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10-24-1969
An extraordinary UFO incident off Chile
by Bill Chalker
Bill Chalker, an industrial chemist by profession, is one of
Australia's leading UFO investigators. He lives In New South Wales.
Editor's note: Incredible tales of military UFO encounters
and cover-ups are legion in the ufological literature. Most depend on
the testimony of a single informant. This one is no exception and for
that reason must be viewed, unless and until verifying evidence comes
forward, as no more than an interesting anecdote. We are publishing it
not because we consider it "evidence" of anything -- it clearly is not
--but because it resembles other such stories in a remarkable way. That
means that either the claimant is drawing on a body of widespread
folklore or he, like other claimants telling like tales, is speaking
the truth. Chile, a military dictatorship, does not have a Freedom of
Information Act to which inquirers seeking verification can turn.
Readers who might have access to information that could shed light on
this claim are urged to write IUR.
Because of a series of chance events and an overseas trip, I
had the opportunity to interview an alleged witness to an extraordinary
event that supposedly took place in the Pacific Ocean, about 350 miles
to the south of Valparaiso Port, off the coast of Chile. The incident
involved a Chilean Naval destroyer and was witnessed by crew members
and the commander of the vessel. Up to six UFOs, including one large
object, were observed. The objects were verified on radar and observed
visually. As the main object moved over the ship, the vessel's power
went out.
As extraordinary as the event itself is its alarming
aftermath. According to my informant, a cover-up followed and the
witnesses were held in confinement in port for two days, subjected to
intense psychological pressures to force them to believe they saw
nothing out of the ordinary.
The name of my informant cannot be revealed. He says,
however, that he was on duty during the incident and observed the whole
event. The location of the interview, even the country in which it took
place, also cannot be given. The witness fears that disclosure of
either detail could cause him to be recalled to active service in the
Chilean Navy. Although he has already served his term of service, he is
concerned that enforced military service could be used as a form of
punishment.
I must point out that from the very beginning I have been
skeptical of many UFO cover-up claims. From my experience as the first
civilian researcher to have comprehensive access to the Royal
Australian Air Force UFO files, however, I have become more open-minded
about such allegations. In this regard I was willing to consider the
testimony of my Chilean informant, who to all appearances was sincerely
frightened by the events he described to me. That does not mean I have
become a 'believer,' only that I believe such claims deserve a fair
hearing.
The event
Just after midnight, on or about October 24, 1969, a Chilean
Navy destroyer, a week out of dry dock at Talcahuano Port (where the
ship's axle had been removed and replaced), was navigating at 20 knots
and heading north 20 degrees portside from NNW). The incredible events
that followed took place over the next eight minutes.
At 12:43 A.M. the radar officer reported a long-range flying
contact. A minute later the “contact" was at 400 miles. Because of the
"object's" speed, the operator suspected a malfunction in his
equipment. In the next minute the contact was approximately 150 miles
away closing from 331 degrees of true north. But the operator and
officer in charge during the late night duty (an officer of
second-class rank) speculated that the contact was a "plane flying
southeast” --but at 213 miles in a minute: 12,780 mph!
The officer in charge advised the ship's commander, who
asked that an eye be kept on the object.
At 12:47 the contact was only 12 miles away. Suddenly the
single contact became six “targets.” The “thing spread .... Little dots
appeared in the fire of the light on the radar....”
The officer in charge informed the commander just as the
objects making the returns came into view. Both eyewitnesses and radar
were reporting six objects approaching the ship. The commander came up
to the ship's bridge to see what was going on.
It was a fantastic sight. One massive object and five small
objects were approaching at high speed. The “big thing looked like a
big box [with] semicircles in the side” looking as if they had been
scooped out. It was bathed in brilliant light. “The thing must have
been metallic,” my informant told me. “It was bigger than the
destroyer, which was about 110 meters long.” He thought it might be at
least twice the length of the ship but it was difficult to tell because
“the light was bright."
The five smaller objects were egg-shaped and appeared to be
no bigger than eight feet long and five to six feet wide. They were
bluish in color.
At about 2000 yards out from the destroyer the smaller
objects left the proximity of the larger object. Three went portside
and two went starboard. The smaller objects at times seemed to be
flying in "elliptical circles backwards and forwards between the big
one and our vessel ....
"The main thing did not change direction -- if it had been
in the sea there would have been a collision."
A humming noise was audible when the large object got to
within 300 yards. It was at this point that the power went out. For a
couple of seconds all instruments went dead as the huge craft passed
overhead.
At this point the commander came on to the bridge, asking,
"What the hell is that?” My informant remarked that the commander "was
very calm, because probably he knew what he saw. We didn't.
"You could see the whole thing, the light was so strong. You
could see the water, the funnel head, the head of the ship, the towers,
everything... Everybody on the bridge was sort of listening to the
noise. I don't know how long this thing took to go across."
The bright red lights underneath the main UFO seemed to be
moving back and forth inside the "box,” shining through a half-circle
or crescent shape on the bottom of the object. On the side were what
looked like "corn cobs," with green or turquoise pulsing lights. These
lights, my informant said, "went right through your head."
The large object passed over the powerless ship. When it was
200 yards away, everything returned to normal. The smaller objects,
never coming closer than 500 to 1000 yards, flew around the ship and
joined up with the larger object on the other side.
The main object continued on its way until it Was about two
miles beyond the ship. At that point, along with (we assume) the
smaller-objects, it vanished. "It was like somebody opened a big door;
then it closed and it was darkness. The only thing that was left behind
was like floating little bits of metallic paper."(!)
At least eight minutes had passed. Three persons had tracked
the UFOs on radar. Five persons saw the objects themselves. The ship's
commander ordered everyone to keep silent about what they had seen.
The cover-up
The "cover-up" started immediately, According to my
informant, the officer in charge (the second-class officer) had made
several entries concerning the UFO incident in the ship's log.
The entries at midnight and on either side of the UFO
entries-were routine. Duty proceeded normally for the rest of the
morning.
Awakening after he had retired from his shift, the officer
rechecked the log, only to find normal entries in what appeared to be
his own handwriting. The UFO incident was not mentioned. The officer
had been left-handed but an accident had forced him to use his right
hand. Because writing was difficult for him, he had to press down hard
on the paper. He had to press down so hard, in fact;-that the outline
of what he wrote was always visible on the page. But when he checked,
it was not. In other words, someone had forged his handwriting but
neglected this telltale physical detail.
At 6:45 that morning the destroyer arrived in Valparaiso
Port. After eating breakfast, the men on duty during the UFO event were
asked to report to the commander. He told them that some people were
coming to talk with them and that they were to go with them. The
visitors turned out to be two Chilean Navy officers and four Americans
in civilian clothes. The Americans, who spoke Spanish, were identified
as naval attaches with the U.S. embassy.
The six witnesses were taken to a mine- or torpedo-storage
area at the port. Each was taken to a separate room.
My informant was directed to explain what happened last
night. When he told them, they said, “No, you didn't see that!"
“I said that's what we saw," my informant related to me.
"They started getting very cranky. They said, 'No, you didn't see it.
You didn't see anything. You know nothing.'
“I spoke to the highest-ranking officer there, a tactic
commander in the Chilean Navy: 'Are we under arrest or what?' He said,
'No you are not.’ “
Asked why they were there, the Chilean officer replied, 'You
are under orders. These people just want to talk to you, to put you on
the right track.”
My informant claimed, "While the men never asked us to go
through the story in detail, they knew what had happened by the
questions they asked. They also had the radar-plot blueprint." They
were more interested in securing his silence than in getting
information about the event from him.
For two days the harassment continued. “Every two hours,”
the informant said, “this guy would come up. 'What do you think now?'
he'd say... We had arguments. They didn't have any right to do what
they were doing.”
My informant threatened to complain when he got out. He was
told that if he did so, that would be the end of him. He did not see
the other witnesses at any point during the two day interrogation. He
was not allowed to sleep until he signed a document. Finally, after he
had done so, he was put in a jeep and driven to another location. One
week later he was transferred unexpectedly from destroyer duty. He
never saw the others again.
Discussion
As I listened to this man tell his story, I was struck with
the passion of his tone. If he was making this up, he was an excellent
actor.
His claim that he had been placed in confinement following
the sighting was especially interesting to me. In fact, the account
sounds exactly like something out of the NBC-television movie The
Disappearance of Flight 412, said to have been based on the real life
experience of one of the scriptwriters, Neal B. Burger. Burger's
experience supposedly took place in 1951. (My informant claimed not to
have seen the movie.) A similar story, involving a U.S. Navy man who
allegedly was subjected to similar pressures in Panama in 1973, is
recounted in Fawcett and Greenwood's Clear Intent (1984).
Such reports, if taken seriously, clearly imply an official
desire to suppress at least some UFO experiences. But why?
This reference: International UFO Reporter September/October
1985, pp. 4-6
UFOCAT PRN NONE
South America - Chile
Valparaiso
Port
Latitude 33-02 S, Longitude 71-37 W (D-M) [Bahía Bay]
Talcahuano
Port
Latitude 36-42 S, Longitude 73-02 W (D-M) [Bahía Bay]
Reference: Chile Gazetteer, Prepared in the Office of
Geography, Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., January 1967
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