[Readers of INEXPLICATA will remember Mr. Metayer's accounts of mysteries in Buenos Aires and his photographs of same a few years back]
Source: DIB (Diarios Bonaerenses)
Date: November 23, 2023
Terror in the Night: "Frog Skinned, One-Eyed
Midgets" in Pergamino, Argentina
By Marcelo
Metayer - DIB (Diarios Bonaerenses)
Some teenagers were strolling one evening in October 1988 by
the Club de Viajantes when they came across a group of 70 centimeter tall
beings that gestured and called out to them with "guttural sounds"
The story shook the city. Mysterious prints were left at the site.
The existence of intelligent creatures foreign to humankind
are common in the folklore of every nation. More recently, the modern myth
crafted by the UFO phenomenon has brought about a figure that has acquired
fame: the small, large headed, bug-eyed creature. These "midgets" have
been seen on many occasions, and while there may not be any flying saucers
around, there is always talk of their extraterrestrial origin. Perhaps the
best-remembered case in the province of Buenos Aires is that of the "green
midgets" of La Plata, which garnered a large number of witnesses between
November and December 1983. But there is a less-known situation that shook a
city in Buenos Aires and also transpired during the same decade: the sighting
of "frog-skinned" beings standing between 50 and 70 centimeters tall
in Pergamino, on the edge of midnight in October 1988.
The event occurred nearly at the end of the month -
Thursday, October 27. It was one of the headlines of La Opinión, the local
newspaper, the following morning, whose banner asked: "ALIENS IN
PERGAMINO?"
Within the paper, a double-page spread told of the shock the
event had caused in the community. There were photos of the place, the
witnesses and most striking of all, a drawing of one of the beings reported,
with a single eye in the middle of its face.
According to the text, the uncanny event had taken place
"in a section of Calle 14 of the Parque General San Martin district,
bordering the Club de Viajantes property" in the North Buenos Aires city,
located close to National Route 188.
They Were Bald and Frog-Skinned
The four witnesses were male teenagers. One of them, age 14,
called Cristián Cassio, plus a trio of 19-year-olds: Silvio Peña, Darío Durán
and Javier Jáuregi. They had seen a group of beings "standing sixty
centimeters tall, completely bald, and whose clothing "had a color similar
to frog skin". These creatures gestured at the boys and apparently
endeavored to communicate with them. Three of the boys saw six midgets, while
another said their number was five. Durán created the identikit drawing
featured in the paper.
The article claimed that "the startling situation took
place at approximately 00:30 hours on Thursday, when these four residents
walked along a section of Calle 14, bordering the rear section of the Club de
Viajantes facilities. Unexpectedly, at a distance of three meters, five or six
"green midgets" gestured at them, issuing imperceptible guttural
sounds. The youths agreed that they tried to put as much distance as possible
between themselves and the unknown quantity, stressing that the diminutive
extraterrestrials had appeared among the privet hedges of the Club de
Viajantes."
The next day, the boys spoke of what they had seen, and
local residents became alert. La Opinión went to speak to the staff at the Club
de Viajantes. Alicia Leal, the organization's concierge, said: "I think it
was around 00:30 hours when something tried to open the rear door to the dining
room - a sort of lantern, with a non-descript color. I turned off all the
lights and tried to see more closely if burglars were involved. I couldn't make
out any noise or conversation. Seconds later, that very same light ran away
until it vanished. A hundred meters away, I could see watchman Hector Juan
Martinez and one of my nephews chatting outside, but they evidently didn't see
anything unusual."
"I Jumped Like the Guys Who Won at Seoul"
The most significant eyewitness report came from Cristián,
the 14-year-old boy, who stated in the newsroom that the beings "were
five, all of them hairless, and did not speak clearly. They did so in a kind of
guttural moans. When they saw me, they all pointed at me at once. They stood
some 70 centimeters tall. I jumped like the guys who won at Seoul [Author's
note: a reference to the Olympic games that year]. Later on, I went with my friends
to la Caminera (Traffic Police), where at first they didn't believe what we'd seen. Later, when
they reached the conclusion that we were of sound mind, we all headed over to
the Club de Viajantes".
The day after the event, according to the newspaper, in an
area adjacent to one of the club's fountains, there still remained "some
prints that at first glance appeared to belong to a young child, or otherwise,
to one of the strange visitors".
The text mentioned "the incessant pilgrimage of local
residents to the site where the alleged extraterrestrials had been" all
day Thursday. The anonymous chronicler from Pergamino wrote, as a final
paragraph, that "all manner of vehicles served to satisfy the public's
curiosity over a fact that only serves to deepen the mystery that has always
been enshrouded by an esoteric veil, whether or not we Earthlings are the only
creatures in the Universe".
[Translation ©2023 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Marcelo Metayer and DIB]
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