Democratic National Committee’s server and missing emails from Hillary Clinton’s personal account.”

Still on the matter of Putin, let’s not forget that from 1975 to 1991 he was employed as a foreign intelligence officer in the KGB. History.com state: “The KGB was the primary security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its collapse in 1991. The KGB served a multi-faceted role outside of and within the Soviet Union, working as both an intelligence agency and a force of ‘secret police.’ It was also tasked with some of the same functions as the Department of Homeland Security in the United States today, safeguarding the country from domestic and foreign threats.”

What all of this tells us is that the Russian government is not our friend, it’s not our buddy. It’s a threat to our nation – and to the West as a whole. Short of a nuclear war (which neither side could ever possibly win), the Russians have done whatever they could to try and ensure military superiority over the United States and its allies. For decades – and particularly so when the Cold War was at its height – the Russians sought to find more and more ways to erode our way of life. In the latter part of the 1940s, the Soviet Union embarked on a program designed to use the UFO phenomenon as a dangerous weapon. Not by attacking us with real flying saucers. But, by using the lore, the legend, and the belief-systems that surround the UFO subject.

I should note that Flying Saucers from the Kremlin is not a skeptical look at the UFO mystery. Just because, for years, the Russians planted and circulated numerous bogus stories of UFOs, doesn’t mean there isn’t a real mystery to be solved. As I personally see it, there certainly is a genuine puzzle to figure out. It remains steadfastly unresolved. It’s important that I make that distinction: there are real UFOs and there are deliberately-crafted lies concerning UFOs. Maybe, the saucers are the products of government agencies. They could be the creations of extraterrestrials. Possibly of inter-dimensional creatures. Or, the work of something even stranger (time-travelers, maybe?). There could be multiple origins, rather than just one. That’s an issue which we can ponder on forever and a day. But, trying to figure out what UFOs are, is not the goal of my new book. Rather, it’s to demonstrate how a real, strange presence in our midst became entangled in the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union.

The Russians tried to use the Contactee movement of the 1950s to their distinct advantage; spread tales of crashed UFOs and alien autopsies; recruited American UFO enthusiasts – who also had connections to the U.S. government – into their strange games; created bogus “government documents” (including at least some of the much-debated Majestic 12 papers); forged links with saucer-seekers in both the U.K. and Australia; and even incorporated the history of the AIDS virus into their disturbing agenda. And much more, too.

No such thing as Russian meddling? Don’t make me laugh.

Are Martians obsessive Star Trek fans? How infuriating would it be if Mars turned out to be inhabited by a civilized society that was absolutely ruined by the re-runs TV shows we’ve been blasting out in all directions? Perhaps a friendly debate over who was the best captain of the USS Enterprise (it’s Picard, and yeah that’s probably the most common answer but it also happens to be correct) would be a good icebreaker when we make first contact. These are things we need to start thinking about, as apparently there’s a giant Starfleet logo on the surface of Mars. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) recently photographed a geological structure on the surface of Mars that looks nearly identical to the insignia worn by the members of Starfleet through every iteration of “Star Trek.”

The formation was spotted on a sand dune in the volcanic plain of Hellas Plantia on Mars. Ross Beyer of the SETI Institute tweeted the picture and said:

“Enterprising viewers will make the discovery that these features look conspicuously like a famous logo.”

The dune in question.

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Yep. It sure does. But Beyer says that it’s only a coincidence that it looks like the Starfleet logo. Meaning that it wasn’t drawn by Martians who’s only reprieve from their boring, boring world is our TV shows. According to Beyer, the structure is a result of the complex interactions between sand, lava, and wind. He writes:

Long ago, there were large crescent-shaped (barchan) dunes that moved across this area, and at some point, there was an eruption. The lava flowed out over the plain and around the dunes, but not over them. The lava solidified, but these dunes still stuck up like islands. However, they were still just dunes, and the wind continued to blow. Eventually, the sand piles that were the dunes migrated away, leaving these “footprints” in the lava plain. These are also called “dune casts” and record the presence of dunes that were surrounded by lava.

The dune imprints in Hellas Planitia. 

NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Although, the coincidences do go a little bit further. In the pilot episode of the latest Star Trek series, “Star Trek: Discovery,” Captain Philippa Georgiou and Commander Michael Burnham are stranded on Mars and draw a giant Starfleet logo in the sand to signal their location.

Starfleet Command emblem.

In any case, it’s just about the best pop-culture reference we could ask to find on an alien planet. In a world that seems to be heading towards a future more reminiscent of “Blade Runner” than the optimism and spirit of exploration in “Star Trek,” perhaps we need a heavenly reminder to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Also, it could just be Q messing with us.

In 1997, three years after the Air Force published its report suggesting that what came down on the Foster Ranch, Lincoln County, New Mexico in early July 1947 was a Mogul balloon designed to monitor for early Soviet atomic tests, its staff came up with a new theory for the Roswell affair. This one addressed the highly controversial issue of bodies having been found on the ranch and near to the huge debris site discovered by rancher William Brazel. The 1997 report was titled The Roswell Report: Case Closed. Although I don’t personally endorse the Air Force’s angle on the bodies, I did at least read the report from start to finish. Over the years, though, I have come across more than a few people in Ufology who didn’t even bother reading what the Air Force had to say – which is certainly not the best way to evaluate the data, correct or not. So, I figured that today I would share with you what the Air Force had to say in its 1997 report. In a foreword to the report, Sheila Widnall, the Secretary of the Air Force at the time, said the following:

“The ‘Roswell Incident’ has assumed a central place in American folklore since the events of the 1940s in a remote area of New Mexico. Because the Air Force was a major player in those events, we have played a key role in executing the General Accounting Office’s tasking to uncover all records regarding that incident. Our objective throughout this inquiry has been simple and consistent: to find all the facts and bring them to light. If documents were classified, declassify them; where they were dispersed, bring them into a single source for public review. In July 1994, we completed the first step in that effort and later published The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert. This volume represents the necessary follow-on to that first publication and contains additional material and analysis. I think that with this publication we have reached our goal of a complete and open explanation of the events that occurred in the Southwest many years ago. Beyond that achievement, this inquiry has shed fascinating light into the Air Force of that era and revitalized our appreciation for the dedication and accomplishments of the men and women of that time. As we celebrate the Air Force’s 50th Anniversary, it is appropriate to once again reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to make ours the finest air and space force in history.”

On its decision to finally address the matter of the bodies allegedly found on the Foster Ranch, the Air Force began as follows: “The July 1994 Air Force report concluded that the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army Air Forces, did indeed recover material near Roswell in July 1947. This 1,000-page report methodically explains that what was recovered by the Army Air Forces was not the remnants of an extraterrestrial spacecraft and its alien crew, but debris from an Army Air Forces balloon-borne research project code named Mogul. Although Mogul components clearly accounted for the claims of ‘flying saucer’ debris recovered in 1947, lingering questions remained concerning anecdotal accounts that included descriptions of ‘alien’ bodies. The issue of ‘bodies’ was not discussed extensively in the 1994 report because there were not any bodies connected with events that occurred in 1947. The extensive Secretary of the Air Force-directed search of Army Air Forces and U.S. Air Force records from 1947 did not yield information that even suggested the 1947 ‘Roswell’ events were anything other than the retrieval of the Mogul equipment.”

The Air Force then got to the point: “Subsequent to the 1994 report, Air Force researchers discovered information that provided a rational explanation for the alleged observations of alien bodies associated with the ‘Roswell Incident.’ Pursuant to the discovery, research efforts compared documented Air Force activities to the incredible claims of ‘flying saucers,’ ‘aliens’ and seemingly unusual Air Force involvement. This in-depth examination revealed that these accounts, in most instances, were of actual Air Force activities but were seriously flawed in several major areas, most notably: the Air Force operations that inspired reports of  ‘bodies’ (in addition to being earthly in origin) did not occur in 1947. It appears that UFO proponents have failed to establish the accurate dates for these ‘alien’ observations (in some instances by more than a decade) and then erroneously linked them to the actual Project Mogul debris recovery. This report discusses the results of this further research and identifies the likely sources of the claims of ‘alien’ bodies. Contrary to allegations that the Air Force has engaged in a cover-up and possesses dark secrets involving the Roswell claims, some of the accounts appear to be descriptions of unclassified and widely publicized Air Force scientific achievements.”

The military expanded: “Air Force activities which occurred over a period of many years have been consolidated and are now represented to have occurred in two or three days in July 1947. ‘Aliens’ observed in the New Mexico desert were probably anthropomorphic test dummies that were carried aloft by U.S. Air Force high altitude balloons for scientific research. The ‘unusual’ military activities in the New Mexico desert were high altitude research balloon launch and recovery operations. The reports of military units that always seemed to arrive shortly after the crash of a flying saucer to retrieve the saucer and ‘crew’ were actually accurate descriptions of Air Force personnel engaged in anthropomorphic dummy recovery operations. Claims of bodies at the Roswell Army Air Field hospital were most likely a combination of two separate incidents:

1) a 1956 KC-97 aircraft accident in which 11 Air Force members lost their lives; and,

2) a 1959 manned balloon mishap in which two Air Force pilots were injured.”

That amounted to the Air Force’s final words: nothing stranger than crash-test dummies, and not a single alien anywhere in sight. Let’s now jump back and see how, specifically, the Air Force reached that conclusion. The report stated: “The most puzzling and intriguing element of the complex series of events now known as the Roswell Incident, are the alleged sightings of alien bodies. The bodies turned what, for many years, was just another flying saucer story, into what many UFO proponents claim is the best case for extraterrestrial visitation of Earth. The importance of bodies and the assumptions made as to their origin is illustrated in a passage from a popular Roswell book: ‘Crashed saucers are one thing, and could well turn out to be futuristic American or even foreign aircraft or missiles. But alien bodies are another matter entirely, and hardly subject to misinterpretation?'”

In a section of the Air Force’s report titled “Test Dummies Used by the U.S. Air Force,” the Air Force provided the following words: “Since the beginning of manned flight, designers have sought a substitute for the human body to test hazardous new equipment. Early devices used by the predecessors of the U.S. Air Force were simply constructed parachute drop test dummies with little similarity to the human form. Following World War II, aircraft emergency escape systems became increasingly sophisticated and engineers required a dummy with more humanlike characteristics.” The Air Force continued with a history of how and under what circumstances the military decided to make good use of crash-test dummies: “During World War I research and development of the first U.S. military parachute was underway at McCook Field, Ohio. To test the parachute, engineers experimented with several types of dummies, settling on a model constructed of three-inch hemp rope and sandbags with the approximate proportions of a medium-sized man. 30 The new invention was soon known by the nickname ‘Dummy Joe.’ Dummy Joe is said to have made more than five thousand ‘jumps’ between 1918 and 1924.

“By 1924, parachutes were required on military aircraft with their serviceability tested by dummies dropped from aircraft. For this routine testing, several types of dummies were used. Parachutes were individually drop- tested from aircraft until the early stages of World War II, when, due both to increased reliability and large numbers of parachutes in service, this routine practice was discontinued. Nonetheless, test dummies were still used frequently by the Parachute Branch of Air Materiel Command (AMC) at Wright Field, Ohio, to test new parachute designs.”

The Air Force then turned its attention to the matter of what was undertaken in the 1949 and onward era (which is decidedly strange, indeed, since the Roswell affair occurred midway through 1947, two years earlier): “In 1949, the U.S. Air Force Aero Medical Laboratory submitted a proposal for an improved model of the anthropomorphic dummy. This request was originated by the renowned Air Force scientist and physician John P. Stapp, now a retired Colonel, who conducted a series of landmark experiments at Muroc (now Edwards) AFB, Calif., to measure the effects of acceleration and deceleration during high-speed aircraft ejections.”

As the Air Force noted: “Stapp required a dummy that had the same center of gravity and articulation as a human, but, unlike the Ted Smith dummy, was more human in appearance. A more accurate external appearance was required to provide for the proper fit of helmets, oxygen masks, and other equipment used during the tests. Stapp requested the Anthropology Branch of the Aero Medical Laboratory at Wright Field to review anthropological, orthopedic, and engineering literature to prepare specifications for the new dummy. Plaster casts of the torso, legs, and arms of an Air Force pilot were also taken to assure accuracy. The result was a proposed dummy that stood 72 inches tall, weighed 200 pounds, had provisions for mounting instrumentation, and could withstand up to 100 times the force of gravity.

“In 1949, a contract was awarded to Sierra Engineering Company of Sierra Madre, Calif., and deliveries began in 1950. This dummy quickly became known as “Sierra Sam.” In 1952, a contract for anthropomorphic dummies was awarded to Alderson Research Laboratories, Inc., of New York City. Dummies constructed by both companies possessed the same basic characteristics: a skeleton of aluminum or steel, latex or plastic skin, a cast aluminum skull, and an instrument cavity in the torso and head for the mounting of strain gauges, accelerometers, transducers, and rate gyros. Models used by the Air Force were primarily parachute drop and ejection seat versions with center of gravity tolerances within one quarter inch.”

Now, we get to the heart of the matter: the Air Force’s rationale for believing that Roswell’s “alien bodies” were really nothing stranger than dummies. The report states: “Over the next several years the two companies improved and redesigned internal structures and instrumentation, but the basic external appearance of the dummies remained relatively constant from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. Dummies of these types were most likely the ‘aliens’ associated with the ‘Roswell Incident.’ Anthropomorphic dummies were transported to altitudes up to 98,000 feet by high altitude balloons. The dummies were then released for a period of free-fall while body movements and escape equipment performance were recorded by a variety of instruments. Forty-three high altitude balloon flights carrying anthropomorphic dummies were launched and recovered throughout New Mexico between June 1954 and February 1959. 44 Due to prevailing wind conditions, operational factors and ruggedness of the terrain, the majority of dummies impacted outside the confines of military reservations in eastern New Mexico, near Roswell, and in areas surrounding the Tularosa Valley in south central New Mexico. Additionally, 30 dummies were dropped by aircraft over White Sands Proving Ground, N.M. in 1953. In 1959, 150 dummies were dropped by aircraft over Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio (possibly accounting for alleged alien ‘sightings’ at that location).

The Air Force expanded: “For the majority of the tests, dummies were flown to altitudes between 30,000 and 98,000 feet attached to a specially designed rack suspended below a high altitude balloon. On several flights the dummies were mounted in the door of an experimental high altitude balloon gondola. Upon reaching the desired altitude, the dummies were released and free-fell for several minutes before deployment of the main parachute. The dummies used for the balloon drops were outfitted with standard equipment of an Air Force aircrew member. This equipment consisted of a one-piece flight-suit, olive drab, gray (witnesses had described seeing aliens in gray one-piece suits) or fuchsia in color, boots, and a parachute pack.  The dummies were also fitted with an instrumentation kit that contained accelerometers, pressure transducers, an ocscillograph, and a camera to record movements of the dummy during free-fall.”

Since the final portion of the document concludes the Air Force’s report on why its personnel were as sure as they could be that the strange bodies were really dummies, I’ll present it without interruption: “Recoveries of the test dummies were accomplished by personnel from the Holloman AFB Balloon Branch. 53 Typically, eight to twelve civilian and military recovery personnel arrived at the site of an anthropomorphic dummy landing as soon as possible following impact. The recovery crews operated a variety of aircraft and vehicles. These included a wrecker, a six-by-six, a weapons carrier, and L-20 observation and C-47 transport aircraft — the exact vehicles and aircraft described by the witnesses as having been present at the crashed saucer locations. On one occasion, just southwest of Roswell, a High Dive project officer, 1st Lt. Raymond A. Madson, even conducted a search for dummies on horseback.

“On a typical flight the dummies were separated from the balloon by radio command and descended by parachute. 57 Prompt recovery of the dummies and their suspension racks, which usually did not land in the same location resulting in extensive ground and air searches, was essential for researchers to evaluate information collected by the instrumentation and cameras. To assist the recovery personnel, a variety of methods were used to enhance the visibility of the dummies: smoke grenades, pigment powder, and brightly colored parachute canopies. Also, recovery notices promising a $25 reward were taped to an exposed portion of a dummy. 59 Local newspapers and radio stations were contacted when equipment was lost.

“Despite these efforts, the dummies were not always recovered immediately; one was not found for nearly three years and several were not recovered at all. When they were found, the dummies and instrumentation were often damaged from impact. Damage to the dummies included loss of heads, arms, legs and fingers. This detail, dummies with missing fingers, appears to satisfy another element of the research profile: aliens with only four fingers.

“What may have contributed to a misunderstanding if the dummies were viewed by persons unfamiliar with their intended use, were the methods used by Holloman AFB personnel to transport them. The dummies were sometimes transported to and from off-range locations in wooden shipping containers, similar to caskets, to prevent damage to fragile instruments mounted in and on the dummy. Also, canvas military stretchers and hospital gurneys were used (a procedure recommended by a dummy manufacturer) to move the dummies in the laboratory or retrieve dummies in the field after a test. The first 10 dummy drops also utilized black or silver insulation bags, similar to ‘body bags’ in which the dummies were placed for flight to guard against equipment failure at low ambient temperatures of the upper atmosphere. On one occasion northwest of Roswell, a local woman unfamiliar with the test activities arrived at a dummy landing site prior to the arrival of the recovery personnel. The woman saw what appeared to be a human embedded head first in a snowbank and became hysterical. The woman screamed, ‘He’s dead!, he’s dead!'”

The Air Force came right to the point, making an authoritative statement: “It now appeared that anthropomorphic dummies dropped by high altitude balloons satisfied the requirements of the research profile.” Of course, the UFO research community was not impressed and scoffed at the idea that those who claimed to have seen alien bodies had actually witnessed nothing stranger than a crash-test dummy. It’s eye-opening to note, though, that when the report was released in July 1997 (the 50^th anniversary of the incident) even the mainstream media doubted the odd theory. Indeed, they noted that the bulk of the report was focused on the usage of dummies in the 1950s and certainly not in 1947. At the July 1947 press conference,  a journalist asked the following question: “How do you square the UFO enthusiasts saying that they’re talking about 1947, and you’re talking about dummies used in the 50’s, almost a decade later?”

Air Force spokesman, Colonel John Haynes replied, slightly and noticeably awkwardly: “Well, I’m afraid that’s a problem that we have with time compression. I don’t know what they saw in ‘47, but I’m quite sure it probably was Project Mogul. But I think if you find that people talk about things over a period of time, they begin to lose exactly when the date was.” End of story.