No, that's not the title of a new Japanese monster-movie! But, it probably is the strangest title I have ever applied to one of my blog-posts!
Back in 2005, I did some filming for a TV show on the world's most famous UFO event. Yeah, you know the one: the desert, little bodies, 1947. That one.
Anyway, for some odd reason that I don't think was ever really explained to me, the company chose to do the filming high in the mountains of Mexico.
I actually wondered afterwards if they had mistaken Mexico for New Mexico!
But regardless of the reasons behind the shoot-location, Mexico it was. And, for effect no doubt, the filming was done outside a small astronomical observatory that sat high in the mountains.
The photo above shows the crew setting up, while I wandered around, probably looking for exotic lizards or a bar. Or both.
Well, not long before we started filming, an American man - in his 50s or early 60s - strolled past, saw the cameras being set up, and engaged us in conversation.
When he heard that we there to film a show for a new mystery-based series, he asked - in totally casual terms - something like: "Oh, is it about the pterodactyl?"
The what???!!!
Yep, a pterodactyl. That got me much more interested than bloody Roswell ever could.
It may surprise many to know that for absolutely years numerous reports of creatures sounding suspiciously like pterosaurs have surfaced from the mountains of Mexico.
Controversial? Of course!
But, there's no denying such reports exist - and in sizable numbers too. Good mate Ken Gerhard - my co-author on Monsters of Texas - has collected dozens of such stories.
So, anyway, I asked the man for more information.
He explained he worked in the tourism industry and had heard - some two months earlier - a story of a visitor to the area who claimed to have seen a huge, leathery-looking flying monster only mere feet from where we were filming!
I asked the man how he knew the exact location, and he replied along the lines of: "The guy said it was right above the observatory in the hills." Which is exactly where we were filming!
He proceeded to point to the direction of the mountains in which the monstrous creature disappeared - which is shown in the photo to the left.
The man knew no more, went on his way, and I tried to think of something new and worthwhile to say for the cameras about Roswell.
But to be filming a documentary on Roswell outside an astronomical observatory above which a pterodactyl was supposedly seen only mere months earlier was just plain surreal!
I suppose I should not have been surprised though. I have come to learn over the years that there's very little in this game that isn't surreal!
Nick, my mate --couldn't you be a little more specific about the location in Mexico you were filming at?
ReplyDeleteI must admit this is something that annoys me a bit. Often times people write "somewhere in Mexico..." as if my country could be traveled in a single hour from one end to the other --and may I remind you, Mexico is 15 times the size of your puny native island :P
RPJ:
ReplyDeleteI would if I could remember! Or if I even knew at all! It was 2005 and I know we flew into Monterrey, and drove from there. Not a long drive, as I recall. But, above an hour I think. So, it wasn't too far from Monterrey, I know that much. But, I'm not even sure I was ever told the exact name of the specific area. It was literally a 1-day thing where I was flown in, did the filming in the afternoon, returned immediately after to Monterrey, and flew out the next morning. So, it was all a bit frantic.
I think i found it! it's the Chipinque Astronomical Observatory, in San Pedro Garza García :)
ReplyDeleteRPJ:
ReplyDeleteCool!