Case description
A report published in 1968 described a farmer near Tivissa, Tarragona, setting out early in the morning and noticing a distant light. He initially interpreted it as a possible car in difficulty and went to investigate. The familiar catalogue version dates the episode to August 16 at approximately 6 a.m., although later Spanish research disputes that precise date and chronology.
The farmer, identified as Joan or John Mateu, allegedly found a luminous hemispherical object hovering about one metre above the ground. At a distance of roughly one hundred metres he saw two pale, octopus-like creatures, each around one metre high, moving toward it. Their most distinctive feature was four or five leg-like appendages. They reportedly entered the object, which then departed. A burned patch and watches stopping during later visits were associated with the site in subsequent accounts.
The initial publication was a letter signed Sebastián Mateu in Tele/eXprés on August 27, rather than a contemporary investigator’s direct interview with the witness. Attempts to identify and question the source encountered difficulties. CEI’s later historical review says the event did not occur on the published date or exactly as the letter described. The reconstruction therefore illustrates the 1968 report, with its unusual nonhumanoid beings, without presenting the date or trace claims as settled.
