1.938 UFO Incident
Peñón de la Mata (Cogollos de la Vega, Granada, Spain)
Days ago I received a request from the ufologist and friend
Antonio Salinas on an investigation carried out by ADIASA requesting more information about a UFO observation. This UFO observation has a special relevance, I say that it is special because the date and circumstances in which it occurred are also special. As Antonio Salinas says, a good case of high strangeness. A UFO observation from 1938, long before the Oscar Rey Brea observation in 1943 and the famous Roswell incident in 1947.
I am going to relate what was stated in the research file provided to me by Antonio Salinas.
In the present case, a series of favorable factors come together that make it a notable observation among its kind. Among them, we can suggest the perfect and clear visibility, the high number of witnesses and, perhaps the most important, the time in which it occurred. As I said, all these factors make this observation an interesting case and worthy of further and deeper study. For this reason, we have deemed it convenient to insert it between the pages of this Bulletin, trusting in the usefulness that its disclosure may provide to the interested party.
THE FACTS
The events occurred as follows: on February 5, 1938, the 69th or 96th battalion was in Granada (1), more specifically in the Peñón de la Mata, north of the aforementioned province, with the purpose of defending said province. position. It was six or seven in the morning, with a very clear sky, characteristic at that time, when in the distance one could see what looked like a “Moxican hat”, covered in matte aluminum (verbatim). Despite the great distance, it could be seen with some clarity, given that the Sun reflected its polished surface.
The strange flying object would be about 200 or 300 meters high and had a very slow and hesitant flight. It progressively got closer and “seen almost from below, it had the exact shape of a cart wheel” (see attached drawing). In the center of it, where all the spokes arose, it had like “the lens of a photographic machine and gave the sensation of depth.” On the sides of the object, you could see black windows with curved sides.
THE INTERVIEW
At this point, the witness paused briefly in his story to answer our following questions:
Did the object give off some kind of trail or something similar?
“Well yes, it gave off steam from the sides and, overall, it gave the sensation of having a small tail. I can’t tell you exactly where it came out, but when it dissolved it formed what I already told you, a little tail.”
Was its trajectory always straight, or did it make any turns?
“As he walked away, he gave a little jump, as if it were a pulse.”
Could you describe to us, in general terms, but as accurately as possible, what the object was like?
“At first it looked like a Mexican hat, as I already told you, but with the particularity that its ends formed right angles. Then, as it got closer, as it passed almost over us, I could see that it had small windows and that it was completely round. It rotated on its own, in a counterclockwise direction. At first, I thought it was a cannon wheel that had exploded, but “it” seemed to have a life of its own, apart from being the cannon wheel. “I thought we would have seen it fall. It should have been approximately one and a half meters in radius.”
What direction was it heading?
“From north to south”.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS
The person who tells us these stories was one of those anonymous people who felt and lived the anguished days of the Spanish Civil War. He belonged to a battalion that on the appointed date had to defend a strategic position near Granada: the Peñón de la Mata, located in the municipality of Cogollos Vega, about 15–20 kilometers north of Granada, near the Cubillas Reservoir. in the so-called Sierra de Cogollos.
During repeated interviews, the witness tells us the great impression that these events made on him. He tells us that his surprise was such that he stood up in surprise, taking the risk that this entailed, and he dedicated himself to staring at the silent and majestic object that was sliding over his head. Despite the days that have passed, he does not forget in detail this fact, which he had never recounted in detail until now.
To clarify in more detail the events of this observation, we ask our witness to provide us with names and addresses of other possible witnesses. But due to the circumstances surrounding the observation, the Civil War, which forced him not to pay too much attention to the vision, and the long period of time that has elapsed until today, he answers that it is totally impossible for him to remember complete details of his companions who, next to him, observed the passage of the strange object. However, he remembers the detail that in past years, one of his colleagues published an extensive note in the “ABC” newspaper of Seville in which he narrated this same observation, which, if true since we have not yet could confirm it would provide the certificate of veracity that this case needs, one more detail that, as we said at the beginning, would make this observation an interesting case among its kind.
Finally, we must make public that the witness of this vision does not want the slightest publicity, which is why he has asked us to maintain total discretion regarding his personal data; However, we guarantee that said gentleman is worthy of the greatest trust.
Of course, one thing is certain: if it is not an airplane, a balloon or a ballistic projectile or the planet Venus — objections that are raised today, since the described characteristics of the object do not agree with any of the named things, and “collective psychosis” cannot be taken into account since at that time there was still no talk of “flying saucers”, what did our witness see? We, modestly, are inclined to file it within the UNIDENTIFIED category.
EXPLANATORY NOTES:
ADIASA, Ufological Center
(1): Although the witness belonged to the 76th brigade, that day they were attached to the 69th or 96th, where three days later they wounded his leg, rendering it useless. We appreciate the collaboration of Mr. Antonio Cruzado and Gerardo Gil.
CORRESPONDENCE ABOUT THE INCIDENT
Galán Vázquez —
Hello Antonio, pass me the case of ADIASA references, I can also comment on it to its former president Daniel Guerrero Bonet. Greetings
Antonio Salinas —
You can consult the file at this link. The documents that I have recovered so far are uploaded there:
https://sibbetelgeuse.es/19380205egr/
Greetings, and any help will be recognized and welcomed
Antonio Salinas
Galán Vázquez —
I have already received a response from Daniel, but he has not been able to open the file, I have already sent it to another email to see if he responds, Daniel could be the author of the interview, another thing is that he remembers on behalf of the witness since he does not retains any ADIASA documents. I know that in those years we did interview many people and I frankly don’t remember that witness. A hug
Antonio Salinas —
Ok, thanks, I’m waiting. Any clue, no matter how small, is appreciated and can be used to find a trace.
Galán Vázquez —
Daniel Guerrero’s response is as follows: “Thank you, José Antonio. I remember the case,
Antonio Salinas —
Thank you so much! With your permission I am going to publish Daniel’s statements, which although he may not believe it, could help
Daniel Guerrero Bonet —
Thank you, José Antonio. I remember the case, although vaguely. I investigated it myself, but I don’t remember if I was accompanied. The witness lived on the same block as me (Huerta de Hierro, Manzana 4), but in another building. And I don’t know how or who let us know of the existence of the witness, I imagine it was the Granada investigators. And the drawing, so “finely” executed, I think I made it from what the witness drew me on a sheet of paper… For all that, the best I can do is write those clarifications for you, or, as follows. I hope they serve you. A hug..
Galán Vázquez—
Thank you very much Daniel, this helps me a lot, A hug
Daniel Guerrero Bonet —
You’re welcome, José Antonio. Just correct some minor issues (one more or less letter) and style in the text I sent you. I wrote it on the fly this morning and without revising. I trust that correcting these errors will not cause you much inconvenience. You will inform me where you will publish your opinions on the case. A hug, Daniel.
Antonio Salinas —
Sorry, but my mind keeps putting together pieces of the puzzle. The case was published in an ABC story in 1980. Was your interview before or after this publication. I say this because the witness seems to have said that a publication in a newspaper encouraged him to speak. The question is whether it was this note or if there is another lost previous publication out there.
Thanks in advance and sorry for being such a pain.
Galán Vázquez —
If we take into account the years of ADIASA’s activity from 1968 to 1973 and in the report the witness relates that a colleague of his published it in ABC, it has to be before ’73. What Daniel does not remember is the date of the interview. But in those years, those who published the most on ABC were Manuel Ramirez, Carlos Murciano, Benigno Gonzales and Darnaude. It would be interesting to locate that ABC article from before ’73. And of course you’re not a pain in the least. The ABC Newspaper Library is by subscription.
Galán Vázquez —
I reiterate my thanks for everything, I liked the “impertinent ufologist” thing, I’m sorry, I’m a “Bummer”, very good introduction.
Daniel Guerrero Bonet —
Hahahaha!… It was a joke that I knew you would like. A hug..
Daniel Guerrero Bonet —
Corrected introduction. Sorry for being so picky about my writing.
Insights into the incident by Daniel Guerrero Bonet
Remembering and recapitulating
More than fifty years ago — a lifetime! — I conducted an interview and prepared a report on an alleged UFO sighting, which occurred during the Spanish Civil War, which was published in the Andalusian Informative Bulletin (№3, 1972, pages. 10 to 12), the informative organ that was born as a common initiative of the RNC and ADIASA, Sevillian ufological groups, as well as other Andalusian researchers, and that I coordinated and edited in the 70s of the last century.
I remember that I interviewed the witness, I made the drawing of the object based on the sketches that he made for me and I wrote the article that I finally published in the aforementioned newsletter. And I continued with my activities as president of ADIASA without giving it much importance — due to the temporal distance (1938) that I already perceived in the case — and without paying attention to it again. It was an old event that was known at a time (the end of the dictatorship imposed in Spain by the rebel side, the winner of the war) when it was prudent not to delve too deeply into the events of the Civil War.
Some years later I dissolved ADIASA, lost interest in ufology and continued with my life along more orthodox paths of earning a living, until a few weeks ago when an email from an impertinent ufologist and yet friend resurrected those events. I tell you what I just wrote in the preceding paragraphs because I have no documentation other than the memories of my memory. And, piqued by curiosity, I verify that everything that can be discovered on the Internet about that case is nothing more than mere journalistic reproductions of my original report.
I recognize that, evaluated from today, I can appreciate, with much regret, that he could have gone deeper into his research, collected more data and collected testimonies and documentary records that would have served to complete it and provide it with greater rigor. But that research, whose impact until today he was unaware of, was carried out more than 50 years ago and whoever investigated it had just inaugurated the second decade of his life. At this point I can only add, with such delay but with greater ease of documentation, the historical and geographical note of the context in which those events occurred.
The place: El Peñón de la Mata.
The witness, who, due to the caution referred to above, preferred to remain anonymous and not consent to his name being published, was a soldier who was fighting in the middle of the Civil War on the Granada front. Specifically, in the Peñón de la Mata, an elevation of 1,669 meters above sea level that dominates the Granada plain and at the foot of which is the town of Cogollos-Vega. That peak was subject to attacks by both sides to control such a strategic position. The rebels took it on July 1, 1937, and on February 5, 1938, the Republicans recovered it, the same date on which the witness claims to have visualized a strange flying object in the shape of a “cannon cart wheel.” Which side did the witness belong to? It is unknown because I did not ask him.
What I do know is that, as in any fratricidal conflict such as our Civil War, many of those who fight are simple citizens who fight for belonging to the territory occupied by the belligerent sides. That is, simple neighbors and even family members pushed to be enemies in a war that they do not even understand. In this context, a UFO was seen that flew over the head of a soldier in 1938.
19380205/Egr
CASE: ECI (according to Hynek), military witness in times of war.
GENERAL DATA
DATE: February 5, 1938, Saturday.
TIME: 6:30 a.m.
LOCATION: Peñón de la Mata, Granada.
WEATHER CONDITIONS:
RESEARCH: ADIASA (Amateur Astronomical Researchers Association)
OTHER SOURCES:
DESCRIPTION OF THE PHENOMENON
The witness to the events, mutilated from war, observed, as dawn began, a type of Mexican hat (sic) covered in matte aluminum (sic), which reflected the sun’s rays on its surface. The object was moving at an altitude of about 200 to 6,300 meters in a slow, hesitant flight.
-When approaching the witness’s vertical position, he could see that it looked like a cart wheel, since it had spokes just like these. However, its central part resembled the lens of a photographic machine. producing the sensation that it had depth. On the sides he could see what looked like black windows with curved sides and a halo of steam that formed a trail in its wake. The object rotated on itself in an anti-clockwise direction, moving in a North-South direction.
The witness could not continue observing it since he was on the same battle front, however he declared that it seemed to take on a life of its own.
(NOTE: further research is required)
Publication in the ABC newspaper
The mystery of the UFO phenomenon — according to a report by Adiasa provided by the National Network of Correspondents, a center for the investigation of such phenomena — does not occur in limitations of dates or circumstances. A phenomenon that cannot be observed in a laboratory, that its structure cannot be analyzed (only on rare occasions and that dares to defy all the laws imposed during so many years of effort by Physics, cannot be considered a vulgar and common fact. , similar to those that occur in nature and that some have called collective psychosis. A psychological phenomenon does not produce burns on the ground, nor does it impress photographic plates, nor is it registered on a radar. It would even be more mysterious, even more fantastic if it were true this possibility, because of course it is a totally unknown facet of the mind, capable of revolutionizing all knowledge about man and his evolutionary past.
The case that ADIASA relates cannot be explained as collective psychosis, since we ignore that in 1938 there was still no talk of “saucer” unless they come to show us the Unprovable. Apparently, this modern “myth” has roots as mysterious as they are deep, such as the evidence that UFOs made an appearance in major world wars. In this case shown by ADIASA and collected by the National Network of Correspondents, the events occurred during the Spanish Civil War…
On February 5, 1938, the 69th or 96th battalion was in Granada (although the witness belonged to the 76th brigade that day they were attached to the 69th or 96th where three days later they wounded him), more specifically in the Rock of La Mata, to the north of the aforementioned province, with the purpose of defending said position. It was six or seven in the morning, with the sky very clear, when in the distance he could see what looked like a “Mexican hat” covered in matte aluminum. Despite the great distance, it could be seen with some clarity, given that the Sun reflected its polished surface. The flying object would be about two hundred meters high and was flying very slowly and hesitantly. Little by little it got closer and “seen from below it had the exact shape of a cart wheel.” In the center, where all the spokes arose, it had like “the lens of a photographic machine and gave the sensation of depth.” On the sides you could see black windows with curved sides. -Did the object give off some type of trail or similar? -Well, yes, it gave off steam from the sides and, overall, it gave the sensation of having a small tail. I can’t say exactly where it came from, but when it fell apart it formed what I already said: A little tail.
-Was its trajectory always straight or did it make some kind of turn? -As he walked away he gave a little jump, as if it were a pulse. From this moment on they stopped observing it, since there was no question of being distracted, which is why they could not see how this object was lost, perhaps, over the horizon. -Could you describe to us, as accurately as possible, what the object was like?
-At first it looked like a Mexican hat, as I have already told you, but with the peculiarity that at its ends it formed right angles. Then, as it approached, passing almost over us, I could see that it had small windows and that it was completely round. It rotated on its own, in a counterclockwise direction. At first I thought it was a cannon wheel that had exploded, but it seemed like it had a life of its own, apart from the fact that if it were a cannon wheel, we would have seen it fall. It should have a diameter of approximately three meters.
-What direction did it take? From north to south.
The person who told Adiasa the event was one of those who lived through those distressing minutes, since he was one of the combatants. He lost a leg days later. Later he became a painter and signed a statement swearing that everything he said was true; although he preferred to remain anonymous, not wanting minimal publicity.
It has been many years. There are the facts. That day in 1938, in the middle of the war, in the Peñón de la Mata, located in the municipality of Cogollos-Vega, about fifteen or twenty kilometers north of Granada, near the Cubillas Reservoir, in the so-called Sierra de Cogollos, a strange object became visible And it was a time when it is difficult to admit that there was UFO psychosis…
The person who told Adiasa the event was one of those who lived through those distressing minutes, since he was one of the combatants. Years have passed and the facts remain. That day in 1938, in the middle of the war, in the Peñón de la Mata, in the municipality of Cogollos-Vega, in the so-called Sierra de Cogollos, a strange object became visible. And it was a time when it was difficult to admit that there were UFO psychoses… (Drawing by Calderón.)
Most of these files have been kindly given to me by Antonio Salinas. You can see the data and files at: S*I*B BETELGEUSE
Biophysical Research Society
