Fabio Zerpa: The Balvidares Case (1973)

 

 The Balvidares Case

Location:    Rural area, Leandro N. Alem District (Buenos Aires Province, bordering the General Pinto District)
Date:    October 29, 1973
Time:    Between 5:00 PM and 6:55 PM
Investigation:    Professor Omar Demattei, Fabio Zerpa, and ONIFE (Junín)

On Monday, October 29, 1973, Mr. Carlos A. Balvidares (43)—accompanied by one of his nine children, 12-year-old Manuel—left home as he did every day to head to the farm owned by Mr. Jorge Urricarriet, located 25 km to the northeast, where he worked as the foreman.
In the mid-afternoon, Balvidares spotted three beings floating above the water next to a windmill on the property, without disturbing the water's surface; they appeared to be suspended in mid-air, with their backs turned toward him. The witness approached to within 80 meters of these strange entities—two "men" and one "woman"—and began calling out to them. The beings looked back and immediately vanished, only to reappear on the opposite bank of the lagoon, about 300 meters away. It is worth noting that the witness could not explain the method of their instantaneous movement from the initial sighting spot to the second location. Balvidares checked his watch: it was 5:20 PM.
The "woman" appeared to be between 1.60 and 1.65 meters tall. She was dressed entirely in black; her hair was also black (movement revealed it to be long), and she wore white boots that ended in a sort of fin-like structure that flared out to the sides like a fan. The "men" were slightly shorter than the "woman," a difference that was particularly noticeable when the three of them stood together. They were exactly the same height; they appeared naked—looking as if their bodies were slicked with oil or gel—and had a complexion resembling sun-tanned human skin. The witness did not rule out the possibility that the "men" were wearing tight-fitting, one-piece suits. The "men" had blond hair that also appeared slicked back; all three were notable for their fair complexions, broad foreheads, and small noses, and they moved with their arms and legs held close to their bodies.
Upon spotting them again, Balvidares also observed—in the same area where the entities were located, 20 meters from the power lines and resting on the ground—an extremely powerful light. It emanated from a rectangular object approximately 5 to 6 meters wide and 2 to 3 meters high. A beam of light about 40 cm in diameter (comparable to a movie projector beam in the dark) shot from the center of the object, reaching his position and blinding him while generating a sensation of heat. Balvidares, intent on making contact with the strange beings, mounted his horse and rode into the lagoon—which was full of water at the time—heading toward where the entities stood. However, as he advanced, the beings tried to move away, specifically toward the UFO. The witness managed to cover only half the distance (getting to within approximately 150 meters of the entities) before an invisible barrier prevented him from going further. His horse refused to obey him, despite his strenuous efforts to make it keep moving. Faced with this situation, Balvidares turned back and resumed drinking *mate*, while the beings engaged in strange behavior 30 or 40 meters from the craft.
Keeping their arms close to their bodies and their legs together, they moved from place to place with small hops. The "woman" appeared to be directing the other two beings; ...was always in the lead, and whenever it raised an arm (barely moving it away from its body), one of the "men" would move about 30 meters away, stop, and immediately communicate with the other two using a strange language—a sort of screeching sound, like a poorly tuned radio—which could be heard clearly despite the light wind.
Then, all three would crouch down (appearing as though they were making marks on the ground) and adopt a series of other strange postures that were unintelligible to the witness.
Something caught Balvidares's attention: a sow confined in a nearby pen jumped over the enclosure in an unusual manner and fled the scene. It was then that the witness suddenly smelled sulfur. Immediately, a sort of drowsiness or stupor overcame him for a few moments; when he recovered, neither the beings nor the light—which had held his attention across an arc of more than 90 degrees—were visible anymore.
It was exactly 6:55 PM. From that day on, neither the sow that had been in the pen when the UFO beings retreated (at the moment the witness smelled the sulfur) nor the sheep usually kept there would enter the enclosure, despite Balvidares's efforts.

Connection to the Llanca case

It is evident that the Balvidares case, which occurred on October 29, 1973, is closely linked to the incident involving truck driver Dionisio Llanca in Bahía Blanca one day earlier—specifically, in the early hours of October 28, 1973.
The two cases share several common features: there were three strange beings—two blond "men" and one "woman" (who was blond in the Llanca case but had black hair in the Balvidares incident). In both instances, the entities communicated using a peculiar language—a sort of screeching sound resembling a poorly tuned radio. Another detail: in both cases, the beings were described as having broad foreheads.
The possibility that Balvidares drew inspiration from the Llanca case to recount his own story can be ruled out; although his encounter took place on Monday, October 29—the day after the Bahía Blanca incident—Dionisio Llanca did not recall the events until Tuesday, the 30th. By the night of Monday the 29th, Balvidares had already shared his account with several people. Significantly, Mr. Carlos Balvidares always described what he had seen in the exact same way.

[Source: Ellos- Los Seres Extraterrestres by Fabio Zerpa. The late Mr. Zerpa was one of Argentina's most influential UFO researchers, with extensive writings and televised and public appearances]