Carlos
Diaz
One
morning in January 1981, Mexican photographer Carlos Diaz pulled into a deserted
car park at Ajusco Park near Mexico City. He was on an assignment for a magazine,
and had arranged to meet a journalist who was yet to arrive. Diaz sat in his
car, preparing his camera for the job ahead. Although it was early in the morning,
the air was thick with humidity which made even sitting still uncomfortable.
Impatiently, Diaz began to look at his watch. Suddenly, his attention was caught
by a strange yellow glow coming from the valley below him. At first he thought
it was a forest fire, but, an instant later, the source of light revealed itself
to be a large, orange, oval-shaped UFO, slowly hovering about 30 metres from
his car.
Unable to believe his eyes, Diaz quickly grabbed his camera. With it resting
on his steering wheel, he began frantically firing off shots. Then, without
warning, the whole car began to shake violently. Diaz got out of the vehicle
and took two more photographs before the craft sped up vertically into the sky,
leaving Diaz in a state of shock. This encounter marked the beginning of what
was to develop into one of he most fascinating and long-running contactee cases
in the history of UFOlogy. Today, the case remains among a small minority of
alledged extraterrestrial encounters to be supported by verified film documentation
that has stood up to the scrutiny of a range of experts.
KEY
ENCOUNTER
Indeed,
the apparent credibility of Diaz's claims has attracted the attention of some
of the world's top UFO researchers, including German author Michael Hesemann and
abduction researcher Dr John Mack. Both concluded that Diaz's story is completely
credible. Hesemann echoes the views of most researchers when he states: 'The Carlos
Diaz case is the most important case of documented alien-human contact to have
emerged in modern times.' Certainly, at the time of his initial encounter, Diaz
little suspected what was to come. The transition from a run-of-the-mill UFO sighting
in an area now acknowledged as a UFO hot-spot, to one of the key cases of recent
years did not occur until weeks later. In the days that followed this January
sighting, Diaz remained preoccupied by his experience. Unable to forget what he
had seen, he repeatedly returned to the Ajusco Park location, hoping to secure
more pictures. After a succession of fruitless visits, Diaz began to think that
he was wasting his time. But then, on 23rd of March, his patience was rewarded.
RETURN
TRIP
While
roaming the greenery, Diaz was again alerted to the presence of a UFO by an orange
glow, which he could see only dimly through the fog and rain that had saturated
the forest in Ajusco Park. As he climbed up the walls of the valley, he managed
to position himself within 45 metres of the object. Diaz watched the 'craft' hovering
above him, eminating a bright orange light. It was, he said, dome-shaped with
a smooth ring in its centre. This, claimed Diaz, was covered with a number of
half spheres, each around one metre in diameter. Crouching behind some rocks,
Diaz thought his actions had gone unnoticed, but, as he continued to watch the
craft, he felt someone grab his shoulder from behind. Diaz immediately fainted,
and, when he awoke, it was dark and the UFO was gone. He was shocked to discover
that, despite heavy rain, his clothes were completely dry. At that point, he knew
something strange had happened to him. When he returned to his car, Diaz noticed
another car parked in front of him. At this point, Diaz claimed, a humanoid entity
with fair hair approached him and told him that if he wanted to know more about
what he had just experienced, he should return to the same spot at noon the following
day. Apparently, when Diaz returned the next day, he discovered the same entity
sitting on the grass. Diaz claimed that the being then turned to him and explained
that it was he who grabbed his shoulder the previous day. Before leaving, the
being also told Diaz that he had come from inside the craft and that Diaz would
gradually recover his memory of what had happened while he was unconscious. Sure
enough, over the next few months, Diaz's memory returned, piece by piece.
According
to his account, he recalled the craft hovered directly over his head. As he
attempted to touch the craft, his hand seemed to pass through the yellow light
and he seemed to merge with it. The next thing he recalled was seeing the craft
parked on a platform inside a giant cave. Diaz was filled with awe when he remembered
what he had seen inside: 'It was full of stalagmites, some of which were
carved into what appeared to be Mayan sculptures,' he stated. 'I saw
many people in the cave, some of whom waved to me and, in a state of shock,
I waved back.' Apparantly the being Diaz had encountered in the park then
led him to a smaller cave which contained seven glowing, egg-shaped orbs, one
of which Diaz was invited to step into. On entering, Diaz could at first only
see yellow light.
But
then he found himself surrounded by the image of a forest. 'I could see all
the details of the forest as if I was walking through it,' said Diaz.
'I couldn't touch anything, but I could feel the temperature and moisture. I
could see and experience everything, yet I wasn't physically there.' His
guide then told him that the orbs were also a system for storing information
and that certain data had been imparted to him. Diaz was then returned to the
ship and, in time, to the park.
CONTINUING
CONTACT
According
to Diaz, this was only the first of a series of contacts with the same beings,
which continue to this day. Since 1981, Diaz has stated that his experience inside
the orbs has enabled him to 'travel' to different regions of the Earth's ecosystem
- forest, desert, jungle, shoreline, even Arctic areas - with his ET contact.
Through this contact, Diaz claims to have been imbued with an awareness of the
interconnectedness of all life and the need to preserve our environment. To many
UFOlogists, especially those who have had their 'fingers burnt' by alledged contactees
before, these claims may appear far-fetched. However, Diaz is seen by many researchers
as a highly reliable source, not least because of the strong body of photographic
evidence he has amassed to support his claims.
INDISPUTABLE PROOF?
Mexican
TV journalist and UFOlogist Jaime Maussan, who has been at the centre of UFO investigations
in Mexico since the wave began in 1991, believes that Diaz's UFO photographs are
among the most impressive he has seen. Maussan took Diaz's photographs to Jim
Dilettoso, an image processing expert at Village Labs, in Tucson, Arizona, who
concluded they were genuine. After satisfying himself he was not dealing with
a hoaxer, Maussan visited Diaz at his hime in Tepoztlan, Mexico. There, he spoke
to a number of other witnesses who claimed to have seen exactly the same type
of UFO. The apparent credibility of the Diaz case has also attracted UFO researchers
from further afield, who have attempted to glean insights into the alien agenda
from Diaz's contactee claims. German author Michael Hesemann, who first interviewed
Diaz in June 1994, is convinced of the credibility of Diaz's story. 'Not only
is he contacting these beings through encounters on the ships,' says Hesemann,
'but he claims to be meeting these beings socially, since he believes some of
them are living among us.' However Hesemann explains that, according to Diaz,
the beings are reluctant to fully disclose their origins. 'Apparently,'
says Hesemann, 'they did, however, explain that they have been visiting Earth
for thousands of years, and are particularly interested in our evolution which,
compared to their own, has happened at a much faster rate. They are trying to
learn why.'
Another
UFO researcher intrigued by Diaz's case is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard
Medical School, John Mack. Mack has a long history of dealing with abductees
and contactees and believes that the Diaz case is among the most convincing
he has come across. in his book Passport to the Cosmos, he states: 'Out
of all the experiencers I have worked with, it is Carlos Diaz who seems to have
developed the richest understanding of the interconnected web of nature. Diaz's
experience of connecting with living creatures is so intense that he seems literally
to become the thing he is describing.' Diaz's experience, Mack claims constitutes
an 'awakening', a process which, he says, is common in abductees. Diaz
told Mack that his contact with the ETs had instilled in him a need to preserve
the environment and the ability to 'enjoy a beautiful planet'. Whether
or not an extraterrestrial influence was involved, Diaz's new-found concern
for the environment has certainly become a driving force in his life. he has
repeatedly and passionately conveyed this environmental warning publicly, most
notably at a UFO conference in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1995. Diaz has revealed
that he had been informed through his contacts that the civilization of the
visiting extraterrestrial, like ours, had been threatened by its own history
of destruction, but had somehow managed to survive. He remains convinced that
his contacts' disturbing prediction for our future is only too real - a prediction
that states with near certainty that humanity, on its current course, is headed
for total extinction.
ALIEN
MESSENGER
This
outspokenness, coupled with the public nature of his experience, has le Diaz to
assume visionary status in both his home town of Tepoztlan and UFO circles. however,
Diaz has been quick to dispute this, claiming that he is not a unique visionary,
but merely 'a messenger'. The real nature of Diaz's current incarnation
aside, for many UFOlogists, the Diaz case remains among the most convincing on
record. Indeed, few UFO reports exist that boast such impressive and abundant
photographic evidence. And fewer still have emerged that have stood up to the
scrutiny applied to Diaz's images.
PERFECT
PICTURES
Expert
analysis of Carlos Diaz's UFO pictures has been extremely thorough. Mexican UFOlogist
Jaime Maussan gave the original transparencies to Professor Victor Quesada at
the Polytechnical Institute of the University of Mexico for examination. Quesada
stated: 'We were shocked to discover that the spectrum of light from the object
was unlike anything we have ever seen, it broke all previous parameters and didn't
match anything in our data banks. The light was extraordinarily intense. There
was no evidence of superimposition or a hoax. We estimated the object to be around
30 to 50 metres in diameter.' Interestingly, the photographs were also analysed
by Dr Robert Nathan at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Nathan,
a notorious UFO sceptic, stated that he could find no evidence of a fake.
Certainly, for many who have examined the three
images, the first shot is the most impressive.
In it, the orange glowing craft can be seen
through the
windshield of the car, and light from the
object is reflected
both off the car's bonnet and off the metal
guard rail by
the side of the road. These, in particular,
are details that
experts claim are extremely difficult to
fake.
VIDEO EVIDENCE
Mexican
UFOlogist Jaime maussan was so intrigued by Carlos Diaz's account of his
experiences that he provided him with a video camera and asked him to see
if he could record the UFO on tape when it next appeared. A few weeks later,
Diaz awoke at 5 a.m. and grabbed his camera. he walked out and waited. Apparently,
within minutes, the craft appeared and hovered over the house, where Diaz
filmed it. When Maussan saw the remarkable footage, he asked Diaz if he
could get even closer to the craft while filming. Two months later, Diaz
was once again able to film the craft, which this time hovered directly
above him, without moving.
However
it is Diaz's third attempt to capture the craft on video that is the most spectacular.
In this footage, Diaz having mounted his camera on a tripod, walks to the bottom
of a field waving a flash light. Responding to this, the craft suddenly materializes
directly above Diaz's head and sends beams of light down towards him. Then,
the unidentified object remains motionless for 30 seconds, before blinking out.
It is universally recognized that this video contains some of the best UFO footage
ever taken.
This article originally appeared in issue 89 of The X Factor.