Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Argentina: Chicoana Agriglyphs – “Many who saw them remain silent”

Source: http://www.informatesalta.com.ar/ and Semanario El Expreso
Date: November 11, 2008-11-12

Argentina: Chicoana Agriglyphs – “Many who saw them remain silent”

Two weeks ago, the serenity of Chicoana was disrupted when town residents reported a parade of lights in wonderful colors that appeared in the starry skies over the region before swiftly disappearing. The sighting would have remained merely an anecdote if it hadn’t been for the strange “drawings” in the wheat fields. From that moment onward, there was no stopping the curiosity seekers.

Most residents appear sullen and respond negatively when asked if they saw something unusual, displaying shy smiles that betray the fact that they know more than they’re telling.

The kids from the Maria Valdivieso School No. 588 had ringside seats for this display, as the building faces one of the three wheat fields that display the signs. Some of them were willing to talk and reportedly saw the UFO hovering directly over the field, and that it displayed lights of many colors.

Fanny, one of the schoolteachers who acts as a substitute principal, hesitates to provide more information. But she slowly warms to the subject and says: “...I saw the lights, but you know where I saw them? Not in the field, but over there, in the back. One stands here at night and sees the road leading to Moldes. They weren’t car headlights because they were higher up. A group of 5 or 6 different lights of a strong reddish or orange hue. This was on Thursday night.” She adds that the first to spot the patterns in the wheat field was “...one of the schoolteachers who lives in Campo Alegre, in the roundabout on the entrance to Chicoana. He had been told on Wednesday that the Cadena wheat field – the one bordering the road - was in that condition. Then he came for a look much later but there was nothing to see. Next day, he reported to work, and upon arriving, he felt curious. He thought: this is also a wheat field. So we went for a look and that’s when we saw it (the agriglyph). We’ve been working at this school for 22 years and have never seen anything like it.”

Along with another teacher who remained on duty on Wednesday night, Fanny adds that they were surprised for several day by the [behavior] of the local dogs. “...they barked by day and by night, making a tremendous racket.” This fact was also confirmed by another local resident who works at the school, and who adds that the children told her about some greenish lights, but she didn’t see them as she was engaged in her housework.

There is a small house near the wheat field. Its owner tells us that the UFOs appeared several days in a row, between Tuesday the 23rd and Sunday the 26th and that his wife saw another on Thursday at 4:00 a.m. The girl who works at the bakery across the town square says that she saw nothing at all, but that the deliverymen did see “some powerful lights that vanished suddenly”

Marco, who works for the town’s Tourism Office, says “over by the Villa Fanny school, the teachers took photos that show some black spots, like UFOs flying away. There are many who saw them but remain silent. Teachers, people in the area who were working the fields, and who don’t want to get into any trouble, or else be asked why the didn’t speak up sooner. People came from Buenos Aires to study the imprints. They took samples, but I don’t know what the outcome was...They say that when photos are taken, strange objects can be seen in the sky. If one walks through the wheat fields, they look like something heavy rested upon them without harming them. The wheat shoots are still green and yellow, unlike the paths left behind by curiosity seekers, where the wheat is squashed and dry. We don’t know about anything in nature that causes such marks. They resemble designs meant to be seen from above. As to whether or not they were UFOs...the reader should visit Chicoana, walk the wheat fields, take photos and draw his or her own conclusions.

(Translation (c) 2008, S.Corrales. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez and Luis Burgos)