Recently viral Buga, Colombia, "alien" metal balls

[Mick West]

So based on the end position of the sphere relative to the vegeation the glint section seems to be taken from the zoomed out video that is right at the start

Would be expect to see glints in the zoomed out version, or is the quality too low?

It's there, just hard to see without significant contrast enhancement

 

[Calter]

It seems the response they are going for against the obvious string is that it's a "lens flare" and "a string would need to be at a 45°-degree angle"


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1m1gt2r/string_controversy_settled_new_yumbo_sphere/



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l4QIm8_tn4

 

[JMartJr]

seems the response they are going for against the obvious string is that it's a "lens flare" and "a string would need to be at a 45°-degree angle.

Amigo. It is a visible string. You're busted, give it up and move on to the next case.

 

[Mick West]

It looks and moves nothing like any lense flare I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot).

It looks moves exactly like a highlight on a thin line in the sun. And the line angle is as expected for a much higher drone.

 

[yoshy]

It seems the response they are going for against the obvious string is that it's a "lens flare" and "a string would need to be at a 45°-degree angle"

Reddit: nothing is ever a lens flare except for when it can be used to debunk a debunk!

 

[MonkeeSage]

It seems the response they are going for against the obvious string is that it's a "lens flare" and "a string would need to be at a 45°-degree angle"

Since the sphere is flying somewhat away from the camera when we see the glinting, I think the line could even be going up at a 45°-degree angle away from from the camera to a drone flying (out of frame) in front of it and we would still see a somewhat vertical line of glinting.

 

[OriginalManc]

I saw over at Reddit someone posted a new video from our friend Maussan, and it shows another floating ball! Too bad this time the string is seen @1:30-1:33:

View attachment 82493View attachment 82494View attachment 82495View attachment 82496

And the link to reddit:

Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1m0inqe/new_sphere_in_yumbo_colombia_maussan_television/

Is it just me, or in these new videos does the German Company seem to be on the outs? We have Maussan presenting the new videos, a new Italian/Guatemala research group (?) and now the UFO Hunters of Latin America as the people on the ground. They have their cute little matching outfits and cheap radios:

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They seem to have some stuff on YouTube that was possibly TV show of some kind. Standard Ghost Hunters or Skinwalker Ranch type on a smaller budget. I'm wondering if Maussan has completely taken this over now.

William Zuniga (above) is also the name the Sugar Mill Contractor who managed to record the Yumba Sphere, They also share very similar facial features and ear shapes. (Screen cap from Verdad Occulta - Title "HE RECORDED THE SPHERE in YUMBO interview with WILLIAM ZUNIGA" .

 

[NorCal Dave]

William Zuniga (above) is also the name the Sugar Mill Contractor who managed to record the Yumba Sphere, They also share very similar facial features and ear shapes. (Screen cap from Verdad Occulta - Title "HE RECORDED THE SPHERE in YUMBO interview with WILLIAM ZUNIGA" .

Your saying the UFO hunter on the right could be William Zuniga. He's credited as such:

So, he works sugar mills by day, and hunts UFOs on the weekends.

 

[Mick West]

Carbon dataing discussion split to:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/buga-sphere-carbon-dating.14454/

 

[MonkeeSage]

Jaime Maussan is promoting a new version they are calling the Baldías Sphere, allegedly found by the same David Velez and William Zuñiga.

They decided to leave off the engraved characters on this one (they are apparently calling it "proto-sanskrit" now) but they think it's probably on the inside. They do all the usual silliness we have come to expect (starting around 11:45 in the video below), like probing the copper/brass rivets for electrical continuity, pointing an IR thermometer at it, pointing some kind of EMF meter at it. I don't see this one gaining as much traction on social or traditional media since it's basically just a copy of the original one.

Maussan video in Spanish with Zuñiga interview and video clips.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVRXREkqK9k

 

[Todd Feinman]

Hehehe.. Those are kind of a visual distillation of a lot of UFO beliefs with magico-scientific graphics. They seem to have the horizontal grooves of the Klerksdorp sphere, spooky black flying triangle geometric images, and a glyph that looks like a cross between a computer chip and a Necronomicon sigil! Just the kind of thing a churro alien would use. One ball to rule them all...Hats off to the artist!

 

[John J.]

Hats off to the artist!

I don't view it with the same equanimity. These spheres, and the associated videos, have been deliberately made to deceive people, to make then believe things that aren't true.
Maussan has a horrible track record of (at the very least) promoting hoaxes as true and scientifically significant, including some possibly involving desecrated human remains (thread Alien Bodies at a Mexican UAP Hearing).

 

[JMartJr]

I don't view it with the same equanimity. These spheres, and the associated videos, have been deliberately made to deceive people, to make then believe things that aren't true.

Although , given the arrant nonsense Maussan has pushed over the years, at some point it is hard not to say "Well, if folks are THAT determined to be conned, I guess nothing can protect them."

 

[Todd Feinman]

I don't view it with the same equanimity. These spheres, and the associated videos, have been deliberately made to deceive people, to make then believe things that aren't true.
Maussan has a horrible track record of (at the very least) promoting hoaxes as true and scientifically significant, including some possibly involving desecrated human remains (thread Alien Bodies at a Mexican UAP Hearing).

You are absolutely right. They should sell the silly things as art and donate the money to an animal shelter. I hate hoaxers and grifters as much as y'all.

 

[Mendel]

Jaime Maussan is promoting a new version they are calling the Baldías Sphere, allegedly found by the same David Velez and William Zuñiga.

So they found another buyer...

 

[Todd Feinman]

So they found another buyer...

I'd appropriate them and make them into the larger art piece "Alien Genitalia". Instead of the mouth with a mouth idea, things would telescope out.

 

[Starflint]

Source: https://x.com/FalconSpaceLabs/status/2059837951433957823?s=20

 

[John J.]

It seems extremely likely that the Buga sphere and the new one are hoaxes.
But Falcon Space's views on the matter shouldn't influence our thinking too much, I feel.

Also on their X.com page, antigravity paint (30 Jan 2025), "Anti-Gravity via NUclear Entropy aka Alzofon experiment is back up and running with some new modifications" (18 June 2025), "Burning a Quran in public proves that you are not Islamophobic" (02 February 2025).

Founder and CEO Mark Sokol said on the YouTube video "Reverse Engineering UFOs - Inside Falcon Space Lab", uploaded c. July 2025 by Erik K. Swanson,

I believe that flying saucers are shaped like saucers because that is an ideal resonator for microwaves

(First line spoken at start of video),

...all religions seem to be emanating from some sort of extraterrestrial, uh, connection

(2 mins 45 secs into video).


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY67HnsJMAc

 

[JMartJr]

But Falcon Space's views on the matter shouldn't influence our thinking too much, I feel.

Their views, no. But their video?

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Re: Falcon Space vs Buga Sphere

I suspect that this is a case of "professional" rivalry. If I can use that word.

More like the rivalry in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. This is not a debunk in the quest of truth... just eliminating a rival for a limited space. A limited number of suckers.

 

[NorCal Dave]

But Falcon Space's views on the matter shouldn't influence our thinking too much, I feel.

I thought it sounded familiar. From a chit-chat thread about a debate between the late Nick Pope and Lawrence Krauss, in which a lab coat wearing guy in the audience asks Krauss something during the Q&A. He, Mark Sokol, wore an actual lab coat to attend the lecture and challenged Krauss to come to his lab in New Jersey to see what he and his "team" were up to:

Mr. Sokol seems to be trying a different approach. Glancing through his "Team" page, he's augmenting his expertise in the "hybrid vehicle battery sector" (Toyota Prius) with these experts to help build a warp drive:

• Todd, a guy who designs solar installations.
• Jeremy, a media influencer who has the "AlienScientist" YouTube channel.
• Tim, a digital marketing guy who founded American Antigravity.
• Tom, a Certified Athletic Trainer that works at local high Schools.
• Professor Kieth, (doesn't say of what or where) who studies "...novel quasioptical structures for the study of aqueous in vitro samples with future applications to in vivo samples".
• David, who using his father's studies with Oppenheimer, Lenzen and Evens, authored the book Build a Flying Saucer (and Save the Planet): Theory, Technology, Proof (currently out of print on Amazon).

https://www.falconspace.org/portfolio/david-alzofon/#our-team

If Krause is supposed to be known for his ego, I'd say he let this guy off pretty easy. Likely because he didn't want the Q&A to turn into a physics lecture. He basically said, you can't engineer something that violates physics and moved on.

Mr.Sokol's laboratory, where he reverse engineers UFOs and is creating a warp drive:

Don't let the plywood benches fool you, those look like legit lab coats hanging on the door to the right.

Krauss-Pope thread: https://www.metabunk.org/threads/wh...ck-pope-youtube-discussion.13299/#post-308125

Their views, no. But their video?

This ties right into something on another thread yesterday. New member @jumbobob (more names to learn in this thread sir) had posted a video by the Cousins twins from their 3POM channel, and the idea came up that just because 99% of their content is hoaxed crap, it doesn't mean the 1% isn't real aliens. Sokol seems to have some pretty fringe views and ideas, but maybe he was a broken clock in this case? Or more likely, this was such a blatant hoax, it's really low hanging fruit. Add in Mr Wolf's suggestion that there may be a bit of rivalry and/or with Maussan's bigger media presence, it was a chance for some publicity.

The interesting thing is who let him drill in and debunk the sphere?! As we saw in the Nazca mummy situation, Maussan keeps a tight rain on information and who can be involved. I always assumed this Buga ball started as a marketing stunt for the supposed alien technology infused dowsing contraptions The German Company was trying to sell. At some point it appears Maussan got involved, and it seemed The German Company faded away. Maybe there is some behind the scenes tussle about who controls the story. In any event, it looks like they may have let what they thought was a like minded individual, drill into, then video their sphere and proclaim it bunk.

Perhaps the prudent thing now, is to sit back with some popcorn and see what unfolds.

 

[John J.]

Their views, no. But their video?

I don't know, I'm sort of conflicted by it.
To be clear, I think it shows the inside of a hoax object, it looks rather crude but I can't really identify what is being seen. Pragmatically, the video can probably be considered further evidence that the spheres are hoaxes.
The evidence for everything about the Buga sphere(s) being part of a deliberate hoax was already convincing (IMO).

But if someone from a hypothetical company very similar to Space Falcon, with a history of making claims similar to those of Space Falcon, looked at the sphere and came to a different conclusion, then I think we would look at that person's/ company's past claims and maybe decide that conclusion might be unreliable.

I don't use X.com so while I've watched the video I don't know how Sokol reached his conclusions about what he had seen.
I've found a couple of other "X" posts that appear to quote him, e.g. Skywatch Signal @UAPWatchers, 28 May 2026
Source: https://x.com/UAPWatchers/status/2059937564186866058

"Its scrap cast dirty aluminum covered in epoxy to hold it together: Looks like a shitty fake"

-which isn't very scientific or neutrally-phrased language. The spheres look like they might be aluminium, but we knew that. There's no indication (that I'm aware of) that Space Falcon did any materials analysis (e.g. of swarf from the drilling).

Space Falcon people believe the spheres are hoaxes but they believe the shapes of flying saucers (not spheres) are evidence for their theories about antigravity drives. I'm reluctant to credit them for selective debunking.

 

[NorCal Dave]

I'm reluctant to credit them for selective debunking.

A bit like the guys from UAPx and the Scientific Coalition for UAPs (SCU or whatever their actual name is), callin out Villarreol's paper as circular and non-scientific, we take what we can get.