High Strangeness: In Defense of a Witness
By Hector Antonio Picco
From Cuarta Dimensión #121
Translated by Scott Corrales, IHU
"I Saw UFOS, but they don't exist"
Alberto S. was the most gifted among us when it came to soccer, meeting on Saturdays to play those matches that only end when its players have reached exhaustion. That day he was behaving oddly. He was looking at the ball and missing, lax, passive. He was my closest friend, to the extent that on our way to our respective homes, I asked him: "What's wrong, Alberto? You were the game's worst player today. Looks like you're asleep and you don't care what's going on around you."
"I'll tell you, but don't tell anyone. Yesterday we went to Doctor G.'s property for dinner, and as we left the tranquera, only the doctor and I were awake, because mom and dad had fallen asleep in the back of the car, not being used to be up late. Suddenly, close by, an enormous light erupted out of the ground. The night turned into day. The doctor asked me not to tell anyone. He told me that it must have been one of those "flying saucers". But that vision did me harm. I see the soccer ball go by and wonder..."why am I here, kicking this thing? Do those who came out of the ground also play soccer? The hell do I know."
Years later, Alberto S. overcame the hardships of being a student of limited means and is now a magistrate of the court. His compensation is handsome and he owns property and houses, in short, what is called a "solid financial standing". Me, knee-deep into UFO research, asked him: "Alberto, tell me about that light that came out of the ground. I'm trying to learn something about the phenomenon and your experience would be most helpful."
His reply: "Quit joking! There's something to it. Fabio Zerpa was in Cordoba discussing the subject in a theater. One had to make reservations in advance to get in. The man's doing good business. Quit joking around!"
I instantly figured out that my former friend did not wish to discuss the subject any further, because the "light that came out of the ground" shattered the conceptual pillars of his perceived material security in the order of things. Furthermore, it bothered him that there was a Fabio Zerpa researching and disseminating the subject, causing him to resort to the small poisoned dagger of the naysayer. I asked no further and I have learned since then that UFO researcher has two dangerous extremes: the hoaxers hungry for the notoriety the never achieved and who resort to sensationalist publications with their alleged UFO experiences, which are non-existent even in their feverish imagination, and the exceptional witnesses who keep quiet after having told their experiences in an initial burst of excitement, but later, after prudent reasoning, do not want to admit having experienced them, because the event shatters the objective universe in which they live, feeling 'secure' as they say. This is not the case of Hilda Torper, an exceptional witness and an involuntary visitor to the subterranean realm of Akakor.
The Search for Experts
Since February 24, 1966, this woman has struggled for 18 years. During this long period she never sought the covers of sensationalist publications that desperately seek a name and a face to plaster on their covers, lying about fake UFO yarns, each wilder than the previous, because they swear that their numbers will increase with stories about the subject. Hilda approached FAECE and ONIFE. She insisted, with fortitude and admirable doggedness, on making herself heard. Something she achieved only recently. We came to realized that her impressive experience was true. But let's set the witness aside - to better understand the situation, we find it better to talk about this woman.
Mother is So Good...
We visited the Torper family on two occasions at their farm in Greater Buenos Aires. The struggle is always the same: we want to investigate, and then we pretended to survey a distant corner of the roomy estate. Hilda followed us, and no sooner had we reached the crucial point of the conversation, we saw Mr. Torper's shadow approach, prompting a quick change of subject. We know that 'the subject' is forbidden in his presence.
Some might think Mr. Torper is anti-social. Nothing further from the truth. He is an old man whom we would colloquially describe as "loving". And he is, without question. It turns out that we're dealing with a man who was able and enterprising in this level of things, creating a metallurgical company out of nothing, a leader in its field. In the version of reality in which he was a winner there is no room - could not be any room - for the existence of higher realities. Even if he has seen them. This is the case of Albert S. and many others. It isn't an individual failing. Let us not forget that we live in a period of history in which humanity has not yet overcome its 'murderous stage' and that it has it has two inventions that prove the existence of the magic world: radio and television. But there are those who do not want to accept the existence of another civilization, in its own 'habitat', that is able teleport not only sound and vision, but also matter as we conceive it.
Our so-called civilization has 4000 nuclear bombs when it would take only 20 to destroy it. It is a society that obstinately denies the existence of parallel universes through the narrow channels of official science, despite the fact that Riemann, the French mathematician of the future, has already proved it with his famous "algebraic 3-folds" (Riemann Surfaces) without resorting to anything mysterious or paranormal, merely one of the so-called exact sciences. This civilization urgently seeks antimatter - the dimensional partition that separates us from other worlds - because it dreams of a Superbomb that will make the enemy disappear without a fuss, without a trace, laying bare the paradox of trying to find something that it openly declares cannot exist...
Mrs. Torper has four sons and eight little grandchildren. We are able to speak quickly to one of the daughters, asking her what Hilda was like before, what she's like now, what does she think could have occurred in that distant year 1966. She looks at her mother lovingly as Hilda sets cutlery on the table with the dignity of a great lady (which she is). The daughter has a single remark: "Mother is so good."
We think so, too. Because her lonely struggle is the proof.
I Wasn't Crazy
"What happened to you, Hilda, after your experience?"
"I began to talk about it. My husband did not even remotely accept the possibility that it could have happened, even while he was perfectly aware of stepping on the Volkswagen's brakes to keep the UFO from absorbing us. I was sent to the British Hospital. They performed electroencephalograms whose outcome was entirely normal (she presents them). One day I heard the doctor giving my husband the diagnosis: "There's nothing wrong with her, but she's insane."
Hilda Torper displays a strange mark on her right wrist.
"See? This is where they drew blood. I also showed it to the doctor at the time, when the mark was 'fresher' than it is now. but the doctor shook his head, and when he thought I was out of earshot, I could hear him telling everyone: "She's insane."
We aren't experts in dermatology, but the incision looked like a vaccination scar of long ago. It is real.
We listened, analyzed and shook our heads. But we say something different. In spite of the somewhat delirious lapses that Mrs. Torper is prone to, clearly a result of the psychic and hypnotic 'shock' to which she was subjected in Akakor: "She is sane."
She Lies Because She Doubts...
When we analyze the base script of our twenty-four minute long television show, it made us wonder if we should share Hilda Torper's impressive story on the screen. But she was there on February 29, 1984, almost fleeing from her home. She had her back to the camera, avoiding publicity as always. I am reminded of the first objection by an 'enlightened one' the next day:
"That woman had a hard time finding the right words to explain her situation because what she was saying was untrue."
To which I replied: "I'm inviting you to visit her home Sunday. You'll find that they only speak English in that household. Don't you realize that when you're accustomed to speaking a given language it's very hard to find there right words to express your thoughts in another? That's why she halted at times. Furthermore, when Fabio Zerpa asked about the sizes of the chambers and tunnels she saw, her response was: "I cannot specify them". Intoxicators have it all worked out beforehand and never allow for such a childish oversight - they'll tell you the UFO measured this long by that long, that the room was two meters by one. Can't you see it?"
The person remained silent. I believe he was giving it some thought. I believe that you, the reader, are doing the same.
Translator's Note: Some background on this case would be helpful, and who better than researcher Fabio Zerpa to provide it? The following is from his book "Señales en el cielo: Lo que nunca se contó" (Signs in the Heavens: The Untold Story) - "In 1966, Hilda Torper and her husband were enjoying the summer in the Argentinean beach resort of Pinamar in the Province of Buenos Aires when they were abducted by an extraterrestrial vessel that took them into space and the underworld in Brazil's Serra do Roncador. Her alien guide, called Turnelde, had six fingers and showed her a massive waterfall inside the mountain, which she later described with great precision." Debora Goldstern has also summarized the Torper case at https://cronicasubterranea.blogspot.com/2008/09/el-mundo-subterrneo-de-hilda-torper.html