Scientists are speaking out about the supposed “aliens” presented to Mexico’s Congress earlier this week, calling them bunk. At least one researcher says many details about the “corpses,” which appeared to be presented in satin-lined, coffin-shaped boxes, “made no sense.”
On Tuesday, Mexican journalist and longtime UFO enthusiast Jaime Maussan presented two boxes with supposed mummies found in Peru, which he and others consider “non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution.”
The “bodies” bore a remarkable resemblance to beloved fictional alien E.T., with elongated, protruding faces, skinny limbs and three long fingers on each hand. (E.T. had four fingers and a thumb, however.)
“I think there is a clear demonstration that we are dealing with non-human specimens that are not related to any other species in our world and that all possibilities are open for any scientific institution… to investigate it,” Maussan said, claiming they were found in Peru in 2017 and had been carbon-dated back 1,000 years by Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM).
The images and video from the congressional hearing went immediately viral, with many casting scorn and doubt on the claims.
Former U.S. Navy pilot Ryan Graves, who also attended the hearing to share his personal experience with sightings of “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP, heaped criticism on the presentation.
“Yesterday’s demonstration was a huge step backwards for this issue,” Graves said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “I am deeply disappointed by this unsubstantiated stunt.”
Graves participated in U.S. Congressional hearings on UAP in July, when he said that airspace sightings of unexplained phenomena were “grossly underreported.”
On Wednesday, Julieta Fierro, researcher at the Institute of Astronomy at UNAM, also expressed skepticism, saying that the allegedly calcified bodies “made no sense.”
She pointed out that it’s strange that such items — a “treasure of a nation” — would be removed from Peru without inviting the Peruvian ambassador.
She also said that Maussan’s claims that her university endorsed the discovery is false, and noted that scientists would need more advanced technology to determine the age and origin of the findings than what Maussan says was done.
“Maussan has done many things. He says he has talked to the Virgin of Guadalupe,” she said. “He told me extraterrestrials do not talk to me like they talk to him because I don’t believe in them.”
Peruvian Culture Minister Leslie Urteaga cast further doubt on the claims, saying no scientific institution in the South American country had identified the remains as non-human and questioned how the specimens had left Peru.
“There is a criminal complaint from the Ministry of Culture against some people who had a relationship with these gentlemen,” Urteaga told journalists late on Wednesday in reference to Maussan and his associates.
“I am going to ask for information to see what has happened … about the removal of pre-Hispanic objects, because I understand they are part of pre-Hispanic bone remains,” she added.
Maussan, speaking to Reuters on Thursday, said his critics had yet to present evidence to counter his claims.
“What they want is to take away the force that this discovery has, but only with testimonies, with questioning and without a single piece of evidence,” Maussan said. “We have been doing investigations for years… they want to come here to investigate with just talk.”
In a press conference on Thursday, NASA officials fielded questions about the Mexican presentation as they released their own report on recommendations for helping the Pentagon detect and examine UAP.
David Spergel, former head of Princeton University’s astrophysics department and chair of the report, said he did not know the nature of the samples but urged transparency.
“If you have something strange, make samples available to the world’s scientific community, and we’ll see what’s there,” he said.
— With files from Reuters and The Associated Press