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The
observation took place on May 24, 1971, from a dentists’
surgery on the first floor of a building on the Calle Pedro
Molina, right in the very centre of the city of Mendoza,
with a wide open space towards the south, extending as far
as the promenades of the civilian quarter. We observed,
in the direction of the Military Circle, far off and high
in the sky, an unidentified object (stated Señor
Julio Suárez Marzal)… I remained alone in the
dentist’s surgery, while Dr. Walter Griehl ran to get
some binoculars, returning just as the object was disappearing.
During his absence from the room, in just a few seconds
of time, a whole series of events had occurred: I had seen
the object come closer and perform the most curious movements.
The
object is moving silently, floating and drifting along very
slowly from east to west, at an altitude of some 1,000 metres
and somewhat over 1 kilometre towards the S. E. from me
(rough guesses). The colour is a pearly-grey, faintly bluish,
dull. Its brightness make it stand out sharply against the
deep blue of the sky. At once, it starts to descend with
a rocking movement, and I perceive that it is slowly revolving,
at least so I judge from a small bright circular mark which
stands out on its surface. The object rapidly descends toward
where I am, and approaches eye-level, with the astonishing
speed which characterizes the close-up as shown by the camera,
as it registers a dizzying succession of gradations of approach.
Now
the object pours forth a dense cloud, like steam in turbulence,
which surrounds it and grows. As it draws nearer, it grows
larger. It worries me that I can’t see it clearly (the
witness is here referring not to the UFO itself but to the
bright point on its surface, a will be perceived by what
follows). However, I imagine it must be some kind of view-finder
adapted to a tubular axis. The UFO darts sideways at such
speed that it suddenly vanishes, then surprises me by reappearing
much lower down, where it immediately stops, rocking to
and fro slightly. When it first arrived, it was incandescent,
of a dark orange colour, and without the cloud around it.
Now, it is a clearer pearly grey.
It
is very near me, at about 70 metres, and at 16º, to
the S.E. While remaining stationary, it now seems to glide
along horizontally, moving away and then imperceptibly approaching
again, like a photographic close-up. At this point in its
approach, I see only those parts of it that interest me
and I pay no heed to the total appearance, which moreover
seems cut off visually. For about four seconds, it is completely
stationary in the air, silent, vibrating very slightly.
This is the actual flying saucer itself, a solid object,
a sort of metal. l have a magnificent view of it, with absolute
clarity, bathed in the sunlight. I suddenly feel myself
very much alone. I experience an indescribable loneliness
at the weird realization of the presence of this strange
reality.
After
a quick glance to take it all in, my eye is caught by one
detail: the bright point mentioned previously is now close,
in three-quarter profile, like an external telescopic eye;
it is a short cylinder, bell-shaped, the colour of old bronze,
with shining frontal areas. Attached to the upper part,
on the projecting, clearer portion of the cylinder, is a
tubular central fin (we could call it a handle) of the same
greyish colour as the whole surface of the craft. I examine
the structure of this viewer in every minute detail, and
while I am studying its strange upper part, the saucer gives
a slight shudder and climbs away obliquely, travelling off
rapidly towards the N.E., leaving me as it does so with
a general view of the said upper part of the viewer; it
seemed to have several other details on it, and I could
make out a reddish contour on the back portion.
To
my surprise, having lost sight of the saucer for some four
seconds, it reappears, and even closer, and now in complete
and total view, making great strange rocking movements.
The thing I had taken to be a sort of “eye”, a
viewer, assumes the position of a focussing lens (or, as
we would say, a “sight”) and follows any given
point by means of marked corrections, upwards, downwards,
right, left, centre, with the speed and the touch of someone
who wants to take precise and rapid aim because of the movements
of the whole body of the flying craft, including also a
pronounced to-and-fro rocking motion through about 35º
.
The
viewer is pointing towards the parabolic shortwave antennae
of the Central Post Office. The sunlight shows up the viewer
more clearly, and I can now actually feel the presence of
someone who, with precision and intelligence, is directing
the viewer’s movements from inside the craft. (This
scene lasted ten seconds in the opinion of the witness,
who is accustomed to film-making.) The two appearances of
the stationary saucer could have been filmed perfectly,
or recorded on colour stills, for the saucer was magnificently
revealed by the sunlight, thus permitting the sharpest,
clearest vision. The remaining views of the saucer were
extremely rapid, dancing, so that the eyewitness could not
hold it well in focus.
When
I first observe the saucer, it shoots away from the foreground
like a bullet vanishes in the sky, then reappears instantly
afterwards at a height of some 1,500 metres and at approximately
29º, towards the S.W. It slowly floats, as at the outset,
from east to west. It changes shape, as when a conjurer
does his tricks: at one moment, it is elongated, then it
is a globe; then it looks like a little hat, then it is
oval, as it drifts along with a rocking motion. Suddenly,
as though taking its bearings, it quivers two or three times
in rapid succession, then does a right-angled change of
direction and moves off fast towards the south leaving an
ever-darkening veil of vapour (which assumes a pale old
rose shade) that hampers vision, till finally it I lost
to sight. It is very hard to say what size it was, seeing
that it represents the unknown. Perhaps 6 metre in diameter
and 2 metres high at its centre, as arrived at by a few
calculations and sketches.
I
am now inclined to think that the saucer was also training
its viewer on the Central Post Office from other position:
namely not only when stationary, but also when gliding along
horizontally, this time as though “filming”, to
judge by the long halt and the direction in which the viewer
was permanently set. Quite apart from its moments of immobility,
of imperceptible horizontal approach, of rocking or slow
floating, situations all of which enabled me to observe
it with the closest attention, I must remark upon the utter
difference between its way of moving and the way an aircraft
moves. The aircraft seems to be pulled along, and to be
making a great effort. On the contrary to this, the flying
saucer moved about in various directions, with an agility
that is inconceivable, like a butterfly, at an unimaginable
speed, beyond our laws of gravitation.
Supporting
letter from Dr. Walter Griehl to Sr. Julio Suárez
Marzal
Mendoza,
August 5, 1971. ” In accordance with your request,
I give this public testimony, with the sole aim of furthering
your investigations and your studies. that on the 24th day
of May, 1971, at 12:10, in my surgery, you, Professor Julio
Suarez Marzal, drew my attention, through the glass of the
window, looking southwards, to an object which I saw and
which, by the irregularity of its changing shape, was not
identified; it was at an altitude of some 1,500 metres and
at an approximate distance of ten cuadras.*. “It was
moving slowly, silently, in a jerky manner. Its colour a
dull bluish silver. Out of curiosity, I went to get some
binoculars from an outbuilding, and when I got back, it
had vanished.
(Signed)
Dr. E. Walter Griehl.
Dental Surgeon.
Reg. Licence No. 204”
*Old
Spanish-American measurement, 1 cuadra = roughly 100 metres.
Julio
Suárez Marzal’s UFO sketches:
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