Julio Ladaleto photographs tall being beside lampshade craft — November 23 1958

The Cojutepeque story places engineer Julio M. Ladaleto on a road in El Salvador at about 11:35 p.m. on November 23, 1958. He reportedly stopped after his car struck a rolling can and saw an unusual object roughly thirty-five metres away. It was described as lampshade-shaped, twelve metres wide and seven metres high, resting on three hemispherical supports beneath a transparent sphere that pulsed with blue light. A bald humanlike figure about two and a half metres tall allegedly crossed the road and inspected the object. The clothing was described as a blue coverall with luminous boots lacking heels. Ladaleto supposedly photographed the figure. After about ten minutes, the object departed with a whining sound, sparks and smoke. The story further claims that men presenting themselves as journalists contacted him the next day, apparently already knowing the details. Jacques Vallée’s Magonia catalogue cites the Italian magazine Settimana Incom of September 16, 1962, nearly four years after the alleged event. The account’s publication trail is more secure than the encounter itself: no authenticated photograph, original statement or checking of the named witness was located here. Patrick Gross’s source review questions the story and notes similarities with Adamski-style saucer imagery; that criticism is not proof of a documented admission. The plate is explicitly labeled a disputed historical claim.