Many artifacts essential for understanding life’s cycle on Earth and the link between the human species and extraterrestrials have been buried under a thick layer of rubble by constant wars that have been waging almost endlessly.
Such an example is the gigantic stone head discovered “somewhere in the jungle of Guatemala”. The head statue had very fine features: thin lips, a large sharp nose, leaving an overall feeling of fineness, its eyes were closed, but if they were open, they would be looking towards the sky. It measured at least 30 feet, judging by the three men sitting on top of the head and the car parked in front of it. A unique discovery indeed, as it resembled nothing found in Central America so far.
On August 16, 1986, Dr. Oscar Rafael Padilla Lara, a UFO enthusiast, philosopher, and lawyer at that time, received an intriguing photo of the monolith. Its precise location remained undisclosed, with the only known references being the date inscribed on the back of the photo. It was taken in 1950 by the man who owned the land where the colossal stone head was found, but since the landowner was declared dead long ago, Padila had to search for another way to find the exact location of the site.
In 1987, the story of the bizarre stone head was first printed in the Ancient Astronaut Society newsletter “Ancient Skies”, and it caused quite a stir. People wanted to learn if the structure was only a head, or it had a body buried underneath; also, the question of its exact location reappeared after a long time. Fortunately, the article was read by David Hatcher Childress, an adventurous archaeologist who visited various mysteries across the globe, detailing them all in his “Mystery Travel books.”
This “Indiana Jones” made it his goal to find the site of the mysterious stone sculpture, so he met with Padilla from whom he requested additional information regarding the location of the anomalous sculpture.
At first, Padilla spoke of a relative who analyzed the photo of the mysterious sculpture and succeeded in finding a hint leading to one of the many properties owned by the Biener family. With no other leads available at that time, he enrolled in a dangerous and uncertain journey that led him deep inside the jungles of Guatemala in the hope of finding the intricate stone head.
“In order to find it, I went approximately 180 kilometers from the city, towards Las Victorias, Los Encuentros, Saint Filipe Retalhuleu, on the pacific coast of Guatemala. From there, I followed a main road for 5 kilometers, then 3 kilometers more on a road of battered earth and finally 5 kilometers on foot, through the jungle.”
When he finally reached the site of La Democracia, the excitement turned to anguish because the statue was lying there full of bullet holes, with its fine features almost unrecognizable.
“It was destroyed by revolutionaries about ten years ago,” Padilla revealed. “We had located the statue too late. It was used as target practice by anti-government rebels. This totally disfigured it, sort of like the way the Sphinx in Egypt had its nose shot off by the Turks, only worse.”
After Padilla recovered from the shocking moment, he took additional notes of what was left of the monument that could had our history rewritten. The eyes, nose and mouth were completely gone. The statue was carved from soft sandstone, probably for highlighting its delicate traits, but due to this soft material, its fate was easily concealed for eternity.
Eventually, David Hatcher Childress reached the La Democracia site only to find the stone head in ruins, just like Dr. Padilla depicted. After this unfortunate episode, the story died because there was no relevant proof left to confirm the existence of the alien-like stone head from the photo.
In order to understand the uniqueness of the statue, one must look towards the region where the stone head was reported to have been found – La Democracia, a site already renowned for stone heads looking skyward.
Their history is known however – built by the Olmec civilization, which thrived between 1400 and 400 BC, the stone heads sitting near the town of La Democracia share no common traits with “Padilla’s stone head”. The twelve Olmec statues depict pot-bellied human figures with flat faces looking towards the sky. They have a common Olmec aspect, a style completely that’s completely different from the fine-sculpted Padilla stone head.
The ancient Olmec civilization predated the Maya and is believed to be the first to build pyramids in Mesoamerica. Knowing that the Olmec had the means to carve such statues, is it possible that they were also responsible for the anomalous stone head? If not, who were their builders?
A theory supported by Phillip Coppens, a Belgian author and radio host, claims that another ancient civilization predating or post-dating the Olmecs was responsible for the “Padilla head”. If so, it’s possible that the only artifact left belonging to them has fallen victim to the ongoing war, and chances for a similar discovery are slim because the area remains troubled by conflict.