Reported Encounter
An online account describes a purported close-range encounter with a humanoid figure on Monte Bondone near Trento, Italy, on September 18, 1978. According to the account, the witness—identified only as Giorgio—was a 35-year-old civil servant living in Mattarello and an amateur photographer who kept an automatic Yashica camera in his car.
Giorgio was reportedly returning from Garniga Vecchia, where he had attended a funeral. After 7 p.m., while driving through the wooded Fogolari area near Viote, he noticed an unusual glow behind the trees. The light was described as having an “asbestos-like” color. Believing it could indicate a forest fire, he stopped his vehicle, took his camera and entered the woods to investigate.
Description of the Figure
The account states that Giorgio then heard a rhythmic metallic ticking sound and developed the impression that he was being watched. When he turned around, he reportedly saw a figure partially concealed behind a tree at a distance of approximately five meters.
Giorgio is said to have observed the figure for about 30 seconds. He estimated its height at between 1.5 and 1.6 meters, or roughly 4 feet 11 inches to 5 feet 3 inches. The figure was described as stocky and having pointed ears resembling those of a donkey. The available source material also refers to a spiral-shaped tube extending from the figure’s mouth and unusually large eyes, although the published text provided for this report ends before completing the description.
The Photographs
According to the account, Giorgio took one photograph without looking through the camera’s viewfinder. He then took a second image after the figure moved farther from behind the tree. The images presented with the report show a dark, partially obscured form in a wooded setting, but the available material does not establish the figure’s identity or provide independent confirmation of what appears in the photographs.
One version of the image has reportedly undergone non-generative processing, described as a 30 percent contrast increase along with selective brightening of gray and white areas. That distinction is relevant because such adjustments can make low-detail shapes more visible while also altering the apparent boundaries and tonal relationships within a photograph. No original negatives, camera records, contemporaneous reports or independent forensic examination are cited in the supplied account.
Evidence and Verification
The report identifies the witness by the first name “Giorgio” and provides biographical and location details, but it does not include a surname, a police or fire-service record, or statements from other witnesses. It also does not document when the photographs were developed, preserved or first circulated. Those omissions make it difficult to assess the images’ provenance or determine whether they have remained unchanged since 1978.
The source material similarly offers no authenticated chain of custody, photographic analysis or environmental explanation for the reported glow. Possible interpretations could range from an ordinary person, animal, object or visual artifact to an unidentified phenomenon; the photographs alone do not resolve those possibilities.
Context
Monte Bondone is a mountainous area west of Trento characterized by forests, roads and isolated clearings. Such terrain, particularly after sunset, can make scale, distance and shape difficult to judge. A partially hidden subject illuminated against a contrasting background may also appear more unusual in a film photograph, especially after later enhancement.
The account, published by Alien Archivist on November 10, 2026, presents the episode as a historical humanoid photograph but supplies no additional verification of the image’s origin or subject. Until original materials and independent analysis become available, the Monte Bondone case remains an unverified photographic claim rather than confirmed evidence of a non-human encounter.
