1977: Chilean soldier loses five days to UFO (The Valdes Case)

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THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: April 25, 1977

Sighting Time: 4:15 a.m (3:50 am)

Day/Night: Night

Location: Pampa Lluscuma (near Putre), Chile

Urban or Rural: Rural

Hynek Classification: CE4

Duration: 15 minutes

No. of Object(s):  two

Size of Object(s): 12 feet in diameter

Distance to Object(s):

Shape of Object(s): round or oval

Color of Object(s): violet light

Number of Witnesses: Multiple

Source: Associated Press / San Antonio News, May 23, 1977

Summary: A Chilean soldier was in shock after a weird, five-day ordeal with a UFO. Six members of an army patrol saw two bright objects descending from the sky. Cpl. Armando Valdes, the patrol leader, set out alone to investigate and, according to the men, simply vanished. Fifteen minutes later, they said, he reappeared, tried to speak, and passed out. The date on his watch had been advanced five days, and he now had about a week’s growth of beard.

Full Report

“Soldier loses 5 days to UFO”

SANTIAGO, Chile — A Chilean soldier is still in shock after a weird, five-day ordeal with a UFO.

This is his story.

It was 4:15 a.m. in Chile’s far north desert country, Six members of an army patrol were bedded down around a campfire while two men stood guard. Suddenly, two bright objects began descending from the sky.

One dropped into the Andes foothills out of direct sight, but the men in the patrol, now fully awake, could see the glow of its light. The second, they said, lowered almost to the ground about 500 yards away from the camp. The men said it shone with a violet light with two points of intense red.

Cpl. Armando Valdes, the patrol leader, ordered the soldiers to take up their weapons. Then he set out alone to investigate and, according to the men, simply vanished. Fifteen minutes later, they said, he reappeared, tried to speak and passed out. They said he regained consciousness about 7 a.m. but that his watch showed only 4:30, the approximate time he reappeared. They also said the date on the watch had been advanced five days, and that Yaldes now had about a week’s growth of beard. According to his comrades, when Valdes was beginning to regain consciousness he said: “You do not know who we are, nor where we come from. But I tell you that we will soon return.”

Skeptics

This purported sighting occurred April 25, and since the soldiers’ tale was publicized dozens of other unidentified flying objects have been reported up and down the 2,700-mile length of Chile. Valdes says he does not recall anything that happened during the 15 minutes he was missing-Some skeptics said the soldiers may have seen a desert mirage. But other sightings have been reported on the outskirts of this capital city, in the rainy lake region about BOO mites to the south, and over the Straits of Magellan at I he cold southern tip of the continent.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the University of Chile jointly operate a space tracking station a few miles north of Santiago, but officials at the station had no official comment on the reports. A source at the station who asked not to be identified said he felt some of the previous UFO sightings in Chile were satellites or airplanes. But he said the most, recent sightings, made at relatively close distances, did not appear to be satellites. Oscar Bravo, a radio announcer at Punta Arenas, the major town on the Straits of Magellan, said he awoke about 3 a.m. one night and went, to the kitchen for a glass of water.

Speed

“First, I noticed the sky was bright,” he said.

“This caused me to open the curtains, and I could see these two things suspended in the air emitting a strong light, bright and orange.

“The light went out but returned, with a violent color. Then these two things, of an oval shape, moved at a rapid speed, opening themselves like a V and closing at a higher point in the sky.” They finally disappeared over the straits, he said.

A few nights later, passengers on a bus going from Puerto Monti to Puerto Varas in southern Chile said they saw something similar about. 100 yards above them in the sky.

Several people who have seen UFOs recently estimated their size at about 12 feet in diameter. Most say they are round or oval—” like a huge wagon wheel,” said one woman.

The Chilean Abduction

Source: APRO, July, 1977

“You don’t know who we are or where we come from but we will be back soon.” These are the strange words uttered by Corporal Armando Valdes, leader of a Chilean military patrol. Just some 15 minutes previously he had been subjected to a mysterious UFO encounter at Pampa Lluscuma near Putre in Chile. The date was April 25, 1977, and the time about 4:00 AM. Putre is 50 air miles ENE of Arica, a larger city in Chile.

Corporal Valdes was in charge of a patrol on routine assignment near Putre in the early morning hours of April 25, 1977. He and his six-man patrol were sitting around a campfire alongside a wall of stones and mud at the secret army post of Pampa Lluscuma. They were talking and singing quite a while to stay awake. Two of the men kept watching several feet away. About four in the morning one of the men. Private Rosales, ran back to Valdes to report that two bright violet lights had landed, one of which was in sight and illuminated the whole area. The light approached closer. Valdes ordered his men to cover up their fire with blankets. The violet light with a red spot at each end withdrew and then returned closer. The patrol was terrified.

There was no sound with the UFO motion. The Chilean high plateau was amazingly silent. Corporal Valdes stated, “after praying to God and ordering the light to leave . . . after demanding that it identify itself, I moved a few meters away from my men.” The corporal moved toward the object. He disappeared for some 15 minutes. When he reappeared, he was shaking and his voice seemed different. The light had been illuminating the whole area. As Corporal Valdes reappeared he was heard to utter the words at the beginning of this article. He then became unconscious and was attended by his fellow-men until he awoke some two hours later. The UFO also disappeared about this time.

While the unconscious Corporal Valdes was assisted by his patrol, his men made another strange observation. They saw that Valdes had a beard growth equivalent to several days without shaving. He had been well shaven before the incident. As Valdes awoke he exclaimed, “I don’t remember anything from the moment I left you.” He then ordered, “Get ready to leave because it’s 4:30 in the morning. It was actually about 7 AM. His calendar watch had stopped at 4:30 but the date was five days advanced – to the 30th instead of the 25th.

These are the bizarre circumstances in the case. Many of the details were related some two hours after the incident to Pedro Araneda, a correspondent and lecturer. The presence of UFOs is not a surprise to Corporal Valdes. He, as well as others in the interior of Chile near Arica, often see luminous UFOs moving about the skies. Valdes states, “The surprising thing was the way it approached us. As soldiers, we are trained to deal with any situation. But this phenomenon didn’t seem to have any logical explanation. I would like to regain my memory of those fifteen minutes. I would even like to submit to hypnosis to draw out information about what happened.”

President and Commander in Chief Augusto Pinochet of Chile have prohibited further interviews with the soldiers. Medical, psychiatric, and eventually hypnotic tests are planned for members of the patrol to confirm their stories. Meanwhile, more sightings have occurred at Arica, Punta Arenas, Santiago, and other locations up and down the 2700 mile length of Chile. NASA and the University of Chile jointly operate a space tracking station north of Santiago, Chile. Officials of the station could offer nothing to elucidate the facts in this case. The time fact in this particular case – increased beard growth and accelerated clock time – are elements that make this case exceptional and worthy of further consideration.