The original title to the published report by Argentinean Ufologist Jorge Eduardo Catoja was “Entities Reported Inside A Shop In Argentina.” Gordon Creighton in his introduction to the article ("Entities Reported Inside a Shop in Argentina", Flying Saucer Review vol. 28, no. 4, March, 1983) wrote:
“We are indebted to the Editorial Committee of our French companion-journal Lumières Dans La Nuit, from No. 198 of which (October 1980) we have translated the curious item. Though many will find the report hard to swallow we think it worth recording, because it seems to smack very strongly - as so many "UFO stories" do - of the classical poltergeist phenomena familiar to us from the annals of psychical research.
It is admittedly difficult to recall any good "poltergeist case" in which the witnesses actually claimed to have Seen the causative agency. Consequently, most parapsychological investigators nowadays tend to veer away from the idea that any external intelligent factor (i.e. other than the human subject or subjects present in the case) can be involved with poltergeists, and they prefer to seek other less bizarre explanations. Note, however, that in the present case the two causative entities allegedly vanished temporarily from sight a feature that sounds extremely ‘poltergeistic’."
Sadly, “New Ufology” had made it quite acceptable to start citing anything in odd reports as being of a paranormal nature and Creighton was very well known for his belief that evil paranormal entities were behind “much of” the UFO phenomenon. I will come back to this further on.
In this instance, Jorge Eduardo Catoja visited the scene of the phenomena and interviewed the witnesses.
It was approximately 1640 hours on Sunday, 10th September, 1978, in the small town of Las Salinas, near San Miguel de Tucuman in northern Argentina. Miguel Angel Carbajal, aged 18, and his friend Miguel Ledesma, aged 23, were sitting in Carbajal’s home watching television, when the picture on the screen began to shrink and so they decided to switch it off. There was still the record player and putting on a record found that it was turning very slowly “as though at 16 r.p.m.” and they concluded that this along with the TV problem meant that there was a drop in the mains current supply. Then the duo tried to use a portable transistor radio to listen to a local game of football, but was also of no use due to interference.
The parents of Carbajal owned the shop adjoining the house but they were away visiting relatives; Carabjal and Ledesma were both employed in the shop. Miguel Carbajal has had three years of primary school education, and one year of secondary. The extent of his daily reading does not go beyond the local newspaper, La Gaceta, and he is not a UFO buff or an addict of Science-Fiction. As for his companion, Miguel Ledesma, the latter is quite illiterate. There was nobody else in the house apart from one disabled member of the family.
They were about to give up on getting the portable radio to work when they heard noises coming from the adjoining shop. Their first thought was that thieves had taken advantage of the owners being away and had broken in; the young men first got the disabled relative out of the house and once this was done they opened the connecting door which led directly into the shop. The first thing they saw was a smashed bottle of wine and some broken jars of mayonnaise strewn about on the floor. Moving further into the shop, they came upon a pair of scales thrown down onto the floor, with the glass smashed: they noted that the electronic till had been shifted some distance from its normal position. At this point they saw standing at a distance of about six metres from them, of two entities.
In the words of Miguel Carbajal told La Razon (12th September, 1978): "I was thoroughly scared... for I suddenly saw them. I was unable to speak... I thought they must be Martians, because I had read in La Gaceta that there had been UFO sightings in the district."
According to the young men the two entities were about one metre in height, and “dressed in bright blue one-piece suits like frogmen wear” and on their heads they had dark blue helmets. Their faces were brown and freckled and the eyes were straight and level. Their noses seemed to be flattish, although it was noted that neither man could give a very precise description – not surprising since they were obviously taken aback by the sight., The hands, arms, and legs all seemed 'normal' by human standards but the witnesses were unable to judge sex for sure. On their feet the entities had what seemed to be bright blue high-boots and shiny black elbow length gauntlets on their arms.
Above: illustration of what the entities looked like based on witness descriptions (c)2024 respective copyright owner
According to the young men one of the entities was holding a “weapon” of some sort which he was pointing at them in what they thought was a threatening manner. Carbajal stated that this “weapon” looked like a hair-drier. At this point both men heard the words: "Do, not shout, or we will take you to the saucer!" This seemed to come from the entities although they saw no lip movement from either of the two entities “so that the message was probably given telepathically.”
At this point one of the entities raised a hand and put the index finger to his nose, whereupon they both promptly vanished from sight. Carbajal dashed over to the till to get out the keys to the doors of the shop but as he did so the entities reappeared in precisely the same position as before.
Ledesma grabbed a knife and an iron bar and he and Carbajal, with the store keys in his hand, made for the door. Again the entities vanished, Ledesma told the reporters:
"I stepped over lightly to the store-room and there they were again, in there. And they threw a crate of cigarettes at me. It missed, passing in front of me. At once I made a dash for the exit, which Carbajal in the meantime had managed to open."
When asked by reporters whether they had heard any sort of sound when the entities were materializing and dematerializing Carbajal responded; "There was a sort of sound like TIN ...TIN ...TIN .." but only when they were vanishing."
Once out of the shop, they secured the door with padlock and chain and dashed off into Tucuman in the firm's van to find Manuel Carbajal Senior and tell him that thieves had broken into the shop. The trio then returned to the shop and went to the local police station, at El Timbo. Police Commissioner Miranda at once proceeded with them to the shop, but when they got there, the entities were not to be seen. It is not stated that Carbajal senior had seen the entities. The contents of the till were checked and it was found that no money seemed to be missing. The witnesses estimated that the episode had lasted about 5-10 minutes.
Jorge Eduardo Catoja having visited the site made a number of interesting discoveries when questioning people living in the neighbourhood. Two weeks previously, there had been sightings of two strange lights over a near-by salt mine which was the only local industry. Also, the occupants of a house near there had recently been the victims of a mysterious plague of stone-throwing. Other people whom the investigator questioned re-called that three years ago there had been UFO landings at a place known as Ramadeda de Abajo, lying to the east of Las Salinas.
Creighton jumps straight in here with the comment:
“And here we have the most characteristic and typical of all the features found in cases of poltergeistic infestations - namely "stones throwing!" -G.C.”
Sadly, FSR has sunk into the mire of silly reporting and theorising having dropped its attempted stance of “scientific reporting.” Let’s look at the facts here with a clear mind. Yes, the radio and TV problems are reported in UFO encounters and there are reports of entities seen inside buildings so there we have no real problem. When it comes to the manner of clothing of the entities, again, not dissimilar to other reports but when I read brownish skin with freckles and a “weapon” that looked like a hair dryer my first thought was that this was a novel way to cover up a robbery -dress as aliens and carry a converted hair drier to look like a weapon. Would the police believe “My store was vandalised and robbed by aliens”?
The odd aspects are that the men both heard that line: "Do, not shout, or we will take you to the saucer!" which, if it had been spoken I would have suggested were two thieves dressed up and using flying saucers as a cover since the subject had been in the newspapers. Both men were adamant that neither entities lips moved. Also, if the entities vanished and then re-appeared onm the same spot in plain sight of the witnesses...that is a pretty good trick for thieves!
The strange lights over the mine could well have been anything since there is no description or narrative as to what made them, “strange” in the first place. It could have even been a natural phenomenon so a connection to the shop encounter is very weak at best. Even if UFOs were in the news locally the same thing applies; unless thoroughly checked a light(s) reported are simply that and can be anything. Remember the only UFO connection in the shop encounter was the threat of taking both men to “the saucer” which still raises questions.
Of course, the money still being in the till and no goods seemingly missing tends to rule out the idea of thieves. But, as always, everything depends on whether the two men were telling the truth about what happened. The disabled young man was not spoken to as it seems permission was not given and we know nothing about his disability. The fact that no one mentions him after Carbajal senior and the police became involved seems to indicate that he had been moved.
The damaged items in the store are from evidence of any poltergeist activity being involved and, in fact, it is hard to say how Creighton came up with; “Note, however, that in the present case the two causative entities allegedly vanished temporarily from sight a feature that sounds extremely poltergeistic” since poltergeist activity takes place over a short or lengthy period and even sporadically but tends to have a focus of activity and although dark shapes or (alleged) “masses” have been seen none look anything like the two entities here and I have never heard of two entities appearing and re-appearing on the same spot in front of witnesses.
“And here we have the most characteristic and typical of all the features found in cases of poltergeistic infestations - namely "stones throwing!" is absolutely meaningless. The stone throwing was not at the shop and unless it was investigated at the actual house then stone throwing could be down to kids or an adult “having fun” -that is not unknown. Mind you, Creighton did once snap at me over the telephone “You are a fool if you believe these things are alien!” I hadn’t said that but I was unwilling to follow his seemingly unchallengeable theory that it was all Djinn -invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabia and later in Islamic culture and beliefs. The term is now a “pop” term used in most fake paranormal videos interchangeable with demon. The point is that there was no evidence of poltergeist activity in this case only, perhaps, clumsy aliens: the number of times I have dropped or knocked things over by accident doess not mean a poltergeist was present!
The investigator and, presumably, police took the young men seriously but we have here a perfect example of believe or do not believe which, without any physical evidence or corroboration by others I mark as interesting but Low Strangeness.
Other references
Cronica, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 29th September, 1978.
MUFON UFO Journal, no. 130, September 1978. page 15
UFO Newsclipping Service, Lucius Farish, USA.
HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports", compiled by David Webb and Ted Bloecher, USA, circa 1979.
"Deux Humanoïdes à Las Salinas", by Jorge Eduardo Catoja, Lumières Dans La Nuit no.198, October 1980. pp 28-30,
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