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Monday 24 October 2022

Ariel School UFO Sighting Interviews, Summary of Event and Thoughts

From IFL https://www.iflscience.com/the-ariel-school-phenomenon-what-really-happened-when-68-children-witnessed-a-ufo-63873
The Ariel School Phenomenon: What Really Happened When 68 Children Witnessed A UFO?


On September 16, 1994, 62 students at the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, claimed to witness an unknown craft descend from the sky and land in a field nearby.
The incident, which would become known as the Ariel School Phenomenom in UFO circles, started out on a fairly normal day. At break time – while the teachers remained inside for a faculty meeting – some of the children claim to have seen a silvery disc land on a hill just out of bounds. The children reportedly ran to the edge of the school grounds to get a better look, with several claiming that they saw figures emerge from what they described as a craft. 


The children described the event – which they reported as having lasted up to 15 minutes – to their teachers after the break had ended, to much (warranted) skepticism. However, when they talked to their parents that night, they had questions that were then asked of the faculty. With this prompting, and the intervention of a local UFO researcher, the headteacher of the school asked the children to draw what they had seen. They came back with pretty similar images of silvery, classic UFO-type crafts, sometimes complete with alien figures standing nearby.


"It looked like it was glinting in the trees. It looked like a disc. Like a round disc," one child witness told the BBC a few days after the incident.  "I saw something silver on the ground amongst the trees. And a person in black," another said.
The story only gets more complicated from here, making it difficult to figure out what exactly went on.


The children were interviewed by local UFO researcher Cynthia Hind the day after the event. What Hind found curious was that the students – who had diverse backgrounds, though all from wealthy families as tuition was expensive – described similar features to the figures and UFO, despite interpreting the phenomenon in wildly different ways based on their own upbringing.


Some thought that the figures were Zvikwambo (spirits of humans, raised by magic) or tokoloshe (evil goblin creatures of Shona and Ndebele folklore). Hind believes these different interpretations, accompanied by similar drawings and descriptions, gave more credibility to the idea that the children had all seen a similar event.


She also believed that the kids would not have had access to media about UFOs which could have tainted their testimony or planted similar images in their imaginations, telling the TV show Sightings "a lot of these children don't go to the movies. They live in the country. Parents are farmers". The argument being that if they had not encountered these images before and then described something similar, it gives more credibility to their alien encounter being real.


Next came a Harvard professor of psychiatry John Mack to interview the children. Through testimony collected by Mack, a new narrative emerged. When talking to the professor – who had recently published a book on UFOs and was heavily invested in the topic – the children reported receiving telepathic messages from the "aliens", spreading an environmental message. Mack had also recently been investigated by Harvard for giving credence to the idea to patients who had "reported a ‘close encounter’ with an Extraterrestrial life form that this experience might well have been real".


Despite being one of the reasons why the Ariel School incident is so widely known, his interview technique was sloppy. Having arrived months after the incident, meaning children could consolidate their stories in their minds, it's likely he prompted the children (perhaps unconsciously) to recall these telepathic events. Hind, meanwhile, had interviewed the children in groups of four to six, making the similarity of story details somewhat less impressive.


Another problem with Hind's idea that the children did not know of typical depictions of aliens in media was that the country was in the middle of something of a UFO fever at the time. Two days previously, the Zenit-2 rocket from the Cosmos 2290 satellite launch had re-entered the atmosphere, causing a fireball in the sky. It wasn't known what the object was by some local residents, and ZBC Radio had been hit with numerous calls claiming to have seen UFOs. Hind herself had learned of the incident after talking to the station herself, after a call was made about the school.  


More sensible explanations – not requiring you to accept that aliens flew here, made a vague message to some school children, and then flew off again – range from mass hysteria to a simple prank on behalf of the school children. One team, documenting cases of mass hysteria in Africa at around this time period, says we should be able to label this and similar incidents as mass hysteria without investigating too much further.
"Time should not be wasted in a fruitless search for environmental precipitants, which by reinforcing behavior may serve to prolong the episode," doctors wrote in the Malawi Medical Journal. "In other words, Mass hysteria should not be a diagnosis of exclusion, after all the physical, chemical and biological factors have been ruled out."
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Here is my problem with this case; There appears to have been no thorough investigation of the alleged landing site. That is a problem.


Cynthia Hind made the biggest investigation error. It is almost an amateur mistake to make and yet Hind was, supposedly, a thorough investigator. You do not get a group of observers together then ask them to describe what they saw/happened. You take each one, which is time consuming but if you are an investigator that is what it takes: time and patience. Talk to each person individually (with a guardian present obviously) and ask them to tell you what they saw and draw what they saw. You do that with each observer then assess the possibility of cross contamination with accounts and then look at the possibility of it being a true event or not.

John Mack I must admit has hit rock bottom in my own opinion. The Diaz contactee case in Mexico was proven a hoax fairly soon after it was reported yet Mack ignored all the previous investigations of the case or -worse still- simply had not bothered doing any research. He pronounced, on film, that Diaz appeared to be telling the truth and that was it. After all, why would Diaz and his family lie?  (I presume Mack had not heard of money at that point).  

Mack also went about his look into the incident in a slip-shod way and you can be a Believer or Non-Believer -your choice. Debunking with claims of "possible mass hysteria...but might not be mass hysteria" by persons who go by press and other reports but never actually talked to all of the observers can be put in the waste bin. Mass hysteria cannot be put forward without evidence.

It seems an interesting case but Ufologists (pardon the language) fecked it up badly by being very amateurish and not following a proper investigation procedure. Too many claims were made by both Hind and Mack but with nothing to back them up.  Of course, it is far too late now as the kids have grown and developed their own diverse opinion. 

Had this incident been dealt with properly then  we might have a really good case and, I have had this said before, the documentary "seems to show that it was genuine". Well, as far as I understand it from interviews I have seen the film maker claims to be an "experiencer" which, as far as impartiality goes is a concrete boot stepping on a raw egg.

In these cases we must follow a rigorous procedure.  This comes across as a possible slightly over exaggerated schoolyard UFO encounter (of which there are a good few) but could have been more.










Friday 21 October 2022

Is It Alien Abduction or Sleep Paralysis?

  "Oh, here we go the abduction explanation -" is probably what many "believers" think and say in disgust when they hear the words "sleep paralysis".

In The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters (2001), Ed. Ronald D Story, regarding the 1975 case of Pat Roach (originally using the pseudonym of Pat Price to protect her identity) Kevin  D. Randle summarises the case and notes that "...we now know about a psychological phenomenon  called "sleep paralysis".  The Roach abduction now appears to be a classic example of sleep paralysis."  It was suspected as alien abduction initially as one of her children claimed to have seen a "spaceman"

Randle is, of course, incorrect in writing that we now know about sleep paralysis.

The first mention of a treatment for sleep paralysis was noted in the 7th century by Byzantine physician Paulus Aegineta. The folklore and mythology up until medical research explained SP as caused by succubi and succubus, demons, fairyfolk and in modern times, aliens.

How Is Sleep Paralysis Diagnosed? If you find yourself unable to move or speak for a few seconds or minutes when falling asleep or waking up, then it is likely you have IRSP -isolated recurrent sleep paralysis.  There is often no need to treat this condition.

Between 8% and 50% of people experience sleep paralysis at some point in their life. About 5% of people have regular episodes.  Males and females are affected equally. Sleep paralysis has been described throughout history as I noted and it is believed to have played a role in the creation of stories about alien abduction and other paranormal events. That abduction researchers using hypnosis carried out no research is obvious as some of their cases would have been immediately solved, however, there is no money or prestige in solving cases.

The main symptom of sleep paralysis is being unable to move or speak during awakening and you may well think that you are struggling when in fact you are motionless. You may well imagine sounds such as humming, hissing, static, zapping and buzzing noises are reported during sleep paralysis. Other sounds such as voices, whispers and roars are also experienced. It has also been known that one may feel pressure on their chest and intense pain in their head during an episode. These symptoms are usually accompanied by intense emotions such as fear and panic. People also have sensations of being dragged out of bed or of flying, numbness, and feelings of electric tingles or vibrations running through their body.

Sleep paralysis may include hallucinations, such as a intruding presence or dark figure in the room, suffocating or terrifying the individual, accompanied by a feeling of pressure on one's chest and difficulty breathing. 

Looking at SP and its history and treatment I would recommend Sleep Paralysis, a Medical Condition with a Diverse Cultural Interpretation authored by  Esther Olunu, Ruth Kimo, Esther Olufunmbi Onigbinde, Mary-Amadeus Uduak Akpanobong, Inyene Ezekiel Enang, Mariam Osanakpo, Ifure Tom Monday, David Adeiza Otohinoyi, and Adegbenro Omotuyi John Fakoya and published in the International Journal of Applied Basic Medical Research 2018 July-September: 8(3): 137-142

In the last five decades I have been on some sharp learning curves and I need to point out that I have learnt a great deal about SP because I suffer from it. When I was around 13 years of age there was no paralysis but I woke to see a semi solid figures clad in medieval armour in the low lit room. Did I panic? No. In fact looking back my reaction surprises me. I simply muttered that the area had no medieval settlements or battles so "you are not a ghost" -this was obviously a waking dream. 

My first recollection of SP was that it was terrifying as I could not move a muscle, speak and I seemed to not be able to breath. The next time it happened it was no less scary and after about five times when it happened it was a scare but I said (internally) "You know what's happening. Try to move a finger or toe or deep breath" the SP still runs its course but I know what is going on and many do not.

Waking dreams and SP. I was once woken at around 0230hrs -I saw the clock on the wall- as the glass on the front door shattered loudly. I struggled to wake myself up as intruders would be in the house and my sister was sleeping in the next room. "Come on wake up properly!" is all I can recall thinking while listening out for further sounds of the intruders. I eventually stood up with a stick in my hand ready to tackle the intruders. Nothing. At this point I realised something was not right and suddenly swore as I realised that my struggling to get up probably never happened as I was lying motionless. 

Auditory effects are a pain in the backside. I have, on several occasions, clearly heard the front door bell ring and struggled up to find that it was 0500hrs, 0650 hrs and 0800hrs and that the doorbell had not been rung. There are others of course but the point is that at the time I would have staked money that these sounds were all 100% real. No doubt.

Sleep Paralysis and all it entails is the first thing that any investigator needs to rule out (I'll mention that my book UFO Contact? deals with SP and other possible causes of supposed alien abduction including Ruth Syndrome).  

Am I saying that alien abductions do not take place?  Well, we can argue over the semantics about "abduction" but I would be a complete moron if I stated "never ever happen". The fact that we have no 100% solid evidence such as an artefact (if you are ever abducted STEAL something!) we have to go by the percipients as well as third party evidence and we do have that.

What I am stating is that we have to look at every possibility first and if you have three women in a car chased along a road by a UFO and they are abducted and someone independently reports a big light following a car along that specific road and there are UFO reports at the time that indicates something.

Every person claiming to have an experience needs to be treated with respect, listened to and and questioned in a friendly, casual manner and their history looked into. If it is SP then explain that to them. If you do and they bay "No I was abducted!" then you have done your work and people believe what people want to believe.

You do not want to immediately tell someone "Yeah. That's sleep paralysis. Forget about it -never happened" only to have them respond "Oh. I never realised so all four of us were affected by that?"




Thursday 20 October 2022

Summer 1954, St. Priest-Taurion, Haute-Vienne, France, Marie-Louis M.

illustration from cover of Lumieres dans la Nuit

 In 1980, ufologist Gilles Magne published his report on an observation in France, in the west of the village of Basse-Gorce. The witness was Mdme. Marie-Louise M., born in 1897 and deceased in 1977.

In the summer of 1954, in good weather and with a clear sky,  between 12:30 and 13:00, the observer made her daily walk which was necessary following a hemiplegy attack that struck her three years earlier. Despite the partial paralysis on her right side left side was able to move normally and allowed her to make daily walks of 4 to 5 kilometers.

Mdme. M was on a dirt track less than 500 meters from her house, near the Croze small-holding, at the level of an hedge and in view of the cross roads of Mazeau and Croze, when she suddenly saw a flattened half-spherical object, very shiny and hovering at the far end of a row of spruce trees and a meadow.

Astonished by what she saw, Mdme. M described the scene to her mother after returning home.  She noted that the object was a thing of flattened form, but round, "lenticular", and very brilliant, but which nevertheless had a red dominant color with orange and yellow: the colours being spread out in juxtaposed stripes. She repeated this description often to Gilles Magne later.

The object did not touch the ground itself but rested on a kind of tripod. It could have been 1 meter to 1 meter 50 above the ground, near the first branches of the fir trees, its size being comparable with that of a large car. It was about fifty meters distant from Marie-Louise M.

While looking at the object she also observed two entities that appeared to be busy collecting something from the surrounding meadow (samples?). Amazed, she did not move from the edge of the pathway and it does not seem that the entities noticed her.

Questioned more in detail on these "beings", she always stated that they were very small, of 1 meter or less in height and with a very bulky head and of grey metal colour; the investigator could not determine whether this was because the entities wore helmets or not.

After a few minutes the entities, who seemed to be carrying vegetation samples,  went under the UFO. The object then rose while "shaking" until arriving at the top of the spruces and then left at a very fast speed without making a sound.

It is said that Mdme. M did not have the curiosity to approach the landing spot and so no details were known about any possible tripod markings in the ground or evidence of the entities activities.

One has to wonder whether, since the observer was said to have been amazed at what she saw, it was not lack of curiosity but the fact that she was semi paralysed on one side of her body so not up to clambering over a meadow or, if she had to, retreat quickly.

This is a rather mundane and non-sensationalist report. There was no seeking publicity and apparently the story was constant and did not change, as you might expect if fabricated. In these cases we have to ask whether we accept the accounts based on so little information. The thing is that this kind of report was (is?) common. A landed UFO seen, entities gathering samples (we assume) then re-entering the UFO which takes off. No one grabbed and dragged screaming for an examination aboard a UFO.

The investigator met the woman several times and if he came away with no doubts about her account then...genuine?


"Rencontre rapprochée de type 3 en été 1954, Haute-Vienne", investigation report by Gilles Magne, in the ufology magazine Lumières Dans La Nuit (LDLN), France, #196, pp 26-27, June / July 1980.

Our Nearest Planetary Systems and Some Thoughts

 

According to Space.com https://www.space.com/18090-alpha-centauri-nearest-star-system.html the closest star to Earth is a triple-star system called Alpha Centauri. A mainstay in science fiction for…a long time now!

A Hubble Space Telescope image of Alpha Centauri A (left) and Alpha Centauri B (right). (Image credit: ESA/NASA)



The two main stars are known as Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B and form what is known as a binary pair. They are “about” 4.35 light-years from Earth. The third star is called Proxima Centauri or Alpha Centauri C, and it is “about” 4.25 light-years from Earth which makes it the closest star after our own sun.

Alpha Centauri A and B are on average about 23 astronomical units from on another which is a little more than the distance between the sun and Uranus. The closest the two stars ever come to each other is 11 astronomical units and the two stars orbit a common center of gravity every 80 years.An astronomical unit is the average distance between Earth and the sun, which equals 92,955,807 miles or 149,597,870 kilometers.

Proxima Centauri is about one-fifth of a light-year or 13,000 AUs from the two other stars, a distance that makes some astronomers question whether it should even be considered part of the same system -don’t worry the astronomers will argue about that amongst themselves for decades. It is thought that Proxima Centauri may be passing through the system and will leave the vicinity in several million years, or it may be gravitationally bound to the binary pair. If it's bound, it has an orbital period around the other two stars of about 500,000 years.

To the naked eye Alpha Centauri A and B shine as one which makes them the third brightest "star" in our night sky. The two separate stars can be seen through a small telescope, making the system one of the finest binary stars that can be observed. Proxima Centauri is too faint to see unaided, and through a telescope it appears about four diameters of the full moon away from the other two.

Alpha Centauri A, which is also known as Rigel Kentaurus, is a yellow star of the same type (G2) which is what our own sun although slightly larger. It is three times closer to Earth than the next nearest star like our sun.

Alpha Centauri B is an orange K1-type star slightly smaller than the sun. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf about one-eighth the size of our sun. The system is in the Southern sky and is not visible to observers above the latitude of 29 degrees north, a line that passes near Houston and Orlando, Fla. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Alpha Centauri system is easy to find because the cross-piece of the Southern Cross (from Delta to Beta Crucis) points the way. Its right ascension is 14h 39m 41s and its declination is minus 60 degrees 50 minutes 7 seconds.

People will always, or should, ask whether there are any planets in the system -after all we hear so much about far more distance systems with exo planets. Well, in August, 2016, astronomers announced that they had detected an Earth-size planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. The planet, known as Proxima b (they pulled all the stops out on deciding on that name), is about 1.3 times more massive than Earth, which suggests that the exo planet is a rocky world. And the fact that Proxima b is a relatively small distance from Earth makes it a particularly appealing target for scientists. The planet is also in the star's habitable zone that is just the right range of distances from a star where liquid water can exist on the surface of a body. Proxima b lies just 4.7 million miles (7.5 million km) from its host star and completes one orbit every 11.2 Earth-days.

On Nov. 14, 2018, astronomers announced the detection of a planet candidate circling Barnard's Star, which lies just 6 light-years from the sun. Only the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system, located about 4.3 light-years from us, are closer solar neighbors. Barnard's Star is a red dwarf about one-sixth as massive as Earth's sun and just 3 percent as luminous. Astronomers think Barnard's Star may be about 10 billion years old — twice as old as our sun.


Barnard's Star is so dim that things would get very cold out in the exo planet's neighborhood. Astronomers estimate Barnard's Star b's surface temperature at probably minus 275 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 170 degrees Celsius).  Barnard's Star b is about 3.2 times more massive than our home planet, making it a "super-Earth";  a class of world significantly larger than Earth but smaller than ice giants such as Neptune. Super-Earths are among the most common planets in the Milky Way, but we don't have any in our solar system.

If -if-  this exo planet ends up being confirmed, and that seems very likely, then Barnard's Star b still will not be the nearest exo-planet to Earth as that distinction goes to Proxima b..

It has to be remembered that these are only exo planets that we know of and there may be others in these systems. Inhabited planets? We have no idea but there are other systems "close" to our own and the question is always the same when you think about it logically.



The James Webb telescope cost $10 billion and looks out into deep space so far and we know that it is unlikely that we will ever get as far out as .5% of the distance viewed.

Hubble 'only' cost $2 billion.Why has no device been sent into space to more closely study our nearest neighbours?

Does that not make far more sense especially with SETI programs?

The 21st century has brought us mini yet very sophisticated satellites and Starlink consists of many satellites released in one go so why has no one bothered designing something similar -small probes heading out toward our nearest neighbours and able to send back images (we can send a satellite to follow another to film it smash into an asteroid after all) while at the same time trying to detect signals and broadcast a signal?


People, especially the debunkers who do no real research, keep stating the "vast inter-galactic distances involved in space travel and that this rules out alien (UFO) visitors. Carl Sagan stated that distance was the greatest problem.

Well, inter-galactically, yes. I agree but the nearest solar systems are always ignored. "WE cannot ravel that distance therefore no alien civilisation can!

We actually had the technology to get to the Moon. By now we should have sent a manned flight to Mars but we just could not be bothered whether for political or financial reasons while at the same time having military, weapon development and Black Budgets running into far more than the paltry $10 billion that the James Webb cost.

An alien civilisation may be far more interested in science than warfare and put all of its efforts into space and planetary exploration. Depending on the age of the civilisation its technology may make Proxima Centauri to Earth a "short side journey".

I doubt I will see it in my lifetime but if Bigelow is really that interested in finding alien life then he has the finances and ability to launch a program not looking for “dinobeavers” or chain-smoking werewolves.




Talavera le Real Air Force Base Entity Encounter

The first English language account of this case appeared in the of Flying Saucer Review (Vol. 23 No. 5m, February, 1979). This was a case in which the percipients were paralysed during an apparent alien encounter that took place on 12th November,1976 at the Talavera le Real Air Force Base.

The Talavera le Real Air Force Base Alien encounter as depicted in a more kids war comic style

The case involved the appearance and disappearance of a strange, glowing humanoid entity; one that seemingly appeared to defy logic and physics as it faced the barrage of gunfire from the soldiers involved. The Talavera Le Real Air Force incident is one of the most detailed and remarkable on record and at the time was either slapped down as a fantasy (and FSR should have been ashamed of itself for publishing the story -they did worse) or at best a hoax. I recall the jokes about this case which, I was told to my face, 'proved' how made my work was on the subject.

Worse was what I learnt from some Spanish Ufologists who loved nothing more than to debunk every single sighting and ignore facts. I was told -and I believe that this even went into print- that the case was a hoax with details found 'conveniently on public transport. I was told the soldiers involved could not be found and it was doubtful that they existed. In many cases it seemed almost as though there was jealousy that someone else had gotten the report. Links will be given at the end as usual and I encourage the reader to visit Callabodetroy as that site has a lot more extra information.
The incident entered the public arena in FSR courtesy of UFO investigator Juan Jose Benitez.
The incident unfolded at just before 0200 hrs when two Spanish soldiers, Jose Maria Trejo and Juan Carrizosa, were on sentry duty at the “fuel stock zone” when they heard a sudden strange sound that immediately caught their attention. They described it at first as sounding like “typical radio interference” which suddenly changed to an “acute, penetrating whistle” that was “so piercing” it caused significant pain in their ears.
The men were now alert to the real possibility of an intruder (if a noisy one) and began to check their surroundings; the whistling sound continued for around five minutes before suddenly coming to a stop. The men then undertook a search of the perimeters but found nothing untoward and there were no signs of a breach of security. The checks carried out the men probably considered it odd but nothing of great concern until just moments after their patrol, the bizarre whistling sound began once again. They would describe this second whistling as being “so sharp and so penetrating” that they feared it would drive them mad or that their “ear-drums were going to be ruptured”.
A map showing where the incident took place

A map showing where the incident took place

The ear-piercing whistling continued for around five minutes before suddenly ceasing but when the sound came to a stop a bright light was immediately visible overhead lighting up a large part of the ground below it. This unnerving glow lasted for around 20 seconds before it vanished, returning the area back to darkness.
Shortly after this a third soldier, Jose Hidalgo, joined the men and with him was one of the military Alsatian guard dogs. Hidalgo had also seen the bright glow and was preparing to conduct a tour of the perimeters of the base. The two soldiers agreed to join him, and on their way made their way to the hut where the guards and the corporal slept and woke Corporal Pavon and inform him of the potential situation unfolding. He would immediately ordered a full search of the area and as the three men and dog set out the area was still and quiet as was normal.
The search was quiet and uneventful and the three soldiers took a certain amount of solace from the fact that the guard dog was calm. As they were approached the next sentry box things changed and they noticed a “whirlwind” of sorts begin around them and this bizarrely only affected (it seems) the area where the soldiers stood. The sudden wind made them ready their weapons. Each man stood as still as possible listening and scanning the area for signs of an intruder.


Above: Soldiers José Manuel Trejo and Juan Carrizosa with the same wolf-dog who, on the night of 12th November  discovered the “intruder”

They then heard the sound of breaking branches and unleashed the dog which immediately ran toward the area where the noise had come from. The men waited, watching and expecting to hear barks and snarls when the dog located whoever, or whatever, had made the sound. All they heard was silence. After a short time the dog returned but appeared spooked or frightened and seemed to be staggering “as though (it was) sea-sick”.They eventually coaxed the dog into investigating the area in question several more times but on each occasion it would come back to the men “whimpering” and eventually circling around them which is something guard dogs are trained to do to indicate danger.
By this time the levels of alertness and anxiety of the three men had risen dramatically: something was going on -but what?
After a short wait one of the soldiers called out in an attempt to get a response from whoever was hiding in the shadows. The guard dog was by now snarling at the unseen presence while continuing to circle the three soldiers.
Then, things changed once again.

Talavera La Real Airbase
Suddenly, Trejo experienced a bizarre “sensation” that there was “someone” behind him and was so spooked that cold shivers went right through his stomach. At the same time he also noticed the glow of a green light in his peripheral vision. Automatically, he turned to face the green glow. In front of him was a 10 feet (3m) tall humanoid figure at an approximate distance of 50 feet (15m) from where he stood. The other men had also turned to face the figure and one would later recall that this strange figure seemed to be made up of many different small points of light. They would further describe it as having extremely long arms and a small head in comparison to its body. It also appeared to wear some kind of helmet. Although all of the soldiers felt sure the figure was on the ground, none could recall seeing its feet or legs, almost as if its lower body was without legs.

Considering everything else that had happened before this must have been terrifying.


Trejo, who was by far the nearest to the figure was at first unable to move through shock and fear but, after gathering his thoughts, raised his rifle and prepared to shoot. Before Trejo could pull the trigger of his weapon he found himself unable to move as a piercing “weakness” permeated his body. He would later recall that this sensation only began when he “tried to press the trigger” of his rifle. It was almost as if, he would suggest later, that “the being had guessed my intentions”. He felt himself falling to the ground but before he did he shouted out to his fellow soldiers: “Down! They’ll kill us!” With that, Trejo fell face-first to the ground, now unable to speak and having problems seeing. Behind him, though, Carriozosa and Hidalgo were preparing to fire their own rifles.

As Trejo lay face down on the ground his two comrades prepared to fire their rifles and then did so -firing between 40-50 rounds between them. The men were then amazed as the figure simply vanished into thin air within seconds.
Once the entity had vanished both Carriozosa and Hidalgo rushed toward Trejo to ensure he was not harmed but at the same time the strange, ear-piercing whistle sounded out once more for around 15 seconds. Then, complete silence took over.
Although he was largely unhurt, Trejo had an intense bruising type of pain in his chest (despite not having fallen on it or being struck there). This would last for approximately 20 minutes before easing off and then ceasing altogether.



By this time it seemed that almost the entire base had heard the gunfire and had rushed outside ready to confront whatever intruder might have gained entry to the base. The men did their best to explain what had happened to varying levels of disbelief.

Several hours later, in daylight, a unit of around 50 men conducted a thorough search of the area. However, not only was no evidence of the apparent entity’s presence found but not a single cartridge case was discovered in the area the soldiers had fired their weapons. Given that they fired around 50 shots -and their gunfire had alerted the base- some if not all should have been discovered. Shell casings should have been littered everywhere. Everyone who had been alerted had been so by the gunfire and a later analysis of the men’s rifles proved that they had indeed been fired when they said they had.
To state "even stranger" for the next factor in all of this would be an understatement. The entity had been standing in front of a wall and yet not a single bullet mark was discovered on it and even if good at aiming their weapons some bullets should have missed the figure and struck the wall. In fact the two soldiers were certain that at least some of the barrage should have hit the wall.
The entire unit, including the base superiors, was mystified as to the incident.


Several days after the incident, Trejo’s vision began to worsen to such a degree that he could barely see. He would ultimately be transferred to the military hospital building where he would lay largely unresponsive for around 24 hours. At first, it appeared as though he was recovering and was discharged from the sickbay but less than a week later he seemingly relapsed into sudden ill health and was transferred to Badajoz Hospital. He would remain there for 10 days while doctors conducted several tests and examinations on him ranging from eye and hearing tests to blood and stool samples, and various X-rays. However, nothing out of the ordinary was discovered.
Trejo was eventually discharged from the hospital and returned to duty but, again, after several days the mystery illness returned, beginning with him temporarily losing his sight. Although his vision would return, the overpowering unwell feeling didn’t leave him and on 30th November, he was transferred to the Hospital del Aire – the Air Force hospital in Madrid.
Many more tests and examinations were carried out on Trejo during his time at the hospital but doctors could find nothing physically wrong with him other than a “nervous maladjustment” - likely down to the terrifying encounter. After several weeks, he was again released and it appears whatever had been troubling his physical health, was over.
Ultimately, the soldiers were mystified as to what they witnessed that night but they were certain that “all three of us saw it”, adding that “the thing was something very much like a man, but very tall”.
The events and what was behind them remain a complete mystery. As do such details as to what happened to the cartridge cases and why there were no bullet marks in the wall behind the strange creature. As Benitez writes in his summary of the case there are many similar cases on record where “figures have appeared – generally of a human form – presenting a totally non-material appearance, and with an intense illuminous radiation around them”.

What do we make of all of this? If we assume that this encounter happened, and it does appear that it did, then what factors here are familiar from other reports?

1) The "glow" or object. We are not sure whether the glow was actually an object (I hate to write this) "uncloaking" the "re-cloaking" or even some kind of transportation device (see my end comments on alien technology)

2) The sound heard -there have been numerous sounds heard prior to, during or after a UFO encounter and in some cases may be created by a natural phenomenon. In cases where there is clearly seen what appears to be a constructed object of some kind then it is assumed to be created by that. In this case there appears to be a sound -light-entity connection.

3) The reaction of the dog -the staggering, dazed or other affects on dogs in particular are recorded from many cases over the decades so is nothing outside of a "normal" encounter. The fact that the dog still performed its trained duty to circle (protect) the men and snarled seems to suggest -suggest- that there was no intention of harm but to "slap its nose" and warn it off.

4) The physical paralysis -particularly as someone intends to fire a weapon has also been recorded in past cases involving police officers, farmers, etc. and in some cases were made too hot to hold or to heavy to hold. Had "they" even made a casual study of humans then there would be no need to "read minds" to know that if a human raises a gun in your direction they are or might fire at you. In this case Trejo was closest so we have no idea whether it was that proximity to "it" that caused his collapse or an intentional "pacification" of him by the entity. If the latter it seems odd since the other men fired 40-50 rounds at the entity and had no effect. This leads to the idea that there may have been some form of force or energy around the entity (based on the description) and Trejo -as many before him in UFO encounters- just got too close see 7 below).

5) The height of the entity -approx. heights of 2.50-3m are not unheard of. Sadly, Ufology and its almost religious fervor to jump on the latest band wagon meant that, for many (even alleged veterans) there have only ever been small "Grey" aliens which is not the case and while some may be "rebooting" old cases to include Greys it does not hide all the recorded past reports. There have been reports of entities ranging in height from 6 feet (1.8m), 7 feet (2.13m), 8feet (2.43m) as well as 9 feet (2.74m) and 10 feet (3 m). It makes a certain logical sense that "aliens come in all shapes and sizes" (theoretically).

6) The luminosity of the entity is, again, something noted before and the question as to what this glow could be answered in various ways -an alien form of extra vehicular activity protection from germs, etc? Maybe a way to protect themselves? We have no idea and I refer you to Arthur C. Clarke's statement further on.

7) The physiological after effects on the person standing closest to an object/entity is another noted circumstance. There are reports of entities in or next to landed objects that wave an approaching person away or even quickly leave before an observer gets too close -when waving someone back fails even a red light beam has been shot at their feet as a warning. Again, these later physiological effects may be due to some deliberate actions but we do not know. We just know that getting too close to a UFO -or entity- is not a good idea.

Seven factors that tally with other encounters over the years and it must be remembered that Spain in the 1970s was not a place where three soldiers could perpetrate a hoax on duty let alone discharge 40-50 rounds and escape very serious consequences. Three troopers "having a jolly" can be ruled out and then we have to ask why no one is allowed to view the military report or listen to the taped interviews with the men.

Again, if 40-50 rounds of ammunition were discharged -it was proven that they were through the base personnel hearing them and going on alert and checks of the rifles- then a percentage of the rounds should have struck the wall in question. The soldiers themselves are positive that some should have. And yet no marks. 40-50 shell casings had vanished and the idea that the three men picked up all the casings quickly in the dark is somewhat ludicrous.

What was the purpose of this appearance on the base? The suggestion that there may have been missing time is not credible.

Was it a military test of advanced equipment to see whether it was effective -the three men and dog being test subjects? Again, highly unlikely. Neither the Spanish nor any other military had any type of device that could do this or, after 46 years we would know about it.

We have to accept that something happened so was the figure some kind of holographic projection? If it was and was therefore not affected by gunfire then how did it make the bullets and casing vanish? Was it watching before making its appearance then why? This is where we can go into wild speculation and totally ignore two basic facts if this was an alien encounter:

1) We have absolutely no understanding of any particular alien intelligence or how their minds work, what they were doing here or what this meant (apart from gathering bullets and casings).

2) According to the late Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" We have not openly encountered alien technology therefore not studied it and so our observation of such would be akin to showing members of a no contact Amazonian tribe a mini drone and displaying the images its camera catches on a laptop.

The Talavera La Real encounter happened at a time of other UFO/entity activity in Spain but, again, we can only speculate on any possible connection.

A full summary plus photos and documents can be found here as well as testimony from some of those involved years later:

There is also a full summary here as well as a look at other encounters in Spain at the time:



Wednesday 19 October 2022

Cynthia Hind

 Info adapted from NOUFOR


Cynthia Hind ( - 2000) was born and grew up in a remote part of the North-west Cape, in Namaqualand, South Africa and received her initial education at Good Hope Seminary. She attended Cape Town University in 1942, studying for a B.A. in English and a minor in Psychology. Before completion of her degree in 1944, she joined the South African Women's Army Air Force (W.A.A.F.), where she served three years in the Movement Control and Radar section until the end of World War II. She married an R.A.F. pilot and went to live in Northern England for eleven years where her two children, a son and a daughter, were born.

Cynthia and her husband, Norman (an engineer), emigrated back to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1957. With her father, the three started a furniture factory in Salisbury (now Harare) where Mrs. Hind was a director in the company and responsible for buying all fabrics. After building their furniture factory up to the largest in the country, they sold it in 1983, allowing Cynthia to devote herself full time to pursuing her free-lance writing. Although her interest was mainly short stories and articles Cynthia had an interest was aroused in UFOs and the paranormal.



Hind visited the MUFON offices in Quincy, Illinois after joining MUFON in 1974 in the dual role of Representative for Zimbabwe and Field Investigator. In 1981, she was the featured evening speaker at the MUFON 1981 UFO Symposium held at M.I.T. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her paper was titled "African Encounters: Case Investigations". She was also appointed Continental Coordinator for Africa in 1981, a position she faithfully held in MUFON's global organization until her death.



Hind's first UFO book titled UFOs - African Encounters was published by Gemini, Salisbury, Zimbabwe in 1982. Some of her best UFO investigations in Africa have been published in the MUFON UFO Journal over the intervening years. When an important UFO case warranted, she did not hesitate to fly or drive to the site and carry out a full scale investigation, with the assistance of local qualified scientific advisors.

Hind was a member of the Soroptimist, serving as President of the Harare Club in 1979-1980, and National President of Zimbabwe in 1984-1986. Starting in 1988 as Editor of UFO AFRINEWS, she had mailed her newsletter worldwide to interested people. Hind published seven newsletters from 1988 on and various articles on UFOs published in Australia, Brazil, Britain, France, South Africa, U.S.A. and Zimbabwe, including the MUFON UFO Journal.

Hind contributed chapters on African UFOs to the following books: UFOs 1947 - 1987, edited by Hilary Evans and John Spencer; Phenomenon, edited by John Spencer and Hilary Evans; The UFO Story 1990, edited by Timothy Good; and UFOs - The Definitive Casebook by John Spencer.

Her last book, UFOs Over Africa, was published in June 1997. It sums up a lifetime of work spent in careful investigation of a host of the most unusual cases, including the strange appearance of silvery-suited aliens and unique light phenomena at the La Rochelle estate, the abduction chronology of two Johannesburg women and, for the first time, tells the complete story of the Ariel school UFO landing with first-hand accounts by over a dozen young students. Many cases highlighted feature Cynthia Hind's special extended-interview technique.



The UFO Afrinews series of booklets were first published in July 1988 and the final copy (No.22) published in July 2000 before her passing. This eminent researcher - the leader in Africa - passed away during the latter part of August 2000 and, according to the press reports, she  ("like so many other UFO researchers") was a victim of cancer. She is survived by her two adult children who live in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Her husband, Norman, died in 1986.

Antonio Ribera i Jordà 1920-2001

 Information from Spanish Wikipedia. all photos (c)2022 Respective copyright owners


Ribera was a renowned Spanish writer , ufologist , translator and submariner and was/is considered the "father" of Spanish ufology. He published numerous books on the subject of UFOs and was the co-founder of the Center for Interplanetary Studies (CEI) in Barcelona ( 1958 ). He became interested in the UFO phenomenon in the summer of 1947, when news about "flying saucers" began to appear in the Spanish press for the first time. It is in these years that he begins to write his first books, both poetry, theater and essays, publishing books such as Terra de somni ( 1949 ) or El comte d'Arnau ( 1951 ).


Ribera with French Ufologist Aime Michel -uncredited

He was invited as a speaker at numerous international congresses both in Europe and America , dedicated to UFO issues , he also founded the now defunct magazine Horizonte  in addition to collaborating with various parascientific magazines, such as Mundo Desscrito, Karma 7 , Lumières dans la nuit , Flying Saucer Review among others. He also collaborated in various cultural and social magazines and newspapers such as Pont Blau La Nostra Revista, Tele-Estel, Xarxa or Avui . 

He was a member of the Catalan PEN and the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language (AELC) .


He is considered a promoter of underwater exploration, being one of the founders of the Center for Underwater Research and Recovery (CRIS) ( 1953 ), publishing numerous outreach works on the matter. In 1975 he led the first Spanish expedition to Easter Island ( Operation Rapa Nui , 1975).

He spoke six languages, dedicating himself professionally to the translation of books (more than three hundred), especially English works into Spanish. She wrote more than seventy books, 4 on topics as varied as ufology, science fiction, scuba diving or poetry.

In 1990 he received the Creu de Sant Jordi , one of the highest distinctions awarded by the Government of Catalonia.

Ribera was the victim of hoaxes perpetrated by other Spanish Ufologists and an especially well known individual. Up until about ten years ago I was unaware that Spanish Ufologists were constantly feeding 'fellow researchers' in Catalonia false reports. The Monster of Vizcaya was one case.  Even fellow Spanish investigators were fed hoax information and it seems to have been a main pastime.

Ribera being willing to accept CE3K/AE reports made himself a target and, of course, there was jealousy at the fact that he was the face of Spanish Ufology. 


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