Corrientes Prov, Arg being encounter — March 21, 1986

Farmer Rito Melgarejo reported an encounter near Santa Ana de los Guácaras, Corrientes, in March 1986. According to Francisco Villagrán’s contemporary El Litoral interview, the forty-two-year-old was returning from playing cards at about 2 a.m. after heavy rain when a powerful light approached and illuminated his shadow. It stopped close to the ground roughly ten metres away. Two short, humanlike figures allegedly emerged, estimated at about the height of a six- or seven-year-old child. They wore dark close-fitting clothing and, in the original reporting, had some apparently curly hair. One gestured in circles with its hands and spoke rapidly in an unfamiliar language. Melgarejo said he did not understand, turned away and hurried home. He later reported headaches. Villagrán described a patch of dry, yellowed or scorched vegetation about six by four metres, with several depressions; neighbors saw the site, not necessarily the occupants. The date is materially inconsistent. The original interview and a preserved 1986 investigation draft give Monday March 17, whereas the imported ledger and an English chronology give March 21. The plate therefore uses March 1986. Trace observations and reported symptoms do not establish an extraterrestrial cause, and press descriptions of corroboration should not be read as independent witnesses to every part of the encounter.