Ummo Hoax

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Ummo Hoax

Ummo is a planet that reputedly circles the star Iumma located some 14.6 light-years from Earth. Knowledge of this planet and the associated star emerged in 1965 through Spanish contactee Fernando Sesma, president of the Society of the Friends of Space, headquartered in Madrid. In 1967 Sesma let it be known that a spacecraft would appear near the city on the evening of June 1. Contact with the Ummites was quite different. Sesma had neither direct physical contact nor telepathic contact. Instead he was contacted via the mail or by telephone. He had received several lengthy documents in typescript that included descriptions of Ummo and insights into a variety of scientific, psychological, technological, and socio-political issues.

The messages from Ummo intersected with a series of UFO sightings that began on February 6, 1966. Several people saw the saucer near Alauche, Spain, and one, José Luis Jordan Peña, drew a sketch and reported it to the newspapers. The saucer was distinguished by a peculiar symbol. A second sighting occurred on June 1, 1967, at which time pictures were taken. One picture showed the same symbol Jordan had reported the previous year. Copies of the pictures were recovered by a Madrid newspaper photographer from an anonymous source. Adding to the mystery, a flyer signed with the name Henri Dagousset was circulated, suggesting that the 1967 UFO had left behind some small cylinders and asking anyone who found one to make contact through the general post office. One of these was sent anonymously to UFO author Marius Leuget. Inside the object was a piece of paper with the mysterious symbol.

In the days after the announcement of Sesma's contact with the Ummites others began to report intriguing but anonymous contacts with people who also claimed to be from Ummo. In the meantime the lengthy messages from the Ummites continued to appear. By 1983 the number had grown to some 6,700.

While written from a knowledgeable standpoint, the Ummo communications were always troubling because of their lack of a means of independently verifying that they were from Ummites. None of those who wrote and circulated the documents allowed any direct contact. In addition, none of the other people who claimed contact were ever located. Then, the U.S.-based Ground Saucer Watch examined the pictures of the Ummo symbol and determined that they were taken of a small object held close to the camera. The saucer appeared to be an eight-inch plate with the symbol painted on it in ink.

In spite of the finding concerning the photographs and the lack of independent verification of either the sightings or the documents, the latter have been published in both English and Spanish. The Ummo material has subsequently been integrated into the large body of flying saucer contactee material and several websites have been placed on the Internet, including one detailing the Ummite philosophy at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ummo.textes-essentiels/anglais/a016.htm (as of December 1999).