The fake alien twins that sparked an out-of-this-world search for the truth: How 'UFO experts' led the world to believe 'alien corpses' found in Peru were real

Images of the pint-sized extraterrestrial pals triggered a bout of mass ET hysteria

In the annals of cosmic curiosity, the unveiling of two alien like figures in South America last year stands out as a moment which sparked unbridled joy among believers – and even caused some sceptics to sit up and take notice.

Emergent images of the pint-sized extraterrestrial pals triggered a bout of mass ET hysteria in September, when Mexican journalist José Jaime Maussan stood before the nation’s Congress and declared they were ‘non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution’.

Cue months of congressional hearings which saw researchers make a string of astounding claims – including that they couldn’t identify 30% of the hybrid being’s DNA – prompting Maussan to allege the supposedly fossilised lifeforms would ‘rewrite history’ and ‘were intelligent and lived with us’.

Now, it seems, the game is up.

Forensic scientists in Peru revealed last week the public had been duped, declaring that two near-identical figures seized by customs agents in a shipment destined for Mexico were nothing more than dolls glued together using animal bones, paper and chunks of metal.

But the question remains – how was Mexico’s Congress, and much of the scientific community, seemingly caught out by a pair of papier-mâché imposters? 

And why did it take so long for the scientific community to establish what the sceptics had said all along – that this had to be a hoax?

Here, MailOnline recaps this calamitous cosmic comedy in its entirety. 

The emergence of images of the pint-sized extraterrestrial pals – discovered by Peruvian customs agents intercepting a suspicious package en-route to Mexico – triggered a phase of mass ET hysteria

Flavio Estrada (R), forensic archaeologist of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences of Lima of the Public Ministry

The mystery of Mexico’s ‘aliens’ has been solved… and they’re not extraterrestrials

Peruvian archaeologist Flavio Estrada, member of the Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Institute, shows what has been believed to be remains of an extraterrestrial alien during a press conference where forensic experts rule out the existence of alleged extraterrestrial mummies

A tiny body of a specimen, that Mexican journalist and UFO enthusiast Jaime Maussan says is not related to any known Earthly species, undergoes a CT scan, at Noor Clinic, in Huixquilucan, Mexico September 18, 2023

This celestial caper began on September 12 when Mexico announced it was holding its first ever congressional hearing on UFOs.

The announcement prompted widespread speculation that was exponentially compounded when the first images emerged of what was billed as ‘the face of an extraterrestrial being’. 

Shocked viewers were greeted by a chalky grey face peeking out from a dark, wooden casket in which the ‘alien’ had been laid. 

Sporting slit-like eyes, a misshapen nose and a small coin-slot mouth, the figure’s head and neck were not too dissimilar to that of Steven Spielberg’s ET – but were accompanied by a tiny, wafer-thin body with spindly limbs and three digits on each hand.

And there were two of them.

Many immediately dismissed the figures as fakes – but the dramatic reveal was followed in short order by a series of convincing testimonies to the seeming authenticity of the specimens.

Mexican journalist and long-time UFO enthusiast Maussan led the testimonies, claiming the childlike bodies lying before Congress were not related to any life on Earth.

Maussan said the bodies were actually unearthed in Peru near the ancient Nazca Lines in 2017.

‘This is the first time extraterrestrial life is presented in such a form and I think there is a clear demonstration that we are dealing with non-human specimens that are not related to any other species in our world and that any scientific institution can investigate it,’ Maussan said.

‘We are not alone,’ he concluded.

Moments later, Jose de Jesus Zalce Benitez, Director of the Scientific Institute for Health of the Mexican navy, said X-rays, 3-D reconstruction and DNA analysis had been carried out on the remains.

‘I can affirm that these bodies have no relation to human beings,’ he said.

This seemingly official stamp of authenticity caused many to reexamine their preconceived notions, and was perhaps reinforced by a recent reduction in the stigma that has long been associated with reporting UFOs.

Mexico’s Congress also heard testimony from former US Navy pilot Ryan Graves, one of the leading figures pushing for research into unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) who has participated in US Congressional hearings about his personal encounters with unidentified craft while serving.

The Pentagon has been actively investigating reported sightings in recent years by military aviators, and NASA announced the creation of a new panel studying UFOs – the first of its kind by the space agency.

A group of international experts hold a hearing in Mexico’s lower house to discuss extraterrestrial sightings, with Mexican journalist Jaime Maussan (C) presenting alleged bodies of ‘non-human’ beings, in Mexico City, Mexico on September 13, 2023

Mexican legislators held another hearing dedicated to the potential for extraterrestrial life forms and UFOs in November

A screen shows what Mexican journalist Jaime Maussan claims are extraterrestrial life forms

One of the two ‘non-human’ beings displayed to the media is seen during a press conference of Mexican journalist and UFO expert, Jaime Maussan, at the Camino Real hotel, in Mexico City

Two months after Maussan’s bombshell claims before Congress, Mexico held another hearing on November 7 which only served to further complicate the saga.

In this hearing, Maussan ushered in a team of researchers who performed a DNA analysis on the figures.

They claimed at least 30% of the bodies’ DNA was ‘not from any known species’ and declared without caveat that each figure was ‘authentic’ and complete with its own skeletal structure. 

‘This is the first time extraterrestrial life has been presented in this manner, Maussan said to Congress.

‘We have a clear example of non-human specimens unrelated to any known species on our planet.

‘The public has the right to know about non-human technology and beings. This reality unites humanity rather than dividing us. We are not alone in this vast universe; we should embrace this truth.’

Maussan added that the two corpses had sturdy bones, were toothless, and contained implants made of the soft, slivery-white metal cadmium and the bluish-white metal osmium – rare elements on Earth. 

A squad of medical experts later carried in a letter signed by 11 researchers from San Luis Gonzaga National University in Ica, Peru, declaring the same.

One anthropologist from the university, Roger Zuniga, claimed: ‘There was absolutely no human intervention in the physical and biological formation of these beings.’

The scientists’ letter made clear the team was not implying the bodies were ‘extraterrestrial’ – though it also said they could not say where the figures had originated from. 

But Argentine surgeon Celestino Adolfo Piotto ramped up speculation even further when he said he believed, after reviewing test results and images of the bodies, the figures were actually an evolved version of today’s human beings, calling them ‘our descendants’. 

These claims came after two near-identical figures were seized by Peruvian customs authorities when they were sent in a shipment destined for an unnamed recipient in Mexico, only adding to the mystery surrounding their origin and the details of their ownership. 

Two pieces that look like small mummies that were seized in October 2023 at the Lima airport and that were going to be sent to Mexico

One of the two pieces that look like small mummies that were seized in October 2023 at the Lima airport and that were going to be sent to Mexico, is presented by the Ministry of Culture of Peru with the results of an expert opinion, in Lima, Peru, 12 January 2024

Different experts from the Ministry of Culture and the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office described as ‘fraud’ some alleged extraterrestrial mummies very similar to those presented by the ‘ufologist’ Jaime Maussan

On January 12, authorities in Lima held a press conference in which its scientists firmly rained on the ET-lovers’ parade.

Speaking on the two figures seized by customs authorities in October, lead forensic expert Flavio Estrada said flatly: ‘They are not extraterrestrials, they are not intraterrestrials, they are not a new species, they are not hybrids.’

Estrada explained his team of experts from the Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences Institute had painstakingly analysed the figures and concluded they were simply dolls that had been pieced together with paper, glue and metal over a frame composed of human and animal bones.

‘The conclusion is simple: they are dolls assembled with bones of animals from this planet, with modern synthetic glues, therefore they were not assembled during pre-Hispanic times,’ Estrada told reporters.

‘They are not extraterrestrials; they are not aliens.’

It must be said that the figures analysed by Estrada’s team are not the same as those presented to Mexico’s Congress by Maussan.

But they appeared to be almost exactly the same in size, appearance and weight.

Estrada was plain in his condemnation of what he called ‘pseudo-science’ on the part of Maussan and his researchers, accusing them of trying to peddle claims with no scientific backing.

‘[The figures] are none of those things that this group of pseudo-scientists who for six years have been presenting with these elements,’ he said.

It has since transpired that Maussan has been disproven before.

In 2015, the self-confessed UFO enthusiast reported on the discovery of what was then billed as an extraterrestrial life form – which was later revealed to be the remains of a human child.

While there very well may be extraterrestrial life, it seems safe to assume that those little grey figures in Mexico’s Congress are very much a product of earthly deception.