Pontejos, Spain being encounter — January 6, 1969

On January 6, 1969, at about 9 p.m., witnesses at El Caseto, a bar in Pontejos near Santander Bay, reported an illuminated scene outside the kitchen window. Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos later interviewed Felicidad Fernández Merino. His account identifies her mother Meren, Felicidad and Paquita, both about 25, and Antonio H., about 35, as principal observers. Paquita was holding her baby. Across the field they described a white-orange square opening, four or five metres wide, above the ground. Figures appeared until five were visible: tall, normally proportioned men with pale faces, short chestnut hair and close-fitting dark clothing. They moved stiffly. Antonio reportedly called out and went outside; the figures gathered centrally and the illuminated area faded. A gray-silver disc with an inverted-bowl profile then became apparent and rose away toward the bay. This sequence does not establish that the object physically changed shape. The HUMCAT summary instead calls the opening triangular, and other retellings vary the date and time. A much later reinvestigation collected additional memories, including a ground depression, without establishing contemporary physical evidence. A Moon-and-cloud interpretation has also been proposed. The plate follows Ballester's square-window account, with the later disc outline included as an explicitly acknowledged composite.