---
title: "Chile: 18th century Jesuit UFO sightings"
url: "https://usubjects.com/article/chile-18th-century-jesuit-ufo-sightings-3405"
updated: "2026-08-25T16:01:35.744Z"
description: "This item rounds up several historical UFO and unusual-sighting accounts from South America, British Columbia, Italy, and Spain, highlighting how long and varied the global record of such reports has been. It also includes a modern example, a 1953 Atlanta UFO hoax, to show that UFO history is a mix of genuine mysteries, strange encounters, and outright pranks."
sources: ["https://inexplicata.blogspot.com/2026/08/chile-ufo-sightings-by-18th-century.html"]
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Chile: 18th century Jesuit UFO sightings

Published: 2026-08-24  
Source: [Anomalist](https://inexplicata.blogspot.com/2026/08/chile-ufo-sightings-by-18th-century.html)

### Overview

A recent roundup of historical sighting reports from **South America, British Columbia, Italy and Spain** underscores how long UFO narratives have circulated across cultures—and how varied those accounts can be. The collection, which also points to a **1953 Atlanta UFO hoax**, presents the history of unidentified aerial phenomena as a mixture of genuine mysteries, ambiguous natural events and, at times, outright pranks. Rather than treating every report as evidence of extraterrestrial visitation, the material highlights a broader truth: unusual sky phenomena have been recorded for centuries, often by observers who believed they were documenting something real and extraordinary.

### Jesuit archives and the 1631 account

One of the most striking historical cases comes from **Jesuit records in South America**, tied to the early colonial missions among the Guaraní in Paraguay. The Jesuits, who helped establish the **“reductions”** as an alternative to the harsh **encomienda** system, left behind archives that include an account dated **August 10, 1631**, at the San Ignacio de Ipané mission. According to the document, between 6 and 7 p.m., witnesses saw **“a luminous orb of unusual size”** rise in the east and move slowly over the settlement, “resembling a full moon.” The object reportedly cast off sparks, flared intensely near the western horizon, and then ended with a sound described as a **“tremendous blast like a thunderclap.”**

### Meteorite, atmospheric event or something else?

The report has naturally drawn comparisons with **Campo del Cielo**, the meteorite field in present-day northern Argentina, not far from the mission area. A meteorite or bolide could explain some of the details, but researchers have noted that the wording of the account complicates that interpretation. The object was described as moving **slowly**, and the phrase that it was seen **“rising in the east”** has prompted speculation that the witness may have perceived an ascent rather than a typical meteor trajectory. For researchers such as **Antonio Las Heras**, the text is significant precisely because it resists easy classification. Whether the event was a meteor, an atmospheric phenomenon or something more unusual, it remains an early and carefully preserved record of a sky anomaly in the region.

### A later wartime sighting in Paraguay

The roundup also cites a second South American case from the **Paraguayan War** era. On **November 26, 1866**, Brazilian brig commander **Captain Augusto Leverger**—later known as the **Baron of Melgaço**—reported seeing a luminous object while aboard ship on the Paraguay River. In his account, a **luminous globe** moved rapidly across the sky, tracing a **30-degree arc toward the northwest** and leaving behind a trail of light in which “three distinct bodies” could be seen. Coming during a violent regional conflict, the sighting adds another layer to the historical record: wartime skies were often full of smoke, fire and confusion, but they also produced reports that remain difficult to explain cleanly.

### Why these old reports still matter

Taken together, the cases in the roundup show that UFO history is not a modern invention. Long before the term “UFO” existed, missionaries, soldiers and travelers were writing down accounts of lights, objects and maneuvers that challenged their understanding of the natural world. At the same time, the inclusion of the **1953 Atlanta hoax** serves as a reminder that the archive of strange aerial stories is not uniform proof of anything. It includes mysteries, misidentifications and deliberate deception. That complexity, rather than diminishing the subject, is what makes the historical record so enduring—and so difficult to dismiss.

## Provenance

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