West / Lujan, Arg being encounter — March 16, 1972

This Route 7 story was published as the experience of a trucker called Luis Ezequiel or Exequiel Bracamante, also spelled Bracamonte. The imported record places it west of Luján on March 16, 1972, at about 6 a.m. Roberto Banchs’s source review dates the restaurant report to March 9 near General Rodríguez; HUMCAT also preserves March 23. Banchs explains that newspapers published the same agency story in different weeks while retaining the phrase “last Thursday,” creating date confusion. The plate therefore uses March 1972. In the newspaper narrative, the trucker stopped after seeing shimmering mist over a field. A brilliant light resolved into a large, dull-colored oblong object about 100 metres away. Three broad-shouldered, angular, humanlike figures approached with difficulty. He described sharply defined facial features using an ethnic comparison; that language is his reported impression, not evidence of the figures’ origin or species. One reportedly touched his elbow. He understood reassurance despite unfamiliar speech, and was shown a plaque bearing two shining symbols. His inability to recall the remainder does not establish a measured period of missing time. The man allegedly arrived distressed at the Namuncurá restaurant and related the story. Banchs later interviewed people connected with the establishment. Their memories were inconsistent, none supplied a secure identity for the trucker, and inquiries in his supposed home town failed to locate him under that name. Banchs also noted route inconsistencies and the publicity the story gave a restaurant being remodeled. These findings seriously weaken the account without constituting a documented confession. The encounter illustration is explicitly labeled disputed, with unspecified clothing, symbols and craft details kept indistinct.