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
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.
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:
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