Somewhere in the Skies - Mysteries of Puerto Rico

Episode Date: April 12, 2021

On episode 208 of SOMEWHERE IN THE SKIES, we take a trip to the island of Puerto Rico. There are areas throughout the world that are known for UFOs, ghosts, strange creatures, or paranormal events. But on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, its small towns, cities, and forests harbor all of these, and beyond. With a rich history and cultural diversity unlike any other, Puerto Rico takes pride in its legends and mysteries. From unexplained disappearances in El Yunque Rainforest to tales of lost spirits, lost civilizations, strange creatures, and dramatic UFO events in the skies and in the waters surrounding the island. Puerto Rico native, Yami Gonzalez, takes us on a journey through her family's local stories. Then, paranormal investigator, and star of Ghost Hunters International, Susan Slaughter, walks us through her terrifying experiences investigating El Morro Fortress and the Teatro Tapia. Cristina Hernadez of the Espooky Tales podcast also shares terrifying tales from the Puente de las Calabazas bridge. UFO researcher, Jorge Martin recalls fighter jet pursuits of triangular UFOs, crashes of unknown craft, and a possible extraterrestrial connection with the legendary Chupacabra. Lastly, could the recent discovery of unexplained stone carvings change the entire history of the indigenous Taíno people of Puerto Rico? This is only a portion of what's uncovered in this very special episode of Somewhere in the Skies, highlighting a very special place not only in the Caribbean or United States, but the entire world. These are the many mysteries of Puerto Rico. Follow Susan Slaughter on Twitter: @slaughter_susan  Follow ESpooky Tales Podcast on Twitter: @Espookytales  Follow Cryptid Chat Podcast on Instagram: @cryptidchatgirl  Learn how you can help support Puerto Rico from natural disasters and Covid-19: www.togetherpuertorico.com This episode was researched and co-written by Jane Palomera Moore  Special thanks to: Mayda Belen whose incredible voice you heard singing the Puerto Rico National Anthem. Thanks also to Seahaven Maritime Academy, The New York Times, DiscoverPuertoRico.com, New Insights TV, The Cryptid Chat Podcast, and the Espooky Tales Podcast. Special thanks to Jorge Martin, Yami Gonzalez, Cristina Hernandez, Susan Slaughter, Nick Redfern, Susan Parry and Andrew Sanford. LAST CHANCE for discounts on the official Somewhere in the Skies coffee roast! Use promo code: SITSpod for 15% off your order: www.blacktrianglecoffee.com  Patreon: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com YouTube Channel: CLICK HERE Official Store: CLICK HERE Order Ryan’s book in paperback, ebook, or audiobook by CLICKING HERE Twitter: Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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In a sleepy corner of southwestern Puerto Rico, flanked by the Sierra Burmaha mountain range, lies the village of Lajas. Just beyond it, the PR 303 highway. Approaching the vicinity of the village, a sign proudly announces Ruta extraterrestrial. The sign is deadly serious. In 2005, the mayor of LaHas, Marcos Turin Irizari Pagan, symbolically declared PR303 the extraterrestrial route. This announcement, as far as a number of longtime residents of LaHas were concerned, was a long time coming. Anomalous aerial phenomena and encounters with strange creatures have been occurring along this stretch of highway and around the mysterious Burmaha mountain range since the mid-Nigris. That's when, according to local knowledge, earthquakes, the rumble of explosions, and what sounded

like drills began shaking the countryside. These events seem to coincide with the installation of the Lahas Aerostat Radar Balloon near at the mountain range. The U.S. military's official word on this balloon's purpose is that it detects drug smugglers, but no information about the balloon's activities or data has been released to the public, prompting doubt and questions from LaHas residents. Locals have reported red lights traveling above LaHas' hills. But the stories don't begin and end with the village of LaHas or distant red lights,

or even rumbling sounds or explosions. Puerto Rico has a prolific relationship and history with the UFOs and the unexplained. and those born there also have a special relationship with the many mysteries of the island. Yami Gonzalez is an educator, researcher, and the host of the Cryptid Chat podcast, where she explores various topics from cryptids to the supernatural and sometimes UFOs. She is also proud to call Puerto Rico her birthplace. I am born and bred in Puerto Rico, my entire family and both my mom's side and my side of the family are from Puerto Rico. I was born in the Rio Piedras area, so that's around San Juan,

the capital of the island. We lived there for about a year, year and a half. I lived with my parents surrounded by two both very large Hispanic families that showered over their first grandchild, but I have all the stories that my parents share from that specific time period before we moved into the states, but I did come back to visit when I was younger and could actually really experience it there. So I visited some of like the capital areas and some of the places that like my mother grew up in. So it was, it's an absolutely beautiful island. And I hope that once pandemic calms down a little, we've been meaning to go right back. And I would like to explore even more of what the island has to offer. Because even though it's a small island, there's a lot that

can be seen there. It has so much history, so much culture, super great food, amazing people. It's just wonderful. My family is, like I said, they're both deep roots to the island. Their families have been there as long as we can remember. My dad said of the family, they are from the more central part of the island, so the more rural areas. So he grew up with a different lifestyle. My mom grew up in the metropolitan area, though. And her, grandfather was actually the owner of Muebleras Mendoza, which they were like the Ashley Furniture of Puerto Rico. Their last name is actually well known. I didn't know that until I grew up.

And people would ask me about my double last name if I was that Mendoza. And I was like, I guess. So it's very interesting, but everyone in Puerto Rico is kind of tied to each other in one way or another. Let's start with the history of one of Puerto Rico's most beautiful locations. It's the largest rainforest on the island. It encompasses a good chunk of the central southern portion of the island, a very beautiful place. It feels like you are in another world. It definitely just is a different level than the rest of the island. Officially known as the Caribbean National Rainforest, the 28,000-acre woodland was

originally named by the indigenous Tainos, after the benevolent spirit, of their god, Yukyu, meaning in their language, forest of clouds. During the time Spain was ruling the island, the colonizers confused the name with Aljunke. In 1905, after the Spaniards had granted Puerto Rico to the United States, the oldest reserve in the Occidental Hemisphere became the only national rainforest in U.S. territory. While this lush area is really, wrapped in beauty. It is also wrapped in mystery, with many people throughout the decades finding their way into the forest, but never finding their way out. Yami would learn of this from her father, who had a unique perspective and connection to El Junkie. I found out years later

that my dad was actually, when he was younger, he was interested in El Junker rainforest as a place So he had gone a few times when he was younger to swim in the waterfalls and the little lakes that they have there. He actually took a course there to become a certified guide through Al Junket Rainforest. And it was just interesting the fact that he showed us his plaque. He's very proud of it. He never actually gave any tours. But he knows he took the whole several day course where they were trained about the history of the rainforests, where they were taught some of the roots and the paths,

and where he heard all the stories about the rainforest itself. So he was the one that introduced me to this idea that there's just something different about this place, besides it being a beautiful ecological environment itself. He spoke to me about how the guy that was teaching them, their tour guide, who had been a guide in the rainforest area for years, He shared with them how important it was for them to really learn the roots and the locations because they had had so many disappearances. And these aren't just like disappearances where like somebody would go missing a day or two. These are disappearances where people are just never, ever found, no trace, anything at all about them.

And my dad thought that was just really strange, especially when he began to hear more about the rainforest and how there seemed to be strange. phenomenon tied to those disappearances then. And these are disappearances that stem from recent history all the way back to the natives that actually lived there on the island. So this is a deep history that this place has for being just strange. There have been many who have gotten lost in the dense forests of Al Jouque, but fortunately found their way out. A prime example was in 1997 when Darby Williams a dean at an Ohio university, traveled to Puerto Rico for a research and fundraising trip. He decided to head to Ojunke by himself to hike. Everything was fine until he decided to leave.

On his way out, he met and followed a few other hikers who told them that they knew a shortcut. It started raining profusely, and Williams couldn't keep up with the other hikers, and eventually lost his way. More than 60 police, civil defense officials and park rangers had searched for Williams, who eventually was spotted by a passerby along Highway 191, which enters the forest. Stranded for almost 12 days, William survived by eating ferns and snails. He was severely dehydrated and lost almost 15 pounds. After being found and treated at a local hospital, the first thing Williams did was call his wife, tears in his eyes, saying nothing but, quote, it's so good to hear your voice.

While this story had a happy ending, there were stories that didn't. As Yami points out, some people that go in never come out. One of the most interesting cases that I found was in 1967. It was the story of Ramon Quignonees. He was a part of a group of biology students with professors that were going to camp overnight in El Junque Rainforest. Back then, this was allowed. You can't do that anymore. But they settled in like a base camp, and that's when some strange phenomenon began to happen. And they described, like, the different stories that I gathered from the people that were there was that they described hearing like a weird noise and then began to hear footsteps. and noticed a strange figure walking toward them.

So one of the professors and Ramon went out to investigate what it was, but only the professor came back, and Ramon was never found. This creature mentioned in the unfortunate story was interesting, especially as Yami elaborated on its features, and the mysterious way the authorities decided to deal with this tragic event. The only thing that was ever found about Ramon was his guitar that he had leaned against one of the trees. It was very interesting, though, because they described this figure as like this six-foot-tall, thin-bodied, large head creature that seemed to have like almost like a luminous tone to it with large eyes, but the features were almost blurred. and it really like shook up the students that were there.

And when they began to search for Ramon, it caused a big frenzy. And there was never any trace of him when the authorities began to search for him. The Forest Rangers, they didn't find anything. There were reports afterwards that those that were there were pressured by the authorities to not speak about what they had witnessed. And it just began a cold case. that to this day, I mean, it's anybody's guess what happened to this young man. Nobody really knows. But it was just interesting stories like that, that there seemed to be a strange

element to it, either before the disappearance or right after, that really piqued my interest at something may be going on here. Something was most definitely going on in the forest. And there have been many other accounts of strange creatures cited in Aljunke. But what happens when these creatures leave the comfort of dense forests and begin to intrude on the farms and homes of residents across the island. Another thing is sorpreindent about this phenomenon, about this being responsible of the death of hundreds of animals, in a manner very strange.

Who is or what is the chupacabras? Well, today, for first time, you'll have some responses concrete. Let's advert we're that some images are fervous, and here the reportage of Pedro Rosanales from Puerto Rico. We can't talk about Puerto Rico without mentioning the chupacabra. In Spanish, chupacabra means goat sucker, and this strange creature has been widely cited throughout Latin America and even through several states in the U.S.

However, its first sighting that kicked off a sensation by Madeline Tolentino in 1995 took place in Puerto Rico. had a a piece like a quero with a lot of

the eyes were allgated to the eyes were completely obscure the black

of the white of the dog were found completely drained of blood

the majority of the Puerto Rican reports described an alien like creature furless

bug-eyed and with a ridge of spines down its back By the fall of 1995, cases of dead animals and frequent sightings of the chupacabra intensified in a concentrated area in the village of Konovanos. Paranoia had set in, and it had gotten so out of control that even the mayor of Konovidas, Jose Soto, looked heavily into the strange phenomenon. matter. When I visited a farm where five sheep had been killed, I saw two wounds in the neck and on some a third mark. It attacks various animals, but mostly sheep and rabbits, because

they cannot defend themselves easily. Over the following months, Soto began to visit the sites where animals had been killed. He personally interviewed witnesses and organized search parties to try to trap this elusive creature to no avail. There have been more than 100 animals killed. We're talking about 70 or 80 attacks. At the moment, we have some hysteria, some real problems, and some fear. I'm determined to resolve this matter. The 2000s saw an evolution in the Chupacabra's appearance,

as the phenomenon and reported sightings traveled off island, and across Latin America and the USA. Whereas before the vampire-like creature was unlike any known animal, now the Chupacabra sightings described a hairless, ferocious, dog-like being. When alleged bodies of Chupacabras began turning up in Texas, the DNA tests revealed prosaic answers. It's a woman in Texas says she's found the legendary Chupacabra and has the evidence to prove.

But Jackie Stocks says her husband caught the mysterious creature Sunday night. He has a hairless back, large claws, and teeth that some say fit the image of the chupacabra. Biologist Brent Ortego is not convinced. He believes the animal is nothing more than a small dog with mange. Legendary or not, a little guy will be staying with the stocks until someone can find out what he is. But what about the original chupacabra? Looking rather otherworldly, it had some Puerto Ricans pointing to possible. top secret experiments. Take a wild guess where these experiments were thought to have taken place.

There's always been rumors in El Juncke and in some of the surrounding islands, there's always been rumors of like U.S. military experimentation, of research going on there, and what are the effects that have happened subsequently because of that? Some people think that that's a theory for El Chupacabra. Maybe it was a mutated species. Maybe it was a creature. Maybe it was a created species that somehow escaped and wreaked havoc for a while. Could the U.S. government have been carrying out top secret experiments in the rainforest, in a secret facility of some sort? As Yami stated, many on the island believe that in the aftermath of the destructive Hurricane Hugo of 1989, the experimental creature had possibly

established its own colony in the wilds of the rainforest. As for the description of the chupacabra, that's where the story might start coming apart. The first chupacabra spotter, Madeline Tolentino, her description of the chupacabra bears a striking resemblance to that of the alien from the movie's species. When author Benjamin Radford asked Tolentino if she'd seen the movie, she responded that she'd watched species a week prior to her chupacra sighting. So, whether the entire sighting was a fabrication or her look at the creature was clouded by her presuppositions of how an alien-like being is supposed to look, it really is anyone's guess.

We'll just have to wait for the next wave of chupacabra sightings to take place somewhere on the island. To make the chupacabra creature even more extraordinary and fantastic, many in Puerto Rico believe that it may in fact, be extraterrestrial in origin. With good reason, Puerto Rico is a hotbed of UFO activity. I don't think a lot of people realize that Puerto Rico is a hub for a lot of UFO activity. There's patterns. Reports of strange lights, objects in the skies, even objects in the waters around Puerto Rico have dated back forever. At Fordham University in New York, archivists have made available the rare handwritten ship's log of Christopher Columbus, written in his very own handwriting. And in an entry dated on the 11th of October 1492, at approximately 10 p.m., Columbus and his crew

were sailing across one of the deepest ravines in the Atlantic, almost four miles deep, and through what is today known as the Bermuda Triangle. Pedro Gertes was a crew member. on the Santa Maria, sailing with Columbus. He noticed a strange light shining out in the distance over the sea. What was so odd about this sighting, however, is that the light was observed coming up from the water. These lights were seen doing this four consecutive times,

and was seen in a variety of positions, which rules out many logical explanations, such as a comet, a meteor, or a bright planet or star. The initial sighting was allegedly followed by a great flash of light, with a level of brilliance unlike anything these men had previously known. The light is described as suddenly erupting in the sky, startling Columbus and his crew. Columbus described the light as having the appearance of a flickering wax candle going up and down in the night. This event occurred only five hours before Columbus and his men would discuss.

the new world, and the lights seemed to almost guide them finally to land. More specifically, the mountains of El Junkay. So could the mysterious forest hold secrets of UFOs, strange creatures, and possibly otherworldly visitors? Many incidents involving UFO activity and possible extraterrestrials have been researched, investigated, and stories told. and stories told for many decades on the island. And one of the individuals who has taken up the role of the island's go-to uphologist is Jorge Martin. Martin was born in New York City, having parents who were both originally from Puerto Rico.

His family returned to Puerto Rico when he was five years old, and he has lived on the island ever since. He began his work of investigative journalism with specializing an anomalous activity and UFO, having investigated hundreds of cases and incidents both in Puerto Rico and around the world. His work has been published in over 20 countries, and most of it has been archived in a magazine he founded called Evidencia Offney. In an interview with investigative reporter Peter Hepha, Martin relayed a very intriguing fighter jet pursuit of an alleged triangular UFO witnessed by hundreds of people on the ground. It's happening in December 28, 1988 at 745 p.m. The people of the area of Cabo Rojo, Manoa has two towns to the southwest of the island that night.

So a very huge ball of blue light that was flying over the Sierra Vermeja Mountains, a small reach there where many of these incidents have been happening in Puerto Rico. And then this ball of light changed, and it changed to another color, to a huge bowl of yellowish light, and the windings all could see

that this was part of a triangular craft, very big in size, and this yellow light was underneath the object. It was almost semi-circular, something like a bulge or a bowl of yellow light, very bright. And the two-jet fires were trying to intercept it, and in three different occasions made it bear away and changed its direction. In this occasion, the object stopped in me there. One of the jet fighters seemed to as if he was going to,

to collide with the object by the back of it. And the people began screaming because they believed there was going to be a collision and an explosion and something terrible might happen. But what happened was that the jet fighter just disappeared, banished in mid-air, next to the UFO. The other jet fighter kept flying next to it by the right side of it, and then all of a sudden

it also disappeared. It banished. The UFO then came back again, turned around, flew over an area known there as the Saman Lake, is a small pond, surrounded by many palm trees. And over this palm trees, I would say, about an altitude of a hundred feet from the palm trees. It divided itself this huge triangular object

into two different objects. It split. Luminous explosion, a soundless explosion, a very bright light. And both parts of the crap, one flew very fast to the north, and one flew very fast to the east and disappeared. There were all the witnesses that say that there was a serjet fighter

that was checking on the situation from a distance. But when that pilot of that sergejet fighter saw what happened, apparently he tried to flee the area, and three small balls of red light came out from the UFO and began chasing it, and they disappeared to the north. They don't know what happened to this sergeant fighter. This incident did occur. is a very important one.

When you have more than 100 witnesses that describe the same scene to you, they make the same drawings to you of what they saw. All the details fit with all the descriptions. And we have all the information due to the investigation we made. This jet craft must have been

from the Navy of the United States because that day the Puerto Rico Air National Guard had no airplanes or any air practices in the area. And Roosevelt Road Naval Station in Saba, a principal based in the Caribbean from the U.S. did have some air practices that night and personnel in the area. The FAA Federal Aviation Administration in San Juan confirmed to us that there were practices from Roosevelt Road Naval Station there. In an interview with New Insights TV, Martin described how prevalent UFOs were on the island.

And here, he recalls this story of a terrifying helicopter pursuit of a UFO. Later at night, a police officer coming out from the city of Ponce saw this brilliant point of light next to Caja de Muerto Island, south of Ponce, out at sea. I'm believing that maybe it was something that had to do with drugs trafficking. He sent some people out from Fura, from Ponce, and one helicopter to check this out. As they approached his side, they found out there was a huge flying saucer hovering me there, and the plane saucer disappeared very fast to the south. He made a single jump and appeared at another point,

and then the same way came back and stayed in front of the helicopter, which froze in the air. Even though the engines kept working, they just couldn't move from that spot. They were almost historical at that moment, the captain and the old personnel and the gunman in this helicopter. This lasted for about two or three minutes. Then the UFO departed very fast and disappeared. And they were able to come back to the airport in Mercedita, in Ponce.

And they were debrief. They made an official report in which they reported this UFO, everything that happened, et cetera. But for telling the truth, they had to suffer a lot of harassment. They were sent to psychiatric tests, et cetera, and treatment. And they were not allowed to flash for about six more months. So much for telling the truth. The UFO reports that Martin has compiled are plentiful and, to be frank, quite sensational. One of those events occurred on the night of July 15, 1987.

Four members of the Puerto Rico National Guard, off military duty, went together with three young kids to an area next to El Junque Mountain, two fish for freshwater shrimps in one of the rivers. Little did they know their shrimping excursion was about to become much more interesting. At about 9 p.N. one of the men had separated from the group and was looking around next to the river, when all of a sudden he noticed a small three to four foot tall figure walking in the brush, believing it could be a child he approached, worried as to why this child was out here alone at night. The child seemed to be walking, strange. with a wavy motion. The man continued to follow the child, very intrigued.

Soon, the man's friends and the children entered the brush to follow him. When they all cleared the brush, the first man signaled for them to be quiet and pointed forward at the child. They all were astonished as they came face to face with not a child, but a small being gray in color. a big head, black eyes, slender body, and long arms and hands. Suddenly, they noticed a glow behind them. Over the brush and in the sky, they saw what could simply be described as a saucer-shaped craft,

descending from Aljunke Mountain. The craft landed at front of them, right behind the strange being. It had three powerful and blinding lights in front of it, which prevented the men and the children. from reserving the craft's details clearly. Then a hatch opened on the craft, and two other beings identical to the first, walked down a small ramp and stood in a straight line,

face to face with the witnesses. The two beings on the sides put their hands on the shoulder of the being in the center. The men and children whispered to one another that they seemed to be picking up the center being, and that the humans should not get involved. Soon, all three of the beings turned their backs on the group and ran inside the craft. The hatch door closed behind them, and the craft made a deafening buzzing sound.

It then rose in the air and flew away with very fast speeds to the top of Aljunke Mountain, where it disappeared. The group of witnesses stood there, perplexed, scared, and, due to the top of the group of witnesses. stood there, perplexed, scared, and due to their positions in the National Guard, they made a pledge between them never to talk about what just happened to anyone. According to Martin, one of the men told him that this event had affected him greatly, that sometimes at work he would think about what happened and it would replay over and over in his mind. He'd get very upset when this happened, and it made him continuously quixing. question everything he thought he knew and also made him question what was going on in El Junkay

rainforest. Finally, when it comes to UFOs, Puerto Rico has a Roswell-like story of its own, which covers what could possibly have been the crash of a craft of unknown origin. It was first reported by local farmer Francisco Negrom, a small distance from the village of Lahas. Around three 30 a.m. reports began to pour in over the news wires. All accounts coincided on the fact that something had happened near Lahas, producing an intense brush fire in the habitually arid region. But the source of the fire became a bone of contention. One band of UFO researchers claimed that a spacecraft had hurtled out of the sky and exploded, causing the conflagration, along with the of federal agents who denied the local police access into the area.

Skeptics of this event believed that all it was was a meteor. To everyone's surprise, an astronomer took the side of the pro-UFO faction, insisting that a meteor of that magnitude would have left a tremendous crater, possibly obliterating Lahas and the neighboring towns. On May 7, 1997, Univocal, Univor, Division's Spanish language show Premier Impacto presented a dramatic roundup of the events surrounding the mysterious Lahas incident. The interviewers reported claims that the army had reported to the area to collect debris from the impact site and that the consternation among the locals was clearly

visible. It was also pointed out that unusually heavy UFO activity had been reported over Puerto Rico's southern tier, and that a woman from the city of Ponce had taken a video of a silver, oblong-shaped craft crossing the skies. Even the mayor of Lajas at the time, Marcos Irizari believed that the explosion and subsequent fire had been caused by a UFO crash. Irizari added in the newscasts that a growing number of local residents were coming forward, with accounts of a glowing object that fell from the sky, and that three distinct explosions had been heard.

Coincidentally, an area of radio station also experienced technical difficulties shortly after the explosions had occurred, suggesting the possibility of EMP or electromagnetic pulse radiation. Even the U.S. Coast Guard had their own opinion on the event, suggesting that it was not a meteorism. at all. Their explanation, an airplane crash. At least they didn't use the weather balloon explanation. Whatever crash in Lajas will go down just like the Roswell crash. As a mystery, we may never know the answer to. While the next story may not involve strange creatures or

UFO crashes, it does involve a flying saucer, in its own endearing yet interesting way. On the southern coast of the island sits a house, but not just any house, and that's because with its blinking, strobing, technicolor lights, this metal saucer-shaped home of retired industrial arts teacher, Roberto Sanchez Rivera, is meant to look just like a grounded UFO. Resting on the slopes of Juana Diaz, the otherworldly house exists only to prove a girl wrong after 40 years. And all because Rivera suffered the same fate of many UFO enthusiasts and geeks across the planet. He was dumped. As a love-struck teenager, Rivera was an artistic student

from a poor family, and he would send his girlfriend love notes with little UFOs drawn around the sides. With all the love and hope in his heart, Rivera promised he would one day build a home for the two of them that resembled the flashing flying saucers of the B movies that they used to watch in the local movie theaters together. However, one day, after three months of seeing each other, she unceremoniously ended the relationship with a letter, telling him that her own mother didn't think he would ever amount to anything and that she should break up with him. When he received the cold, dispassionate letter, he admitted that he almost killed himself, diving into a deep depression. But he regrouped, recovered, and told himself that he would show her. He would work that much harder to show her who he was. Completing his studies at Pontifical Catholic University in Ponce, Rivera studied design and fine arts and resolved to build his UFO house.

and make it with his own two hands. Purchasing the land in 2002 for $95,000, Rivera spent the next 10 years and some $150,000 total, constructing his unusual futuristic home, even wiring it up to emit the famous signature theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He not only can put this song of Close Encounters,

I mean, he can put anything. He sometimes put peace or salsa. The spot he picked is visible for miles around by drivers on the passing highway. And Rivera intentionally chose the hillside so that the unnamed girl who broke his heart would see the UFO home and know that he had amounted to something. Scrumping and saving over those 10 years it took him to build the house, Rivera fitted out his home not with,

expensive high-tech appliances, but with dollar-store ashtrays, made to resemble antenna and used $1.99 salad bowls for his flashing light fixtures. He built the cupboards by hand and even fashioned the toilet seat in his flying saucer home to match the alien surroundings that he wanted to create. Most of the furniture in the home is raised off the ground. Rivera said that this reminded him of living in the barrio and having to lift furniture to keep the home clean and tidy. Soon word began to spread all over the island about the flying saucer home. And as the fame of his alien house on the hillside grew in the surrounding areas, Rivera received an unusual visit in the dead of night.

No, it wasn't an alien. It was the girl that had broken his heart. She was so impressed, she told her. Rivera that she wanted to get back together with him. But he was not having any of it, and he turned her down. Because you see, Rivera had moved on. He found a girlfriend who appreciated him and his dreams, and he now lives with her in the Flying Saucer home.

Satisfied that he had completed what he promised himself he would. Rivera, who claims he has no interest in science fiction, had some advice for anyone who finds themselves in the same predicament. In an interview with the New York Times, and translated by his new girlfriend to the American reporters, he said, quote, you should never say to any human being, you can never accomplish anything in life.

Rivera and his flying saucer home were proof of that. As all the rooms in the house are different, And it gives him a sensation of movement. Movement all the time, because everything is different. So he doesn't fall into the monotony. Because a lot of people decor are the same color, same color, same design over and over. But this is his personality. Not only moments that always

guard in me Because only an extraordinary house, but extraordinary house, but extraordinary pipes on Rivera. The Carter Terra Central is a historic north to south central highway in Puerto Rico, linking the cities of San Juan and Ponce. Off of this highway, near the town of Coyamo, is the Puente de las Calabasasas, a bridge which was

constructed in 1882. The bridge is rather unassuming in the daytime, stretching a mere 70 feet across as the Coyonne River flows below it. About 4,000 vehicles drive across it day. but at night many do what they can to avoid the bridge. But why? La Yerona, of course. Christina Hernandez is a co-host of the Espokey Tales podcast, a show dedicated to Latin X stories, folklore, and legends. La Yerona is very popular in Mexican culture

and even went mainstream in several major horror movies. Christina tells us a bit more about the legend of La Yerona. One tale that can be heard in pretty much every single Spanish-speaking country or place is the tale of La Yorona or the Weeping Women. The way this is most commonly heard is that she was a mestiza, a woman of indigenous and Spanish descent, and she was poor. She married a rich man, and they had two kids. One day he leaves her and the two kids, and later she sees him. with a younger woman. In a jealous rage, she drowns her two kids in a river and then kills herself. When she arrives in heaven, she cannot get past the gates until she finds the blood of her children

that she murdered. So now she roams near rivers, creeks, ravines, basically any body of water and she looks for children to take. This is a tale told to children to frighten them and to behaving. Now you'll hear things like, you better be home before dark or La Yorra. So while the yorana's going to take you, or listen to your parents, or la yorona will come for you. So while the legend is very popular in many South American countries, it also carved its own version out in Puerto Rico, where the Puente de las Calabasas, to be exact. This bridge is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Many car accidents have occurred on this bridge, which probably fuels all the stories associated with it.

They say that drivers going through the bridge passed by a woman asking for a ride. If they ignore her, the driver will get a flat tire in a few kilometers, or she'll suddenly appear in the back seat of the car and then causes an accident from the fright of seeing someone randomly appear in your vehicle. If the driver does decide to give her a ride, the minute she gets inside the vehicle, she turns from a beautiful woman into a horrible creature that begins to cry. The sounds of her cry are so wretched and loud that it causes the driver to get in an accident as soon as they exit the bridge. While Laiirona is claimed to have been encountered on and around this bridge, she's not the only one using Puente de las Calabasasas as a haunting spot.

They say that at midnight on this bridge, you will suddenly see the floating apparition of a young woman that they call La Nouvea Diffunto del Caño, or the deceased bride of the gaño. Legend tells that a few days before her wedding, her and her fiancé went to a different town to dance. On the way back, there was a terrible accident and they both lost their lives. Now, at the same time that the accident occurred,

you can see her appear on the road in her wedding dress, asking for a ride. Sometimes only her torso can be seen and sometimes to her full body. Shortly after seeing her, cars may, me seriously malfunction. They'll just stop working. But as soon as you turn over the car, it'll go and, you know, you can get out of there. The rule of three is a writing principle that suggests that a trio of events or characters is more effective, and it would seem that

Puente de las Calabasas is following this rule as it continues to write its own ghost stories. Legend tells that a century ago, a drunk man on horseback was crossing the bridge, when he heard the cries of a baby. He found the baby and assumed that it was crying due to hunger. He had bread in his pocket, and when he tried to feed the baby, he noticed that the baby had giant, sharp canine teeth. The baby then let out this horrible, evil laugh, and the man hopped back on his horse immediately

and rode away as fast as he could. And they say that apparently he quit drinking after this occurred. Legends and folklore are one thing, but personal accounts are another. What happens when you come face to face with these spirits of Puerto Rico? As a young child, Suzanne Slaughter had her fair share of paranormal encounters. At the age of 15, she joined a paranormal investigation group and has been interested in the unexplained ever since.

When the hit television series Ghost Hunters decided to branch off and create a show focusing on amateur ghost hunters, Slaughter was selected and won the competition show. She then went on to be one of the lead investigators on another property called Ghost Hunters International. Once the cameras are off, many of the individuals on these TV shows don't continue their investigative work in the paranormal. But this most certainly was not the case for Slaughter. She continues to investigate up until today. And one of the most impactful investigations she ever conducted occurred on the island of Puerto Rico. So the first location in Puerto Rico that I investigated with my team was Castillo San Felipe de Morro, which is known as El Morro Fortress.

It was initially built in 1539. It took about 50 years to build the whole fortress all the way through 1589. And essentially it was used by the Spanish conquistadors to defend the colonial port city of San Juan. And, you know, the types of people that were coming through the ports, you know, are essentially what movies like the Pirates of the Caribbean were about, you know. Puerto Rico was this gorgeous little island with lots and lots of resources. And they had to defend that island from not only the beach. British, but the Dutch, and, you know, just general pirates that wanted to steal goods from the rich Spanish conquistadors. Anyways, a lot of the paranormal claims in this fortress are very

visual. People that work there or even, you know, some tourists have claimed they've seen full-bodied apparitions of soldiers dressed in full Spanish, you know, you know, 16th century military attire with the metal helmets and everything. People had thought that they were, you know, actors, you know, there for entertainment, for the tourists. But it wasn't until one woman saw one of these apparitions walk through literally a brick wall that she realized that she wasn't looking at some, you know, actor or something that what she saw. was actually a ghost. And there's a lot of stories like this coming from El Morrow Fortress. El Morrow Fortress is also notorious for sightings of a spectral woman dressed all in white.

She is said to be terrifyingly slithering along the ramparts of the fortress. Even more terrifying, late at night, the ghost ships of every nation that ever attacked Puerto Rico line up in the dark to reattempt the horrors of their past deeds. But for slaughter, it would be the hallways of the fortress that caught her attention most. But it wasn't something she saw or heard. So when I went there with my team, one of the places I investigated were these long hallways. They were kind of in the lower levels of the fortress. And I was there with my fellow investigator, Paul Bradford.

Now, I didn't really see anything notable at the time, nor did I, you know, know, hear anything unusual. Yes, you hear little things like bumps and, you know, maybe some footsteps, but nothing that I can solidly say, okay, this place is haunted. That being said, it was also one of the locations that made me feel the absolute most uneasy. Something about that location really made me physically ill whenever I was in those hallways. I was feeling as if you know, I was about to faint that I was like at point going up and down on a roller coaster. It was actually very nauseating. And I kept getting these psychic impressions, which I choose not to use on investigations because I like to be, you know, more fact-driven.

And I like to have real basis for evidence and things like that. So I usually keep my sensations to myself. but I was feeling very, very attacked and uneasy inside the fortress. The halls of the fortress wasn't the only place that Slaughter had a strange experience. The Teatro Tapia, built in 1818, is the oldest freestanding continuously running drama stage, located in a plaza in downtown San Juan, with a history that long and thousands of, of artists having stepped on that stage, it's no wonder that this opera house would be considered one of the most haunted places on the island.

Before it was an opera house and a theater for the arts, in that very plaza, there used to be public executions and hangings dating back to the 16th century. When we went there with the team, of course, a lot of the time. of the people were talking about seeing shadow people, pretty much pacing back and forth in the seats. And, you know, it's an opera house. So just imagine, you know, what a theater looks like. There's mezzanines, there's upper levels, lower levels, sloped seating that leads to, you know, the orchestra pit and then the stage. And it's beautiful, gorgeous, you know, 200-year-old theater. During that investigation, a lot of of my team members had more of the interactions where there were seeing shadows in the mezzanines.

They were, you know, even being touched, arms being pulled, equipment being pushed out of people's hands. It was really interesting. And one of the cool things that we did is we set up three cameras in, you know, this underground basement area, which I guess was used as some sort of dressing room at the time. And within this space, there was one FLIR camera, which is a thermal imaging camera. Next to it, we had a regular IR camera, a security camera, infrared camera, if you will. And then next to it, we had a full spectrum camera, which can see into different variants of light, like on the like infrared and ultraviolet spectrums. So in this room, the regular IR camera also has the ability to sense motion.

So it will start to map out with little squares if there is any movement in front of the camera. So if someone goes by, a little square would wrap around the human in frame until it walks off camera. So in this instance, the flare camera picked up an intense heat signature. for a split second, just as the IR camera started noticing and picking up and mapping out movement. But the movement was being mapped out by the camera, but you can clearly see nothing walk in front of the camera. So something about whatever was in that particular room in the opera house set off a really, really high heat signature that was,

being visually represented by the IR camera, which we could clearly see nothing on. I thought that was really cool because we were able to have two cameras react to a phenomena and yet still not see it, except for its heat signature, which I thought was really interesting. But while the evidence of a possible energy or spirit may have been captured on camera, This wasn't the event that would stick with slaughter the most. It wasn't the fortress or the theater or even a place known to be haunted. It was in her hotel room with something a little too close for comfort. So aside from these really uncomfortable sensations while investigating the fortress,

it wasn't until I went to my hotel and called it a night that I had my experience. I was staying in a very modern hotel. It was kind of bougie, a little fancy. I was probably on, you know, one of the top floors, you know, probably the 17th or 18th level. And I had a hard time going to sleep that night. When I finally did doze off, it was kind of turning light outside. You know, my room was a little bit in that bluish hue. And as I started dozing off, I felt the end of my bed kind of sink as if someone was sitting on the edge of it.

And as I turned to look over in that direction, I didn't see anything sitting on the edge of my bed, although because I felt that I was anticipating it, what I saw was actually much closer to me, standing right next to me what looked like a woman. wearing rags and drenched in water. Long black hair. I remembered the detail of actually seeing like water dripping down like her neck and her arms. But I really couldn't make out her face. It was so distorted and not really realized in the apparition. When I saw that, I saw that for maybe a split second with all of that detail. And just the fear that it's,

instilled in me was absolutely, it was not like anything I ever felt because normally I don't necessarily react to phenomena with fear, but sometimes certain types of phenomena that's part of the experience where this energy or entity tried to give me this sensation of fear. Of course, I didn't go to sleep like that night and it was a miserable next day. I had told my teammates about what I had saw and we kind of left it at that. I had to focus on my next case. You go anywhere on the planet, in every country, state, city, or town has their own legends or lost spirits or ghosts that linger. They are stories passed down to the voices of those telling them, a way of preserving the history of an area, and in turn, keeping its stories and in a way its spirits alive.

But what happens when that spirit just doesn't seem to want to leave you? What happens when it follows you all across the country to your home? So moving on from that experience, you know, even moving on from that experience later in life, I moved to Los Angeles. I moved to a two-story townhouse with my cousin and one of her friends. friends and went on with my life over a year and a half later. And I had a moment that was really interesting. And it really, I really realized at that point that maybe I had a spiritual attachment. And sometimes you don't realize you'll, you'll have these attachments because

they don't really come to you very often, you know, sometimes it's just like, like circumstantially, I don't know, or maybe a certain person. I don't know. So one of my roommates, you know, knowing I'm a paranormal investigator, just ruds down to me and, you know, wakes me up in the middle of the night and says, Susan, I need to sleep with you. I just saw something in my room and I cannot be in there by myself. So I ask her, of course, please explain to me what you just experienced. And I kid you not, she was like, Susan, I saw a woman with long, dark hair. She looked like she was covered in water, soaking wet, wearing rags, and she was just standing, staring at the corner of her room, like facing the wall.

And she was so terrified by that. But when she explained to me what she had saw, I knew instantly that that was the same spirit that I saw in Puerto Rico and my host. hotel room. And I believe very strongly that that was an attachment I brought with me from El Morrow Fortress because the sensations that I felt in those tunnels were just absolutely of despair. And, you know, it came to me. I'm pretty empathetic. And although I couldn't understand at the time what I was feeling, there was an energy trying to connect with me and maybe I just wasn't privy to it at the time. And so it attached itself to me, showed itself to me in Puerto Rico. And I, you know, moved on without properly, you know, confronting this energy. I was working on a case right after

that and just kind of moved on with my life. And although I did think back to it every so often, I never really, you know, touched base with that energy again. And it wasn't until a year or so later when my roommate told me she saw that energy in her room. And I just kind of told her, you know, about my experience in Puerto Rico. So that was the one interesting thing that happened to me in Puerto Rico, where I brought home an energy from El Morrow Fortress. Whether it's women drenched in water, shadow people, or ghost ships, it's quite clear that the dead continue to speak on the island,

whether we're listening or not. But a death of another kind would hit Puerto Rico in December of 2020, closing a chapter in astronomical history. The 305-meter radio telescope at the Arecipo Observatory survived decades of hurricanes, including the devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017,

and it's also survived earthquakes, the unusually strong, one in early January of 2020 to be more specific. But besides natural disasters, it's also survived attempts by its owner, the U.S. National Science Foundation, to reduce its funding. The Arresibo Radio Telescope contributed to many significant discoveries, including observations of pulsars that captured a Nobel Prize and the first confirmed exoplanets as well. Closer to home, the observatory's radar equipment emitted radio signals to identify the shape, spin, and speed of potentially hazardous asteroids for NASA. The telescope also monitored dwarf stars, planets in our solar system, and disturbances in Earth's atmosphere.

The last time that Arisiba was used for a targeted search for signs of extraterrestrial technology called Technosignatures was from 1998. to 2004 as part of the privately funded Project Phoenix, run by the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. The project observed 800 nearby stars, but picked up no transmissions. In 2019, NASA restored funding for exoplanet and exobiology research to continue looking for techno-signatures. And like mentioned before, while the island of Puerto Rico, has suffered many hardships and natural disasters as of late, another tragedy occurred on December 21st, 2020. A huge telescope at the iconic Arcebo Observatory in Puerto Rico has collapsed. This comes after officials announced the radio telescope was set to close after it was damaged last month.

Officials made the announcement after key cables broke, who they said even if they could repair it, the structure would be unstable long term. This radio telehealth. The telescope was the second largest in the world. It withstood hurricanes and earthquakes while playing a key role in many astronomical discoveries. The telescope's massive science platform, which weighed in at around 900 tons, was suspended above the vast radio dish by three dozen supporting cables. But in August 2020, one of those cables slipped out of its socket before the failure could be repaired, a second cable snapped.

The U.S. National Science Foundation, which owns the site, determined that the platform was too unstable to safely repair and decided to decommission the instrument. Before that could happen, the telescope collapsed. And while other telescopes with similar purposes have been created in the past few years, nothing compares to Aresibo. Most radio telescopes, such as the world's current, largest the 500-meter aperture spherical telescope in China were designed only to receive signals,

but Arcebo's 305-meter dish was capable of both receiving and transmitting. Our best tool for listening and talking to the universe is now silent. But for so many, Arcebo will live on as one of the most extraordinary contributions to the astronomical fields, and the search for extraterrestrial signals. And while it's always thought-provoking and fun to think of civilizations from other planets or star systems, what about those civilizations back here on Earth that were possibly lost to history? When Christopher Columbus landed in what is now Puerto Rico, he was surprised. to find that the island he named San Juan Batista was already inhabited by the Taino. It's estimated

that as many as 50,000 Taino lived on Puerto Rico at the time of Columbus's arrival. They seem to have led in idyllic existence, hunting and fishing from dugout canoes, and they also grew crops. Until the arrival of the conquistadors, the only threat to the Taino were from the Caribs, a warlike people who would sail to the island raiding and pillaging. In fact, the word Taino is a native word that means good, as opposed to their bad Kareb enemies. Although the Taino were weakened by the attacks of the Caribs, it was the arrival of the Spanish colonists that led to their ultimate downfall and almost rapid extinction. European diseases for which the Taino had no resistance quickly swept through the population,

and those who survived suffered miserable lives as slaves on sugarcane and other agricultural plantations. By about 1515, a mere seven years after Spanish colonists, led by Governor Ponce de Leon, settled on Puerto Rico. The native Taino population had been redid. reduced to 4,000, and by the middle of the 16th century, only a few dozen remained. But is it possible that there was another group of people inhabiting the island even before the Taino, or even amongst them? Recent compelling evidence came in the form of ancient stone figures of the Nensario collection. artifacts that are largely anthropomorphic or humanoid and carved from a Puerto Rican serpentine stone. Remnants of gold flecking on the artifacts suggest to archaeologists that these statuettes may have been used for some type of ritual.

The story of the discovery of the statuettes may yield some clues as to the figure's origins. A Catholic priest, Jose M. Nizario, attended the deathbed of an indigenous Taino woman. On her deathbed, she told him of her family's generation's old treasure, ancient stone figures. They had stowed away for safekeeping in a tunnel. Nizario followed her instructions to a riverside location where he dug up some seven to eight hundred stones of various shapes. sizes and all bearing unknown petroglyphs. After Nazario's death in 1919, around 250 of the figures were put into the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. Stone statuettes have been confirmed by the University of Haifa's Zinman Institute of Archaeology as around 600 years old, having been carved

in antiquity. Most intriguing of all, there is a scintrifice. script etched into these figures that bears no resemblance to any other known script from the Americas. Professor Raniel Rodriguez-Ramos, who has examined the artifacts, was quoted as saying, We are in the presence of an annotation system that has never been documented so far. As of 2019, the University of Haifa and other researchers are investigating the mysterious writing system for With a Mayan or Incan origin out of the question, we might just be on the cusp of uncovering an unknown civilization in Puerto Rico. Whether it's through UFO and alien encounters, strange creatures, ghosts, or lost civilizations, Puerto Rico is most definitely a special place. For many reasons, its extremely diverse culture lives on with immense

pride. The island has embraced all of these different phenomena, which all seem to have a affinity for the island, and in particular the tiny village of Lahas and the surrounding areas. In 2005, the local government approved construction of a UFO landing strip on Indian Hill, close to where the alleged UFO crash had occurred. Lifelong experiencer and school teacher Ronaldo Rios has spearheaded this project convinced by both his own experiences and local knowledge of UFO phenomena

that this location is a significant contact point for extraterrestrials. In an interview withruptly.tv, Rio stated the following. As the Krispy Chicken Sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud. And I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm crispy. Did you expect me to whisper? If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Like, I know I'm a handful. I'm bold. I'm juicy. Throw some pickles

and barbecue sauce on me and baby I'm a whole meal. And with seven rewards, I'm just $4. Quiet. No. Krispy, saucy and $4? Very. Only at 711. Valley through 62326, participating stores only while supplies last the app for full terms. I work independently and did a report 13 or 14 years ago, and the Puerto Rican government and politicians wouldn't allow me to make the report public about the extraterrestrials. There are more and more people who have seen things and are being prevented from saying what they are observing.

The government said it would affect the tourism in Puerto Rico. The people are disillusioned with it and want what they have seen made public. Since the extraterrestrial route went up, numerous tourists have already begun making the pilgrimage to Lajas, intrigued by its strange history. So it seems that the government's worry of bad publicity concerning tourism actually had the opposite effect. More and more tourists arrive every year. Whether a wholly different kind of visitor may be dropping in anytime soon remains a possibility. So while some locations throughout the world may have tales of UFO crashes, strange cryptozoological creatures roaming its lakes or forests, or a famous haunted house filled with phantoms, Puerto Rico rests proudly in the Caribbean Sea, with all of these tied to its history, its legends, and its people.

Puerto Rico, we are a blending pot of a lot of different cultures. You know, we have the dino natives. We have from the Spaniards that came originally, from the African slaves, from the Caribbean slaves. So there's a big mesh of different cultures there. And you can see the way that those different cultures influence what Puerto Rico is today, our folklore, our traditions, our music, our food. Religious beliefs, even on the island, I'd say the predominant religion on the island. island is, you know, Catholicism because it was brought with the Spaniards originally. But there's a lot of places on the island that still hold to like, almost like,

mixtures of religious beliefs brought over with the African slaves or brought over from the other Caribbean islands. So it's interesting because that also influences a way that people perceive the supernatural in general and are open to it. And I think that's actually might be a reason and why the island has so many of these tales that continuously be passed down, and it's more apt to be believed by the people, because there's already sort of a culture that is open to believing. With a population of a little under 3 million people, Puerto Rico has both a rich and complex history, full of ups, downs, and everything in between.

It's a place in constant transition, just like the rest of the world around it. It's a place many call home and a place where stories were born. Stories were brought and stories that have yet to be told. The more stories that you share, the more that people connect with each other. And we're in a time again where we're not as connected as we used to be. And the sharing of these stories, it brings intrigue and it brings interest. And I think it's so important that people know about Puerto Rico and all that it has to offer. whether strange or just being a beautiful place to visit because it will bring attention to this little small island that some people don't even know exists here in the Caribbean.

The island has suffered a lot. I think it's very important that people know that we are here. I hope that it brings, it brings specialists, it brings people that want to investigate, that want to research because they're going to find that people want to share their stories on the island. They want to be heard. and they also have the same questions. So I think it would be wonderful for more of these stories to get out so people would find more interest in our small little islands. And who knows honestly what can come of that. It doesn't matter the size of the place.

You'd be surprised what sometimes you can find. And I hope that the island continues to gain a little bit of just love for it and all that it has to offer. Somewhere in the Skies is produced by Third Kind Productions in association with the Entertainment One Podcast Network What's up guys, Ryan Sprag here? Are you an artist, graphic designer, or just looking for an opportunity to stretch your right brain?

Somewhere in the Skies has partnered with our merchandising company, tepublic.com, for the ultimate Somewhere in the Skies fan art contest. Running from April 1st to April 30th, we'll be taking submissions for your design to be featured in the Summer in the Sky store. That's right. Your art will be on sale in our official T. Public Store and available in all different items from T-shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops, stickers, buttons, mugs, and everything in between. You'll also receive half the commission on every order of your design. and receive a gift box of items with your design. Compliments of tepublic.com.

There are literally no limitations on how you choose to design. The only rule is that it must say somewhere in the skies with Ryan Sprague, somewhere in the design. The top three designs as voted by T.Public and myself will then be presented for a public vote on May 1st. On the Summer in the Sky's Twitter account and the Summer on the Summer on the Sky's Twitter account and the Summer this guy's Facebook group where you can cast your vote for the winner. Second and third place winners will receive a special gift from me as well. To enter, submit your high resolution design as an attachment to Ryan.spreg 51 at gmail.com. Again, submissions must be received no later than 11.59 p.m. E.S.T on April 30th. I'm really looking forward to seeing your artistic abilities.

and interpretations of what the show means to you. And I can't wait to have your exclusive design in the official somewhere in the sky's store. For questions or to discuss further, don't be afraid to reach out on Twitter, Facebook, or at ryan.sprag51 at gmail.com. Thank you for your continued support. And now, get designing.

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