Oristano, Sardinia being encounter — September 13, 1948

Giuseppe Madau said that he encountered a strange object while an 18-year-old Franciscan novice at Oristano on September 13, 1948. The fuller account places him in the convent garden near dusk, reciting the rosary, with the caretaker’s old dog following him. This is a Sardinian, Italian case; the imported record’s Oregon region field is a geographical error. Madau first wrote to the Italian CUN about it in December 1990, more than forty years after the alleged event. He described a silver, bell-like disc with a transparent dome approaching obliquely and stopping above a eucalyptus tree. Two fair-skinned, youthful-looking men were visible. In the later detailed interview, they came onto its platform in silver suits, smiled and returned his greeting, then beckoned him closer. Madau said he refused because he feared being taken away before he could become a friar. The figures were described as humanlike and tall, rather than small gray beings. The later sequence involved the object changing attitude and emitting bands of differently colored light. Madau reported unusual electrical sensations, a feeling of floating and voices perceived internally. He said prayer was followed by release, and that he and the dog came down on another garden path a short distance away. These are recollected experiences, not independently measured levitation, medical findings or established lost time. Gianfranco Degli Esposti subsequently interviewed him, and a 1999 letter discussed the episode further. Although Madau offered to undergo hypnosis, the published source says it was discouraged; the narrative should not be labeled a completed hypnotic recovery. The plate shows the earlier greeting phase, before the more complex sensation claims.