July 11, 1991, 1.29pm. The people of Mexico City were witness to a juncture of apocalyptic harmony. According to an ancient Mayan astro-calendrical record known as the Dresden Codex, this total solar eclipse would set off a dramatic sequence of events, marked by potentially catastrophic activity at Mount Popocatèpetl, one of the world's largest volcanos thirty miles to the south-east. Previous eclipses (albeit nocturnal, from the Mexican perspective) preceded the devastating 1985 earthquake and the 1519 invasion of Cortèz, the latter instigating a "plunge of indigenous people into darkness, where they remained for 500 years".

This unveiling of the legendary Sixth Sun would also light the return of Quetzalcoatl, a bearded, fair-skinned, feathered serpent of a god representing the social, technological, and agricultural enlightenment of pre-Hispanic America, heralding "the end of cosmogenic obscurity, giving credence to the prophecy given in the year 755 that the sun of 1991 would usher in not only earth changes, but also cosmic awareness".

Thus the dramatic introduction to Messengers of Destiny, Masters of the Stars, and Voyagers of the Sixth Sun, a series of videos produced by US documentary-makers Lee and Brit Elders, and Jaime Maussan, described as "the most respected and popular investigative journalist in Mexico". Maussan, himself fair-skinned and bearded, fronted that country's version of the acclaimed CBS TV series 60 Minutes before adopting a title which better reflected his distinct eschatological slant on current affairs; Tercer Milenio, or Third Millennium. He also hosts a weekly radio show, Jaime Maussan, UFOs and other Mysteries, and lectures widely on the subject of UFOs.

Bright points of light pierce the numinous twilight during the solar convergence, attracting crowds of skywatchers, many with camcorders running to record the event. Never before have UFOs been observed and recorded by so many witnesses simultaneously. Following Maussan's televised account of the mass sighting he is inundated with tapes from across the region, all showing the same thing; "a stationary object, hovering" and gradually disappearing as the sun emerges.

Steeped in Cronkitian gravitas the commentary glides from this tentative description to "craft", and "spaceships", and "gods in silvery chariots" with unmarked ease. Having presented the Elders' documentary on Swiss contactee Eduard 'Billy' Meier's alleged encounters with Pleiadean beamships in a two-hour 60 Minutos special, Maussan invited them to investigate this latest visit. We see him briefing them on the ancient prophesies, Lee & Brit eagerly taking notes. The nuance of their conversation deserves wider note: "We don't want to speculate..." warns Maussan sagely...

Lee: "Otherwise, how long was the ship over the city?"

Brit: "Is it the same ship... all of the videos are of the same ship?"

Maussan: "Yes, absolutely the same ship"

Brit: "Is the movement of the craft unusual?"

Maussan: "Well, it seems to be hovering, it's not static..."

We are told how one Mexico City resident, a Ms Hernandez, thought she was zooming her camcorder lens on a planet, until, Maussan's technicians having studied the footage, she was "surprised to learn that she had taped... a UFO". This revealed a "metallic disc-shaped craft, floating, perhaps rotating", quicksilver in appearance but generally described as shaped like a hockey-puck. Comparative analysis suggests the objects seen at various locations on July 11 were identical, to each other and to others seen later. Of the same fleet, perhaps, or the same craft? Is it possible ­ by now the questions are rhetorical ­ that a single craft could "hyperleap" a distance of 85 miles to show itself to all these witnesses?

Comparative that is, in that the objects recorded during the eclipse ­ their ET status unquestioned ­ are used throughout as a touchstone for subsequent sightings. What might otherwise be mistaken for aircraft, stray balloons, blimps, car headlights meandering along distant hillsides, glimpses of other realities, and who knows what else ­ piezoluminescence? ­ are loaded together as genuine "Unknowns". One segment, for example, shows two 'unknowns' passing in the night sky appearing to "merge as one, as if docking", before continuing smoothly on their way. Another shows a dark object "narrowly avoiding" a low-flying commercial aircraft. Within weeks of the eclipse fifteen different types of UFO ­ or OVNI in local parlance ­ had been observed in the region's airspace, reportedly posing an urgent threat to conventional craft and the citizens below.

Enter field energy propulsion specialist H. David Froning with his expert opinion. Freeze-frame magnification confirms Maussan's observation of the craft's movement: "The propulsion", explains Froning predictably, "is indicative of the repetitive cyclical motion that you would expect with a field propulsion system... one might speculate that a magnetic device is actually causing the pulsation formation". One might, but would that also explain why the surrounding sky 'pulsates' at the same rate? To Froning this simply indicates that "the energy emitted by the craft is disturbing the space surrounding it". If comparisons was made with mundane objects, no mention is made of this. Lee Elders draws Froning's attention to a tiny white dot on the screen, caught in a single frame. "Oh boy!" says the analyst. Another unknown...