It was a silvery object 15 meters (50 feet) across, the witnesses said.
The excellent “Hispanic Ufology” blog Inexplicata reports:
[At]… 15:45 hours, residents of Paihuano, a small village in Valle de Elquí (Chile) underwent an extraordinary experience which keep its 2,500 residents on the edge of their seats. A flying object described as having a metallic color and measuring some 15 meters across remained motionless over the Las Mollacas hill, from which the entire town could be seen.The object began to rise and abruptly made a sudden turn that split it in two before the awestruck witnesses. One part of the object fell on hill’s peak and the other behind it. Accounts collected on the field by this correspondent among the many persons who wintessed the uncanny event lead us to consider the following events: a) the object witnessed was metallic (silvery); b) the sun’s rays reflected off its structure, aiding its visibility; c) Its shape was elongated; d) it remained on the summit of the hill throughout the afternoon of Wednesday the 7th, Thursday the 8th and Friday the 9th, when it was removed by personnel in uniform; e) all of the townsfolk, including mayor Lorenzo Torres, witnessed the event; f) earthquakes were registered after the object fell to the ground; g) electric blackouts covered the entire region; h) radio and TV broadcasts throughout Paihuano, Pisco Elquí and Monte Grande (two neighboring towns) were disrupted.
Read what happened next at Inexplicata.
The 1998 sighting would not be Chile’s last. Check out this video of a UFO/OVNI over-flying a military air show in March of this year:
And enjoy Prelude’s stunning a cappella version of Neil Young’s After the Goldrush, the ultimate paeon to our Space Brothers: