1976 Canary Island UFO sighting

[Jennie McGrath]

The 1976 Canary Island UFO sighting was a UFO incident that occurred over the Canary Islands on the 22nd of June 1976. The sighting is notable for several reasons:
•   Duration; the encounter lasted over 40+ minutes.
•   Multiple Locations; The UFO was observed in Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, Grand Canary and by a ship at sea.
•   Multiple Witnesses; The UFO was witnessed by several hundred people, including both civilian and military personnel.
•   Detail; It is one of the few accounts to include details of the occupants inside the craft.
The official report on the incident, by the Spanish air force, was declassified in June 1994, but much of its content had already been released to the public in 1977, after journalist J Benitez obtained a number of military files[1] and used them as the basis of a book on UFO cases.

[Jennie McGrath]

Spanish Navy

At 9:27 pm local time on the night of June 22, 1976, the Spanish Navy corvette Atrevida, located 5.5 km off Punta Lantailla, Fuerteventura Island, reportedly observed a bright yellow light traveling above the horizon[2] . At first the crew believed the object to be an aircraft with landing lights on, but continued observation showed that it returned no radar signature[3].

Shortly after observation, the yellow light ceased, and was replaced by a 'luminous' rotating beam that persisted for approximately 2 minutes. A glowing halo then developed around the object and it split into two components, a smaller component which split away from the bottom and went out of view, and a larger components which rose from the top of the halo which climbed away in a ' rapid and irregular' spiral pattern[3].

Reports indicate that the halo persisted for some time after the objects had separated from it, and that its light could be seen reflecting off of the water and illuminating nearby land. It was observed by the entire ship's complement.

[Jennie McGrath]

Observation in the Canary Islands in 1976



Photograph of large luminous phenomenon seen over the Canary Islands in June 1976. From the declassified file of the Spanish Air Force. Source Antonio Huneeus.

A large unidentified luminous phenomenon was observed throughout the Spanish Canary Islands on the night of June 22, 1976. Newspaper headlines proclaimed the following day that "thousands of people" had seen a "spectacular luminous phenomenon" which "lasted twenty minutes and was observed from Tenerife, La Palma and La Gomera." The most sensational aspect was the experience of a medical doctor and his taxi driver, who reported a transparent sphere with two tall entities inside.

[Jennie McGrath]

THE OFFICIAL DOCUMENT:
The publication:

On June 25, 1976, the Commanding General of the Canaries' Air Zone named an "Investigative Adjutant" to investigate the case. Copies of some of the depositions, though technically confidential, were given by a Spanish Air Force General to journalist J.J. Benitez in October 1976, who subsequently published them in his book:

Benítez, J.J., OVNIS: Documentos Oficiales del Gobierno Español, Barcelona, Plaza & Janes, 1977.

The content:
The complete Air Force file on the case, comprising over 100 pages of questionnaires, evaluation, appendices, illustrations, etc., was officially declassified in June 1994, as part of the ongoing public release of the Spanish Air Force UFO files which began in 1992.

The Air Force file contains depositions with fourteen witnesses. In a previously established methodology, it divides observers into four categories according to their reliability: from high credibility rating (pilots, aeronautical engineers, astronomers) all the way to a very unreliable rating (those who were illiterate, mentally impaired or under the influence of alcohol or drugs). Likewise, each observation is also divided into four levels, according to the number and quality of additional witnesses, radar evidence, etc. The dossier also included a color photograph of the phenomenon, taken by a tourist and obtained with the assistance of the Civil Guard; according to the photo lab where the film was developed, "no trickery or modification of any kind was added."

The Investigative Adjutant reconstructed the sequence of events in his final report. The first observation was made at 21:27 hrs. on June 22, 1976 by the entire crew of the corvette Atrevida of the Spanish Navy, which was located 3 nm (3.5 statute miles or 5.5 km.) off Punta Lantailla on the coast of Fuerteventura Island. The ship's captain provided a detailed description of the event:

"At 21:27 (Z) hrs. on 22 June, we saw an intense yellowish-bluish light moving out from the shore towards our position. At first we thought it was an aircraft with its landing lights on. Then, when the light had attained a certain elevation (15 - 18 degrees), it became stationary. The original light went out and a luminous beam from it began to rotate. It remained like this for approximately two minutes. Then an intense great halo of yellowish and bluish light developed, and remained in the same position for 40 minutes, even though the original phenomenon was no longer visible.

"Two minutes after the great halo, the light split into two parts, the smaller part being beneath, in the center of the luminous halo, where a blue cloud appeared and the part from which the bluish nucleus had come, vanished. The upper part began to climb in a spiral, rapid and irregular, and finally vanished. None of these movements affected the initial circular halo in any way, which remained just the same the whole time, its glow lighting up parts of the land and the ocean, from which we could deduce that the phenomenon was not very far away from us, but was close."

The file also includes the deposition of a lieutenant, the Atrevida's first officer, and indicates "the phenomenon was initially observed by the entire crew" of the Navy warship. The report adds that no echo was detected on the ship's surface radar. Three minutes later, at 21:30 hrs., a very similar phenomenon was observed by many people in the Grand Canary Island. The majority of the witnesses interviewed by the Air Force were from the villages of Galdar, Las Rosas and Agaete. They were from different professions: medical doctor, school teacher, farmer, sergeant, two taxi drivers, police guard and laborers. Newspapers and UFO investigators located additional witnesses in the islands.

The Investigative Adjutant determined that there was no aerial traffic or military exercises at the time that could account for the phenomenon. The observation itself was divided into two categories: the large luminous halo in the sky, seen by many people; and the smaller luminous globe with two figures inside, observed by a doctor, a taxi driver and one woman. The Adjutant had no problem accepting the reality of the first event. Noting that it was vouched for officially by the crew of the Atrevida, he added:

"Then, numerous witnesses belonging to different positions and cultural strata, saw it with similar characteristics in the Grand Canary island. Therefore, the fact that a very strange and peculiar aerial phenomenon occurred on the night of 22 June is a true and proven fact, as incredible as its behavior and conditions may seem."

The Adjutant considered four possible explanations - aircraft, missile test, aurora, and meteor fall - only to reject each hypothesis, one at a time. The report also considered and rejected other explanations such as weather balloons and meteorological phenomena, admitting that "its nature is totally unknown."

The Investigative Adjutant, however, had more problems accepting the reality of the CE-III (Close Encounter of the Third Kind) described by some of the witnesses. Not because he questioned their veracity or suspected them of hoaxing, but simply because of the nature of the report. The CE-III's main witness was a physician from the town of Guía, Dr. Francisco Padrón León. His deposition is the longest in the file. The Air Force had also checked his background and psychological condition. Dr. Padrón explained that he had been called to attend a patient and was riding in a taxi to see her in the town of Las Rosas:

"We were talking about hunting... as we entered the last part of the road, the car lights pointed at a slightly luminous sphere that was stationary and very close to the ground, although I can't say for sure if it was touching it; it was made of a totally transparent and crystalline-like material, since it was possible to see through it the stars in the sky; it had an electric blue color but tenuous, without dazzling; it had a radius of about 30 m. [100 ft.], and in the lower third of the sphere you could see a platform of aluminum-like color as if made of metal, and three large consoles. At each side of the center there were two huge figures of 2.50 to 3 m. [8.5 to 10 ft.] tall, but no taller than 3 m. [10 ft.], dressed entirely in red and facing each other in such a way that I always saw their profile." (see diagram 2)

They were humanoid in shape with the head proportionate to the thorax and wearing some kind of head gear. Dr. Padrón asked the taxi driver if he was seeing the same thing, and he exclaimed, "My God! What is that?" As the car reached the patient's house, the doctor noted:

"Then I observed that some kind of bluish smoke was coming out from a semi-transparent central tube in the sphere, covering the periphery of the sphere's interior without leaking outside at any moment. Then the sphere began to grow and grow until it became huge like a 20-story house, but the platform and the crew remained the same size; it rose slowly and majestically and it seems I heard a very tenuous whistling."

Dr. Padrón entered the house and alerted the residents, who went outside and saw:

"The sphere, now high, was moving slowly toward Tenerife; suddenly it reached enormous speed like none I ever saw in an airplane; the sphere dissolved into a bluish spindle-shape with red underneath; a brilliant white halo was formed close to the object, which bit by bit was forming another very brilliant blue halo. It disappeared in the direction of Tenerife."

Dr. Padrón's testimony was confirmed by the taxi driver, who also saw "a craft that looked as if it was made of transparent crystal," about 25 m. (85 ft.) high and 20 m. (65 ft.) wide, with "two persons dressed in brilliant red inside." In addition, there was a third witness, an illiterate woman who was a relative of the doctor's patient. She was watching TV when the screen went blank and the dogs began to bark. She ran to the window in time to:

"... see the doctor's car and just above it the great blue ball... It was like a perfectly round globe, but very big, transparent, the stars could be seen through it. She saw two man-like figures inside, but she is not completely sure as she panicked, closed the windows and doors of the house and began to pray."

http://ufologie.net/htm/canaries.htm

[Jennie McGrath]

Diagram 1: The transparent sphere with two tall occupants seen by a medical doctor and two other witnesses. From the declassified file of the Spanish Air Force. Source Antonio Hunneus.

[Jennie McGrath]

Diagram 2: Diagram of the phenomenon seen by the crew of the Spanish Navy corvette Atrevida.

[Jennie McGrath]

Because of the strange nature of the CE-III, the Investigative Adjutant had reservations accepting it. He remarked that:

"We should forcefully consider the VERY PROBABLE [sic] circumstance that both witnesses, facing the presence of an unusual phenomenon in the sky, narrated what their 'minds' made them see, mutually influencing each other. This Investigative Adjutant doesn't have the slightest doubt about their seriousness and sincerity. They told what they unquestionably 'believed' to have seen."

The Adjutant's final conclusion, however, was that what the crew of the corvette Atrevida and many other witnesses observed in the sky on the night on June 22, was indeed an "Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon." It is important to note that this incident was neither the first nor the last UFO report investigated officially in the Canary Islands. On November 19, 1976, the Commanding General of the Canaries' Air Zone, Gen. Carlos Dols de Espejo, and his aides observed first-hand another large halo while flying on an Air Force T-12 transport plane. The crew of a Spanish Navy training ship and the personnel at the Gando Air Base also reported the phenomenon. The Investigative Adjutant in that case concluded his report:

"If we study as a whole the three reports issued up to the present (1/75, 1/76, and 2/76), we should have to think seriously of the necessity of considering the possibility of accepting the hypothesis that a craft of unknown origin, propelled by an equally unknown energy, is moving freely over the skies in the Canaries."

REFERENCES:

Benítez, J.J., "OVNIS: Documentos Oficiales del Gobierno Español", Barcelona, Plaza & Janes, 1977.
Deposition No. B-07 of the Captain of Corvette in the Spanish Air Force file; English translation by Gordon Creighton, Flying Saucer Review, Vol. 23, No. 3, 1977.
Adjutant's Report, Las Palmas Aerial Sector, July 16, 1976.
Deposition No. A-01 by Dr. Francisco Padrón León in the Spanish Air Force file.
Deposition No. A-02 by taxi driver and No. B-05 by woman in Galdar, in the Spanish Air Force file.

83. Adjutant's Report, ibid.
Benítez, J.J., "Informe 02/76 de las Fuerzas Aéreas españolas," Mundo Desconocido, Barcelona, September 1979; quoted in Huneeus, Antonio, "Top Spanish General sees UFO", The News World, New York, December 5, 1981.



http://ufologie.net/htm/canaries.htm

[Jennie McGrath]

Canary Island Alien Sphere
B J Booth

[Jennie McGrath]

Canary Island Alien Sphere
B J Booth

Canary Island
http://ufos.about.com/od/bestufocasefiles/p/canaryisland.htm

[Jennie McGrath]

Civilian Reports

The first non-military sightings of the object began at approximately 9:30 pm local time, when residents on Grand Canary also observed the unidentified object, or one similar to it. Reports also came in from the islands of Tenerife, La Palmas, and La Gomera. The most controversial of which came from Doctor Francisco Padron Leon[1].

According to testimony provided to the Spanish air force, the doctor was traveling by taxi from his home in Guia to see a patient in Las Rosas, Grand Canary, when he encountered a glowing blue sphere that appeared to be hovering close to the ground in front of the cab[1].
He described the sphere as having a radius of approximately 30 Meters and being sufficiently transparent for him to make out two figures inside working at consoles that were mounted on a metal platform occupying the lower third of the sphere. He describes the spheres occupants as being between 2 ½ and 3 Meters tall and dressed in red. The sphere is then reported to have expanded significantly and risen into the air before flying off in the direction of Tenerife[1].
The sphere was also witnessed by the taxi driver and several residents of Las Rosas.

Investigation

The incident was investigated by the Spanish air force, which considered a number of possible explanations.
•   Aircraft
•   Missile test
•   Meteorological balloon
•   Naturally occurring aurora
•   Naturally occurring weather patterns
•   Meteor activity

After reviewing witness testimonies, the investigating officer was unable to rectify their descriptions with any known man made object or natural phenomena and was forced to rule out the above explanations. The investigating officer expressed some doubt at reports given by some of some of the civilian witnesses because of the unusual nature of their reports[1], but the presence of trained military personnel meant that a hoax was also ruled out for the Type I reports.
Officially, the object is recorded as being 'Unidentified' and the event is recorded as being 'unexplained'

Conventional Explanation

According to the Spanish UFO group Fundación Anomalía (Anomaly Foundation), the 22nd June sightings, and four other alleged UFO sightings that occurred between 1974 and 1979, correspond directly with times and dates that the US fired submarine based Poseidon ICBMs from its eastern missile range[4], which reaches from Cape Canaveral to Ascension Island.
Fundación Anomalía cites astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell as having reached this conclusion after obtaining declassified US records.

References

1.   ^ a b c d e Benitez, J J (1977), “OVNIS: Documentos Oficiales del Gobierno Español/UFOs: Official Documents of the Spanish Government", Plaza & Janes
2.   ^ Flying Saucer Review Vol23#3 (1997)
3.   ^ a b "Deposition No. B-07", (Deposition of the Captain of the Atrevida, declassified 1994)
4.   ^ Fundación Anomalía: Canary Islands UFOs in the 70s - Space Experts Confirm They Were Missiles, (October 2006)

[Jennie McGrath]

1976-Canary Island Alien Sphere
From Billy Booth,

Summary of Events: In 1976 on the Spanish Canary Island an extremely intensive wave of UFO sightings began. The case file is filled with multiple witness sightings, agreeing in great detail as to what was seen over the island. This highly unusual event actually began on the night of June, 22. Residents of Tenerife, La Palma, and La Gomera began reporting unusual lights in the sky almost simultaneously. The Canary Island investigation would also include a rarity-the credibility of testimony of eyewitnesses was based on social status: that is, a report by an engineer would be of more value than that of a laborer.
Yellow-Blue Lights: An armed Navy escort ship, the "Atrevida" would make the very first report of unusual activity in the skies. The ship was three and one-half miles off the coast of Fuerteventura Island. At 9:27 PM, the crew observed an extremely intense yellow-blue light which was coming from the shore of the island out to sea. The captain of the vessel made a detailed report of the sighting in the ship's log. The UFO was also seen and reported by residents of the island, with three villages-Galdar, Las Rosas, and Agaete making the heaviest reports.
Detailed Investigation: An Investigator Adjutant would do a thorough search through military and civilian air logs, and state that there were not any aerial flights, or exercises which might account for the reports. The Spanish Air Force would conduct an extremely detailed account of all of the sightings. Their report listed fourteen different, "highly credible" witness statements. The glowing object was also photographed by several different witnesses, from different locations and angles.


Most Dramatic Account: The most dramatic account of the Canary Island sightings comes from a physician, Doctor Francisco Padron Leon, who was traveling in a cab at the time, making a house call, arriving at the patient's house, he and the cab driver saw an incredible sight, a large, glowing sphere of blue. The doctor watched the sphere long enough to make a very detailed report on the anomalous object. He described the sphere as having a radius of 100 feet, with the lower part of the inside of the orb having a platform made of an aluminum-like material.
Descriptions of the Aliens: Two tall alien beings, 8-10 feet in height, manned the platform, or control center for the sphere, one on one side, one on the other. The aliens were wearing clothes of a red color, and they always looked directly at each other while performing their duties. The beings were humanoid shaped, with heads disproportionately large for the rest of their bodies. They wore a helmet. The doctor was able to glean such a good description of the beings and platform because the sphere was totally transparent. He could see stars through the sphere.
The Orb Moves Away: As he watched the enigmatic sphere, it began to grow larger and larger as it began to move away from the island toward the town of Tenerfie. After reaching its ultimate size, it then dissolved into a small size before disappearing. A neighbor who lived near the doctor's patient, was watching television at the time, when the screen went blank, and her dogs began to bark loudly outside her home. She ran to a window to check on what the dogs were barking at, and saw the doctor's cab, and the alien sphere. She reported seeing two figures in the sphere.
Conclusions: Throughout the remainder of the year, various and sundry reports were made of similar objects over Canary. An official governmental report would be released, but it was ambiguous at best. They accepted the reports of the UFOs as valid, but would not accept the alien presence. This was done to allow the possibility that the UFOs could be an unknown Air Force exercise. Giving credence to the reports of alien beings would necessitate accepting an extraterrestrial explanation for the entire event. The Canary Island alien sphere event is considered legitimate by many investigators.


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