1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,000 MUSIC 2 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:19,000 It's an explosive tail that's been lost among the sands and weeds of the Mexican desert. 3 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:25,000 There were rumors, since long ago, that an object crashed in Mexico. 4 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:34,000 In 1974, a mysterious incident took place that some say involved a UFO and a small plane. 5 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:43,000 On a collision course, followed by a race between two governments to recover the debris. 6 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:51,000 The Mexican recovery team finds a sort of a silver-shaped classic disc. 7 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:59,000 The Mexican military recovered an object and had it on a truck, and something killed all the men. 8 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:05,000 The U.S. government responded very quickly and very organized. They've done this before. 9 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:13,000 But what happened in the Mexican desert is just the beginning of that country's UFO history. 10 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:21,000 The eclipse from July 11, 1991, it practically branded the modern era of UFOs in Mexico. 11 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,000 Over the last several decades, it has become a hotbed for UFO encounters. 12 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,000 When they picked up the object on radar, the first thing they did was start looking at it. 13 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,000 There we are. 14 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:43,000 And everyone from pilots to politicians have been witness to sightings. 15 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:49,000 Would you say to the governor that he didn't see something strange in the sky? 16 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:54,000 In the next hour, eye-witness interviews, never-before-seen footage, 17 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:02,000 an expert analysis tried to solve the mystery of what really happened that day in the Mexican desert in 1974, 18 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,000 and the rash of documented sightings ever since. 19 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:23,000 Coyame, Mexico, a small town not found on many maps, a place swallowed up by the Mexican desert, 20 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,000 home to more agave plants than people. 21 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:35,000 Coyame is situated in the northern part of the state of Chihuahua, and our municipality is 7,000 square feet. 22 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:41,000 We have between 2,000-2,500 people. It's a calm place, a beautiful place. 23 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,000 A place with no library, no archives, and no local historian. 24 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 But that doesn't mean it's a town without a history. 25 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:58,000 Here, history is passed from neighbor to neighbor, and it's this oral history that gives testimony 26 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:03,000 to an unsolved air collision that took place here just three decades ago. 27 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:09,000 It began as a civilian plane took off from El Paso, Texas, en route to Mexico City. 28 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:16,000 August 25th, 1974, there was a plane that was coming out from El Paso. 29 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,000 It was going to Mexico City, and it was an accident. 30 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:29,000 They say that there was a crash between a plane and a UFO within the territories of the municipality. 31 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:37,000 I don't think this could be made up. How could someone make this up? It's true. 32 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,000 August 25th, 1974, 10.07 pm. 33 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:50,000 It's a quiet summer's night in Cuyame. The town's inhabitants are beginning to turn in. 34 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:59,000 500 miles away, United States air defense systems suddenly register an unknown flying object over the Gulf of Mexico. 35 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Streaking across the sky at over 2,500 miles per hour, at an altitude of 75,000 feet, only one thing is for certain. 36 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:15,000 This is not something man-made. Initial indications are that it's probably nothing more than a meteor. 37 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:20,000 But 60 seconds later, it becomes clear that this is no meteor. 38 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:28,000 This object was traveling and descending through steps, unlike that of a meteor again, with more of an arc. 39 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,000 The object appears headed on a course towards Corpus Christi, Texas. 40 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,000 American air defense systems are alerted. 41 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:51,000 10.09 pm. The unidentified flying object now suddenly veers left and enters Mexican airspace just 40 miles south of Brownsville, Texas. 42 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:57,000 The U.S. continues tracking the puzzling spacecraft as it now races over Mexico. 43 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Yet what isn't seen on radar is a small craft headed on a trajectory towards the UFO. 44 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:17,000 What's also interesting about this case is about the same time as this UFO was zinging and zagging, there was a plane that was leaving El Paso headed towards Mexico City. 45 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:24,000 Under the cover of night, the small civilian plane from El Paso heads towards Mexico's capital city. 46 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:28,000 But the plane from Texas never reaches its destination. 47 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:37,000 At the same time, the American military watches as their unidentified flying object disappears from radar. 48 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,000 It appears that the unthinkable has happened. A UFO plane collision. 49 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:54,000 There's an assumption that there was a collision of some type where both the craft and the plane had collided. 50 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:59,000 August 26, 1974, 8 a.m. 51 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:07,000 Nine hours after a civilian plane disappeared over the desert, a Mexican recovery team hunts for the downed craft. 52 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:12,000 Across the border, American intelligence is listening in. 53 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,000 At 10.35 a.m., the Americans intercept the Mexican military radio report. 54 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 The wreckage of the missing plane has been spotted just outside Cuyame. 55 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:32,000 Moments later, another report shockingly announces the sighting of a second wreck, but this is no plane. 56 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:39,000 The Mexican recovery team finds a sort of a silver-shaped classic disc. 57 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:46,000 Some 16 feet 5 inches, about 5 feet thick, convex on both sides, sort of like a saucer. 58 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:54,000 The saucer's surface has the appearance of polished steel. It has no markings, no lights, and there are no bodies inside. 59 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:03,000 However, it does appear to be damaged in two spots, possibly caused by a collision with the civilian plane and then falling to the ground. 60 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,000 Immediately, Mexican officials declare a radio silence on all search activities. 61 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:19,000 Meanwhile, U.S. officials reach out to the Mexican government, offering assistance in the recovery. 62 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,000 Their offer is met with a denial. 63 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:27,000 The Mexican government denied it. They said, no, all we have is just a plane wreckage. 64 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:36,000 While the Mexican team collects the crash debris, the United States is busy assembling their own elite recovery force at Fort Bliss, Texas. 65 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:44,000 The team includes four helicopters, three small Hueys, and a large sea stallion. 66 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:52,000 Prepped and ready to move out, the team is placed on standby while U.S. surveillance scopes out the situation. 67 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:09,000 The U.S. was keeping tabs again through its spy, well, what I call the spy surveillance network, through their cell light surveillance as well as airplanes that were flying over at low altitude. 68 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:17,000 American surveillance reveals that the Mexicans have placed the UFO on a flatbed truck and moved out from the crash site. 69 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:26,000 They were able to see there were a number of dead bodies, which led them to believe that something very extraordinary had happened. 70 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:35,000 August 27th, 238 p.m. Unsure of what's happened, U.S. officials greenlight the rescue team. 71 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:42,000 Four helicopters with team members aboard depart Fort Bliss. 72 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:51,000 One of the things that seems obvious in this case is that the government, the U.S. government, responded very expertly, very quickly and very organized. 73 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:59,000 They had this team that assembled in Fort Bliss and in no time were down there on site recovering this. They've done this before. 74 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:05,000 But nothing will prepare the Americans for what they are about to find. 75 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:17,000 Dressed in bioprotection suits, the American soldiers approach the silent convoy and find all the Mexicans dead. 76 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:25,000 There is no time to investigate what killed the Mexican team, but U.F.ologists have their theories. 77 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:46,000 They somehow came in contact with a lethal agent, a bacteriological agent that was from out of this world or an extraterrestrial biological agent of some sort that killed them, 78 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,000 which is my favorite theory. 79 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:56,000 The U.S. recovery team quickly tends to business. It finds the 16-foot-wide silver UFO strapped to the back of a flatbed truck. 80 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:01,000 The straps are reconfigured and connected to a cargo cable from the Sea Stallion helicopter. 81 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:08,000 Safely secure, the estimated 1,500-pound disk is lifted up and headed back to the U.S. 82 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:24,000 With the saucer gone, the team immediately turns their attention to the remaining evidence. The plane wreckage, vehicles from the convoy and the Mexican team bodies are gathered. 83 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:36,000 They gathered the debris, the bodies from the Mexican recovery team, and then they exploded them with high explosives. The reason why is to hide the evidence. 84 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:50,000 Their work done, the recovery team heads back to base, where the UFO was taken is unknown. Some have speculated at Landa, Fort Bliss, or Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. 85 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:56,000 It is an unprecedented event, and I think it's comparable to what happened in Roswell, New Mexico. 86 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:02,000 If this 1974 UFO crash was real, there was no evidence to prove it. 87 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:09,000 Only the passing down of the story from generation to generation kept the tale alive, but few took it seriously. 88 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:19,000 That changed in 1991. That year, not one, not two, but dozens of UFO sightings are reported over Mexico. 89 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:32,000 What gives the 1991 sightings credibility is that strangers reported seeing the same thing at the same time on the same day, and yet they were hundreds of miles apart from each other. 90 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:43,000 For over three decades, the Mexican desert is alleged to have been the site of an incredible tale. 91 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:49,000 There were rumors since long ago that an object crashed in Mexico. 92 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:56,000 An object entered our atmosphere through the United States, and it crashed with a small plane. 93 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:05,000 For the last two decades, Mexico has witnessed UFO incidents that rival anything reported in the United States. 94 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:13,000 Mexicans just needed one uniting event to keep their eyes focused to the sky. That happened in 1991. 95 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:24,000 In July of that year, one of the longest solar eclipses in history is set to happen. 96 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:30,000 The total eclipse is visible only in a narrow corridor that includes central Mexico. 97 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:39,000 A year in advance, all the Mexican people knew about the eclipse in 1991. I mean, it was an event, it was a moment. 98 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,000 All around Mexico, there were people waiting for the eclipse. 99 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:55,000 It was an important eclipse because even though there had been other eclipses that had taken place until that day, they were not on the magnitude of that eclipse. 100 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:04,000 Just after 1 p.m., the skies above Mexico darken. Astronomers adjust their telescopes, millions gaze skyward. 101 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:16,000 During 1991, consumer technology makes videos commonplace. On this day, many Mexicans use their cameras to capture the moon as it begins to pass in front of the sun. 102 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,000 To their disbelief, they also capture something unexpected. 103 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:28,000 It was a curious thing. During the eclipse, I heard some people who were around us saying, look, what is that there also? 104 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:39,000 Several people filmed and saw metallic objects that are clearly distinguished for the form of a cupola, on what is commonly called a flying object. 105 00:13:39,000 --> 00:14:01,000 In Mexico City, in Tepeji del Río, in Puebla, in Cerro de la Estrella, from all corners of Mexico come videos showing a strange metallic-looking object just below the eclipse. 106 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:08,000 The eclipse UFOs, or ovnis, as they are called in Mexico, become the talk of the country. 107 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:16,000 But while some are quick to claim that Mexico experienced a UFO encounter, skeptics aren't buying it. 108 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:23,000 This was one of the great events of the century as far as eclipses and astronomical events. 109 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:35,000 And hundreds and thousands of astronomers, professional and advanced amateur astronomers, came from all over the world and converged upon Mexico City and the other towns where the eclipse was visible. 110 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:40,000 Not a single professional astronomer reported seeing anything that wasn't supposed to be there. 111 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:47,000 Professional astronomers immediately doubt any UFO claims and instead offer a more scholarly response. 112 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:56,000 When the sun is totally eclipsed, like it was in Mexico on that day, the bright stars and planets become visible for a few minutes. 113 00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:01,000 And Venus was very brilliant and so it was very easy to see when people looked up. 114 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:05,000 And I'm sure that many of the people thought that they saw a UFO. 115 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,000 Sceptics have their answer, but UFO believers have their doubts. 116 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:21,000 Because of that, because so many people recorded in different cities these objects, some suggested that had to be the star Venus. 117 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:27,000 But Venus was in a different position than the UFOs were in the tapes. 118 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,000 It was something strange that happened during the eclipse. 119 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:38,000 It's afterwards when you start analyzing and looking at the videos that you can start to see in some of them that there are movements 120 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,000 that maybe wouldn't correspond to a planet. 121 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:46,000 When you start analyzing more calmly after the fact, that's when you start to wonder if it could have been a UFO. 122 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:53,000 The 1991 sightings ignite a UFO explosion in Mexico. 123 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:01,000 The effect of the UFOs from the 1991 eclipse was like a snowball. 124 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:09,000 And this allowed people with an interest in UFOs to record sightings more frequently. 125 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:22,000 While Mexico's UFO explosion comes as a surprise to most, some ufologists believe it was actually predicted over a thousand years ago. 126 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,000 The Maya were one of the great civilizations in history. 127 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:37,000 For over 600 years they built cities, constructed reservoirs and temple pyramids, and developed an incredible understanding of astronomy. 128 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,000 It is incredible the knowledge that the Maya had about the sky and the planets. 129 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,000 They had a great capacity of observation. 130 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:51,000 They knew the celestial movement and were able to determine every single important event that was going to be registered in Mexico. 131 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:58,000 The Maya recorded their information on foldable books called codices. 132 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,000 Most of these texts were burned by Spanish priests during the 1500s. 133 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,000 Today, just four Mayan codices remain. 134 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:14,000 Among them is the Dresden Codex, a document that offers an enigmatic glimpse into the Mayan's astral wisdom. 135 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:20,000 It's pure astronomical, the moon, the sun, the systems, everything. Everything is there. 136 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:27,000 Anybody who has a story and analyzed that, consider this document a real treasure from the past. 137 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,000 Among the information contained in this codex is an eclipse prediction cycle. 138 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:42,000 The eclipse of 1991 appears in the Dresden Codex, but did the Dresden Codex predict something more? 139 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:49,000 In it, they talk about the meeting with the brothers of the stars, which in our language we call extraterrestrials. 140 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:58,000 When I read this, after receiving all these videos, that struck me. That really affected me. 141 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:09,000 Because it's like if the Mayans knew long in advance that these sightings were going to take place that day. 142 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:16,000 How can you explain that? Is that a coincidence or they knew? I think they knew. 143 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Over a century later, most Mexicans knew something out of the ordinary was happening. 144 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:29,000 Their UFO wave had turned into a tsunami. 145 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:39,000 Literally overnight, Mexicans are mesmerized by the apparent UFO wave striking their country. 146 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:47,000 Euphologists point to the open-mindedness of the Mexican people as being partly responsible for this UFO explosion. 147 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:56,000 Mexicans have been fascinated by legends, stories, elves, fairies. 148 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:05,000 That psychology and sociology allows Mexicans to keep an open mind when it comes to extraordinary occurrences. 149 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:14,000 When you open yourself up to other possibilities, it is much easier to accept the UFO phenomena. 150 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:26,000 However, skeptics claim that Mexico's UFO wave is more of a social phenomenon than any actual increase in visits from little green men. 151 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:31,000 Sightings always seem to come in waves and these waves are generally correlated with the publicity. 152 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:42,000 That if the newspapers or TV stations, whatever are filled with stories about UFO sightings, people will go out and pay much more attention to things that they see. 153 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:48,000 Since the earliest UFO sightings, witnesses have always been subject to heavy ridicule. 154 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:54,000 They are portrayed as overzealous sky watchers who wouldn't know a DC-9 from a weather balloon. 155 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:58,000 But what happens when the witness is someone who doesn't fit into these categories? 156 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:02,000 What if the person has a solid reputation and career? 157 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,000 What if the witness doesn't just know a DC-9 but flies one? 158 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,000 Captain Reimundo Cervantes has been flying for over 40 years. 159 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:15,000 With 17,000 hours of flight time he has seen it all. 160 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,000 Or at least he thought so. 161 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,000 July 28, 1994. 162 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:27,000 Captain Cervantes is piloting Arrow Mexico Flight 129 from Guadalajara to Mexico City. 163 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:31,000 He's taken the route before and everything seems in order, including the weather. 164 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:39,000 Totally clear, like we the aviators say. We could see the next day, totally clear. 165 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:47,000 As the flight nears Mexico City International Airport, Cervantes puts the DC-9 on course for landing. 166 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:54,000 5,000 feet in the air, he receives the all clear from the control tower and prepares to lower the landing gear. 167 00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:04,000 I ordered to lower the front wheel. At that moment we felt an impact on the plane. Very strong. 168 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:15,000 The plane is rocked. To Cervantes it appears obvious that they have collided with something in mid-air, but there is no time to investigate. 169 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:21,000 The pilot has already begun his descent of the DC-9. 170 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:36,000 At that moment I declare an emergency and I requested an area so that I can develop the list of emergency and coordinate my personnel of flight attendants, because I thought we were going to have an abnormal landing. 171 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:45,000 Unsured the condition of the damage to his landing gear, Cervantes needs nerves of steel to coax the wounded jet to safety. 172 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:53,000 We level the plane. We tried to land softly and steady the front wheel. 173 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,000 I was concerned that there was damage. 174 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:05,000 We lower the front wheel and to our surprise, the plane starts rolling perfectly. 175 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:20,000 Disaster is averted. Captain Cervantes wonders if a helicopter has clipped his DC-9 on approach. 176 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:30,000 But the air tower's radar records discredit that theory. Yet an inspection of the DC-9 reveals damage and creates more questions than answers. 177 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:45,000 There was a flight inspector that searched the plane who detected that one of the hydraulic lines was cut. It was cut like if it was done with a cutter. Something very strange. 178 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:57,000 What caused the landing gear's hydraulic line to be cut? A subsequent investigation will place blame for the incident on worn out parts and the airline denies any mid-air collision. 179 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:09,000 But Captain Cervantes stands by his claim that the plane hit something. That isn't the end of the story. Flight 129 Strange Encounter is about to get even stranger. 180 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:22,000 Enrique Colbeck is an air traffic controller who was in the tower that night. Upon learning of Flight 129's incident, he instantly flashes back to a series of phone calls the tower had received earlier that evening. 181 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:42,000 An hour before that flight was initiated in Guadalajara, where you received phone calls from different sources. They were communicating to us that an object was flying very close to a building that is almost in the final trajectory to these runways. 182 00:23:42,000 --> 00:24:05,000 The sightings place the unidentified flying object right in the landing path of Flight 129. To most, the idea of a plane UFO collision seems unrealistic. But a few days later, another incident at the same airport raises suspicions that something out of the ordinary is going on. 183 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:26,000 August 8, 1994. Co-pilot Carlos Corzo is helping Aeromexico flight 304 from Acapulco begin its descent into Mexico City International Airport. The morning skies are partly cloudy as co-pilot Corzo looks out the cockpit window. The pilot's eyes are glued to the instruments. 184 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:43,000 He was flying by instruments. So all his view was on the instruments. I was taking care of the surroundings and seeing outside and even take the communications and helping him with the approach. 185 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:50,000 As the plane breaks through a cloud, a shocked Corzo finds something unexpected. 186 00:24:50,000 --> 00:25:09,000 I was leaving 12,000 feet and came out of the cloud and I see this big object in front of us and I really get scared. I thought we was going to have a collision and I tell my captain in a surprise expression that, oh my God, we're going to crash. 187 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:16,000 The mysterious craft streaks by the front of flight 304, barely missing the plane's nose. 188 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:33,000 It was a huge object, maybe 15 or 20 meters radio, something like a platinum or some kind of very neat metal. 189 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:39,000 Corzo quickly regains his composure and helps land the plane without further incident. 190 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:49,000 Afterward, he speaks to an air traffic controller who reveals that Corzo's plane was in fact the fifth plane that week to report seeing an unidentified object. 191 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:58,000 I can tell you about approximately 99% of pilots that I have talked to believe that we are not alone here. 192 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:08,000 And the evidence that we have had confirms it. We take it very seriously because it could affect our airspace. 193 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:19,000 Definitely, there is a potential danger because we do not know what produces the phenomenon and what it is made of and why it is manifested. 194 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:26,000 Nearly a decade later, another incident in the Mexican skies would send shockwaves worldwide. 195 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:34,000 Yet, unlike previous encounters, this one would have everyone believing, including the Mexican government. 196 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,000 Every year on the 9th of September 15th, they come together. 197 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:52,000 Thousands pack the main square in Mexico City to watch their president ring the very same bell that signaled the start of their fight for independence almost two centuries ago. 198 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:57,000 The next 24 hours will be full of parades, parties and celebrations. 199 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:02,000 But in the early 1990s, a new Mexican Independence Day tradition is born. 200 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:12,000 September 16th is Mexican Independence and we have a military parade on the streets of Mexico. 201 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:21,000 For several years, we used to have an air show. The whole Mexican Air Force used to go out and fly over Mexico City. 202 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:28,000 A lot of people were filmed these events when the planes would pass over the houses. 203 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:35,000 There are many videos where certain objects are seen flying over and passing closely. 204 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:46,000 September 16th, 1991. During the flyover, an amateur videographer captures a mysterious bright round object. 205 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:54,000 September 16th, 1992. An unidentified object is spotted flying through the sky. 206 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:11,000 September 16th, 1993. As a squadron of helicopters conducts maneuvers, a metallic looking object appears to weave through their formation. 207 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:18,000 Three years, three sightings. Yet the Mexican military offers no comment on the encounters. 208 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:30,000 With respect to the sightings of these objects during military parades, the government never voiced an opinion for or against. 209 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:38,000 The government here has always remained aloof. 210 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:49,000 This comes as no surprise to the UFO community, who for decades has claimed that governments are actively suppressing UFO encounters. 211 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:57,000 Blacked out reports, secret projects and constant denials have all fed the notion of a massive cover-up. 212 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:10,000 March 5th, 2004. Mexico's 501 Air Squadron is on a routine search for drug smuggling aircraft, but the military pilots witness something far from routine. 213 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:22,000 The Air Force in Mexico patrols the South border to stop airplanes with narcotics from South America. 214 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:29,000 They regularly do this many times every day with different airplanes. 215 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:36,000 But this day is different. During an afternoon surveillance run, the team picks something up on their radar. 216 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,000 They assume it's a drug running plane and take off after it. 217 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:49,000 Following it on radar, the object appears to be changing speeds erratically, at times traveling at over 380 miles per hour. 218 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:55,000 While in pursuit, the crew turns on their forward-looking infrared system, or FLIR. 219 00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:07,000 It's like a camera that is mounted on the aircraft, and its purpose is to look not using visible light like an ordinary camera would, but using infrared. 220 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:17,000 The infrared eyes of the plane's exterior mounted FLIR system transmits video to the crew inside. This is the actual video, as seen by the crew. 221 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:26,000 But as Mexican Air Patrol gets closer to the object, the crew are unable to spot anything using the FLIR, or with their own eyes. 222 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:37,000 All this time that they're flying towards it, they are looking ahead of the aircraft, because that's where it says that this radar target is, ahead of the aircraft, and they're looking, they couldn't see anything. 223 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:54,000 After chasing the object for several minutes, the crew determines they are too low on gas to continue the hunt. They turn around and begin heading back to the base. The unknown object soon vanishes from radar. Yet, their adventure is just beginning. 224 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:02,000 The FLIR operator was still operating the FLIR, and he started picking up bright lights that appeared to be at cloud level. 225 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:14,000 Suddenly, appearing on the FLIR through the clouds isn't just one ball of light, but at times as many as 11 objects appear to be weaving through the clouds. 226 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:21,000 The crew got a little bit spooked over what was going on, because they couldn't identify these things. They didn't know what it was they were looking at. 227 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:37,000 This is a veteran crew who have flown this route before, and have been using the FLIR system for almost two years. But on this day, even the most experience of pilots would be unnerved, as the cockpit recordings reveal. 228 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:50,000 It appears to the crew the objects aren't just traveling alongside their plane, but surrounding it. 229 00:31:50,000 --> 00:32:18,000 Then suddenly, the balls of light disappear, leaving a scared and confused crew to return to base. Over the next several weeks, the Mexican military conducts an investigation into the incident. 230 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:31,000 Crew members are interviewed. Images analyzed, and weather data evaluated. Yet, no answers are found. It appears this case is destined to go unsolved and forgotten. 231 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:37,000 Then, one phone call changes everything, and makes UFO history. 232 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:44,000 They called me and said, we have something that is from common interest. 233 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:57,000 Mexican TV journalist Jaime Masson is an expert on investigating Mexican UFO claims. Masson's impressive resume attracts the Mexican government, who asked the civilian reporter to assist. 234 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:05,000 In an unprecedented move, Mexico's Secretary of Defense hands over to Masson the classified FLIR UFO video. 235 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:24,000 He gave me the video and said, please be fair with the military, please be fair with these pilots. Do your investigation. You are authorized, officially, to do your investigation to present this in the media. 236 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:32,000 Masson is given complete access to flight records, weather reports, and most importantly, the crew members. 237 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:45,000 I am interviewing these pilots inside the Secretary of Defense. This is first in history in Mexico. They told me what they saw. They were very honest and sincere. 238 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:58,000 No, we never had the opportunity to identify them visually. I never saw this kind of object before. Something that we never saw before, it never happened to us before. 239 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,000 So yes, we had fear. 240 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:18,000 On May 11th, Masson holds a press conference to present the tape to the world. It doesn't take long for skeptics to denounce any UFO theory. Their explanations come fast and furious. 241 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:23,000 It's ball lighting. You'd have a whole fleet of these top secret aircraft flying. 242 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:31,000 Some skeptics and UFO investigators suggested that the equipment was not working well. 243 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:41,000 One after another, explanations are given, and one after another, they are discredited. However, a new theory emerges that might solve the mystery. 244 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:52,000 There's a theory that what the officials filmed out there were the flames of the oil wells that are 100 to 120 kilometers from the account. 245 00:34:52,000 --> 00:35:07,000 They appear to be brilliant glowing objects in the infrared. Of course, they were not visible to the eye, but that's the whole purpose of the infrared camera system is so that you can see things by their heat signature. 246 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:09,000 You can see things that are not visible to the eye. 247 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:17,000 Could what was showing up on the FLIR system actually be distant oil wells? Those who've examined the case have their doubts. 248 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:32,000 First thing that we did was analyze the lights to determine their shape, to see if there was shape to them, and how did it change frame to frame minute to minute? 249 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:43,000 If the lights are oil wells, as skeptics have claimed, then they should flicker like a flame. But using computer programs to break down the lights reveals something very different. 250 00:35:44,000 --> 00:36:03,000 Over a period of frames and minutes, the glow may change on the outer edges, but there is an object in the center that is rock-steady. It's a ball, it's a sphere, and it's not possible that it's a flame. 251 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:13,000 Because if it was a flame, it would be undulating, not just from the edges out, but over the entire object. 252 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:23,000 Adding to the case against the oil well theory is the fact that despite flights in this area daily, no one has ever reported this kind of encounter before. 253 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:38,000 The only way really, really to prove this would be to do it under the same basis, using a FLIR camera, flying the same route, probably with the same airplane. 254 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:49,000 Until that happens, the Mexican Air Force encounter remains an unsolved mystery. But for UFO researchers, that doesn't take away from the importance of this landmark case. 255 00:36:50,000 --> 00:37:02,000 For the first time, a government turned to the UFO community for help. Mexican UFO investigators are optimistic that this incident may signal a new era of openness by governments. 256 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:17,000 This is going to produce many, many new cases and more openness in the future. There are many other people who are now trying to become investigators in Mexico. This is just the beginning. 257 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:27,000 It was just the beginning. In 2005, just when it appeared things couldn't get any stranger in Mexico, they did. 258 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:48,000 Since 1991, Mexican witnesses have videotaped hundreds of hours of footage containing alleged unidentified flying objects. But while the sheer volume of sightings has impressed some, it's what's on these tapes that matters. 259 00:37:49,000 --> 00:38:09,000 Out of the thousands and thousands of videos that we have, most of the times are balloons, airplanes, stars, mistakes, honest mistakes. Probably just 10 or 15% of them are good, really good. 260 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:24,000 It's this 10% that has drawn the attention of everyone from ufologists to the mainstream media. Among the most interesting UFO phenomenons captured on tape are what is referred to as fleets. 261 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:36,000 A group of more than three objects we call fleets. They travel horizontally or vertically, with very strange forms as boomerangs, spheres, disks. 262 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:45,000 June 10, 2004, Guadalajara, Mexico, an amateur photographer captures unknown objects in the sky. 263 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:54,000 June 21, 2004, 300 miles away in Quernavaca, Mexico, another fleet is caught on tape. 264 00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:07,000 March 30, 2005, almost 600 miles north in Torreón, yet more unexplainable objects dot the Mexican sky. 265 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:18,000 April 11, 2005, 500 miles to the south in Mexico City, the skies over the capital city are full of mysterious aircraft. 266 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:35,000 I believe it's a way that someone is using to communicate with us. I believe they are trying to say something similar to what happened in England with the formations. 267 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:49,000 Skeptics are quick to dismiss fleets as nothing more than weather balloons or birds, but seeing is believing. And in June 2005, a fleet sighting had people believing. 268 00:39:50,000 --> 00:40:01,000 One of the more recent accounts of UFO sightings here in Mexico happened here in Jalapa, Veracruz. And it is very interesting because the witnesses were of a very high caliber. 269 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:12,000 June 24, 2005, 10.30 am, a public ceremony is being held to celebrate the delivery of new patrol cars to the local police department. 270 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:20,000 On hand are such dignitaries as Governor Fidel Herrera Beltrán, high-ranking police department officials and the local media. 271 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:32,000 Moments after Governor Beltrán finishes his speech, cries of UFO, UFO echo through the crowd. Instantly, all eyes are on the mysterious objects hovering above. 272 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:48,000 We have as a first-hand witness the governor of Jalapa and the newspapers publish the news the next day, and it was spread throughout Mexico. 273 00:40:51,000 --> 00:41:04,000 Days later, a local newspaper reports that the alleged UFOs were actually balloons released by local school children. But this explanation only raises more questions for UFO believers. 274 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:10,000 If they were balloons, why did they appear frozen in formation for over half an hour? 275 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:20,000 As the witness says, it was more than 14 sphere objects that were shining in the sky, formed a triangle formation and remained there for 30 minutes. 276 00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:26,000 I just find it hard to believe that balloons could stay in the same place and in the same formation for half an hour. 277 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:39,000 I think this is an extraordinary observation because it's a governor and all of his advisors and police personnel who observed this case. 278 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:44,000 Would you say to the governor that he didn't see something strange in the sky? 279 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:56,000 It's those strange things in the sky that have brought together these UFO experts and enthusiasts. From all parts of Mexico, they have come to discuss the UFO wave that their country has undergone. 280 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:02,000 For these men and women, the encounters that have taken place deserve attention and answers. 281 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:10,000 Among the incidents they examined is the alleged 1974 UFO plane collision near Cuyama, Mexico. 282 00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:19,000 The word is getting around somehow that something happened and that the U.S. was interested in this crash. 283 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:30,000 The information that Gilberto has is very little, but the data that makes this case lends itself to the possibility that this may have been real. 284 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:42,000 Three decades later, Cuyama still has more questions than answers. But are there clues out there that could break the case wide open? 285 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:58,000 Any motivated investigative journalism student of today or professional who have a field day go to the town, track down all the people in the town that used to be there and lived there by address and find them and interview them? 286 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:09,000 It requires more rigorous study. It requires more of a collaborative effort, hopefully among the research, UFO research communities between the United States and Mexico. 287 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,000 So it's a case that's going to need more further investigation. 288 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:19,000 And like any seminal event in history, there is a last second plot twist. 289 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:31,000 I was recently in Chihuahua and I asked about this case and there is a rumor that there are photographs around this case that I haven't seen. 290 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:44,000 I was promised that I was going to receive these photographs, but people there are still afraid. It seems that they have kept these photographs for a long, long time. 291 00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:50,000 Fittingly, once again, the Cuyama story is shrouded in mystery. 292 00:43:52,000 --> 00:44:02,000 Did a UFO crash in the Mexican desert in August of 1974? Did a Mexican recovery team fall prey to an unknown biological poison? 293 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:12,000 The truth may never be known, but what we do know is that over the last 15 years, Mexico has experienced something out of the ordinary. 294 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:20,000 For UFO believers, this appears to be a golden age of alien encounters. Only one thing is certain. 295 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:26,000 Mexico, a land steeped in history, is now steeped in mystery.