Operation Trancas: The Classic Case Revisited, 55 Years On
By Luis Burgos (FAO-ICOU)
If there is anything in common between the Trancas case and successive generations of ufologists - both the old ones and the younger ones taking their first steps into the subject matter of UFOS - it is this case that we have on our beside table, much like a student handbook in a book bag or a Bible in the hand of churchgoers. It so happens that the remarkable event contains all of the elements necessary to a UFO case in order to consider it perfect. Years went by, decades went by, and many more shall elapse and it is IMPOSSIBLE to refute the events of that night long ago in Tucumán, although there is always someone looking for an answer, such as, for example that the witnesses "mistook" it for a train and its operators on the tracks. Laughable yet sad, because it is an effort to "cover up" something the person couldn't bring themselves to say: the entire case was a shame, in other words, a boldfaced lie. Therefore, the witnesses were all liars, not confused by the situations experienced, since "any one of us could be confused by a distance light, but no one would confuse an object resting on the ground and suddenly takes to the sky thirty meters away with a train car! This is the typical "playing the fool" explanation - lacking enough guts to stand and say "everyone lied in Trancas."
Reasons for the Trip
When ICOU (Investigadores de Campo OVNI Unidos - United UFO Field Researchers) on March 22, 2014 in Maximo Paz, Santa Fe, we also began to outline the idea of setting the "markers" for major cases in our UFO case histories. The first one was bestowed upon the Villaverde Case outside Santa Rosa (La Pampa), followed by a series of memorials in various Argentinean provinces: La Plata (Buenos Aires), Punta Indio (Buenos Aires), Venado Tuerto (Santa Fe) and El Bolson (Rio negro) where the "highest UFO monolith" was erected - at an altitude of 1250 meters, in the heart of Mt. Piltriquitron. Therefore, when organizing Operation Noa 2018 as a continuation of Operación Patagónica 2017, this new journey would cover some 5000 kilometers across a number of northwestern Argentinean provinces, prompting us to dedicate two memorials to UFO incidents considered as top cases in the national UFO histories: The Trancas Case (Tucuman), featuring the Moreno family, and the 1995 Salta UFO Crash investigated by Tony Galvagno.
Clarifying Information
A detailed retelling of the Trancas events would be redundant, since any person interested in the subject would be able to access a wealth of information in this regard by simply typing the name in the Internet. We are faced by the best Argentinean case, in my opinion and that of the majority of ufologists. Therefore our visit to the Santa Teresa farm, where the events too place, and to be welcomed by Jolié Moreno, 78, the only surviving witness of that evening, was a thrill to us. But for this writer and other members of FAO, for researcher Aguilares Marcelo Oso Nueva and ufologist Javier Lopez Posse and his GIOT group, who accompanied us, expectations were taken a step further by the on-site reality.
The Property Then and Now
While looking at the photographs of the Santa Teresa farm at the time - located some 3 kilometers from the town and belonging to the Moreno family - "time had stood still" by all accounts, as we toured the facilities and their surroundings in person nearly half a century later. Not much had changed since then. Jolié even has planned some repairs, among them the inclusion of a monolith on which our commemorative plaque will have a deserved monument. The atmosphere is permeated with tranquility, peace and memories.
The Alert
As Jolié told us, the first person in the family to sound the alert about "some strange presences aboard a luminous something on train tracks" (the Belgrano Railway) was her sister Argentina, age 28, who immediately woke up Dora Martina Guzman, 15, the family maid. They woke up Yolanda, age 32, and Jolié herself, age 23, who slept in the second room with one of the babies. Guillermo, Argentina's son, and the three women decided to leave the farm to see what was going on. Yolanda held a Colt .38 in her hand (a weapon kept by Dora when she was alone in the house) and Jolié carried a heavy-duty flashlight.
Their parents, Antonio Moreno, 72, and Teresa Kairuz. 63, very nervous, remained within the house with Argentina, who did not want to leave, being the most frightened of all. The clock indicated 21:30 hours on October 21, 1962 and there, at 150 meters from the entrance to the dwelling could be seen some 40 silhouettes of normal appearance and gait.
The Closest Encounter
It was necessary for them to crouch order to see better, and to avoid being covered by the foliage of neighboring trees. Dora went ahead a few meters, having seen a dim greenish light close to the "automatic" gate, leading her to think one of the farm's workers -a man surnamed Huanca - had arrived in his pickup truck. Just at that time, Jolié pointed her light against the light and "a disc-shaped luminous body" suddenly lit up. It was practically lying only scarce inches from the ground, as it was "balancing slightly" at less than 10 meters from the witnesses. The device, with six rectangular windows and an upper protuberance, emanated a sort of fog from tis lower base, while making a buzzing sound similar to "a fluorescent bulb shutting off". A strong smell of sulfur was evident in the area, and it lasted until the next morning. The fog dissipated in the morning.
The Woman Who Stared Down a UFO
A very powerful 'heat wave' emanated from the craft, causing Yolanda to drop her handgun, making it fall to the ground Jolie and Dora, who was up ahead and took the brunt of the impact. The three turned and ran toward the farm to follow the events. From that point onward several beams of white light measuring 3 meters in diameter emerged from the objects, aimed at the farm. All of them were at a distance of 10 centimeters off the ground. Two of the beams were aimed at the shed in the back of the property, where a tractor was kept, dirty from its use on farm duties. It turned up completely clean in the morning, as though it had been washed. The other two beams scoured the henhouse, which contained some 400 chickens, and the other surveyed the farmhouse. This activity took several minutes. Another interesting detail was that Jolié "plunged her arm into one of the beams, only to see it pull back immediately." That is to say, it wasn't Jolié who pulled her arm out of the beam.
Animal Symptoms
As is common in these cases, the farm's three guard dogs remained "flattened" throughout the entire ordeal and the 400 chickens did not stir during the prevailing situation.
The Doctor's Astounding Vision
Searching for other eyewitness accounts, those provided by José Acosta, the farm's foreman, and neighbor Francisco Tropiano regrettably do not provide further details on the case, beyond the "strange lights in the surroundings" seen by Acosta and the orange-tinted sky seen by Tropiano. However, the experience of Doctor René Vera, 28, at the Trancas Hospital is fundamental in the final interpretation of the incident: This medical professional's car broke down on the road near the Santa Teresa farm around 23:00 hours. She left it behind and began walking toward the town when suddenly "some 40 or 50 luminous objects began to fly over at low altitude, heading east," leaving the air saturated with an almost-unbreathable smell of sulfur.
Physical Evidence
Next day, Dr. Walter Gonzalo Tell (National University of Tucumán) reported to the scene and gathered "a large number of tiny white balls that crumbled to the touch" and which were scattered in a 30 meter radius of the bean field where the object landed, and to a lesser extent on the railroad tracks. An analysis suggested that they were 96.48% calcium carbonate and 3.51% potassium. In other words, calcium of the highest degree of purity.
A circular ground mark measuring 8 meters in diameter was stamped for several years on the site, as mute evidence of the events transpired, where the craft closes to the gate had landed.
Doña Marina, who was closest to the main object, suffered first and second degree burns to her face, arms and legs, treated for this condition the following day in the town's hospital.
The Trancas Case's Lost Sibling
At 04:10 a.m. on May 12, 1962, three truckers were driving along Route No. 35 in the vicinity of Berraondo (Buenos Aires) and saw a "train-shaped" object flying at low altitude, accompanied by a buzzing sound, deep in a field. It split in two and both halves flew off in different directions. A 60 meter ground mark was left on the grass along with a whitish substance which was subsequently analyzed by the National University of the South in Bahia Blanca. It turned out to be calcium carbonate and potassium: a residue nearly identical to the one found at Trancas and which had taken place seven months earlier! Comparative ufology at its very best.
Hypotheseses to Match all Tastes
EM Effect: The farm's electric generator quit working at 19:00 hours. At the time the incident occurred, the Moreno family was drawing light from candles and lanterns inside the property. Did the intelligence governing the Trancas events cause the situation a little over two hours before the incident began? Did the physician's car suffer an identical fate?
Fear of Attack: The main reason for panic in the family upon seeing the events on the track was "fear of a terrorist attack" due to the political situation at the time, bolstered by the fact that Don Antonio Moreno had been the mayor of Trancas years before. Furthermore, Jolié and her sister Argentina were both married to military men.
Odors: The coincidence of a smell of sulfur at the Moreno household and the physician's own sighting is a relevant point. As in other cases, this perception by witnesses could have to do with ozone.
End of the Case: After some 45 minutes, the main object fired a beam of light that practically reached the town, withdrawing before firing another beam - this time a curved one at 180 degrees - before rising into the air along with the other five object sitting on the tracks, flying eastward toward Sierra de Medina. According to Jolié, the objects were "mindful of its geography" (sic). To the witness, this final act signaled a "departure order" for the fleet, whose mission was now complete.
Terrestrial Origin: At the time that Dora, Yolanda and Jolié approached the main object, they were able to see rivets on its metallic structure. This - added to the normal behavior of the figures seen on the tracks - caused Jolié to believe to this day that what occurred that night was the product of a terrestrial technology, a suggestive and acceptable hypothesis.
The Reason for the Trancas Operation
There can be no doubt that such a technological display, with a crew of 40 entities and 6 craft over 45 minutes, proved to be a considerably high-strangeness event, both to the Moreno family and ufologists. But if we extend the case another 45 minutes, that is, until 23:00 hours, when Dr. Vera witnessed a fly-over by "dozens of flying objects", these intruders were present for a span of 90 minutes. Therefore, were find to our surprise that while the events at the Santa Teresa farm were taking place, there was a veritable "fleet" operating on the ground, a few meters away from the Morenos, who were never aware of the situation and much less on account of the dense forest grove that hindered their vision. The question here becomes: Were the events experienced by Jolié and her relatives the real reason for the landing, or was the real reason a few hundred meters from their dwelling? Was it a distraction? A cover up? An unexpected breakdown and repair task? All of these conjectures serve to confirm the presence of "a common thread at all times." Unfortunately, with the passing of time, no one investigated the site from which the objects seen by Dr. Vera departed. Perhaps THE KEY to the event could have been found there. What matters is that this was the "UFO case with the most artifacts on the ground" and something very significant caused it to happen.
The Day After Tomorrow
The UFO phenomenon never returned to Trancas with a similar event. Not even the Decimal Hypothesis, which returned in 1973 with the so-called "Year of the Humanoids", made its presence felt in that part of Tucumán. There were, however, minor sightings throughout the entire region and neighboring communities which were significant to the case history of the area, such as the Choromoro River. Seven months later on the evening of June 6, 1964, Dr. Juan Medrano, engineer Jose Luis Cerviño and business executive Vicente Pellicer were heading back from Salta along Route 9 when the saw 'a strange rectangular object" flying by at low altitude. The object measured some six meters, was reddish orange, and with a lower appendix similar to a pentagon-shaped gondola. Smoke or vapor of some sort issued from its upper section and two large fins rotated around it. The uncanny vessel crossed the road, absorbing a structure of the highway as it did so, possibly a luminary (?).
Most significant of all, perhaps, is that Trancas, over time "did not become a tourist location, or a circus show, or a breeding ground for pseudo-contactees hoping to meet UFOs." This, without question, was a very healthy for national ufology.
Epilogue
Over the decades, all of the witness of that unforgettable evening passed away (Dora suffered a tragic accident with a train the province of Salta). We would like to acknowledge the work of Capt. Omar Roque Pagani, the true pioneer of research into the Trancas case, and our eternal thanks to that sweet woman, Jolié del Valle Moreno Ebaich, protagonist of one of the most outstanding cases in world ufology and which "changed her life", in her own words.
[Translation (c) 2018 Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology]