UFOs in the daily Press:

UFO CAUSES SENSATION THROUGHOUT VILLARRICA

Around 21:00 hours on Wednesday night, dozens of families in Villarrica were watching TV or listening to the friendly voice of their local radio station, which mixed with the soft sound of the rain falling in the darkness and silence of the evening. But this tranquility was suddenly and unexpectedly altered by the appearance of an unidentified flying object (UFO) which lit the winter night.

In spite of the fact that the clouds obstructed a clear view of the object, it was seen from several points of the lake region by hundreds of people, and yesterday, the incredible phenomenon was being discussed in all corners of this city. On that night, in the control booth of Radio Apumanque, Patricio Castillo, 28, was choosing music selections for hundreds of listeners while the rain continued outside.

When the clock marked 21:15 hours, the station's phone began to ring. The radio controller raised a headphone and heard the voice of his co-worker Pilar Castillo, asking him to look out the window because there was a very strange object in the sky. Patricio hung up and opened one of the windows, leaned out and saw the strange object in the dark and rainy winter night.

"I looked and I saw a luminous object with three red lights in one of its sides. It was still for a few seconds and then made a very swift movement. I stopped looking at it for a few seconds because I ran in to play a song and when I returned it was gone," he explained. He had been working for 9 years in radio and had never had a similar experience. "I used to not believe in these things, but my opinion changed after this."

For one moment, Patricio thought it could be the millionaire who is crossing the world by baloon, but then realizied that the had already passed over South America, adding that despite its luminosity, the UFO made no noise, dismissing the possibility that it could be an airplane.

Pilar Castillo, the host of the "Morning Talk with Pili" segment, stated that after 21:00 hours she had left a meeting when she realized that there was something strange in the sky. Some of the persons with her were astonished as the luminous object vanished suddenly. "It was like a shooting star that changed colors as it went away. It came from the direction of Nancul to Villarica. It was red for some minutes and then turned violet."

We left the station and under a southern rain headed to the house of Alberto Sandoval, 47, a self-taught cameraman with years of experience, who managed to record the UFO. Upon reaching the property, one of his neighbors told us we could locate him at Radio Pianisima. We reached the station and found him hosting the "Mundialmente Mexico" program, which airs for one hour every morning.

Between Mexican ranchero songs, Alberto Sandoval, who has spent some 28 years in radio, confirmed that he had indeed managed to film the UFO. "A neighbor called me and told me go outside with the camera to film a strange object in the sky. I took out my machine and between the raindrops managed to obtain some images which have a duration of some 5 seconds."

This isn't the first time, said Sandoval, that he has obtained UFO images in the lake region. "In the summer of '95 a neighbor woke me up at 5 a.m.. I took my camera and filmed a strange object. The good thing ist that the sky was clear. I could see a luminous sphere similar to last night's, only larger."