Italian ufologist Antonio Chiumiento reported the case of Giorgio Filiputti, born in 1931, aged 47 at the time of the sighting, railwayman now deceased. It took place on September 18, 1978 at about 03:30 p.m. standard time, in the locality of Melaria di Oporto Nogaro, on the territory of the community of San Giorgio di Nogaro, in the Udine province in Italy.
He was fishing on the banks of the Corna, at the place where this river joins the Zumiel channel, approximately two kilometers and a half from the sea in straight line, as the day was beautiful, sunny and quiet.
He suddenly heard a kind of whistling sound, continuous, light and high-pitched, like that of the blades of an helicopter after the engine is turned off, or like that of an object which would "mow" the air. There was immediately a kind of whirling movement of air coming from the zone located behind.
After approximately 3 minutes, he started to think that the noise and the wind could not come from some machinery of the nearby steel-works, because a rather strong and supported wind rose, which made fishing impossible because the water was entirely striated with wavelets. The reeds were moving in only one place.
To see what was going on, he left his fishing rod and climbed the slope. Arrived at the top, he was amazed to see on a sand and mud flat terrain covered with low plants a strange object posed at hardly more than 25 meters of him.
At this time, the wind stopped, whereas the noise continued but with a much less deaf and much less continuous sound.
The object had approximately the shape of a disc of 4 or 5 meters diameter, 3 or 4 meters in height, topped by a cupola, it was posed on three large dark gray landing feet of approximately 1.50 meters in height and a diameter from 80 to 90 cm, slightly narrower towards the ends. They seemed made up of two sliding tubes finished by a flat disc. The object was completely smooth without any window nor trap door, with only a kind of "projecting port-hole in the shape of half-moon right at the place where the bulge of the cupola started." The maximum thickness of the craft without counting the landing feet was approximately 1.50 meters. It seemed made of a "copper" metal, later reported as "golden-silvery" metal; which was shining in the sun.
Almost immediately, a being came out from behind the cupola and walked on the edge of the saucer.
He was approximately 1.30 meters tall, he wore a very tight-fitting outfit, of a color and brightness similar to those of the saucer, which let only see his face from the forehead to the chin.
The one piece outfit was entirely covered with "painted" fish scales, of varied sizes, larger upwards and decreasing towards the ends.
The face was initially reported as "yellow", then later "between an olive-greenish and bronze color", with almond eyes, stretched towards the place where ears would have been, those being nonvisible because of the outfit. The mouth and the nose were completely normal. The pupils seemed larger and stood up better than those of some Eastern people.
At the waist he had two "containers" of the same color than the shoes, dark gray or brown, which seemed embossed and "... probably supported by some kind of belt..."
He wore white gloves which appeared to be made in a matter resembling shining leather.
When the occupant saw the witness, he seemed to hesitate, as if he were frightened and surprised by the latter's presence. The witness initially thought of fleeing by throwing himself into the water but the behavior of the being made him give up.
After having immobilized itself a few moments, the being again walked on the saucer's "wing" with flexible and nimble steps, then stopped to touch the crescent shape protrusion. During this "work", "perhaps a repair", made by actuating a lever near the cupola or a "gadget in the shape of a half-moon or horseshoe", he frequently glanced at the witness. He then "disappeared" again behind the cupola.
Very few seconds later, there were was a rumbling sound, "a rumble as deafening as the thunder", a whistling sound, and the craft rose vertically while retracting its landing gear very fast. It slowly rose up to ten meters, and at this time the witness noticed the presence of a rhombuses grid or a rhombus-shaped grid on the basis of the UFO, dark or almost black, from which came out a blue flame, long of about 50 or 60 centimeters. Then the object quickly "tilted" and moved away at a very high speed towards the south-west, taking the appearance of a "ball of fire of gold color".
After the 6 to 8 minutes observation, the witness tried to find somebody to whom to tell what he experienced and he stumbled on a fisherman from the surroundings that he invited to examine the traces left on the ground by the three UFO feet. The traces were about 2 centimeters deep and with "notched" edges. There was no burned surface, perhaps because the ground was a marshy zone mainly covered with sand and mud.
The fisherman did not believe the story and supposed that the traces were probably due to gasoline barrels. Then, noticing that the witness was still obviously disturbed, the fisherman convinced him to accompany him to a bar of the nearby Aussa-Corno expressway to have a drink.
In the bar, they heard someone tell the people there that he had spotted a very strange luminous "thing" that moved in the sky at an incredible speed, and the fisherman then exclaimed "But then it is true?"
The witness spoke to nobody about his experience, not even with his family initially, by fear of scoffers. He remained upset and did not go fishing again, getting out of his place only to go to his workplace during a few weeks. He had checked in the local newspapers a confirmation of what had happened to him but did not find anything, which still convinced him to shut up about it.
He spoke about it the next February to his brother. Thinking about the experience, and because the occupant was "Asian" to him, he speculated that it was a new type of military craft from some major foreign country, and it terrified him because the manufacturers would certainly not like that people know what they were building.
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[Ref. gc1:] GORDON CREIGHTON:
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MAP AND POSTSCRIPT TO THE CASE OF THE "LITTLE ORIENTAL AIRMAN"BY an oversight, as has now been pointed out to us by author Antonio Chiumiento, we used, for our illustration of this entity's face (FSR Vol. 28, No.5, page 8) one of Ugo Furlan's preliminary sketches, which is however not now held to be as accurate as the final drawings made by this artist after lengthier discussions with the eyewitness Signor Giorgio Filiputti. We offer herewith the corrected picture. It should also be noted that the name of the hamlet where this encounter took place is Melaria, and not Malaria as given in the original report. (The nearest larger place to Melaria is San Giorgio di Nogaro.) |
[Ref. tg1:] TIMOTHY GOOD:
The author indicates that on September 18, 1978 around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Giorgio Filiputti, 47-year-old, railroad worker in the province of Udine in the North-East of Italy was busy fishing in Melaria when he heard a high-pitched whistling sound.
A few minutes later, he went up on bank and saw at a distance of about 20 meters a strange disc-shaped object, posed on the mud.
The author quotes what the witness said to Antonio Chiumiento:
"The craft measured 4 or 5 meters in diameter. It was posed on three feet and was topped by a cupola. The feet, approximately 1,50 meter high, were widening upwards. They seemed made up of two sliding tubes finished by a flat disc. The craft had no port-hole, no opening. It was made of a coppered metal which was shining with the sun."
"Then I saw somebody emerging from behind the cupola and going towards the edge of the disc. He resembled an Asian, but he was hardly 1,30 meter tall. Seeing this Pygmy with the yellow skin, I was at the same time amazed and frightened. He too seemed surprised to see me, and I believe that he was as afraid as I was."
The little man stopped a few seconds when he saw the fisherman, then resumed his walk, leaned while still watching the witness, actuated a lever near the cupola, a gadget "in the shape of a half-moon or horseshoe", trying to repair some unspecified damage. He stood up and walked again suddenly, disappearing behind the cupola.
"From the place where I was, I could see nothing inside. Hardly a few seconds later, I heard a deafening noise, and the craft rose vertically. I saw the lower part of the craft, in the center of which was a rhombus grid. The landing gear had already retracted. I saw a 60 centimeters short blue flame, like that of a gas stove, come out."
The craft sped up and disappeared.
The traces of the three feet, 3 centimeters deep and 50 centimeters wide, were clearly visible at the place where the craft had been posed.
The witness refused to believe that he had an encounter with aliens and remained convinced that the craft was a secret experimental apparatus of some foreign country.
[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Melaria, Porto Nogaro, Italy, on September 18, 1978, at 1530, the witness had gone fishing at the river Corno when he suddenly heard a sharp whistling found followed by some spiral movement of air behind him causing ripples on the water and sending the surrounding brush rustling. The wind became stronger so the witness decided to climb up a nearby embankment and take a look around. As he reached the top of the embankment he caught sight of a metallic disc shaped object sitting on a nearby dry mud flat. The object rested on three thick legs that terminated on flat plates on the ground. The object was totally smooth and the metal appeared to be brass like in appearance. A figure then appeared walking on the rim of the disc. I was described as short and oriental in appearance wearing a silvery tight fitting overall which sparkled in the sunlight. He also wore dark boots. His face was dark bronze in complexion and he had large almond shaped eyes. The humanoid appeared surprised upon seeing the witness then walked briskly around the rim, briefly bending down and touching something on the dome then disappeared behind the dome. Moments later the witness heard a loud rumbling sound and saw the object rise slowly straight up, emitting a bluish flame from the bottom, it then turned on edge and shot away at great speed. Ground marks were found at the scene.
Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "Antonio Chiumento, FSR Vol. 28 #5."
[Ref. ac1] ANTONIO CHIUMIENTO:
The author indicates that the case of Giorgio Filiputti, born in 1931, railwayman now deceased, took place on September 18, 1978 at about 03:30 p.m., standard time, in the locality of Melaria di Oporto Nogaro, on the territory of the community of San Giorgio di Nogaro, in the Udine province.
He was fishing on the banks of the Corna, at the place where this river joins the Zumiel channel, approximately two kilometers and a half from the sea in straight line, as the day was beautiful, sunny and quiet.
He suddenly heard a kind of whistling sound, continuous, light and high-pitched, like that of the blades of an helicopter after the engine is turned off, or like that of an object which would "mow" the air. There was immediately a kind of whirling movement of air coming from the zone located behind.
After approximately 3 minutes, he started to think that the noise and the wind could not come from some machinery of the nearby steel-works, because a rather strong and supported wind rose, which made fishing impossible because the water was entirely striated with wavelets. The reeds were moving in only one place.
To see what was going on, he left his fishing rod and climbed the slope. Arrived at the top, he was amazed to see on a sand and mud flat terrain covered with low plants a strange object posed at hardly more than 25 meters of him.
At this time, the wind stopped, whereas the noise continued but with a much less deaf and much less continuous sound.
The object had approximately the shape of a disc of 4 or 5 meters diameter, 3 or 4 meters in height, topped by a cupola, it was posed on three large dark gray landing feet of approximately 1.50 meters in height and a diameter from 80 to 90 cm, slightly narrower towards the ends. he would later see that these feet were retractable. The object was completely smooth without any window nor trap door, with only a kind of "projecting port-hole in the shape of half-moon right at the place where the bulge of the cupola started." The maximum thickness of the craft without counting the landing feet was approximately 1.50 meters. It seemed made of a golden-silvery metal which was shining in the sun.
Almost immediately, a being came out from behind the cupola and walked on the edge of the saucer.
He was approximately 1.30 meters tall, he wore a very tight-fitting outfit, of a color and brightness similar to those of the saucer, which let only see his face from the forehead to the chin.
The one piece outfit was entirely covered with "painted" fish scales, of varied sizes, larger upwards and decreasing towards the ends.
The face was between an olive-greenish and bronze color, with almond eyes, stretched towards the place where ears would have been, those being nonvisible because of the outfit. The mouth and the nose were completely normal. The pupils seemed larger and stood up better than those of some Eastern people.
At the waist he had two "containers" of the same color than the shoes, dark gray or brown, which seemed embossed and "... probably supported by some kind of belt..."
He wore white gloves which appeared to be made in a matter resembling shining leather.
When the occupant saw the witness, he seemed to hesitate, as if he were frightened and surprised by the latter's presence. The witness initially thought of fleeing by throwing himself into the water but the behavior of the being made him give up.
After having immobilized itself a few moments, the being again walked on the saucer's "wing" with flexible and nimble steps, then stopped to touch the crescent shape protrusion. During this "work", "perhaps a repair", he frequently glanced at the witness. He then "disappeared" again behind the cupola.
Very few seconds later, there were was a rumbling sound, "a rumble as deafening as the thunder", a whistling sound, and the craft rose vertically while retracting its landing gear very fast. It slowly rose up to ten meters, and at this time the witness noticed the presence of a rhombuses grid on the basis of the UFO, dark or almost black, from which came out a blue flame, long of about fifty centimeters. Then the object quickly "tilted" and moved away at a very high speed towards the south-west, taking the appearance of a "ball of fire of gold color".
After this six to eight minutes observation, the witness tried to find somebody to whom to tell what he experienced and he stumbled on a fisherman from the surroundings that he invited to examine the traces left on the ground by the three UFO feet. The traces were about 2 centimeters deep and with "notched" edges. There was no burned surface, perhaps because the ground was a marshy zone mainly covered with sand and mud.
The fisherman did not believe the story and supposed that the traces were probably due to gasoline barrels. Then, noticing that the witness was still obviously disturbed, the fisherman convinced him to accompany him to a bar of the nearby Aussa-Corno expressway to have a drink.
In the bar, they heard someone tell the people there that he had spotted a very strange luminous "thing" that moved in the sky at an incredible speed, and the fisherman then exclaimed "But then it is true?"
The witness spoke to nobody about his experience, not even with his family initially, by fear of scoffers. He remained upset and did not go fishing again, getting out of his place only to go to his workplace during a few weeks. He had checked in the local newspapers a confirmation of what had happened to him but did not find anything, which still convinced him to shut up about it.
He spoke about it the next February to his brother. Thinking about the experience, and because the occupant was "Asian" to him, he speculated that it was a new type of military craft from some major foreign country, and it terrified him because the manufacturers would certainly not like that people know what they were building.
[Ref. ni1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
The website indicates that on September 18, 1978, in Melaria, Porto Nogaro district, Italy there was a Whistling sound, a disc-shaped object with a dome on mudflat. A small humanoid emerged, made repair to craft, and took off with loud explosive sound.
The source is indicated as "The UFO Evidence" section XII.
[Ref. ud1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on September 18, 1978, at 15:30, in Melaria, Corna River, Italy, a fisherman heard a whistling noise, there was air displaced over water, he saw a domed disc land on a tripod gear. There was a 1.4m tall being, in tight fitting silver coveralls, boots, with a dark-bronze face with almond eyes. The object departed by rapidly flying straight up until lost to sight. Ground traces were found.
The male witness was 47-year-old and called Giorgio Filiputti. The sighted lasted for over six minutes.
The sources are indicated as Webb, David, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports; Lumieres dans la Nuit, Lumieres dans la Nuit; Hall, Richard H., The UFO Evidence, Volume II: A Thirty-Year Report, Scarecrow Press, Lanham, 2000, ISBN:0-8103-3881-8; Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002; Smith, Willy, UNICAT computer database.
[Ref. al1:] "ALESSANDRO":
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I checked into my ITACAT file, [...] [...] cases of very significant CE3 [...] It's worth the pain to point out the case of George Filipputti which occurred in S. Georgio di Nogaro (Udine), which occurred on September 18, 1978. Another important case [...] |
The sketches below were published in the Flying Saucer Review and other sources as being the occupant as described by Giorgio Filiputti to Ugo Furlan in the latter's witness interview:
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The witness seemed to have decided that the saucer had to be a secret craft of some probably Asian country; an interpretation which could give reason for thinking that he was a credible person "because" he would not believe in alien visitors; however a crafty fabulator could hold such a speech to give that impression. Clearly, no foreign country, Asian or not, ever built such saucers nor land it in Italy.
The apparent absence of publicity and decision not to tell about it could suggest authenticity of the experience, but the witness inevitably talked about it at one time or another, leading a ufologist to be interested in the case; it would have been nice to know how the ufologist learned about it.
The case is single witness case, and it seems to have received the most typical ufological treatment, i.e. the investigation is in fact a collection of the circumstances and observed details, but without trace of research into the personality, the credibility of the witness, without trace of efforts to check possible contradictions or inconsistencies in the story, and without apparent attempt to find the other fisherman or the additional witness of the bar. It is not known either if the sketches of the occupant were approved by the witness, or if they were only made after his oral indications. The UFO is a classical "saucer" totally matching stereotypes.
| Id: | Topic: | Severity: | Date noted: | Raised by: | Noted by: | Description: | Proposal: | Status: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Data | Severe | November 24, 2009 | Patrick Gross | Patrick Gross | Primary source not available. | Found, [ac2], [gc1] | Closed January 30, 2012. |
| 2 | Ufology | Severe | November 24, 2009 | Patrick Gross | Patrick Gross | No investigation report per se, narratives only. | Help needed. | Opened. |
| 3 | Ufology | Severe | November 24, 2009 | Patrick Gross | Patrick Gross | Single witness case, credibility apparently not evaluated. | Help needed. | Opened. |
Extraterrestrial visitors or invention.
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
| Main Author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Created/Changed By: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | November 24, 2009 | Creation, [tg1], [ar1], [ac1], [ni1], [ud1], [al1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | November 24, 2009 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | January 30, 2012 | Additions [ac2], [gc1]. |
