Jonathan Weygandt's Peru crash claim
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
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| Date | March 1997 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Jonathan Weygandt, Steven Greer |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 127 |
| Year | 1997 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1997 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 9 |
Jonathan Weygandt, a former U.S. Marine lance corporal, told Steven Greer's Disclosure Project in October 2000 that in 1997, while on a counter-drug deployment in Peru, he came upon a crashed egg-shaped craft embedded in a cliff and was then detained and threatened by unidentified men.[1][2]
Background
In his testimony, Weygandt said he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1994, finished infantry training in September 1995 and was retrained in 1996 as a Stinger missile air-defence gunner, then assigned to an air-defence battalion of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in North Carolina. In March 1997 he was sent to Peru with a detachment supporting a counter-narcotics operation known as "Laser Strike", providing perimeter security for a radar station that tracked drug-smuggling aircraft.[1][3]
His account
Weygandt said that one night two sergeants told his unit that an aircraft, possibly friendly, had crashed and its site needed securing. After driving and hiking through the bush, they found a long burned gash in the land and a craft about 20 metres long, shaped between an egg and a teardrop, buried at an angle in the side of a ravine. He said it dripped a shifting greenish-purple fluid that ate through his uniform, had vents like fish gills and partly open hatches, and gave off a humming sound before falling silent; he said he felt a presence that seemed to be trying to communicate with him telepathically. He believed the craft had been shot down by a HAWK missile.[1][4]
Detention
Weygandt said that when he climbed back up he was seized by older men in black uniforms without name tags, whom he took to be from the Department of Energy and who were joined by people in containment suits. He said he was bound, flown away by helicopter, interrogated and threatened, and told that the men were not bound by constitutional law.[1]
Publicity
His account was included in the Disclosure Project's 2001 briefing document and video testimony, presented at a press conference at the National Press Club in May 2001. Video of his full interview has since circulated widely.[1][2][4]
Assessment
There are no records supporting the crash or his detention, and the Marine Corps has not commented. U.S. forces did support counter-drug radar operations in Latin America in the 1990s, which fits the general setting, but the details remain unverified.[1][3]
People and topics
- Jonathan Weygandt — Former Marine who claimed he guarded a crashed craft in Peru.
- Steven Greer — Physician who founded CSETI and the Disclosure Project.
- Disclosure Project — Steven Greer's campaign for UFO disclosure, best known for its May 2001 press conference.
On the Timeline
- Corso's doubts about autopsy reports (1997) (13 January 1997) — Philip Corso tells Vallée he may have received disinformation about alien autopsies.
- Boyd Bushman magnetic beam patent (17 April 1997) — Lockheed scientist Boyd Bushman patents a magnetic device.
See every 1997 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Disclosure Project Briefing Document (2001), Internet Archive (PDF) · archive.org · archived copy
- "Group calls for disclosure of UFO info", ABC News (May 2001) · abcnews.com · archived copy
- "The Marine who saw a crash site", The Political Saucer (May 2025) · politicalsaucer.substack.com · archived copy
- "Full interview — Lance Corporal Jonathan Weygandt (1997)", YouTube · youtu.be · archived copy
- 'Group calls for disclosure of UFO info' — ABC News (2001) · abcnews.go.com · archived copy
- Greer's Disclosure Project — Patrick Gross · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- A historian on the Disclosure Project — History News Network · historynewsnetwork.org · archived copy
- UFO crash in Peru 1997 — Medium · medium.com · archived copy
- youtu.be · youtu.be · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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