UFO makes time fly: The “Chilean RFI”

[Frank]

This Chilean case in 1977 has some interesting things in common with the RFI:
- A multiple witness encounter by a military patrol
- Someone disappeared in a bright light for 15 minutes and remembers nothing
- He somehow was left with the feeling that “they” will return

Interesting about this case: When the person who disappeared for 15 minutes reappeared, his normally clean-shaven face showed dense beard, and his calendar wristwatch indicated that the date was the 30th of April, when it was still in fact the 25th. Apparently, the UFO made time fly for him.

This makes me think of the 45 minute encounter that Jim describes, while John only remembers an encounter of a few minutes. Was the same mechanism of “accelerated time near/in the UFO” at work in the RFI?

It may be worthwhile for Jim and John to try to get in contact with him.

The story (source: ufoevidence.org):

On the frigid predawn hours of April 25, 1977, a detachment of the Rancagua regiment led by Corporal Armando Valdés Garrido, camped in Andean location only a few miles from the city of Putre.

A soldier on sentry duty notified Valdés that a red light was hovering above a nearby peak. Concerned that anti-government activity might be taking place, the corporal ordered his men to ready weapons and extinguish the campfire. The soldiers fanned out toward the purplish-red light, realizing as they did so that it had nothing to do with revolutionaries or indeed any kind of terrestrial activity: The light was gradually moving down the slope, avoiding any contact with the surface.

The Chilean soldiers noticed that the bitterly cold air turned warmer as the light grew closer: they could now see it was a giant oval-shaped object which bathing them in its purplish-red glow.

The unknown object, enshrouded in a violet fog that stood out in stark contrast to the surrounding darkness, landed at a distance from the soldiers. The presence of the unknown overwhelmed the young conscripts, who were riveted to the ground in fear. Corporal Valdés, sidearm in hand, ventured forward alone into the unearthly fog, adding later that he felt compelled by something within the luminosity, and was standing no farther than nine feet away from his men when the purplish light engulfed him. He completely disappeared from view.

The terrified, leaderless platoon was witness to Corporal Valdés's sudden reappearance 15 minutes later, when they heard his voice calling for help. Valdés now had the disheveled appearance of a man who had been lost in the wilderness for days. His normally clean-shaven face showed dense beard, and his calendar wristwatch indicated that the time was 6:30 a.m. on the 30th of April, when it was still in fact 4:25 a.m. on the 25th. By all indications, the hapless military man had undergone a five day sojourn in an unguessable region of time and space.

Hypnotic regression, which would ordinarily have been the procedure of choice in unlocking the "missing time", was expressly forbidden by the Chilean military. Medical specialists agreed that Valdés's panic at the ordeal, as well as the unknown radiation he had been subjected to, could have accelerated the growth of his facial hair, but no explanation was forthcoming about what had happened to his wristwatch. The corporal stated for the record that his only recollection of the event was a dreamlike vision of falling down a deep well or chasm. He was also left with a feeling that he would meet again with the strange presence.

Also see: http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case460.htm

After many years:

I found an interview with Valdés, taken in 2003 (26 years after the incident):
http://www.paranormalnews.com/article.asp?articleid=738.

This interview shows that Valdés is desperately trying to fit what happened to him in some kind of reference frame. I could not find the book he mentions, probably it was never published. He returned to the spot after 25 years which brought back some more memories. The witnesses lost contact for many years and now their stories differ.

Sounds familiar?

The debunkers:

No lighthouse, no planets or bright stars that were in the right direction at the right time. So what is left then if you are convinced this story cannot be true? Right: the witness must have been hallucinating and is looking for fame and glory now. Valdés is depicted as a psychotic UFO crackpot by this debunking article. And what about the other witnesses that were there with him? They must be crackpots who are embellishing this case, too .. http://www.users.waitrose.com/~magonia/ms50.htm

The interview:

Just look at this long (4 parts) interview with Valdés (it starts at 2:42 in the first video) and judge for yourself if he comes across as a psychotic UFO crackpot. Does anyone speak Spanish by the way? I am very curious about the detailed account he gives in this interview but hardly understand a word he is saying...



Part II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf_3dIVMBsQ
Part III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlLw5bxg4JM
Part IV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drK-S5r_y4I

[Frank]

Just thought of a very simple solution for Valdés’s watch that was five days ahead.

Many years ago I visited a TV tube factory. Alongside the manufacturing line stood a degaussing coil – a square wooden frame the size of a TV tube with an electric coil inside. Each TV tube was placed in front of the degaussing coil, after which an alternating current was sent through the coil which exposed the tube to an alternating EM field to demagnetize the metal inside the tube. One of the supervisors was causally leaning on the degaussing coil, and each time the coil was activated I saw the dials on his watch spinning!

So a strong alternating EM field emitted by the UFO could have affected Valdés’s watch and made it go forward. The watch being five days ahead would then be evidence for a strong alternating EM field emitted by the UFO instead of evidence for “a five day sojourn in an unguessable region of time and space”…

That doesn’t explain the beard, though …