The Flannan Isles Mystery

The Flannan Isles lie to the west of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. They have been uninhabited since the lighthouse on Eilean Mór was automated in 1971, having operated since December 1899. Just a little over a year after it first opened something rather unsettling occurred.

In Mid-December 1900, three lighthouse keepers, Thomas Marshal, James Ducat and Donald Macarthur, were stationed there. Macarthur was standing in for a, soon to be rather lucky, assistant keeper who was on long term sick leave. There were actually four keepers, Joseph Moore being the fourth, each one taking it in turns to have a fortnight's break and then coming back to relieve one of the others. Moore had left the island on the 7th December. It would turn out that he was to be the last person to see the others ever again.

The first sign of anything amiss occurred on the night of the 15th December. Sometime around midnight the American steamer, Archtor, passed by. Thankfully the look out spotted the land, for the lighthouse was dark. Captain Holman reported this upon reaching port but his report does not seem to have reached the Northern Lighthouse Board.

However it was soon noticed from the Isle of Lewis. Moore was due to return on the 20th December but bad weather meant he and the tender Hesperus weren't able to reach the island until Boxing Day. Moore's report upon landing is as follows.

Captain Harvie deemed it prudent to lower a boat and land a man if it was possible. I was the first to land, leaving Mr McCormick, the Buoymaster, and the men in the boat till I could return. I went up to the lighthouse and on coming to the entrance gate I found it closed. I made for the entrance door leading to the kitchen and storeroom and found it also closed, and the door inside that. But the kitchen door itself was open. On entering I looked at the fireplace and saw that the fire was not lighted for some days. I entered the rooms in succession and found the beds empty, just as they left them in the early morning.

I did not take time to search further, for I naturally well knew that something serious had occurred.

I darted outside and made for the landing. I informed Mr McCormick that the place was deserted. He with some men came up so as to make sure, but unfortunately the first impression was only too true. Mr McCormick and myself proceeded to the light room, where everything was in proper order. The lamp was clean, the foundation full, blinds on the windows, etc.

He proceeded down to the western landing place (not where he had landed) and found signs of a great deal of storm damage with a box of landing ropes that had been shoved into a deep crevasse missing.

What could have happened to the three lighthouse men? These dedicated men would not have left the lighthouse willingly for to do so would put the lives of many seafarers in danger. Well, of course, there is the ever present alien abduction scenario, plus the more localised stories of paranormal activities on the island (such as the idea some form of fairy folk turned the keepers into giant birds), but more concerning were rumours of murder. Often quoted are these log entries:

Dec. 12: Gale, north by north-west. Sea lashed to fury. Stormbound 9pm. Never seen such a storm. Everything shipshape. Ducat irritable. 12pm. Storm still raging. Wind steady. Stormbound. Cannot go out. Ship passed sounding foghorn. Could see lights of cabins. Ducat quiet. McArthur crying.

Dec. 13: Storm continued through night. Wind shifted west by north. Ducat quiet. McArthur praying. 12 noon. Grey daylight. Me, Ducat, and McArthur prayed.

Dec. 15: 1pm. Storm ended. Sea calm. God is over all.

One, these log entries would, if true, but rather disturbing. But secondly I think we can all agree that they seem highly suspect. Other details often included are that the kitchen was left in quite a state with a breakfast half eaten (hello Mary Celeste rumours!) and a chair overturned suggesting some sort of flight or rush had occurred. Finally, mentioned often, are the three sets of oilskins. Two were found missing with one left on the peg suggesting that the last member of the three had left the lighthouse in a great rush, as who would go out into the December air on an isolated Scottish island in just their shirt??

Well the log is almost certainly a forgery (investigations at the time state the log was only completed up to the 13th with a final two entries written up on a chalk board ready to be transcribed. Nothing unusual was reported about those entries.

The kitchen and living areas were, as was policy, found to have been kept (and left) in the proper tidy condition by Robert Muirhead who had arrived by the end of December to begin a proper investigation into the disappearance. His report is as follows:

On the Thursday and Friday the men made a thorough search over and round the island and I went over the ground with them on the Saturday. Everything at the East landing place was in order... and the lighthouse buildings and everything at the Station was in order. Owing to the amount of sea, I could not get down to the [west] landing place, but I got down to the crane platform about 70 feet above the sea level... The crane... was found to be unharmed, the jib lowered and secured to the rock, and the canvas covering the wire rope on the barrel securely lashed around it, and there was no evidence that the men had been doing anything at the crane. The mooring ropes, landing ropes, derrick landing ropes and crane handles, and also a wooden box in which they were kept and which was secured in a crevice in the rooks 70 feet up the tramway... were displaced and twisted. A large block of stone, weighing upwards of 20 cwt., had been dislodged from its position higher up and carried down and left on the concrete path leading from the terminus of the railway to the top of the steps. A life buoy fastened to the railing along this path, to be used in case of emergency, had disappeared, and I thought at first it had been removed for the purpose of being used but, on examining the ropes by which it was fastened, I found that they had not been touched, and as pieces of canvas were adhering to the ropes, it was evident that the force of the sea pouring through the railings had, even at this great height (110 feet above sea level), torn the life buoy off the ropes.

So perhaps murder could be ruled out. The final decision of the investigation was that Thomas Marshal and James Ducat had gone out in a storm on the 15th of December 1900 in a heroic effort to save the mooring ropes on the western dock. Donald Macarthur, whose coat had been the one left on the peg, must have gone to their aid in a hurry after they got into trouble and all three of them were washed out to sea.

Of course the report was met with disbelief especially considering the extremely large height given for tidal damage. 110 feet tall waves?? Well, as we now know, such large waves are rare but quite possible. And the lay of the land on the island was such that a later keeper investigating the disappearances was nearly washed off a cliff at 200 feet! There is a great article here specifying more details of what happened, and what didn't, here.

Further Reading

Some Strange Scent of Death ~ Angela J. Elliott (US Amazon, UK Amazon)

If you feel benevolent and particularly generous, this writer always appreciates things bought for him from his wishlist

Mega London Sharks?

For months now, one of the main sources for traffic to this site has been people searching for "Mega London Sharks". I've scratched my head and wondered; what exactly are they looking for? I thought maybe it was a sports team, or a show of some sort.

Now, looking back on it, I was a tad silly not to see what it was they were looking for. It's just I'd never said the words out loud. Finally I had a search to my site for "Is the Mega London Shark still alive?"

Mega London???? Megalodon. Problem solved. So for all those searching for Mega London Sharks, look no further... it's megalodon.

You can check out my post on those magnificent prehistoric creatures, and their possible survival, here. Or check out Wikipedia's entry

Further Reading



Sure it's fictional, but it's also highly entertaining. Plus it is likely to soon be a movie, so if you buy it now you'll have the kudos of being able to laugh at your ill informed friends when going to see the movie and can then complain post-movie about how the film "wasn't as good as the book".

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

New Cetaceans On Tetrapod Zoology

After my post the other day about new animals from the ocean, the ever awesome, and vastly superior, blog Tetrapod Zoology has a recent post on some of the most recently discovered cetaceans

Very exciting stuff.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Under The Sea

Moonlight Investigation does have somewhat of a fascination with aquatic fortean happenings, but that is not without reason. The sea is, for humans, one of the most inhospitable environments in the world. The ocean depths are even more inhospitable. Man has permanent outposts in space, on Antarctica and has long learnt to thrive in desert conditions. But we have yet to do anything more than observe the ocean depths from a moving vehicle, which can spend only a limited time below the surface. Our long term submarine capabilities are awesome but the military subs hardly offer a good viewing platform!

So it should be no surprise that not only do we find a lot more "unexplained" things in our oceans, but that the possibility of them being something unknown rather than misidentified is far greater. And that surely includes taking into account the fact that it's much more difficult to identify something that's submerged in water.

The Pacific Sleeper Shark

We've looked at "unnaturally" large sharks before but having read up on the subject some more, it's hardly an exhausted topic!

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water...

The Pacific sleeper is a rarely seen shark species first identified in 1944. They are generally found to be somewhere between 3 and 4 metres long (9 to 12 feet).Given that the sharks have been found to feed on giant and Colossal squid it's hardly surprising that some have reported Pacific sleeper sharks of quite a size more!!

The French submersible "Nautile" was exploring the waters off of Japan in 1989 when they encountered a Pacific Sleeper who they said slid past them revealing it's full 23 feet length (that's about 7 metres to you and me!). That would place it at a size larger than any officially verified non filter feeding shark known to be alive today.

The Reefquest centre mentions this sighting but also another sighting:

Another large individual — estimated to be between 16 to 26 feet (5 to 8 metres) in length — was photographed by a robot camera at a depth of 6,300 feet (1,920 metres) off Oahu, Hawaii.

If it were 8 metres long that would be truly astounding!!

The Giant Octopus

Before we mention the tales of giant octopi, I just wanted to share this video of a blanket octopus. To my great shame I had never heard of this species before, but my isn't it beautiful? I suggest you read up on it as it is as fascinating as it is gorgeous.

Hypno-Octopus strikes again!

Anyway, we all know of the Kraken right? The gigantic monster octopus of legend who pulled ships deep under the water, and brought death to many a sailor? Well... it's not that unbelievable! Larger than expected octopi have been found, like this one from New Zealand.

But a truly gigantic octopus would need truly gigantic food. Over to the story that I first read when I was little and has had me wondering ever since (taken from here but seems almost exactly the same as I remember it).

summer of 1984. One fisherman from Bermuda islands, John P. Ingham, came up with an idea which would be very profitable for him. Giant octopus was way out of his mind when he constructed a trap for large crabs and other sea organisms which he would use at a depth of about 1800 meters (5900 ft). His plan worked and soon he started catching crabs 60 cm wide.
Then he built really heavy traps and armored them with 5 cm thick metal rings. They were 1.8 to 2.4 meters large and 1.2 meters deep. Ingham was dropping them into the ocean from his 15-meter fishing boat Trilogy.
By the end of August, Ingham already noticed few very unusual things. First he lost one of his traps after something suddenly pulled the cable. There was no obvious explanation. Then, on 3rd of September, few days after the first event, the crew was pulling out one trap, but when the trap was 600 meters (2000 ft)
below the surface something stopped its ascent, pulled the cable in the opposite direction and violently shaked the cable. The trap was lost.

Then, on September 19, Ingham set the trap at a depth of 850 meters (2700 ft). This time, they couldn't pull the trap out even with full engine power. Trilogy was equipped with a sophisticated sonar instrument called chromascope, and Ingham used it when the ship passed directly above the trap. He set the chromascope to
so-called split bottom mode. On the bottom of the ocean he could clearly see a pyramid-shaped silhouette 15 meters (50 ft) high. Something wrapped around their trap. Ingham and his crew decided they won't do anything violent. They'll sit and wait with cable engine ready.

After about 20 minutes, Ingham got a feeling that the ship was moving - like something was pulling it. He went to his cabin again to check navigation instruments. They confirmed his feeling. The ship was moving towards south at a constant speed of about one knot. When they passed about 500 meters, the thing that was pulling the rope, whatever it was, suddenly changed direction and headed for the shore. A bit later it suddenly turned again. Now Ingham was convinced that some kind of deep sea creature grabbed the trap
and pulled the trap along as it moved. Ingham touched the cable near surface of water. He says that he felt regular vibrations that traveled along the cable, like something walked on the ocean bottom, and vibrations were transferred along the cable. The impacts (vibrations) were always the same intensity and repeated themselves every few seconds. The 15-meter high silhouette, ship's movement, vibrations, traps he lost earlier - Ingham was convinced that he became the prey of a giant sea creature. Suddenly creature released the cable, so the crew easily pulled the trap out. Ingham looked at the chromascope - the silhouette was gone. The trap was all deformed and mostly damaged on the upper side. All of this clearly points to the Giant Bermudan Octopus. A creature which can keep the trap on the ocean bottom, resisting to the ship's engine power, the ocean depth on which event took place, location near Bermuda islands - octopus.

This is all rather concerning considering reports from the nearby Caribbean of "luscas". Supposedly these are sea monsters who are usually described as giant octopi. They live in the "blue holes" (underwater caves up to 200m deep) which would be indicative of octopi. Divers have reported seeing extremely large crustaceans in these blue holes which would also be indicative of a food source. On this page we have a story of a local describing luscas of only being dangerous if a boat is in water shallow enough for one tentacle to reach the sea floor and another to reach the boat. This is exactly the problem scientists have with kraken reports... a kraken could not be dangerous unless one tentacle could be supporting it on the sea floor. If that is a real conversation, that would be extremely compelling testimony suggesting a scientifically plausible large octopus posing a danger to the people of the Bahamas.

Unusual Dolphins

Your thinking: "Dolphins?? Surely these are one of the most studied and most understood marine life on Earth? There can't be anything unusual about dolphins!!". Well if that really was what you were thinking, you are wrong!

It's not Fraser's Dolphin, it's mine!

Take Fraser's dolphin (a recognised and fairly widespread species!!). The first known discovery linked to it was a skull found in Borneo in 1895. It went unstudied until Francis Fraser, in 1956, identified it as a new species. It was only in 1971 that a full body was found, after which sightings were first reported and then became more and more frequent. It's currently estimated there are over 100,000 Fraser's dolphins in pods numbering in the hundreds and the thousands. They grow to nearly 3 metres long. Why didn't we see them sooner?! Because they are a deep ocean species and no one probably ever bothered giving them a second look as they are a billion times more difficult to study than the more famous coastal dolphins. So it's quite likely that other species of dolphin are going about their business in the oceans without us even being aware of their existence. Perhaps one of these is the Rhinoceros Dolphin.

Online "artists impressions" show this dolphin to have a large "central" dorsal fin with a smaller one behind. But according to the books I've checked and he description of French naturalists Jean Quoy and Joseph Gaimard suggest the extra dorsal fin was actually smaller and towards the front which I think makes more sense vis-a-vis the name as well. (Sidenote: some "freak" common dolphins have been observed with a secondary dorsal fin towards their rear as per those pictures so I think the "artists" might just be getting very confused between the two different cryptid puzzles).

Quoy and Gaimard were off New South Wales in 1819 when they made their sighting of a pod of such dolphins which they described it's other features thus:

"The volume of the animal was about double that of the ordinary porpoise, and the the top of its body, as far as the dorsal fin, was spotted black and white."

They named it Delphinus rhinoceros. Other reports from the Atlantic and Mediterranean have also been made of this dolphin.

Another cryptid dolphin is a bit less far out to sea, but in no less a difficult place to study; it's the "Amazon Nessie". Writer Jeremy Wade photographed and described a dolphin he has spotted more than once in the Amazon river. Variously described as the "Ridge-backed Dolphin" and the "Sawtooth Dolphin" it is said to have low ridges on it's back instead of a dorsal fin. Whilst this might seem strange the Amazon River Dolphin does have a very short dorsal fin so it's not entirely unbelievable to imagine a close relative having evolved a ridge back approach. A very small photo can be found at the bottom right of this page and a description of Jeremy Wade's return to find it again can be found here. As I'm wasn't there, and the picture is very small, it would be rude of me to totally dismiss this but doesn't that picture look more crocodilian than mammalian?

The reports of unusual animals from the ocean are pretty much unlimited so expect to here more...

Further Reading

Rumours of Existence - Matthew A. Bille (UK Amazon, US Amazon) - Invaluable information of some of the more believable stories of unusual animals

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

We Interrupt Your Usual Programming For Migaloo

Migaloo is on the move, and you better keep back!





Isn't Migaloo absolutely gorgeous? Cryptomundo has more.

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist

Unidentified Submerged Objects: The Golfo Nuevo Incidents

I admit, until recently my only knowledge of USOs came from reports from South America (specifically Brazil and Argentina) and so it seems appropriate for the second entry in this series to focus on one of the most famous series of incidents from that part of the world.


View Larger Map

Golfo Nuevo is a body of water formed by the Península Valdés and Punta Ninfas in the province of Chubut in the Argentine Patagonia. It is located 650 miles (1,046 km) southwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Puerto Madryn is its major seaport - Wikipedia

When it comes to USO activity, the Golfo Nuevo has previous, so to speak. Even before the more famous incidents in 1958-60, it was a place weirdly frequented by submarine activity.

New information has now come to light regarding U-boat activities around Golfo Nuevo. On 7 March 1942 the CO, Third Argentine Destroyer Division advised his superior, CO Destroyer Squadron of a sighting:

"...Today 1730 hrs when the Division was heading to enter Golfo Nuevo, destroyer San Juan signalled: 'After seeing wake and ripples, hydrophones station reported a submerged vessel one to two kilometres off port bow, position 42°55' 64°01'...."

On 25 March 1942 in his report to Navy Minister Fincati, Admiral Sueyro stated: "This is not the first time that such reports have been received by me, all from the same area, Golfo Nuevo, but at different times since last year."

There was little, if any, known German hostile U-boat activities off the Argentine coast, yet here as early as 1941 submarines were being sighted visually at the entrance to Golfo Nuevo.

In the SA newspaper "Der Stürmer" of 17 June 1938, thus before the outbreak of war, Dönitz had stated: "The German Navy is proud. It has built for the Führer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler an absolutely impregnable retreat where he will be safe from all enemies." - UFO Casebook Forum Post

Now, of course, the events of WWII were confusing and often didn't make much sense so it's hardly surprising submarines were seen in odd places. But how about a German Type XXI U-Boat being seen here, 15 years after WWII had ended? Now that is certainly interesting.

On the 21st of May 1958 the cruisers "General Belgrano" (a ship very familiar to us Brits), "9 de Julio" and "La Argentina" were performing exercises in the Golfo Nuevo along with the destroyers "Buenos Aires", "Entre Rios", "Misiones" and "Santa Cruz" plus support vessels and naval aircraft.

Sanaviron

Around about 10.00pm the tugboat "Sanaviron" began sonar testing. Thirty five minutes later the submarine detection sonar operator reported a contact even though no submarines were operating in the fleet maneuvers. The commanding officer of the fleet, Benjamín Moritán Colman, ordered the destroyers on to anti submarine duties. Depth charges were dropped in the shallow waters of the gulf, and during the operations a periscope was sighted from various points on the "Buenos Aires" and an oil spill seen. A schnorchel was also reported. Operations continued for two weeks with irregular sonar contact. On the 10th of June 1958 it was announced the submarine had left the gulf at a fast speed. Based on sonar reports the sub had consistently been travelling between 8 and 10 knots during it's two week enclosure. (sources Maritime History and Archaeology and UFO Casebook)

A two week search, a strange unidentified submarine and one of the largest anti-submarine operations since WWII. You would have thought that would have been weird enough.

Yet in October 1959 another unidentified submarine was detected in the Golfo Nuevo. After 5 days, and following an intensive search by the Argentinians, it again left without signs of significant damage. What was so exciting about the Golfo Nuevo? Were the Soviets spying on the naval activities at Puerto Madryn? Perhaps it was NATO doing the same?

Three months later the submarine returned... and one of strangest and woefully under reported military operations of the Cold War era began. Given the complications I'll quote from source, which is this rather excellent forum post (I know it's hardly academic, but this is a USO story we are talking about here!).

At 0930 on 31 January 1960 the torpedo boat "Cervantes" obtained a sonar contact of an object moving slowly at 90 feet, identified as a submerged submarine. A depth charge attack was carried out.

1 February 1960: In an official communiqu� published in the newspaper "La Naci�n", the Chief of the Naval Staff Operations Centre, capit�n de corbeta Juan Vasallo stated: "Yesterday the task force of cadets of the Naval Military School engaged on the annual training cruise on teh Atlantic coast, composed of the torpedo boat "Cervantes" and the patrol boats "King" and "Murature", obtained a sonar contact inside the entrance to Golfo Nuevo identified as a probable submarine. An air-sea task force has been assembled to investigate."

3 February 1960: Secretary of the Navy contraalmirante Clement announced that more warships had been attached to the task force. He considered it probable that there were two submarines "because these boats generally operate in pairs."

4 February 1960: After hours and hours of depth-charging by seaplanes it was thought that the submarine must have been destroyed. Escape was impossible, for a minefield had been laid across the ten-mile wide entrance to the gulf, and a large foce of anti-submarine vessels stationed on listening watch seaward of the minefield. The search force was finding it impossible to obtain a bearing on the boat by radar, sonar or hydrophones. Although the submarine could be heard, its geographical location was impossible to establish. This made it extremely difficult to attack the boat.

For days and days the aimless attacks went on. At night hundreds of flares lit the night sky while ships' searchlights swept the waters. Up and down, up and down they steamed, depth-charging then listening, then depth-charging again. It had become a wonderful festival for all the many holidaymakers who visit Puerto Madryn at this season of the year.

10 February 1960: The submarine was confirmed as being audible within the gulf. Ten warships waited in a semi-circle beyond the minefield while maritime aircraft circled overhead. The corvette "La Rep�blica" had arrived with replacements including many experienced sonar operators while Argentine marines occupied Cracker to prevent a possible landing. On this day at 2245 hrs a second submarine surfaced in international waters. This was considered to be a lure. The newspaper "La Naci�n" quoted military sources next day as saying that the surfaced submarine "has a profile very similar to the German Type XXI wartime U-boat. It is said that the design has been copied and can make 16 knots submerged." This boat had "great manouevrability" and had made "audacious attempts to draw off the Argentine Fleet to allow the intruder to escape from the gulf."

11 February 1960: Argetnine President Frondizi ordered an all-out attack to destroy the intruder. He had thirteen warships and forty aircraft available.

13 February 1960: Modern depth-charges, flares, sonar buoys and other advanced anti-submarine weaponry arrived from the United States together with WWII anti-submarine veterans. The US technical team was led by Captain Ray Pitts, Naval Operations HQ reporting directly to Vicealmirante Raga, Chief of Argentine Naval Operations. The new depth charges were of terrific effect and could destroy a submarine down to 200 metres, which was deeper than anywhere in Golfo Nuevo.

On The Diplomatic Front: 13 February 1960: The Spanish newspaper "Las Provincias" published a telex from correspondent William Horsey in which he reported that the intruder submarine had been positively identified as a Type XXI German U-boat of WWII. In unconfirmed reports, oil which the boat had discharged was analyzed and found to be the kind made by satellite states of the USSR to the formula used by the Third Reich.

The Argentine Navy now issued a final ultimatum to the submarine to surface and surrender or be sunk. To avoid any possibility of an international incident, Argentina requested 26 nations including the US, USSR, Britain, France and West Germany to admit that the submarine was theirs. All answered in the negative.

The suspicion was that this must be a Soviet submarine. The Soviet naval attach� to Buenos Aires, rejcted the accusation in indignation while Vice-President Mikoyan stated "...the only thing they are going to kill in that gulf is a heap of fish." The formal denial of the Soviet Government was reinforced over the next few days when the Soviets made no attempt on the diplomatic or military fronts to assist the submarine to escape. If it had been sunk and identified as Soviet, the USSR would have been exposed to ridicule worldwide, while the USA would have made endless capital out of its part in the sinking.

14 February 1960: Two strange submarines arrived in international waters outside the gulf and began to manouevre near the Argentine Fleet. They were described as "gigantic" but the type "could not be ascertained with exactitude". Inside the gulf the depth-charging with the new, powerful explosives began, one every ten minutes all day.

15 February 1960: The naval forces reported that the intruder submarine "had the mysterious ability to avoid electronic detection." This meant that it did not return the radar beam, and its bearing could not be determined from hydrophone or sonar equipment. Late this day the Argentine Minister of Defence, Justo Vilar, announced that that submarine "must have escaped". This meant he believed it had sailed through the minefield and got between the vessels on listening watch.

17 February 1960: The patrol boats "King" and "Murature" maintained contact with the submarine briefly.

18 February 1960: Official Argentine sources reported that they were" sure that the submarine had escaped".

20 February 1960: Contact was re-established with the intruder inside the gulf, and the biggest navy-air concentration since the Second World War gathered for the "final onslaught".

21 February 1960: In the early hours the intruder surfaced. It was seen to be a Type XXI German U-boat of WW2 design. Homing torpedoes were fired but "incomprehensibly all missed". More salvoes were fired at the submarine, but these also missed. Finally the newest sonar-type torpedoes were launched. These also all missed.

22 February 1960: The intruder submarine surfaced briefly to discharge oil.

23 February 1960: The Argentine Navy reported "carefully combing the waters of Golfo Nuevo on 21 and 22 February without making any further contact with the intruder, which is believed to have escaped. It is felt however that it may return. Nevertheless the search is being stepped down...."

Lest you think these are the delusions of some crazy conspiracy theorist, here's the Time Magazine article that was released during the events.

Type XXI U-Boat (US U3008 in 1948)

There is a much more popular, and slightly more crazy, version of events out there which are repeated in exactly the same, word for word, way:

In 1960, the Argentinean Navy tracked two unidentified submerged objects in the Golfo Nuevo, 650 miles south of Buenos Aires. At first it was thought that they were US submarines, but then they appeared to break apart and fly out of the water. Paul Stonehill, co-author with Philip Mantle of UFO-USSR, explained how the objects simply emerged from the water and vanished. Paul went on to tell us that the Soviet leader at the time, Nikita Khrushchev, was so impressed with the report that he ordered his representative in Buenos Aires to find out more about the event

I think this version of events does NOT go with known length of time the USOs were detected for. It seems to have gained popularity in this rather lazily researched USO documentary (more lazy than my research and that's saying something!)

So who's submarines were they? Was one of the superpowers using their old XXI's to spy on smaller countries (Puerto Madryn was a major anti submarine base) with impugnity? Certainly everyone denounced such suggestions, the US even sending more depth charges to Argentina!, but in the Cold War such duplicity was not uncommon. However I suspect even the Soviets wouldn't have denied involvement given the almost certain destruction of the submarine (I'll get to that in a minute!). Could it be our friends in the Fourth Reich? Perhaps the Nazi's last refuge was not Antarctica but some secret base in south America, hence the interest in south America. "Former" Nazis have strong connections to south America and specifically Argentina (thanks to things like the ODESSA programme) so it's not completely insane. Or perhaps it's some unknown player, a country who got hold of an XXI and was testing it out? Unlikely but possible. Ivan T. Sanderson believed it indicates an advanced civilisation lives beneath the waves, one that is responsible for all UFO and USO unexplained encounters.

Based on the information it seems clear to me that this was SOMETHING and not just sonar echoes. The problem is that if we say it was submarine, how on Earth did it survive in the Golfo Nuevo for weeks under such a constant bombardment (possibly the biggest anti submarine campaign post WWII). Some, such as my favoured source, suggest that the submarines were of a much higher technical capability with force fields, invisibility and/or the ability to jump into another dimension. This would certainly jive with most of the Antarctic base stories for the Nazis for instance. BUT it's a bit too out there for my liking. The Time magazine article suggests that hammering noises were heard (which would indicate repairs being carried out) and oil slicks were seen. Perhaps it wasn't invulnerable but just able and lucky. Based on the information available it is impossible to draw a conclusion as to the origin of these mysterious submarines but that's half the charm isn't it?

Whatever the case, I find this story truly compelling. It also highlights USOs are NOT (just) UFOs. No need for aliens or exciting time travel to explain away some USOs, although I suppose that also applies to most UFO reports. But hey still... no aliens required.

Further Reading

Invisible Residents - Ivan T. Sanderson (UK Amazon, US Amazon)

The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists - Martin A. Lee (UK Amazon, US Amazon)

This blogger works for nothing but the joy of writing but always appreciates things bought from his wishlist