JOSÉ DE ZER was one of the most famous paranormal journalists in history, who was known for his fantastical appearances on an Argentine news show.
José’s life is dramatised in the Netflix film The Man Who Loved UFOs, which is available now on the streaming platform.
The film depicts how one of the journalist’s biggest stories turned out to be an elaborate hoax and how his career progressed after the shocking revelation.
Here’s everything you need to know about José de Zer.
A storied career
José de Zer was born in 1941 in Buenos Aires and was named Jose Keizer at birth.
His family was Jewish and Jose went on to serve as a reserve lieutenant in the Six Days War in Israel, in 1967.
After serving in the military, he switched careers and became a journalist which set him on a journey to become an expert in the supernatural.
He worked on a radio show named Generación Espontánea, before landing a job on the news program ‘Nuevediario’ in 1984
José began to move in high circles at this time too, as he befriended the governor of Buenos Aires, Eduardo Duhalde, who later became the president of Argentina.
Paranormal experiences
In 1986, José encountered a story about a burnt pasture near to the Uritorco mountains in Córdoba, Spain.
He claimed that this was a UFO landing site and soon produced footage which showed UFO hauntings, lights in the sky and bizarre hieroglyphics.
It was revealed that José planted the hieroglyphics and had left insects around the site to create a sense of mystery.
The lights were revealed to actually just be cigarettes and flashlights pointed by people into the air.
Despite fabricating one of his biggest stories, José went on to become a political journalist who covered conflict in Argentina.
In 1989, he covered an attack on the La Tablada military base by a rogue guerilla group.
José also interviewed Carlos Monzón, a boxer who was put behind bars for the murder of his wife in 1988.
José’s early death
José endured a battle with Parkinson’s and oesophageal cancer, before eventually passing away in 1997.
The journalist was just 56 years old when he died, but he had become one of the most famous broadcasters in Argentina by the time of his death.
Netflix’s The Man Who Loved UFOs documents his bizarre and extraordinary life, with Argentine actor Leonardo Sbaraglia playing the paranormal expert.
