Letters from aliens
The Ummo affair was a commotion in 1960s Spain over letters and UFO sightings. From the mid-1960s, a group of UFO enthusiasts in Madrid began receiving typewritten letters from supposed aliens from the planet “Ummo.” Ummo was said to orbit the star Wolf 424, about 14 light-years from Earth.
What the letters said
The letters numbered in the hundreds, thousands of pages in all, explaining in detail Ummo’s science and technology, the workings of the universe, society and psychology, and religion. They also bore a distinctive symbol like “)+(“. Because the content was technical and so voluminous, some researchers thought no single person could have written it.
Photos of a UFO with the symbol
In 1966 at Aluche, on the outskirts of Madrid, and in 1967 at nearby San Jose de Valderas, UFOs were reported landing or flying low. At San Jose de Valderas, photos were taken of a UFO with the same “)+(” symbol as the letters on its underside, and they appeared in newspapers. Linking the letters and the UFO made the Ummo story known around the world at once.
A confession of hoax
A researcher who later analyzed the photos suggested they showed a small model hung on a thread. Then in 1993, a Spanish man who had been a member of the group receiving the letters, and also a witness at Aluche, confessed that he had written the letters. However, he said little about his motives, and some people still believe in Ummo. Another famous figure who claimed contact with aliens is George Adamski.
