The river flows in you

The last 40 years of Yuan is notable for being one long period of pretty much constant uninterrupted civil warfare. To get an idea of what this was like, imagine playing on 100% Overextension for 100 years. Despite this, the Yuan was also a period marked by prosperity, tolerance, and culture. It’ll take too much time to explain everything that happened before 1337, so we’ll just jump straight into 1337 and if anyone is interested I can write a separate thing explaining how the Yuan got here because that shit was crazy. This will surely be my first campaign when Project Caesar releases.
In 1337, the Emperor Toghon Temur had been ruling for 5 years, but had been passed as a puppet through various dictators culminating in the military dictator and Grand Chancellor Bayan of the Merkit. Bayan is popularly considered to have been insane, executing nobles at random including the Empress, and famously suggested a massacre of every Chinese person with the five most popular surnames to reduce rebels and famine support. However, Bayan’s nephew Toqto’a turned out to be a great Confucian scholar, warrior, general, and capable administrator who was convinced by scholars that it would be righteous to launch a successful coup that took down Bayan in 1340. For nearly the first time since Kublai Khan, Yuan court politics were stable and controlled by capable, loyal, and decent ministers. This period was also marked by the rise of Empress Gi, a Korean noble and mother of the heir Ayushiridara. The Gi family pretty much controlled both Korean and Yuan courts, which you can read more about in my Project Caesar Lore Project: Korea post.
However, the Empire that Toqto’a oversaw faced crippling debt, soaring inflation, regional factionalism, rampant natural disasters, and widespread rebellion. The first three were largely related to the tribal succession system inherited from the Mongols, where Mongol princes voted for the next Emperor. In practice, this was hardly a democracy. Mothers, generals, ministers, and grandmothers often pre-decided the votes, and in many instances, rival factions nominated different candidates that led to civil wars or chains of assassinations. The system was prone to systematic corruption, as Mongol princes with land and armies had to be bribed for their support through lavish palaces (including the construction of three different capitals) and cash grants, but the extremely dogged resistance put up by the Song dynasty, as well as multiple failed invasions of Burma, Japan, Vietnam, and Indonesia had all but drained the state treasury. The Yuan adopted paper currency from the Song dynasty, which was a great innovation, but constantly devalued it by issuing new series between 1320-1365 to fund the unending expenditure, leading to inflation rates estimated at 80% for nearly the entire period.
A particularly bad El Niño effect simultaneously caused rains in the West and droughts in the East of the Yellow River, leading to floods in the Central Plains, damaging harvests and causing famines in all three areas. The Yellow River gets its name from the silt it carries downriver from the Loess Plateau which blocks the waterway and makes it prone to flooding. These floods further damaged the Grand Canal used to transport food from the fertile south, threatening the north and the capital with famines too. Floods, droughts, famine, and poverty exacerbated sanitation problems, leading to epidemics. Entire provinces could be lost to epidemics - a wave in 1353-1354 wiped out 70% of the population of Hunan and 65% of the population of Shanxi. These were made worse by a sudden surge in earthquake activity including the particularly strong Huailai earthquake in 1337 which levelled the region around the capital Khanbaliq. Almost like a sign from Heaven, none of these were one off occurrences. The Yuan faced 12 earthquakes between 1337-1350, major floods roughly once every 6 months between 1335-1345, at least 60 million people died in epidemics between 1331-1362, and by 1348 due to lack of funds for repairs the dikes holding back the Yellow River lay broken and the Grand Canal became largely impassable. This was a really, really, really bad time to be alive.
In the face of all this calamity, the White Lotus cult began to spread rapidly among the populace. The White Lotus was an old Buddhist cult which worshipped Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. As is common among people who are dying and starving, the cult promised that a Prince of Light would pierce through the Darkness with Fire and usher in an era of light and peace. If this all sounds like some Game of Thrones shit, scholars believe that the White Lotus was heavily influenced by Manichean traditions during the Tang Dynasty from Persia, which is what the Lord of Light also draws inspiration from. Militant factions soon galvanised into Red Turban rebels, who were initially sporadic and easily crushed, but combined with Song restorationists, hungry peasants, unpaid soldiers, and local gangs until they got bigger and bigger and effectively became little states. Beginning broadly in 1351, Red Turban rebel groups erupted all over the country, forming two broad groups. The Northern Red Turbans were led by Han Shantong, who claimed descent from the Song Emperors, and claimed to be the Prince of Light. The Southern Red Turbans were led by Xu Shouhui, a cloth merchant. Realistically, this was less Star Wars and more the Godfather on steroids. The groups backstabbed each other, splintered among themselves, and caused their own measure of chaos and disaster, though in the initial phase they did cooperate to seize Yuan territory.
Amidst this backdrop, Toqto’a kept trying. A much needed military reform tripled the Yuan army, and put it in the hands of battlefield promotions rather than Mongol princes. In 1353, he launched his biggest project yet, the repairing of the Yellow River dikes, diversion of the Yellow River to flow into the sea and prevent further flooding, and repair of the Grand Canal, using a corvee labourer team of 150,000 peasants. Conditions were rough, and the Yuan court was too broke to adequately compensate the labourers while also doing famine relief, so many labourers revolted to join the Red Turbans. Against all odds, Toqto’a succeeded and with the alleviated relief expenditure was able to focus his attentions on the rebels. By 1354, he was able to concentrate his forces and prepare for the final annihilation of the Red Turbans at Gaoyou. Instead, the Emperor recalled Toqto’a and had him banished. He asked to at least be allowed to finish exterminating the rebels, but was ultimately denied. There are lots of theories about why Toqto’a was banished, the common one is that the Empress Gi wanted to eliminate an opponent to her control of the Empire. I think a more likely one is that Toghon Temur feared the second coming of Bayan.
With Toqto’a gone, the rebel numbers were swelled by labourers and angry soldiers loyal to Toqto’a, eventually losing nearly the whole of China south of the Yellow River, or about 70% of China today, including the entire Grand Canal, which placed the North in a famine. However, the foundations Toqto’a had laid were relatively solid, and allowed another military leader Chaghan Temur to emerge. He had been a successful general since 1351, but had to pretty much recruit and train an army from scratch, though by 1358 he was doing quite well. In 1358, Chaghan Temur launched a blazing counteroffensive which recaptured all of North China. To the North, the Mongol princes were getting antsy about the growing success of the non-royal Chaghan Temur so the Yuan court forced him to give up his previous lands whenever he reconquered new ones to various princes under the command of Bolad Temur, the father of the Emperor’s second wife. In 1362, Chaghan Temur was assassinated in a siege in Shandong, probably by Bolad Temur’s assassins. He was immediately succeeded by his nephew and general Koke Temur, who continued his advance southwards to reclaim the Empire. This successful advance took back control of the Grand Canal, alleviating a developing famine in the North as shipments of grain could finally pass through again. At roughly the same time, forces of Muslim Persian militias and mercenaries allied with Persian merchants and tried to declare a Muslim state in Fujian home to the great port city of Quanzhou, though this was crushed by another capable and loyal Chinese general Chen Youding, who would be one of the last bastions of Yuan loyalty in the South.
With Koke Temur defeating the Northern Red Turbans, the remaining Red Turbans coalesced by 1363 into four rough groups. Remnants of the Northern Red Turbans retreated South into the Lower Yangtze led by beggar monk Zhu Yuanzhang. Xu Shouhui was assassinated by his subordinate the fisherman Chen Youliang, who established himself in the Yangtze River Valley. Xu’s more loyal followers regrouped under the farmer Ming Yuzhen and retreated into the Sichuan region. Finally, the pirate lord Fang Guozhen controlled the coast of Zhejiang, and a salt merchant Zhang Shicheng controlled the richest cities located on the mouth of the Yangtze River. Of these, Chen Youliang had the largest armies, Zhang Shicheng had the richest lands and had submitted to the Yuan as a kind of high liberty desire vassal (that was willing to ship grain North to stop the North from starving), but Zhu Yuanzhang had the most legitimacy as he controlled the Prince of Light, and was able to attract many Yuan defectors including talented generals and ministers.
In 1363, Bolad Temur’s coalition of princes began to attack Koke Temur’s positions from the North, forcing Koke Temur to leave the South to exterminate the threat. Even after ending Bolad Temur in 1365, Koke Temur remained in the North to deal with Bolad Temur’s subordinates, which kept him occupied and unable to redeploy south against the Red Turbans. The ever-suspicious Emperor also stripped Koke Temur of many titles after several defeats, placing him on the defensive. The Red Turbans didn’t just sit there either. Between 1360-1363, Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang fought a long war that culminated in the legendary Battle of Lake Poyang which you might remember from AOE2, and one of the largest naval battles ever. Chen’s gigantic armada of floating fortress tower ships were completely destroyed by a smaller force of fire ships, supposedly causing the death of up to 600,000 sailors. Zhu then invaded Zhang Shicheng, by sending a blocking force to prevent Koke Temur from reinforcing him, before decisively defeating Zhang by 1367. In 1368, the remaining rebels submitted to Zhu, who was able to declare himself Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, or the Dynasty of Light. Both Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng were actually posthumously rehabilitated as rebel heroes, and up to this day some regions worship them.
Bogged down in constant infighting, Koke Temur could do little to stop the Ming forces advancing northwards until they captured the capital of Khanbaliq by Sep 1368 and renamed it Beiping. The Yuan court did successfully retreat into Mongolia, where Toghon Temur died in 1370, succeeded by Ayurshirida. The Yuan actually had a sliver of a chance still. Koke Temur had been able to join the new Yuan Emperor up north, and local loyalists including the Kingdom of Dali and the Mongol prince Balawaswarmi continued to hold out. In 1372, a massive Ming army was destroyed attempting to invade Mongolia, losing 150,000 men, which allowed a successful counteroffensive that was poised to retake the North in 1373, potentially with aid from the Koreans, whose ruling family had been intermarried into the Mongol imperial family for generations. Instead, no aid came and Koke Temur died in 1375, followed by Ayurshirida in 1378, squashing the dream of reconquest.
The Ming would continue to attempt to destroy the Yuan over many decades, but would never really succeed until 1410 when the Ming backed the Oirat tribes to subjugate what was left of the Yuan. An attempt was made as late as 1395 to ally with Timur for an invasion of China, though Timur died on his way there. Ultimately, the fall of the Yuan was marked by endless twists and turns, betrayal and intrigue. At multiple points, the Yuan had great heroes who could have salvaged the situation, but were mostly betrayed by infighting. The Ming were by no means the guaranteed victors until pretty much the very end, and had a fragile beginning marked by rebellions and political intrigue. Even after the Yuan retreated from China, this could have gone either way.

I pulled an Empyrean and I know it's valuable since it's new. Do any of these trades stand out as better for me? I'm more interested in collecting all the cards than the decks I can make with them.

I'll have little-to-no reliable internet until around the 26th. So, I wanted to get some stuff I've been working on posted while I can. Sorry, it's long and a bit jumbled. Actually had to break this into two posts because of picure limits. This is the second part that I split off of "Decor experiments: islands, rock formations, boats, and piers/docks." So there's probably some sections here that were written assuming you had already read text from that one. Anyways!
I tried recreating the temple-like battle arena, from u/FlorianMoncomble's recent post. (https://www.reddit.com/tinyshop/comments/1clik4y/wrapped_up_a_tiny_flooded_arena/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1). I was trying to get as close as possible, but I would definitely alter some things otherwise. I'm happy with the setup up to the tops of the columns, but I'd say I was unsuccessful in attempting to recreate the stones resting on top of them. It occurs to me that I've never really attempted to create a roof, all of my buildings have been open air with the insides on display. I'm sure it's possible to build roofs, especially using techniques like those for building islands and piers. However, I don't see how I could combine this technique with the columns to make it appear that the roof is resting on and fully supported by pillars. It is also difficult to create the appearance of a single very tall wall, you can create multi-storied buildings, but the walls will always be slightly staggered, not a straight line. Overall though, I'm pretty pleased. There's plenty of different methods you could use to create your very own temple complex. Water or otherwise. I got a bit carried away, tried a whole bunch of quick themes (copy of the sea arena, catacombs, Fire/lava temple or metalsmithing factory, ice caverns, freshwater temple, sun/light temple, sunken pirate ship, and a grand library). The library is the only one with a layout alteration, and that's only on the "field of play". Mostly just playing around with floor and wall items, didn't mess around too much with decor items except for trying to make lava walls and ghost pirates.
Suggestions: a wall set, or a set of standalone wall decor, that is either twice or one-and-a-half times as tall as a normal wall, so tall structures can be constructed. 1.5 size may be easier to blend with normal sized walls though, in the same way we can use combos with half walls now.
Also, a lava or bloodberry slime wall of some sort, so we can create flowing rivers in a fire temple sort of way.
Finally, a set of column decor so we can create colonnades (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colonnade). I would recommend a set of three or four items: a single post without a topper (basically like the column decor we already have, like "ll" or slightly smaller, like "l"), a single post with a square top piece (maybe slightly larger than the post, but doesn't affect the footprint of it, like "]["), and a post with a long rectangular top piece (resembling a "T", but taking up the same floorspace as the other two. This would leave gaps of flooring available under the shelter of the top, so plants or figures could be placed between the columns). The idea is that the T can butt up against another T (TTT), or can butt up against a square top for accents or turning corners (TT][TT), and the untapped post would be able to fit "under" the top of the T (TlTlT), so columns could be placed together as densely as desired, perhaps even creating solid walls. And if the long sides of the T top butt up against one another, they could form roofs too. Finally, a set of two columns with a shared rectangular topper. Maybe only one column base has a footprint, so that little items could be set in the opening.
I think that covers what I wanted to say. Any questions, feel free to ask, but I may not respond quickly to to internet connection.

To begin with, I will state that this post was months in the making (mostly waiting and chasing false leads) and carries with it perhaps some answers, plenty of questions, and perhaps for some, a similarity to their own experiences. Special thanks to u/Neo-Rex as well as u/ebycon for their assistance in helping me find and rule out some areas of research.
Disclaimer: The following images and text are provided without photo manipulation on my end (besides simple cropping and scanning). There are going to be many references in this post to Italian media, magazines, as well as individual writers. This is by no means an endorsement, advertisement, or other form of ARG intended to sell, market, or persuade anyone to buy, rent, or procure any of the described materials. Because I know this is a new area of topic, and because the images provided are of an unusual nature, I will provide various sources to prove that these images are not enhanced, manipulated by hand or by a contemporary photo manipulation program or AI generation.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of the images I will provide background as to how I came upon these images, and the flow of information.
I was first made aware of these images after researching separate alien encounters for a post of mine (see that post here for further details regarding that) one of the sources used was "alieni in italia 1945-1995 50 anni di incontri ravvicinati". On page VIII towards the back of the book these images (or rather image as three were compressed into one section) as well as the following text appears
https://preview.redd.it/zz1ti49qm60d1.jpg?width=806&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e53f7b8ec62fb68abc04a29caa117d2f21c13325
"Vero alieno o scoop giornalistico? Ho evitato di inserire nel presente catalogo questo caso avvero singolare. Si tratte infatti di alcune foto )5_ scattate da un non meglio indentificato "professore universitario di pavia" nell'estate del 1986 e pubblicate da sette. il settimanale del Corriere della Sera. Si referiscono ad una presunta entita aliena che si sarebbe manifestata al professore in una situazione del tutto casuale. Non sono mancati pareri sfavorevoli expressi da parecchi ufologi. ( Foto tratte da: Sette n. 9/10 sette giorni illustrati dal Corriere della Sera, 5 marzo, 1988.
Translated: "Real alien or journalistic scoop? I have avoided including in the present catalog this singular case. These are in fact some photos(5) taken by an unidentified "university professor from Pavia" in the summer of 1986 and published by seven. The weekly newspaper Corriere della Sera. They refer to an alleged alien entity that allegedly manifested itself to the professor in a completely random situation. There was no shortage of unfavorable opinions expressed by several ufologists. ( Photo taken from: Seven No. 9/10 seven days illustrated by Corriere della Sera, March 5, 1988.
That was all the information provided within. (it should be noted that although this description mentions 5 photos, there are only these 3 provided within Moreno Tambellinis book.) These images captured my attention fairly quickly as I am fairly familiar with purported alien/supernatural photographs, so to find one I have never seen, and in such a quality which is general not present within other such photos as these, was more than enough to tip my curiosity in the direction of delving deeper.
First attempt at finding further information regarding these photos, and this particular magazine issue ended in little success, though I was able to find what I, at the time, believed to be a correctly colorized image of this entity. See below.
https://preview.redd.it/xpyz6eeum60d1.png?width=341&format=png&auto=webp&s=292a9a3afe55c7e83d0f6d5ccce43aa5f35d9fec
Unassuming on some random blog that attributed a name to this entity while providing no further information regarding the image itself (as certain ufological circles are want to do). Not finding further information I attempted to find further information based off of this colorized image, but to no avail. Save for one source that used this image ( in a different colorized manner, slightly less yellow and oozing with potential, that being this image by Argentinian Ufologist Dante Franch. See below.
https://preview.redd.it/tl0dx4lym60d1.png?width=280&format=png&auto=webp&s=ca523a7f18df130f09c9174e925d044a89852690
Finally, someone who might have a lead on this information! But no, once again this image is deceptively alluring as the contents of this book have absolutely nothing to do with the Sette report, but simply use its image to describe unsourced and unverified tales of the City of Erks (a wild dive on its own and may be deserving of its own post) and other entities that supposedly have a resemblance to this cover image.
Upon further searches I came across this archived link with additional images some with closer to truth color, including the aforementioned first colorized image here https://web.archive.org/web/20080312200229/https://www.anomalia.org/perspectivas/fotosets/campo_cielo.htm as well as the additional references. The author of this blog post is Mexican Ufologist Luis Ruiz Noguez, notable for his skepticism and thorough investigation relating to this material, so it was a no-brainier to look into his research regarding this seeing as he had previously mentioned it here on his blogpost. So where better to look than his book "Extraterrestres ante las camaras" Volume X dealing specifically with italian encounters and purported alien photographs. But again, despite his previous notation in this blog, the contents of these images specifically are nowhere to be seen or mentioned within this book.
Research stagnated for some time during the search process for the original source cited in Moreno Tambellinis book. I was able after five months (you have no idea how hard it was to find a copy) able to acquire a copy of this magazine and finally was able to determine that the previously assumed white coverall of this entities outfit has been a false notion.
The following text is a translation of the pages within this issue of march 7th 1988 Sette: Corriere della Cera . 9/10, the original scans, as well as a translated text document of these pages can be found in the sources listed below. Important note: although these images are primary focus of this article, it does meander into thoughts on Whitley Striebers book "Communion" (which will be a source of contention that will be covered later in this post). But the translated post here is the relevant text to these images.
"Just as we were editing a report on the UFO phenomenon that was supposed to appear on 7 at the same time as the television passage of Spielberg's film Close Encounters of the third kind, we came across a resounding surprise: the images published in these pages and on the cover of this issue. They were taken completely by chance, one summer evening in 1986, by a professor at the University of Pavia, above all suspicion and known for his balance, his intelligence and rationality, completely alien to the somewhat emphatic and vaguely bizarre world of the so-called "contactees": those people who say they have entered into a relationship with unknown entities from the cosmos."
"He is a completely normal person who has always been skeptical of the reports of unidentified flying objects and is now also a testimony, erroneous to the idea that his name is related to the disturbing figure captured by his camera. The university lecturer has agreed to give us what he considers to be evidence of his shocking experience in exchange for absolute confidentiality"
"What to make of these images? We can make a few assumptions.
A) The author of the photos is a mystrifier. It is unlikely: too much resistance has opposed the publication of his document (which he has yielded for free to 7). In addition, he wishes to remain anonymous. A behavior that is certainly not that of those who want to speculate on a scooop, true or presumed.
B) The author is the victim of a game. Someone made him take "fireflies for lanterns". A well-thought-out game, by true professionals. It is not unlikely, even if the professor is not a "contactee", one obsessed with extraterrestrials, that is, a man who could arouse "temptations" among those who know him.
C) The photos really document something alien. A mysterious otherness has been captured by the professor's camera, who was the first to be surprised by this tangible presence, imprinted on the film that is absolutely different from a hallucination. What to say? What are we to think of images that forcefully re-propose the problem (or the dream, or the myth, or the nightmare) of the existence of other beings, of other civilizations that populate galaxies or dimensions unknown to us? Science continues to question these facts, but an answer is still a long way off. All experiences at the "edge of reality" are embarrassing. The line that divides science and mystery is still vague. Prudence, in these cases, is a must. And the desire not to appear is widespread among the witnesses. The professor from Pavia, who chose restriction, has an illustrious precedent."
"These images, taken on a summer evening in 1986 by a professor at the University of Pavia, who asked to remain anonymous, are the subject of various hypotheses of interpretation in the text of the article. The reader is free to draw his own conclusions."
Here are the direct scans of this entity as they appear in the magazine, scanned directly out of a physical copy of this magazine. (do note although these images are uploaded in different order I believe they may be sorted as such, I make no claim to the accuracy of this in terms of chronological order, but which is most aesthetically appeasing.)
https://preview.redd.it/mk91ugp3n60d1.png?width=520&format=png&auto=webp&s=8218b2c6c3b0a508ef086c37c2d0e07552f73910
https://preview.redd.it/7cehtg65n60d1.png?width=385&format=png&auto=webp&s=805fe3d0c8be92d888412d1eeccef6bc88a4708a
https://preview.redd.it/izuhsjl6n60d1.png?width=388&format=png&auto=webp&s=215f53fa963abdeecb06ad8074583f7260b2df69
https://preview.redd.it/no9xn3f7n60d1.png?width=380&format=png&auto=webp&s=4ed13e6bf07df8a251f6368aab92383ad1bb26ca
https://preview.redd.it/hnf9x148n60d1.png?width=379&format=png&auto=webp&s=80de62f126a5f7770a12790d167e0aebea8ef378
Now, while the article was very keen to post certain aspects of this, it was rather lacking, and it must be stated although the title of this issue, as well as the description in the article infer this is related to UFO's. There is no mention of an actual UFO or craft present within this encounter, or at the very least, this information was omitted from the article, and was potentially removed at the request of the professor in question, though that is speculation on my part.
The following sections will deal with the author of this previous issue, as well as the two follow-up articles and their individual authors.
There is more information present as the above text states, not from the previous issue, but from two separate follow-up articles that were saved and printed in the Italian Ufo magazine "UFO express no. 043." Link to the full untranslated issue here/UFO%20Express%20-%20No%20043.pdf). These separate addendums fully cover the images in question and are critical but not overly-so. The most important aspect to this is that the professor provided further information to Sette, primarily about what they were doing prior to this entities appearance, but also their means of photographic capture.
{Page 1}
UFO: Is this being from another world? read the scroll on the cover of 7 (No. 9/10) that we republish on this page. Hundreds of phone calls and letters arrived at the editorial office, and they continue to arrive after Mino Damato in his TV program Alla ricerca dell'arca (Sunday, March 27, Rai 3 8:30 p.m.) dealt with the same images, depicting a hypothetical alien photographed by a professor at the University of Pavia one summer evening in 1986.
There are those who believe in this hypothetical alien and those who do not, but all of the readers who have phoned or written are bound to each other by the rejection of that question mark printed on the cover: each of them is persuaded to erase the hypothesis, to tear away the veil of the enigma. And they split into two equally intolerant parties, leaving no room for doubt. We have chosen two exemplary letters. The first letter comes from Brixen and is signed by Mr. Nicola De Paola (2 Clesia Street). He says “the alien is a tobogganist: typical are the tight suit the aerodynamic helmet, the face crushed by the transparent visor, the blurred colors and contours of the photos are due to the fact that they were taken from television, with the obj vo blurred or too close up and strange an alien with limbs, head, face and body identical to those of man; I too will be able to take photographs quite similar to those published; as a reader I feel mocked.”
Others have certainly seen in the hypothetical alien: a surgeon, a nurse, an ice skater, an Icelandic firefighter, a Norwegian cryologist (sic), a KGB spy, a hockey player with his head bandaged; in short, some man in overalls or uniforms. No one has identified in the figures, despite the width of the pelvis, a woman or an androgynous. The second letter comes from Ferrara and is signed by Mr. Giovanni Mantovani (via Luigi Borsari 51). Says; When I saw the photographs I immediately thought: but look, it looks like the E.T. seen by R.M on September 2, 1987 while he was fishing on the bank of the Canal Bianco (RO). He felt an intense tingling, turned around and saw a strange individual: dark complexion, 2 meters tall, hair that looked like plastic, wearing a luminescent blue jumpsuit. The apparition lasted a few seconds.R.M. felt a chill, a feeling that was renewed at the sight of your photos... Only one remark can be made to the professor of Pavia: that of not having given the readers further clarifications about the close approach of the third type...
Here are the further clarifications that the professor from Pavia has allowed us to give, although he is consumed by the fear of being uncovered and covered with ridicule. The photos were taken by a Nikon camera, with motor-drive, 55 mm lens. Micro, 3.5 aperture, shutter speed: 1/4 second Polachrome film, 40 Asa sensitivity. Shortly after the sun went down, the professor was completing some experiments on the optical perception of dogs (how does a dog see things in the world? Black and white? With what depth, in what perspective?). That alone is almost ridiculous. We were missing the hypothetical alien. A dog joke? Maybe. But the professor never solved the riddle. And dogs don't talk. ~ Paolo Pietroni
{page caption}
The hypothetical alien out of 7 has caused conflicting reactions. The photo was taken from a Nikon by a university lecturer while carrying out experiments on the visual perception of dogs
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Pietroni (information about this addendums author)
{Page 2}
Your E.T. seems to me to be a feminine being...
Dear editor, I am writing to you in relation to the series of 5 photographs taken by a better identified professor of Pavia one summer evening in 1986 and which appeared in the supplement of the Corriere della Sera n. 9/10 Since I am not familiar with photographic technique, I have written down the shooting parameters communicated by you personally during Mino D'Amato's television program In Search of the Ark on March 27.
Correct me if I'm wrong: Nikon camera body with motor, 5.5 mm focal length lens, aperture dia 3.5, exposure time 1/15 of a second. Certainly, with this adjustment, every little movement of the camera or of the photographed subject causes a blurred or rather blurred photograph. Probably, this whole story of the photos arose from the need of the Rizzoli Group to launch on the market the Italian version of the best American seller Communion by Ted Jacob, which deals, coincidentally, with the subject of extraterrestrials. This colossal business is also sponsored by the production of the film, which has been "posted" while waiting for the possible buyers of such a profitable product to be sufficiently sensitized...
Having said this, I wish, through his kindness, to convey to the professor of Pavia my modest comments on his photos. Feminism aside, I confess that the first spontaneous observation I made on these photographs was to recognize without a shadow of a doubt a woman, or rather a female being; The conformation of the hips, the breasts, combined with the grace of the bowed pose with folded arms, unequivocally belonged to a woman. But let's get to the details.
The suit - It appears so tight that it shows every little part of the body so as to give the impression of a "second skin"; It has light blue-green bands (as shown in the photo on the right on page 74) that are more evident around the neck, on the shoulders and on the arms.
The hands - They appear covered by the sleeves and more elongated than ours (cover figure), dare I say w(bed.
The head - Although it is more mobile, it clearly shows these elements: oval face with a slightly flattened nose, microphone with a light-colored support arm placed at the height of the left ear (photo on the right, page 74)
The headset - It is completely different from any type currently built because it contains a transceiver module at the top for contact with some support organ (e.g. an operations center, or a cosmoplane, or another operator), similar to what happens in Italy when astronauts go out of their vehicle and maintain constant radio contact with the control center.
The transceiver part can be seen both in the cover photo and on page 74, left and right, and is indicated by the protuberance on the top of the skull.
This study was born well out of any venal or other interest, in fact I am not a ufologist, but a pilot in full flight activity and with command responsibilities; I have been a first-hand witness to the phenomenon commonly associated with the improper name of UFO
Sure of the need to deal with the subject with more compatible methodologies than those promulgated by scientists and ufologists, I dedicate myself to the enhancement of aeronautical contactism, intending with this new term to redefine the sightings of military and civil pilots, aeronautical technicians, engineers, etc. who through direct experience with the phenomenon have acquired the conviction that we are not alone Only those who have had a direct impact with the phenomenon (the contactee) can provide a plausible image of themselves... everything else... They are only lucubrations born from mindsets that are not up-to-date with the present sotric moment on the one hand, and with the characteristics of the phenomenon on the other.
{end of article caption}
I forwarded his observations to the professor in Pavia, author of the photos depicting the hypothetical alien. Thank you for your interesting analysis. You are free to believe it or not, but the Rizzoli Communion book had an absolutely random presence in our service: we liked the design of the cover; the portrait of that E.T. and we thought of enriching the illustrations of the service.
Roberto Doz (a fairly interesting individual on his own, air force colonel with his own UFO sighting) read more on that here
As for the author of the original article. Their name is Nullo Cantaroni, and may be more well known by his wife Bice Cairati( Sveva Casati Modigiani), Nullo Cantaroni had a fairly successful journalistic career, dealing primarily in medicine as co-authorized by fellow science journalist Severina Cantaroni. He eventually succumbed to Parkinson's disease. I make mention of these authors, Roberto Doz (who has a very good reason to be interested in the topic as he had his own experience). As well as the other two as these are not the ramblings of some crazy pumping out their own versions of weekly world news, but were and still are highly credible and respected peoples, whom by their own association are taking the flak for posting this material to begin with.
From here on out, this is going to be a further dive into the already presented material, some comparisons with other cases which have direct correlation with these images, as well as other information during my research that has not been touched on up until this point.
In the first follow-up article there is mention of a show "Alla Ricera dell'arca (In search of the ARK)". With he show discussing the images posted here. I was able to confirm that this episode does exist, with the covered material, and is within the RAI archives (Italian TV network/station). However, they would not lend the episode out to a non-Italian citizen, or someone associated with a University, or media conglomeration. I mention this as there may be more material covered in this episode that was not provided in the main article and its follow-ups. If there are any Italian citizens, or peoples reading this who have the appropriate accreditation to acquire a copy of this episode I would ask for your cooperation in attempting to do so. If someone has a copy of this simply recorded off of an old VHS I implore you to make that available to all.
Going back to the main article, the meandering to Communion is certainly off-putting, though I disagree with the previous mention that this was a hoax on the part of the publication to push Communion. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence after all (even though Carl Sagan never bothered with the evidence, side tangent: listen to J Allen Hynek talk about that here) But I believe these images were published in good faith on part of Nullo Cantaroni, his background and thorough career would make this unlikely.
So as it figures there are three scenarios here that describe this scenario (in no particular order of likelihood)
1) these images are hoaxed by the publication to push communion
2) these images are hoaxed by the supposed professor
3) these images are legitimate and provide evidence of a non-earth based entity.
Before I move on I'd like to mention that I did attempt to reach out to Corriere della Sera multiple times regarding this material but was never given a response.
To round this off the images themselves. Humanoid obviously, female-appearing, now I say appearing because assuming this really is some unexpected entity, there is no guarantee that the physiology of this figure accurately represents its determination, and although this entity appears to have what we'd consider to be skin, that may only be a covering to another form or may be some type of robotic synthetic life-form designed specifically to mimic human appearances. What may be most interesting or most alarming depending on your perspective is this entities face appears to change between shots, and yet seemingly keeps the same body proportions. If you are of the opinion this is some type of hoax you could state this is an obvious inconsistency between shots. On the other hand, that is an obvious conclusion to make and showing differentiating faces would be a rather odd choice on the part of a hoaxer. This again could be part of the photographing process, as there is motion blur between some of these photos and it simply gives an appearance that things are changing.
There are other features which must be touched upon, namely the clothing, but in one such photo, what appears to be some type of headgear wrapped around this entities face. To anyone with a passing knowledge of ufology and its associated lore would know, the favorite of any interstellar interloper is the tight formfitting bodysuit. Primarily described as blue, although other colors are often reported. But unlike most humanoid encounters described in the west, this entity seems to have a darker complexion about them. Now does that mean this does not fit in with established prior encounters? Not at all, for whatever reason the blonde-hair nordic is the most popular discussion topic when it comes to human-adjacent lifeforms, but in other places, and Italy especially, some of their most well know or most covered, feature entities with darker complexions. Case in point
https://preview.redd.it/o7w5pu2in60d1.jpg?width=884&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d203853c4be4a37108aeea4a7122826bd21525bb
This encounter in 1978 Italy with a dark-skinned entity in a shimmering scaled suit. Or this description of a dark skinned entity with a similar described blue suit reported in 1987
Location. Villamarzana, Rome, Italy Date: September 2 1987 Time: 1700
Renzo Munari was fishing on the Bianco Canal when he noticed a strange object flying at a moderated speed over the river, as the object disappeared from sight he felt a strange prickling sensation in his body, resembling electrical static. Turning around he saw a very tall human-like figure staring intently at him. The figure was at least 2 meters in height, with orange hair and dark skin. He wore a luminous blue colored tight fitting coverall. On the left side of his chest there was a square orange colored “tag.” During the encounter the witness felt a cool wave of air and light headed. The figure apparently disappeared into the brush.
Source: Archivio SUF, USOCAT by The Italian Center forUFO Studies (CISU)
There is also this report from 1989 Russia
Location. Salsk, Rostov region, Russia Date: August 13 1989 Time: 2300
Working at a cotton irrigation plant Vasiliy Ivanovich suddenly experienced total equipment failure without any apparent cause. While searching for the cause of the breakdown, the witness heard a loud voice, “He is searching for the cause”. Looking around he saw four humanoids standing close to him. One stood in the front, while the other three stood in the back. He described the humanoids as tall, with long dangling arms, with a large head, flattened on the top and wide at the temples. The humanoids are dark red or brown in color with large egg-shaped eyes and two holes instead of a nose. They have no lips, and thin strip instead of a mouth. They were wearing truncated shiny blue coveralls and footwear. The humanoid standing at the front of the others held a box in his hand and a soft pleasant voice seemed to emanate from the box. He held the box at stomach level. Ivanovich approached the humanoids and asked who they were; the reply was a question asking him if he wanted to go with them. At this point the witness saw a light at the edge of the nearby woods and a hovering object. The humanoids then floated slowly towards the craft and disappeared. Terrified the witness ran to the village to notify other witnesses but upon returning to the site the humanoids had already left.
Source:UFOZONE Russia
As for the headgear, there is a report from 1995 Italy of an entity not resembling this one in this post, but wearing a similarly described headpiece.
Location: Ancona, Italy Date: February 3 1994, Time: 9:00am
Six witnesses, including a Mr. Giulo observed a strange humanoid wandering around some nearby rocks. The humanoid was described as about 1 meter and a half in height, wearing a tight fitting black coverall that covered his whole body including a pair of very long feet. The face was elongated with two huge round eyes, with round black pupils. It appeared to be wearing earphones with a small thin protruding antenna. It seemed to stagger slowly and after about 10 minutes it rose up slowly and vertically into the air, quickly disappearing from sight
Source: CISU Italy.
There is also this case from Barisciano Italy 1978 in which an entity bearing a striking similar blue color to the outfit was seen, with an adorning white "cap" or hairpiece that resembled that of a cap. read the untranslated version of that encounter here/Notiziario%20UFO%20-%201984%2001-02%20-%20Vol%2018%20No%20102.pdf)
https://preview.redd.it/3ei6o741q60d1.png?width=310&format=png&auto=webp&s=2de94be231313b38b979bbd4b46b3800466e8f26
Finally, lets get back to the person allegedly behind this whole spiel, the Professor. A claim such as this, where an entity appears in ones presence without any known means is a stark claim all on its own, to provide photos of such an encounter is another thing all together, but being as its an anonymous person, how can we gleam any credibility out of this? To put it in other words, is there enough information provided within the original article as well as the follow-up articles to speculate on a potential identity to who this man could have been?
Emphatically yes, infact there is only one such individual who fits the criteria with the information provided, granted this information was given after the fact of the original articles publication. In the first article within UFO express that discusses this, we are told this person is running experiments relating to dogs (canine) eyesight, but the author was unsure whether or not this is a jest of some sort. I do not believe it is, in the secondary article it is again mentioned that this professor is working with canine eyesight, but in a caption on the second page it is emphasized this was "non-academic research". Now does that mean it was unrelated to their professional focus? No, it simply means this research was carried outside of official means. This leads me to who I believe the primary suspect is in terms of a potential identity, could there be other more accurate people? Perhaps. But this persons tenure and level of research within this subject and the timeframe of when they were working at the University of Pavia lines up perfectly with who this person could be. However, because of doxxing concerns, and that they initially requested complete anonymity from the publication I will not be directly naming their identity here. But I will heavily state that this person worked in the university of Pavia from 1985 in the zoology department and specifically with foxes and wolves. With this person having worked and published (into the present) works related to both of these fields. I have attempted to personally reach out to this professor both via email & telephone (their academic numbers, not personal) but have received no response. I would ask that if you do look into who this person is that you do not attempt to directly contact them as their lack of a response is response enough.
What was the encounter like? How long did it go on for? Was there a conversation or was this a quick in and out? These questions and more are not answered here, and perhaps never will be unless someone; the professor, an associate, or anyone else, comes forward with more details we are left wondering and wanting more. There is of course much to be said about these images and the potential for further investigations, including the peculiar hands this entity seems to posses that does have a passing resemblance to other cases, but lest this drag on to long I will leave it here and attempt to answer any questions that I may be capable of giving insight on.
Sources and resources used Archive link for translations and scans of original Corriere della Sera article https://archive.org/details/Paviaentity
Magazine and other ufological material sources: https://files.afu.se/Downloads/?dir=./
Document scanner for afu and other documents/sites https://updb.app/
alieni in italia by Moreno Tambelini
ImgOps for reverse image searching
https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/sys/text.htm & Albert Rosales for their compilations of humanoid encounters.
If you have had an encounter or know someone who has had an encounter similar to this or identical to this, do not hesitate to DM or message me with the details.

To begin with, I will state that this post was months in the making (mostly waiting and chasing false leads) and carries with it perhaps some answers, plenty of questions, and perhaps for some, a similarity to their own experiences. Special thanks to u/Neo-Rex as well as u/ebycon for their assistance in helping me find and rule out some areas of research.
Disclaimer: The following images and text are provided without photo manipulation on my end (besides simple cropping and scanning). There are going to be many references in this post to Italian media, magazines, as well as individual writers. This is by no means an endorsement, advertisement, or other form of ARG intended to sell, market, or persuade anyone to buy, rent, or procure any of the described materials. Because I know this is a new area of topic, and because the images provided are of an unusual nature, I will provide various sources to prove that these images are not enhanced, manipulated by hand or by a contemporary photo manipulation program or AI generation.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of the images I will provide background as to how I came upon these images, and the flow of information.
I was first made aware of these images after researching separate alien encounters for a post of mine (see that post here for further details regarding that) one of the sources used was "alieni in italia 1945-1995 50 anni di incontri ravvicinati". On page VIII towards the back of the book these images (or rather image as three were compressed into one section) as well as the following text appears
https://preview.redd.it/le5wrt3rm60d1.jpg?width=806&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39919dfcd089925de049eb66794003a5dab20573
"Vero alieno o scoop giornalistico? Ho evitato di inserire nel presente catalogo questo caso avvero singolare. Si tratte infatti di alcune foto )5_ scattate da un non meglio indentificato "professore universitario di pavia" nell'estate del 1986 e pubblicate da sette. il settimanale del Corriere della Sera. Si referiscono ad una presunta entita aliena che si sarebbe manifestata al professore in una situazione del tutto casuale. Non sono mancati pareri sfavorevoli expressi da parecchi ufologi. ( Foto tratte da: Sette n. 9/10 sette giorni illustrati dal Corriere della Sera, 5 marzo, 1988.
Translated: "Real alien or journalistic scoop? I have avoided including in the present catalog this singular case. These are in fact some photos(5) taken by an unidentified "university professor from Pavia" in the summer of 1986 and published by seven. The weekly newspaper Corriere della Sera. They refer to an alleged alien entity that allegedly manifested itself to the professor in a completely random situation. There was no shortage of unfavorable opinions expressed by several ufologists. ( Photo taken from: Seven No. 9/10 seven days illustrated by Corriere della Sera, March 5, 1988.
That was all the information provided within. (it should be noted that although this description mentions 5 photos, there are only these 3 provided within Moreno Tambellinis book.) These images captured my attention fairly quickly as I am fairly familiar with purported alien/supernatural photographs, so to find one I have never seen, and in such a quality which is general not present within other such photos as these, was more than enough to tip my curiosity in the direction of delving deeper.
First attempt at finding further information regarding these photos, and this particular magazine issue ended in little success, though I was able to find what I, at the time, believed to be a correctly colorized image of this entity. See below.
https://preview.redd.it/tc06rvxum60d1.png?width=341&format=png&auto=webp&s=141ee2128cdcd0894f57f999876ff380a4def235
Unassuming on some random blog that attributed a name to this entity while providing no further information regarding the image itself (as certain ufological circles are want to do). Not finding further information I attempted to find further information based off of this colorized image, but to no avail. Save for one source that used this image ( in a different colorized manner, slightly less yellow and oozing with potential, that being this image by Argentinian Ufologist Dante Franch. See below.
https://preview.redd.it/39i2rdvxm60d1.png?width=280&format=png&auto=webp&s=14bf476ca33164db334bc4b835a52b349d66990d
Finally, someone who might have a lead on this information! But no, once again this image is deceptively alluring as the contents of this book have absolutely nothing to do with the Sette report, but simply use its image to describe unsourced and unverified tales of the City of Erks (a wild dive on its own and may be deserving of its own post) and other entities that supposedly have a resemblance to this cover image.
Upon further searches I came across this archived link with additional images some with closer to truth color, including the aforementioned first colorized image here https://web.archive.org/web/20080312200229/https://www.anomalia.org/perspectivas/fotosets/campo_cielo.htm as well as the additional references. The author of this blog post is Mexican Ufologist Luis Ruiz Noguez, notable for his skepticism and thorough investigation relating to this material, so it was a no-brainier to look into his research regarding this seeing as he had previously mentioned it here on his blogpost. So where better to look than his book "Extraterrestres ante las camaras" Volume X dealing specifically with italian encounters and purported alien photographs. But again, despite his previous notation in this blog, the contents of these images specifically are nowhere to be seen or mentioned within this book.
Research stagnated for some time during the search process for the original source cited in Moreno Tambellinis book. I was able after five months (you have no idea how hard it was to find a copy) able to acquire a copy of this magazine and finally was able to determine that the previously assumed white coverall of this entities outfit has been a false notion.
The following text is a translation of the pages within this issue of march 7th 1988 Sette: Corriere della Cera . 9/10, the original scans, as well as a translated text document of these pages can be found in the sources listed below. Important note: although these images are primary focus of this article, it does meander into thoughts on Whitley Striebers book "Communion" (which will be a source of contention that will be covered later in this post). But the translated post here is the relevant text to these images.
"Just as we were editing a report on the UFO phenomenon that was supposed to appear on 7 at the same time as the television passage of Spielberg's film Close Encounters of the third kind, we came across a resounding surprise: the images published in these pages and on the cover of this issue. They were taken completely by chance, one summer evening in 1986, by a professor at the University of Pavia, above all suspicion and known for his balance, his intelligence and rationality, completely alien to the somewhat emphatic and vaguely bizarre world of the so-called "contactees": those people who say they have entered into a relationship with unknown entities from the cosmos."
"He is a completely normal person who has always been skeptical of the reports of unidentified flying objects and is now also a testimony, erroneous to the idea that his name is related to the disturbing figure captured by his camera. The university lecturer has agreed to give us what he considers to be evidence of his shocking experience in exchange for absolute confidentiality"
"What to make of these images? We can make a few assumptions.
A) The author of the photos is a mystrifier. It is unlikely: too much resistance has opposed the publication of his document (which he has yielded for free to 7). In addition, he wishes to remain anonymous. A behavior that is certainly not that of those who want to speculate on a scooop, true or presumed.
B) The author is the victim of a game. Someone made him take "fireflies for lanterns". A well-thought-out game, by true professionals. It is not unlikely, even if the professor is not a "contactee", one obsessed with extraterrestrials, that is, a man who could arouse "temptations" among those who know him.
C) The photos really document something alien. A mysterious otherness has been captured by the professor's camera, who was the first to be surprised by this tangible presence, imprinted on the film that is absolutely different from a hallucination. What to say? What are we to think of images that forcefully re-propose the problem (or the dream, or the myth, or the nightmare) of the existence of other beings, of other civilizations that populate galaxies or dimensions unknown to us? Science continues to question these facts, but an answer is still a long way off. All experiences at the "edge of reality" are embarrassing. The line that divides science and mystery is still vague. Prudence, in these cases, is a must. And the desire not to appear is widespread among the witnesses. The professor from Pavia, who chose restriction, has an illustrious precedent."
"These images, taken on a summer evening in 1986 by a professor at the University of Pavia, who asked to remain anonymous, are the subject of various hypotheses of interpretation in the text of the article. The reader is free to draw his own conclusions."
Here are the direct scans of this entity as they appear in the magazine, scanned directly out of a physical copy of this magazine. (do note although these images are uploaded in different order I believe they may be sorted as such, I make no claim to the accuracy of this in terms of chronological order, but which is most aesthetically appeasing.)
https://preview.redd.it/tp2rqzw9n60d1.png?width=520&format=png&auto=webp&s=5bef77464608273cc1e6cc1f5b30665c5040a5c2
https://preview.redd.it/vekj9dman60d1.png?width=385&format=png&auto=webp&s=ba133aa62862f89a1e361e21a93de19e9d549496
https://preview.redd.it/sve90i9bn60d1.png?width=388&format=png&auto=webp&s=36e737a33624530c85e48f99d9ffd2d7db04d9f5
https://preview.redd.it/03pcokzbn60d1.png?width=380&format=png&auto=webp&s=b8503bec04896be177ce5420daf0ee71482318a6
https://preview.redd.it/yeehoehcn60d1.png?width=379&format=png&auto=webp&s=d33d814521c2581d2cb3b5c830fa62c5bae5782e
Now, while the article was very keen to post certain aspects of this, it was rather lacking, and it must be stated although the title of this issue, as well as the description in the article infer this is related to UFO's. There is no mention of an actual UFO or craft present within this encounter, or at the very least, this information was omitted from the article, and was potentially removed at the request of the professor in question, though that is speculation on my part.
The following sections will deal with the author of this previous issue, as well as the two follow-up articles and their individual authors.
There is more information present as the above text states, not from the previous issue, but from two separate follow-up articles that were saved and printed in the Italian Ufo magazine "UFO express no. 043." Link to the full untranslated issue here/UFO%20Express%20-%20No%20043.pdf). These separate addendums fully cover the images in question and are critical but not overly-so. The most important aspect to this is that the professor provided further information to Sette, primarily about what they were doing prior to this entities appearance, but also their means of photographic capture.
{Page 1}
UFO: Is this being from another world? read the scroll on the cover of 7 (No. 9/10) that we republish on this page. Hundreds of phone calls and letters arrived at the editorial office, and they continue to arrive after Mino Damato in his TV program Alla ricerca dell'arca (Sunday, March 27, Rai 3 8:30 p.m.) dealt with the same images, depicting a hypothetical alien photographed by a professor at the University of Pavia one summer evening in 1986.
There are those who believe in this hypothetical alien and those who do not, but all of the readers who have phoned or written are bound to each other by the rejection of that question mark printed on the cover: each of them is persuaded to erase the hypothesis, to tear away the veil of the enigma. And they split into two equally intolerant parties, leaving no room for doubt. We have chosen two exemplary letters. The first letter comes from Brixen and is signed by Mr. Nicola De Paola (2 Clesia Street). He says “the alien is a tobogganist: typical are the tight suit the aerodynamic helmet, the face crushed by the transparent visor, the blurred colors and contours of the photos are due to the fact that they were taken from television, with the obj vo blurred or too close up and strange an alien with limbs, head, face and body identical to those of man; I too will be able to take photographs quite similar to those published; as a reader I feel mocked.”
Others have certainly seen in the hypothetical alien: a surgeon, a nurse, an ice skater, an Icelandic firefighter, a Norwegian cryologist (sic), a KGB spy, a hockey player with his head bandaged; in short, some man in overalls or uniforms. No one has identified in the figures, despite the width of the pelvis, a woman or an androgynous. The second letter comes from Ferrara and is signed by Mr. Giovanni Mantovani (via Luigi Borsari 51). Says; When I saw the photographs I immediately thought: but look, it looks like the E.T. seen by R.M on September 2, 1987 while he was fishing on the bank of the Canal Bianco (RO). He felt an intense tingling, turned around and saw a strange individual: dark complexion, 2 meters tall, hair that looked like plastic, wearing a luminescent blue jumpsuit. The apparition lasted a few seconds.R.M. felt a chill, a feeling that was renewed at the sight of your photos... Only one remark can be made to the professor of Pavia: that of not having given the readers further clarifications about the close approach of the third type...
Here are the further clarifications that the professor from Pavia has allowed us to give, although he is consumed by the fear of being uncovered and covered with ridicule. The photos were taken by a Nikon camera, with motor-drive, 55 mm lens. Micro, 3.5 aperture, shutter speed: 1/4 second Polachrome film, 40 Asa sensitivity. Shortly after the sun went down, the professor was completing some experiments on the optical perception of dogs (how does a dog see things in the world? Black and white? With what depth, in what perspective?). That alone is almost ridiculous. We were missing the hypothetical alien. A dog joke? Maybe. But the professor never solved the riddle. And dogs don't talk. ~ Paolo Pietroni
{page caption}
The hypothetical alien out of 7 has caused conflicting reactions. The photo was taken from a Nikon by a university lecturer while carrying out experiments on the visual perception of dogs
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Pietroni (information about this addendums author)
{Page 2}
Your E.T. seems to me to be a feminine being...
Dear editor, I am writing to you in relation to the series of 5 photographs taken by a better identified professor of Pavia one summer evening in 1986 and which appeared in the supplement of the Corriere della Sera n. 9/10 Since I am not familiar with photographic technique, I have written down the shooting parameters communicated by you personally during Mino D'Amato's television program In Search of the Ark on March 27.
Correct me if I'm wrong: Nikon camera body with motor, 5.5 mm focal length lens, aperture dia 3.5, exposure time 1/15 of a second. Certainly, with this adjustment, every little movement of the camera or of the photographed subject causes a blurred or rather blurred photograph. Probably, this whole story of the photos arose from the need of the Rizzoli Group to launch on the market the Italian version of the best American seller Communion by Ted Jacob, which deals, coincidentally, with the subject of extraterrestrials. This colossal business is also sponsored by the production of the film, which has been "posted" while waiting for the possible buyers of such a profitable product to be sufficiently sensitized...
Having said this, I wish, through his kindness, to convey to the professor of Pavia my modest comments on his photos. Feminism aside, I confess that the first spontaneous observation I made on these photographs was to recognize without a shadow of a doubt a woman, or rather a female being; The conformation of the hips, the breasts, combined with the grace of the bowed pose with folded arms, unequivocally belonged to a woman. But let's get to the details.
The suit - It appears so tight that it shows every little part of the body so as to give the impression of a "second skin"; It has light blue-green bands (as shown in the photo on the right on page 74) that are more evident around the neck, on the shoulders and on the arms.
The hands - They appear covered by the sleeves and more elongated than ours (cover figure), dare I say w(bed.
The head - Although it is more mobile, it clearly shows these elements: oval face with a slightly flattened nose, microphone with a light-colored support arm placed at the height of the left ear (photo on the right, page 74)
The headset - It is completely different from any type currently built because it contains a transceiver module at the top for contact with some support organ (e.g. an operations center, or a cosmoplane, or another operator), similar to what happens in Italy when astronauts go out of their vehicle and maintain constant radio contact with the control center.
The transceiver part can be seen both in the cover photo and on page 74, left and right, and is indicated by the protuberance on the top of the skull.
This study was born well out of any venal or other interest, in fact I am not a ufologist, but a pilot in full flight activity and with command responsibilities; I have been a first-hand witness to the phenomenon commonly associated with the improper name of UFO
Sure of the need to deal with the subject with more compatible methodologies than those promulgated by scientists and ufologists, I dedicate myself to the enhancement of aeronautical contactism, intending with this new term to redefine the sightings of military and civil pilots, aeronautical technicians, engineers, etc. who through direct experience with the phenomenon have acquired the conviction that we are not alone Only those who have had a direct impact with the phenomenon (the contactee) can provide a plausible image of themselves... everything else... They are only lucubrations born from mindsets that are not up-to-date with the present sotric moment on the one hand, and with the characteristics of the phenomenon on the other.
{end of article caption}
I forwarded his observations to the professor in Pavia, author of the photos depicting the hypothetical alien. Thank you for your interesting analysis. You are free to believe it or not, but the Rizzoli Communion book had an absolutely random presence in our service: we liked the design of the cover; the portrait of that E.T. and we thought of enriching the illustrations of the service.
Roberto Doz (a fairly interesting individual on his own, air force colonel with his own UFO sighting) read more on that here
As for the author of the original article. Their name is Nullo Cantaroni, and may be more well known by his wife Bice Cairati( Sveva Casati Modigiani), Nullo Cantaroni had a fairly successful journalistic career, dealing primarily in medicine as co-authorized by fellow science journalist Severina Cantaroni. He eventually succumbed to Parkinson's disease. I make mention of these authors, Roberto Doz (who has a very good reason to be interested in the topic as he had his own experience). As well as the other two as these are not the ramblings of some crazy pumping out their own versions of weekly world news, but were and still are highly credible and respected peoples, whom by their own association are taking the flak for posting this material to begin with.
From here on out, this is going to be a further dive into the already presented material, some comparisons with other cases which have direct correlation with these images, as well as other information during my research that has not been touched on up until this point.
In the first follow-up article there is mention of a show "Alla Ricera dell'arca (In search of the ARK)". With he show discussing the images posted here. I was able to confirm that this episode does exist, with the covered material, and is within the RAI archives (Italian TV network/station). However, they would not lend the episode out to a non-Italian citizen, or someone associated with a University, or media conglomeration. I mention this as there may be more material covered in this episode that was not provided in the main article and its follow-ups. If there are any Italian citizens, or peoples reading this who have the appropriate accreditation to acquire a copy of this episode I would ask for your cooperation in attempting to do so. If someone has a copy of this simply recorded off of an old VHS I implore you to make that available to all.
Going back to the main article, the meandering to Communion is certainly off-putting, though I disagree with the previous mention that this was a hoax on the part of the publication to push Communion. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence after all (even though Carl Sagan never bothered with the evidence, side tangent: listen to J Allen Hynek talk about that here) But I believe these images were published in good faith on part of Nullo Cantaroni, his background and thorough career would make this unlikely.
So as it figures there are three scenarios here that describe this scenario (in no particular order of likelihood)
1) these images are hoaxed by the publication to push communion
2) these images are hoaxed by the supposed professor
3) these images are legitimate and provide evidence of a non-earth based entity.
Before I move on I'd like to mention that I did attempt to reach out to Corriere della Sera multiple times regarding this material but was never given a response.
To round this off the images themselves. Humanoid obviously, female-appearing, now I say appearing because assuming this really is some unexpected entity, there is no guarantee that the physiology of this figure accurately represents its determination, and although this entity appears to have what we'd consider to be skin, that may only be a covering to another form or may be some type of robotic synthetic life-form designed specifically to mimic human appearances. What may be most interesting or most alarming depending on your perspective is this entities face appears to change between shots, and yet seemingly keeps the same body proportions. If you are of the opinion this is some type of hoax you could state this is an obvious inconsistency between shots. On the other hand, that is an obvious conclusion to make and showing differentiating faces would be a rather odd choice on the part of a hoaxer. This again could be part of the photographing process, as there is motion blur between some of these photos and it simply gives an appearance that things are changing.
There are other features which must be touched upon, namely the clothing, but in one such photo, what appears to be some type of headgear wrapped around this entities face. To anyone with a passing knowledge of ufology and its associated lore would know, the favorite of any interstellar interloper is the tight formfitting bodysuit. Primarily described as blue, although other colors are often reported. But unlike most humanoid encounters described in the west, this entity seems to have a darker complexion about them. Now does that mean this does not fit in with established prior encounters? Not at all, for whatever reason the blonde-hair nordic is the most popular discussion topic when it comes to human-adjacent lifeforms, but in other places, and Italy especially, some of their most well know or most covered, feature entities with darker complexions. Case in point
https://preview.redd.it/0s611i7hn60d1.jpg?width=884&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbc1472a0e49504d71a975ebaccb91639e592ed1
This encounter in 1978 Italy with a dark-skinned entity in a shimmering scaled suit. Or this description of a dark skinned entity with a similar described blue suit reported in 1987
Location. Villamarzana, Rome, Italy Date: September 2 1987 Time: 1700
Renzo Munari was fishing on the Bianco Canal when he noticed a strange object flying at a moderated speed over the river, as the object disappeared from sight he felt a strange prickling sensation in his body, resembling electrical static. Turning around he saw a very tall human-like figure staring intently at him. The figure was at least 2 meters in height, with orange hair and dark skin. He wore a luminous blue colored tight fitting coverall. On the left side of his chest there was a square orange colored “tag.” During the encounter the witness felt a cool wave of air and light headed. The figure apparently disappeared into the brush.
Source: Archivio SUF, USOCAT by The Italian Center forUFO Studies (CISU)
There is also this report from 1989 Russia
Location. Salsk, Rostov region, Russia Date: August 13 1989 Time: 2300
Working at a cotton irrigation plant Vasiliy Ivanovich suddenly experienced total equipment failure without any apparent cause. While searching for the cause of the breakdown, the witness heard a loud voice, “He is searching for the cause”. Looking around he saw four humanoids standing close to him. One stood in the front, while the other three stood in the back. He described the humanoids as tall, with long dangling arms, with a large head, flattened on the top and wide at the temples. The humanoids are dark red or brown in color with large egg-shaped eyes and two holes instead of a nose. They have no lips, and thin strip instead of a mouth. They were wearing truncated shiny blue coveralls and footwear. The humanoid standing at the front of the others held a box in his hand and a soft pleasant voice seemed to emanate from the box. He held the box at stomach level. Ivanovich approached the humanoids and asked who they were; the reply was a question asking him if he wanted to go with them. At this point the witness saw a light at the edge of the nearby woods and a hovering object. The humanoids then floated slowly towards the craft and disappeared. Terrified the witness ran to the village to notify other witnesses but upon returning to the site the humanoids had already left.
Source:UFOZONE Russia
As for the headgear, there is a report from 1995 Italy of an entity not resembling this one in this post, but wearing a similarly described headpiece.
Location: Ancona, Italy Date: February 3 1994, Time: 9:00am
Six witnesses, including a Mr. Giulo observed a strange humanoid wandering around some nearby rocks. The humanoid was described as about 1 meter and a half in height, wearing a tight fitting black coverall that covered his whole body including a pair of very long feet. The face was elongated with two huge round eyes, with round black pupils. It appeared to be wearing earphones with a small thin protruding antenna. It seemed to stagger slowly and after about 10 minutes it rose up slowly and vertically into the air, quickly disappearing from sight
Source: CISU Italy.
There is also this case from Barisciano Italy 1978 in which an entity bearing a striking similar blue color to the outfit was seen, with an adorning white "cap" or hairpiece that resembled that of a cap. read the untranslated version of that encounter here/Notiziario%20UFO%20-%201984%2001-02%20-%20Vol%2018%20No%20102.pdf)
https://preview.redd.it/gkgzwmvyp60d1.png?width=310&format=png&auto=webp&s=65238cf5324c0acfcc076966d141d0114eb89be5
Finally, lets get back to the person allegedly behind this whole spiel, the Professor. A claim such as this, where an entity appears in ones presence without any known means is a stark claim all on its own, to provide photos of such an encounter is another thing all together, but being as its an anonymous person, how can we gleam any credibility out of this? To put it in other words, is there enough information provided within the original article as well as the follow-up articles to speculate on a potential identity to who this man could have been?
Emphatically yes, infact there is only one such individual who fits the criteria with the information provided, granted this information was given after the fact of the original articles publication. In the first article within UFO express that discusses this, we are told this person is running experiments relating to dogs (canine) eyesight, but the author was unsure whether or not this is a jest of some sort. I do not believe it is, in the secondary article it is again mentioned that this professor is working with canine eyesight, but in a caption on the second page it is emphasized this was "non-academic research". Now does that mean it was unrelated to their professional focus? No, it simply means this research was carried outside of official means. This leads me to who I believe the primary suspect is in terms of a potential identity, could there be other more accurate people? Perhaps. But this persons tenure and level of research within this subject and the timeframe of when they were working at the University of Pavia lines up perfectly with who this person could be. However, because of doxxing concerns, and that they initially requested complete anonymity from the publication I will not be directly naming their identity here. But I will heavily state that this person worked in the university of Pavia from 1985 in the zoology department and specifically with foxes and wolves. With this person having worked and published (into the present) works related to both of these fields. I have attempted to personally reach out to this professor both via email & telephone (their academic numbers, not personal) but have
received no response. I would ask that if you do look into who this person is that you do not attempt to directly contact them as their lack of a response is response enough.
What was the encounter like? How long did it go on for? Was there a conversation or was this a quick in and out? These questions and more are not answered here, and perhaps never will be unless someone; the professor, an associate, or anyone else, comes forward with more details we are left wondering and wanting more. There is of course much to be said about these images and the potential for further investigations, including the peculiar hands this entity seems to posses that does have a passing resemblance to other cases, but lest this drag on to long I will leave it here and attempt to answer any questions that I may be capable of giving insight on.
Sources and resources used Archive link for translations and scans of original Corriere della Sera article https://archive.org/details/Paviaentity
Magazine and other ufological material sources: https://files.afu.se/Downloads/?dir=./
Document scanner for afu and other documents/sites https://updb.app/
alieni in italia by Moreno Tambelini
ImgOps for reverse image searching
https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/sys/text.htm & Albert Rosales for their compilations of humanoid encounters.
If you have had an encounter or know someone who has had an encounter similar to this or identical to this, do not hesitate to DM or message me with the details.