When interviewing Dolores Montenegro about her UFO experience in the 1980s, one could not help but notice how the traditional folklore of a community can be interpreted as UFO sightings in the modern era. Dolores used to work in a factory called ACROS that was located on the city of Celaya, Guanajuato Mexico. One night in 1984, she completed her shift at one in the morning and took the bus that would eventually take her home in a one hour ride away from Celaya. The bus passed through the countryside and its hills. It was here where she noticed a strange light moving through the area. She described it as a blue glowing sphere made of flames that was flying up and down through the hills and fields at high speeds. She was not the only one who noticed this event as several co-workers who were also in the bus witnessed it. However, the people on the bus, including Dolores, did not think they were witnessing a UFO of extraterrestrial origins, but instead they thought it was a witch, or in Spanish, a “bruja”. She went on to explain that it was pretty common seeing these strange lights in Guanajuato and sometimes they would even chase people. There is even a place outside of Celaya called “El Cerro de las Brujas,” translating to “The Mountain of the Witches,” where these lights are sometimes seen. The way people in this part of Mexico described the strange lights is identical to many UFO reports throughout the last 50 yrs.
Could people in Guanajuato be confusing UFOs with supernatural beings of their folklores?
On Jan. 16, 2004 a young police officer named Leonardo Samaniego Gallegos was patrolling the streets of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Mexico when he was attack by a weird being he described as a witch. When doing a sketch of said creature, it resembled an alien rather than a witch. There have also been many reports of flying objects and even flying humanoids throughout the Monterrey area.
Is this another case of mistaking actual UFO activities for local folklore? Are the people imagining what they are seeing or mistaking it for a natural phenomenon? Like always, it is up to the reader to decide.
–Abel Muñiz Jr., UFOs Over the Desert
UFOs Over the Desert 