On The Trail of the Men in Black

On The Trail of the Men in Black
By Scott Corrales

INEXPLICATA Contributing Editor Guillermo Giménez has reminded us of a case that can be described as a “doubleheader” of high strangeness – a UFO sighting involving humanoid occupant with a bubble helmet (straight out of the contactee tradition) and follow-up visit by the nefarious MIB.

In his article “Los Hombres de Negro en la Argentina” Giménez brings up the Dique La Florida CE-3 (4 February 1978) which occurred in the province of San Luis, involving a staggering total of six eyewitnesses: Manuel M. Alvarez, Regino S. Perroni, Pedro R. Sosa, Ramón A. Sosa, Genaro Sosa and Jacinto E. Lucero, employees of the Provincial Bank of San Luis, the Department of the Interior, the San José Ceramic Factory and Aerolíneas Argentinas, respectively.

Their statement, as it appears in the article, runs as follows: “At approximately 4:45 hours on 4 February 1978, some 100 meters from where the facilities of the La Florida Club Yacht and Fishing Club are located, they saw a UFO surrounded by a phosphorescent halo of light, a vessel suspended in the air at an approximate elevation of 4 meters over the ground, from which a small ladder emerged, allowing the descent of a being of human appearance, dressed in a scaly, shiny and form-fitting silver outfit. On its head it wore a transparent helmet that allowed for its face and blond hair to be seen; it smiled and gestured with its hand. Immediately after, the vessel in question took off in a northward heading, leaving behind a flash of light in the shape of a semi-circle.” This, Giménez notes, represents the third point in the official report prepared by the provincial police and signed by Lt.Col. Raúl Benjamin López, who represented not only the provincial police force, but the Argentinean army as well.

The Dique La Florida case was also the subject of painstaking research by Fabio Zerpa and his ONIFE group. Their report adds further details on the humanoid. “The smiling stranger placed his hands (gloved in some sort of mittens) palms outstretched and upturned in a characteristic gesture of friendship and a lotus position (lotus flower). We considered it to a universal gesture of giving. After making this gesture, he turned around, ascended the ladder and re-entered the device. The ladder was lifted into the craft, and the hole that had opened to let it out was shut.”

Another interesting detail has come to light about this CE-3. The UFO occupant had held a container in his hands, described as “a thermos”, which was later found during an investigation of the site. In a recent podcast (“Testimonio ovni en Dique La Florida, San Luis en 1978 - http://www.ivoox.com/testimonio-ovni-dique-florida-san-luis-audios-mp3_rf_1595975_1.html) researchers Jorge Marrón and Daniel Valverdi described the tube as being “completely transparent like acrylic, some five centimeters thick, with a handle, and containing a liquid.”

Officers at the police station tried to pry it open, hoping to ascertain the nature of the fluid, and succeeded in opening it. The liquid, however, evaporated upon making contact with the air, thwarting any hopes of an analysis. The empty container was forwarded to the University of Córdoba for further study, but its subsequent whereabouts are unknown (although NASA is jokingly suggested as a possibility by the researchers).

Any CE-3 event is noteworthy on its own merits (being rare as hens’ teeth nowadays) but this one brought the added bonus of the disturbing presence of the Men in Black.

“Researchers, former police officers like Mr. Hugo Quiroga,” writes Giménez, “and city residents observed and were alarmed by the “movements” of these strange characters (male and female) who headed to the sighting area to examine the impressions left on the ground and collect information on the witnesses themselves. Even the owner of the Hotel El Volcán was surprised by the antics of these characters. The [Dique La Florida] incident was of worldwide importance due to the investigations made and the quality of the witnesses, including the physical evidence on the ground and the presence of military and police forces in the investigation, making known the first official report on the steps taken by a UFOnaut on our planet.

What attracted me to the article was the mention of a somewhat forgotten author who was, at the time, one of the great saucer writers of Spanish-speaking world: Luis Anglada Font, whose books included information which, while anecdotal, was nonetheless disturbing. His research has formed part of my own articles. But this is what Guillermo has to say:

“I have found in my files more [MIB] cases occurring in Argentina. Perhaps one of the first deaths was the mysterious passing of Luis Anglada Font, author of “La Realidad OVNI a traves de los siglos” (UFO reality over the centuries) who was visited in Buenos Aires by a man wearing dark clothing, asking him to abandon research and, of course, to refrain from writing or publishing further books on the subject.

“The author, a former military pilot and passionate UFO researcher in Europe, was among the witnesses to the infamous Foo Fighters that were so common during the Second World War. Anglada believed UFOs were “a critical issue for humanity.”

“Shortly after the visit, Font experienced a physical breakdown that caused his death in Argentina, his adopted country, in the late 1970s. I looked into these events in person, interviewed fellow researchers, contacted his publisher, and all the information confirmed the tragic facts…and “their” visits to his home.”

Anglada Font’s death (the exact condition is not mentioned) can be added to the roster of other researchers who found it necessary to put the brakes on their involvement in ufology, either out of physical fear of these suspicious characters or that they might make good on their threats, causing harm to loved ones. Though the cases and sources are disputed by some nowadays, the visceral chill evoked by books such as Brad Steiger’s New UFO Breakthrough, Albert Bender’s The Three Men in Black and the passages devoted to MIB in John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies is undeniable.

But more on Guillermo Giménez’s article:

“Another of event involved a young professional researcher in the Province of Buenos Aires. It was around 1983-1984 when some mysterious letters arrived in his mailbox “inviting” him to leave UFO research. He was also advised of future UFO sightings in the Argentine Republic which would later come to pass, much to this researcher’s astonishment. When an effort was made to find the source of the letters, it proved impossible, given that the sender’s address in the city of Rosario (Santa Fe) did not exist.

“After that, he was plagued by strange and incessant telephone calls, strange noises, and open or misdirected correspondence, mainly from important ufologists and research centers (GEPAN in France, Spain, Mexico, the U.S.A. and Russia). Technicians from the ENTEL phone company reported to the scene and found everything was in order.

“One fine day, this colleague (who wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons) suffered a car accident shortly after seeing “a man dressed in black” on the corner of the street on which he lived. The figure was average in height, sinister-looking and its gaze caused the ufologist to feel “a tingling sensation all over his body.”

“When he stepped out of his car, he realized there was no longer anyone standing there. The date was Tuesday, 19 June 1984. For many years, our colleague stepped away from research, realizing these threats could easily become real.”

Other episodes involving threats by MIB to Argentinean researchers are mentioned: The 1976 incident involving Oscar Akerman of Buenos Aires, who was also “invited” to cease his research endeavors by strange characters; threats leveled against member of the ONIFE organization in 1978, the theft of UFO documentation in 1973 which even attracted the attention of the Argentinean Federal police; visits to author Hector Antonio Picco in Buenos Aires, Capital Federal and Cordoba in 1978, 1989 and 1994, respectively.

Argentina: Thoughts on the Concordia Aerodrome MIB

Source: Planeta UFO and Visión OVNI
Date: 07.17.12

Argentina: Thoughts on the MIB at the Concordia Aerodrome
By Andrea & Silvia Pérez Simondini

Many years have gone by in search of evidence that could give us a minimal glimpse into the reality and existence of the UFO phenomenon and all that the phenomenon entails. The Men-in-Black form part of the stories associated with the UFO phenomenon, and they appear every so often in isolated incidents. There were numerous cases in Argentina in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, resulting in truly interesting cases.

Let me start by telling you as story that affected us closely, since it was an experience that befell my husband, Jorge Pérez Simondini: On one occasion, while performing a audit for the Perez Companc company’s fishing fleet, he came a cross the crewman, or more properly said, the ship’s machinist, who told him that during a personnel transfer trip from the Port of Golfo San Jorge (a broad semi-circular gulf located on the Argentinean Atlantic, in Patagonia facing the waters of the Argentinean Sea) to the YPF undersea drilling platform, halfway there, something got the crew excited, prompting sailors and oil rig personnel to look over the sides of the vessel. One can imagine their surprise when they looked over the side to see a light underwater, running past the ship at high speed. A few kilometers ahead, it broke the surface, rising vertically and swiftly before vanishing into the skies.

The story is in itself remarkable, but what happened days later, when the personnel reached the port with the relief crew, they encountered some men dressed in black waiting to interview each of them, using harsh and intimidating measures, threatening them with job loss should they attempt to share their experiences with others. This story, from 1968, was buried for years and it is the first time it is being told, given the number of years gone bay and the fact that majority of the witnesses died several years ago.

On August 29, 1962, the event that has become known as the “Necochea Incident” took place. The main witness, Osmán Alberto Simonini, saw a UFO and was chased by it along the road linking La Dulce with Necochea as he traveled toward this seaside city.

Senior Officer Juan Jose La Terza investigated this case on the day after the events occurred. He submitted a report on the presence of a strange device, describing the witness as a man “of fine reputation and perfectly reliable in his statements.” He ended his memorandum by certifying the event as a REAL INCIDENT, as told by the witness. It details the sighting of an object, its transit over the countryside, causing physical and/or physiological impact on the witness, the possible chase among other details. This case was investigated by [INEXPLICATA contributing editor] Guillermo Gimenez years later, who interviewed Simonini. The latter was afraid to discuss the events from 1962 because only days after the incident, and the investigation performed by Senior Officer J.J. La Terza, two men dressed in black appeared at his workshop. They warned him to forget all about the event, admonishing not to tell anyone else about it, since something might happen to him. The witness recalls that he was struck by the color of their clothing (black) and the similarity of these garments. They stood approximately 1.70 meters, were dark-haired, “foreign-looking” due to their Eskimo-like features. I wanted to set down these cases as examples, so readers who are encountering this description of the entities for the first time can have an idea that they represent a significant part of many of the stories that come across our desk.

We could define the Men-in-Black (MIB), according to a segment of UFO culture and the work done by UFO researchers, as alleged secret government or non-government agents, in charge of concealing a hypothetical extraterrestrial presence on Earth. It is sometimes understood that the MIB could be the aliens themselves.

Researcher Bill Moore believed that the Men-in-Black formed part of the Air Force Office of Special Investigation (AFOSI), an internal security department of the U.S. government established in 1948 and later adapted by the FBI to investigate criminal activities within the USAF and its arms contractors, given that one of AFOSI’s missions it to protect technology, programs and staff against “external threats.”

Hypotheses and theories on the subject are countless and remain so, but beyond marks in fields, lights in the sky and lights in the countryside, and a scattering of (apparently unknown) entity sightings, there is no evidence that attests to their nature.

Today we are facing a case that for the first time (and it is only my personal opinion) makes me consider a possibility, one that has been repeated often, especially in Spiritist circle, that all of these sightings that we see with increasing frequency are not materially before us, but rather in another dimension. I have never perceived this so clearly as in this case. The fact that [the entity] appeared out of nowhere, walked only a few meters from the witnesses, who realized that he could not see them (or their large dog), that it moved robotically as if alone in the world, standing nearly 2.50 meters tall (clearly beyond human height), noticeably white skin, completely dressed in black, bespeaks a character that has little to do with our own reality.

All of these elements, when brought into my analysis, prompted a door to open. Through that door I was able to see things so clearly that not even I could believe it: the fact was that the entity wasn’t really there. It was in another dimension. I don’t know if it was due to the same nature that somehow allows humans to peer into that other world at a given time. Perhaps they bring it about themselves. It has no explanation, as far as I can tell, but I want to express my feelings, because never before – in the vast number of investigations I’ve been on – was I ever as certain of something as I am of this. I’m conveying here as I always do, because communication is also part of my history. it’s a need I feel, to mark the progress I’m making, and above all, to share a vocation that will allow us all to discern the possibility of real evidence. As I said earlier, this has been discussed many times, but never did I feel it or see it as clearly as now. Perhaps Claudia’s testimony made it so clear that I was unable to see it otherwise. Thank you for reading this, even if it’s only a personal truth.


Up to this point we have made available to our readers the various elements that involve sightings of the infamous Men-in-Black, who are in some cases linked with the UFO phenomenon.
While the sighting of the strange being in Concordia does not involve a sighting of any strange aerial craft, its strangeness quotient resides in the entity described by Claudia and her husband in the vicinity of the city’s aerodrome.

Aside from seeing the tall individual (standing 2.50 meters) with a very pale complexion and robotic movements, another of the singular aspects of the case is the observation by witnesses of the airplane [the entity] boarded, carrying two briefcases. However, the witnesses are unable to describe how the airplane vanished, which adds to the high strangeness.

The essential item of information, then, was to confirm the traffic in and out of the aerodrome on that day and time.

Silvia managed to contact Manuel, the operator on duty at the control tower on the day of the event. He confirmed that no aircraft operated in the aerodrome’s vicinity on that day. This is to say, no aircraft had taxied, taken off or landed. None whatsoever, on the date that Claudia claims having had her experience.

However this was not the only source of confirmation. Journalist Matías Hojman of the “Las 5 Patas” program he hosts with Noelia Lage on Fridays from 9 to 12 o’clock on 88.9 Mhz in the city of Concordia, and who brought the case to light, confirmed he had contacted Police Chief Sergio Mendoza requesting Claudia’s contact information, in the likely event that she had made a police report. Faced with a negative reply, Hojman then asked Chief Mendoza about the information he had been able to gather, confirming that no aircraft operated in the region on the day of the event.

This information clarifies and confirms a relevant point. However, it adds to an increase in the high strangeness quotient, especially when faced with a highly reliable witness. Let us hope that we will able to speak with the police chief, who may be able to give us some more precise information.

We would like to thank: Claudia, for coming forth with her experience; researcher Debora Goldstern for her interview with researcher Guillermo Gimenez
http://cronicasubterranea.blogspot.com.ar/; researcher Guillermo Gimenez for his research into the “Necochea Case” http://ar.groups.yahoo.com/group/planeta_ufo; Matías Hojman for making available all his information on the case, and Vicky Zeigler and Martín, Vision Ovni’s Correspondents in Concordia, who made us aware of the earliest information on the case.

[Translation (c) 2012, Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Our thanks to Andrea & Silvia Perez Simondini and Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO]

South America's Procession of the Damned

South America’s Procession of the Damned
By Scott Corrales
(c) 2010

The recent news stories surrounding the “Hopping Phantom of Calchín” led us to remember other similar experiences involving improbable transient creatures that appear in our midst out of nowhere. These apparitions are sometimes bestial, sometimes quite normal, and at others completely otherworldly.

Raul Núñez of the Instituto de Investigacion y Estudios Exobiologicos (IIEE) in Chile has drawn our attention to a case featured on his website (www.iiee.cl). The lengthy report bears the title “¿Qué Pasó en Cutún en 1976?” (What Happened in Cutún in 1976?) and is written by Sergio Alcaya, a systems engineer who has taken it upon himself to re-open the case, which is one of the strangest I’ve heard of, and straddles the “high-strangeness” no-man’s land of UFO, paranormal and parapsychological investigation.

Cutún is a community in northern Chile’s Valle de Elqui, a tourist destination favored by the country’s contactee groups as they endeavor to make contact with the ever-present “kindly space brothers”, a South American Sedona, if you will. But it appears that a particularly virulent poltergeist event also occurred here, one that draws our attention due to the presence of a Man-in-Black with a singular characteristic not reported in other cases.

In February 1976, a man named Nicasio Torres, the protagonist of the story, barged into the home of his neighbors, Angel and Gabriel Orrego to ask for help. The brothers did their best to calm him down and asked him to tell them what was going on. Gasping for breath, Torres told them that absolutely impossible events were taking place inside his modest home: stones were raining on his roof, but out of thin air. Assuring him that a childish prank was probably involved, the Orregos send Torres on his way, only to have him return the next day asking for assistance – the stones were now falling into his house, through the roof. Another person interviewed for the story recalled that whenever Nicasio Torres came looking for help, “all the dogs in the area would start to howl.”

Neighbors who lent their assistance in the case reported seeing doors and windows that wouldn’t close despite their best efforts, showers of rocks and human bones (including bones that came through windows without shattering the glass panes), intense whistling noises within the Torres home that drove every one out, and a rag doll – used as a pin cushion by the lady of the house – that would leap about, chasing Nicasio Torres’s small daughter, and was seen to jump out of one of the open, uncloseable windows.

“Many parapsychologists and mentalists,” writes Alcaya, “tried to find solutions to the phenomena taking place in Cutún, but none of them was truly effective. Neither the crosses made of Palquí, which were destroyed by invisible hands only minutes after having been placed, nor holy water were powerful enough against the phenomenon.” A pair of Argentinean parapsychologists urged the Torres family to place an altar in honor of Our Lady of Andacollo within the house, but on three separate occasions the same angry force toppled the plaster image. “When the parapsychologist learned that the force present within the home was too powerful to face, he decided to leave the area quickly, never to reappear.”

So far we have the makings of a poltergeist account that could sprung from the pages of Hereward Carrington’s Haunted People or a similar text devoted to the more frightening aspects of parapsychological research. The case received considerable media coverage and Alcaya’s interviews include newspaper clippings from 1976 describing the grisly events at Cutún. But there is an aspect that brings the incidents surrounding Nicasio Torres and his family into UFO/paranormal arena: the presence of a Man-in-Black (MIB), and a very different one at that.

Haydé Carvajal, one of the witnesses and a friend of Nicasio’s wife Rosa, had a fascinating story to tell. One evening, both women were startled by the sudden appearance of “a pale, black-haired man of average height, who asked if Nicasio was home.” When told that Mr. Torres was at work, the strange figure said that “he would wait for Nicasio at five minutes before midnight over there,” pointing at the summit of Cerro Cutún, a hundred meters distant from the house. This strange character “had red eyes”.

Gabriel Orrego also remembered the strange figure, telling the interviewer: “I was never so frightened in my life as when I had to face that man. He came around three times looking to Nicasio, always saying the same thing to [Mrs. Torres]: “Tell him I’m waiting for him – he knows where to find me.”

“The conclusion reached by several parapsychologists looking into the case,” recalls Orrego in the interview, was that the MIB represented “an agglomeration of negative forces.” Orrego had the chance to run into the character in broad daylight elsewhere in the community. “I noticed the man’s presence and I went out to challenge him, however, when I came to within four meters of this character, I was able to see that [he was] a pale man wearing a brown blazer, impeccably clean shoes and black hair, passing in front of the gate to my property. I saw him and was paralyzed. To my surprise, this man was floating some 50 centimeters off the ground, and made a sudden, ninety degree turn to look at me fixedly and deeply. For the first time ever, I knew what fear really was, and I broke into a sweat. The man made another ninety-degree turn and continued on his way before vanishing down the road.”

Other people also saw the bizarre apparition. Cab driver Nelson Alcayaga and his wife Ruthy Chelme saw a man “wearing a brown or green three-piece suit” drifting in the air toward them, as they drove along in their car. “The impression we had was that this man was floating toward us only centimeters off the ground, and Nelson hit the brakes, nearly flinging us against the windshield. When we looked again, he was gone.”

This blend of supernatural factors appears to be a constant in cases emerging from South America. On the other side of the Andean Range, Argentina has supernatural beliefs that combine native lore and European ceremonial magic. For those who believe that magic comes in two colors only, “red magic” can be obtained only through blood sacrifices, such as through Santería rituals. Red magic, it is believed, can be an offshoot of black magic if the blood employed in the ritual comes from someone else or through a sacrifice, and can come from white magic if it is one’s own blood. The belief in this third variant of occult lore is widespread, far from sophisticated urban centers like Buenos Aires or Mendoza, and it is a source of fear for the small farmer or landowner. This fear was exacerbated in the summer of 2002 by the high-strangeness events accompanying the wave of cattle mutilations that swept over Argentina and spilled over into neighboring countries.

On the night of June 20, 2002 personnel at the Puente Dique bridge over the Rio Colorado saw an object "giving off a powerful red light" whose intensity waxed and waned as it moved in bursts. Jorge Martinez, an operator at the bridge, added: "some say the lights are connected to the dead animals."

The lights were now appearing elsewhere in the country and causing physical effects in humans and machinery alike. Argentina's TELAM news agency reported that two young girls--Gabriela and Miriam del Valle Salto, ages 7 and 13 respectively, had been hospitalized in Santiago del Estero (northern Argentina) after having witnessed "multicolored lights". Other locals attested having seen potent violet lights in the sky: one woman said that an intense light shone outside the windows to her home while the internal lighting system dimmed. The mysterious lights seen over the town of Fernandez Robles between June 11-14, for example, were able to interrupt television signals, cause TV sets to shut down "without any interruption to power supply" or even change channels on the receivers.

The strange lights gave rise to much paranormal speculation. Residents of La Chiquita in northern Argentina blamed the mutilations on "red magic", an appellation possibly derived from the color of the strange lights that were seen hovering at treetop level over darkened fields. Daniel Acuña, crossing the darkened fields of La Chiquita on his way to work, saw the lights, which prompted him to remark "it was like an evil light, which I was told was those who practice red magic." The luminous presences had been seen prior to the mutilation of a horse (tongue ripped out, anus and eyes missing) in the vicinity--a death which deprived a local widow of her only means of earning a living, since the animal was used to haul coal and firewood for sale. Strange lights in the wilderness had been a factor decades earlier: In August 1968, disturbing luminous forms were reported over Santa Fé, Argentina, in the dark winter nights of the Southern Hemisphere. Farmers setting out on their chores were greeted by the surprising sight of circular burn marks on their properties following these sightings. Livestock losses mounted as a “sort of radiation” in the region was blamed as the cause. During these troubled times (as Argentina was experiencing political unrest as well ) a local family witnessed a jeep carrying four men in black coveralls drive up to their home. One of the men asked the owner what was the best way to get off the property. UFO sightings over the region ceased shortly after the incident involving these jeep-riding MIB.

In cases like the Cutún “poltergeist” – to find a convenient drawer to place it in – research or accident usually provide an answer in the end: the accursed property was built over a burial ground or something similar. But random manifestations of strange and unsavory figures, who remain for a brief period in our midst before disappearing and becoming part of the Fortean menagerie, often lack a provenance. In April 2004, the Argentinean town of Justo Daract was disturbed by a strange entity dubbed El uñudo (the clawed one) by the local media. Newspapers like Diario de la República ran the story of a child who had been attacked by the unknown entity. Multiple witness cases soon emerged, such as the group of young women who encountered the creature – a frightening, black-masked entity with taloned fingers -- as they left their night school classes at 23:00 hours.

Local radio reporter Maura Avila spoke to several local witnesses. "I was informed that there was a great deal of movement in Barrio Norte, near the hospital, and we headed there just as the police arrived. We learned that El uñudo had appeared -- a character who has gained notoriety in Justo Daract because he/it has been appearing for several days now, and has now terrified an 11 year-old on the corner of Liniers and Los Andes [...] Those who claim having seen El uñudo [say] that it doesn't have human form, rather an animal one, adding that it walks on four legs and hops, being capable of very swift movements." Avila added that the locals had discussed the existence of “black magic cults” in the area and feared that El uñudo could have been an entity summoned during the course of some unspeakable ritual – especially as the timing of these manifestations coincided with Easter Week.

As has occurred only recently with the “Hopping Phantom” in 2010, the good people of Justo Daract formed search parties aimed at tracking down El uñudo: aided by the local police and members of the neighborhood watch, found themselves walking along the train tracks in the dark due to a report that claimed the creature had climbed to the very top of the grain silos by the rails. The dangerous climb to the top of these structures revealed nothing of interest.

On 8 April 2004, another young woman returning home at 03:00 on her bicycle reportedly saw the strange character jumping from one rooftop to the next at the 331 Viviendas neighborhood of Justo Daract. Terrified beyond words, the girl pedaled furiously back to the local bus station – ten city blocks away – in order to take the bus home. Drivers and workers at the terminal attested to her distraught condition. Something strange – whether human or not – was scaring the hell out of the locals. Descriptions of El uñudo now ranged from “large and with a mask and horns; small and apelike, black or brown, with a nude upper torso and covered with tattoos; walking upright or on four legs; leaving goat-shaped hoof prints; climbing trees, pipelines or metal silos; jumping over wire fences and large lagoons, swift and elusive,” according to El Diario de la República.

Other sources reported that despite their failure to locate the supernatural intruder at the grain silos, officers had managed to apprehend the creature at some point, but that it eluded capture in a display of inhuman strength and “the slippery nature of its body” – a quality it shared with the Malaysian orang minyak or “oily man” who became a focus of mass hysteria in the 1960s.

Argentina: Man-in-Black (MIB) Reported in Concordia

Source: Diario El Entre Rios (newspaper) and Planeta UFO
http://www.elentrerios.com/index.php/provincia/informacion-general/33104
Date: 03 July 2012 13:06 hrs.

Argentina: Man-in-Black (MIB) Reported in Concordia

Discussed at the Museo OVNI in Victoria; interest was shown in the “strange being” seen by a listener of the “Oid Mortales” (Hear Ye Mortals) radio show from Concordia. It was said that similar incidents have also been recorded.

“It was a rather significant story for us, as we are a research team, the Vision OVNI team. The fact is that what you’ve mentioned is the classic Man in Black phenomenon. In 1998, we had a case identical to what Claudia (the caller) has mentioned, right in downtown Victoria,” remarked Silvia Perez, proprietor of the Museo OVNI de Victoria, during the “La Quinta Pata” radio broadcast. She said that the case drew their attention and that was their reason “for being interested in speaking with Claudia. There are some details that she perhaps didn’t mention and would be important to our investigation.”

“Lately there are many things going on in Entre Rios. I’m not a native of Entre Rios, but I’ve been living in Victoria for 22 years precisely due to this subject. It’s a special place for field research,” she stressed to Oíd Mortales, the radio broadcast belonging to El Entrerios.com

“The presence of these characters has been known since the subject of UFOs came about. The Men-in-Black are notorious by being very tall, very pallid, dressed in black and always holding a briefcase. These events have occurred worldwide. They are individuals that have no contact with human beings and truly stand out due to the manner in which they walk, above all else, and their attitude. They vanish as easily as they appear. When we see something like that, it’s impossible not to realize that they bear no relationship with us at all. While human-looking, they behave in an entirely different manner,” she remarked.

“There is nothing conclusive yet, but we do know that they are connected with extraterrestrial matters. These characters turn up whenever UFOs are present,” she highlighted.

In Claudia’s case, “they didn’t see how the vehicle disappeared. They say it was there, because they make use of holograms, showing things that don’t exist. It would be very complicated and lengthy to explain all of this. They make constant use of holography to distract people’s attention; it’s the method they employ for concealment.”

Sightings in Entre Rios

“Two spheres were seen ascending in parallel, vanishing in the sky. This is happening at various times, afternoon, morning and night. We were able to obtain two photos of this event from Cerro de La Matanza in Victoria some 3 or 4 weeks ago. From March onward, these sightings have become permanent in Entre Rios. This also reaches the entire area of Rosario, Pueblo Ester and even Zárate. It’s a region of considerable sightings at the moment,” she said.

“Our website is www.visionovni.com.ar. As soon as you’ve obtained a photo, please submit it to the page. Our phone numbers and all of the museum information can found there. All the work we’ve performed is there so you can see that there is some very responsible work being done, with analysis and everything that a person would need to believe in this,” she concluded.

[Translation (c) 2012, Scott Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez, Planeta UFO]

Astounding Tales - First Journey to Tacuarembó (Uruguay)

 

 

[Researching UFOS in the southern hemisphere in the 1970s wasn't a matter of pointing a car in the right direction - it involved blood, sweat and tears and even running afoul of 'the usual suspects'. A remembrance of a journey literally into the heart of darkness - SC]

 Astounding Tales - First Journey to Tacuarembó (Argentina)

By Luis Burgos

 Among the ups and downs we have experienced while investigating the UFO phenomenon both in Argentina and Uruguay we find one that goes back quite a long time, to the days of the famous Tacuarembó case. This case occurred in 1973, and a long time went by, until 1988, before we could go and recover the metal fragments left behind from the event to the University of La Plata for analysis. But at first, our contact was epistolary, sending out letters that would take one or two months to arrive to our correspondent, Leonel Montes de Oca. He sent us so much information and some photographs as well, and obviously it made us want to be there on site, conducting research.

 The case occurred in May 1973, as rain poured down in buckets over the Uruguayan ridges of Pueblo Achar - a tiny little town - in the department of Tacuarembó, in the heart of Uruguay. Practically the whole town was aware of what had taken place. Don Isidro Tito, the owner of the property, thought at first that a lightning bolt had hit the ground, learned it had left a mark on the ground, a crater, and the story became widely known.

 What people don't know is how we organized the trip and how we got there, to Tacuarembó, because four years went by, between late 1976 and early 1977, before we could organize the first visit. There were two visits to Tacuarembó: 1977 and 1988, that is to say, a long period of time went in order to acquire and then confirm the provenance of that material. We have no doubt whatsoever that they are the product of a UFO.

 Clearly, the FAO (Fundación Argentina de Ovnilogía) did not exist at the time, and we had CIFA (Centro Investigador de Fenómenos Anomalos - Center for the Investigation of Anomalous Phenomena) in the city of Ensenada, and it had only formed a short time before with members of the group I had founded back in secondary school, the Grupo Estudiantil del Fenomeno OVNI (Student UFO Research Group), so the few of us at the time organizes the trip, and we were even fewer by the time we set out. It was a difficult and costly journey, not like it is today. So we decided to undertake it with our friends Daniel Galastro, who recently passed, and Omar Becerro, a habitué of those meetings.

 We set out from Retiro to Zarate Brazo Largo, and we had to cross the river by ferry - there was no bridge at the time, the famous Zarate Brazo Largo Bridge - so we had to take a ferry to Uruguay. So, we got off on the Uruguayan side, and from there, to get to Tacuarembó, was quite an undertaking. There was no straight road. I remember that we took a bus that got us to Paysandú around two or three in the afternoon and the weather was excruciatingly hot. We were disoriented, because we had to get from Paysandú to Tacuarembó, and not just Tacuarembó, but to Pueblo Achar, a town lost somewhere on the horizon.

 So it was unbearably hot, we had nothing to do, and just waited for the microbus to appear around five or six o'clock. We just sat in the town square of Paysandú, and there was no one at all. It looked like a ghost town. No one at all, suffocating heat, just the palm trees that adorned the surroundings. In the distance we could see a group of fifteen or twenty people and we wondered what they were up to, gathered together in the street. We approached them to see what was going on, just being nosy, when they suddenly dived into a hall. It turned out to be the movie theatre. They were waiting for the Paysandú cinema to open so they could go in, leaving us alone on the street.

 The microbus got us to Tacuarembó very late at night. As I recall, it must have eight or nine o'clock at night. But from there we had to get to Pueblo Achar. But we were in Tacuarembó, I loved it, and it struck me that the tables and chairs were in the middle of the town square and the waiters would bring food, sandwiches, and beverages from the restaurants.

 So we went to the police, who got in touch with the people at Pueblo Achar, to alert the barracks to advise Leonel Montes de Oca and our correspondents that we were going to be boarding another microbus at ten o'clock at night, departing Tacuarembó, and reaching Pueblo Achar at midnight. But we didn't even make it to Pueblo Achar, because the microbus was heading for Montevideo [capital of Uruguay-SC] and we were being dropped off in the middle of the road.

 And so we boarded yet another bus, and the driver said at one point: "Those getting off at Pueblo Achar, get off here." We jumped off the bus with Daniel and Omar Becerro. The bus went on its way and we were utterly alone, unable to see a thing. Couldn't even see each other. Stunning darkness, in the middle of a lonely road and with no idea of where we were. In the distance, on a local unpaved road, we could hear a car and a light that grew closer and closer. It parked on the far side of the road and a voice called out: "Burgos!" "Yes, it's me! Who's there, Montes de Oca?" "Yes!" So right there we felt our hearts re-enter our bodies.

 The most striking thing is that the three who came to pick us up in that old country car were there with binoculars. A UFO had gone by half an hour earlier, and in fact went by every night at the same time. We had arrived at midnight or one o'clock and the UFO had preceded our arrival by half an hour.

 So they welcomed us and we stayed up chatting until two in the morning, they set up in a guest house in town, a very small town, and the next day we interviewed the witnesses, inspected the crater, saw that ground marks were still present, and strange prints had begun forming since early 1976, hundreds of them, so that the area was in fact a minefield of prints. In later years, Atalaya [the Atalaya case - SC] would become known as the one with the most recorded ground marks ever. But until then, Pueblo Achar in Tacuarembó held the title. The characteristics were the same - figure eights, ovals, horseshoe-shapes, all of them having the crater as their epicenter, formed the object that fell there in 1973, or landed there.

 What startled us the most was that the people were very hesitant. It was necessary to draw out their words one by one. We later found out that they were frightened - bear in mind, these were the years of the dictatorship in Uruguay. The Tupamaros, the guerrillas...and there we were, investigating UFOs in the middle of a ghost town. And the army had directly ordered people to turn in any photographic and film evidence of people who were talking "that UFO nonsense". So people were very frightened. They'd used the old excuse about the planet Venus, that everything was perfectly fine, the typical cover-up maneuver.

 So, we spoke to all the witnesses and finished up our field research. Then at night, it rained. There tremendous downpour and the lights went out in the community. The following morning we set off on the return journey, but strangest of all - and I'm not sure if it was a joke or what, but Leonel Montes de Oca confirmed it later, and Daniel Galastro didn't want to tell me, since I was the youngest of the three - they told me that the infamous Men-in-Black (MIB) had been around, two people following our footsteps, dressed in black. I'm not sure whether they could have been policemen, but anyway, the story spread in town that they were investigating us.

 But the funniest detail is at the end. Upon returning to our cities of Ensenada and La Plata, respectively, we found out about two things that we weren't aware of. First, upon returning to our homes, we heard on the radio that massive tornado had engulfed Tacuarembó, and that we saved ourselves from it by a matter of hours. A truly impressive phenomenon, according to the radio. Second, two or three days later, I heard from Mr. Montes de Oca that on that stormy night before our departure, a luminous object had been seen flying over - and landing- on the slopes outside Pueblo Achar. The UFO had been flying around in the rain, which is also a constant in cases of this nature.

 These, then, were the ups and downs of our first venture to Tacuarembó. The second would be worse, since there was an official intervention, of which I will tell you in the next installment.

 

[Translation (c) 2020 Scott Corrales, IHU with thanks to Luis Burgos, FAO/ICOU]

 

Dark Neighborhood: The World of the Djinn

 

DARK NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WORLD OF THE DJINN

By Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU)

© 2007

The concept that "we are not alone" is of paramount importance to those interested in ufology and its allied disciplines, even if the company they expect to find resides on planets far removed from Earth—whether in other solar systems within the Milky Way or in other galaxies such as Andromeda. Amateurs and scholars of "nuts-and-bolts ufology"—as it is often called—have calculated the possible points of origin for the supposedly extraterrestrial phenomenon that visits us so assiduously; alternatively, they have envisioned a complete taxonomy of beings worthy of a George Lucas film—short Greys, tall Blondes, imposing Reptilians, and fearsome Insectoids—each the product of distinct celestial bodies.

However, since the earliest years of ufological inquiry, the possibility has been entertained that our visitors may not hail from such distant locales, but are instead beings who share this great blue planet with us. The writings of Robert Shaver suggested that a primordial race abandoned our world due to the harmful effects of solar radiation, leaving behind the negative and positive remnants of their species—the *deros* and *teros* of the Shaverian chronicles—who inhabit the intraterrestrial realm. More serious writers, such as Ivan T. Sanderson, wrote extensively about "uninvited guests" dwelling on the ocean floor who went to great lengths to avoid contact with *Homo sapiens*; other thinkers have situated our invisible neighbors in the most remote reaches of the Amazon or on the Tibetan Plateau. Yet, traditions of far greater antiquity suggest that we share our world with beings of terrestrial—albeit non-human—origin... beings regarded by the legal authorities of one-fifth of humanity as real entities that are, for the most part, inimical to human beings. Several prominent authors in the fields of ufology and the paranormal—such as Salvador Freixedo, Gordon Creighton, and John Keel—have made mention of them in their works: they are none other than the inexplicable Djinn.

“Made of Smokeless Fire”

Given the political climate currently affecting our world, it feels somewhat risky to quote passages from a religious text that many consider inimical to Western thought. The text in question is the Quran—the Muslim Bible, so to speak—which provides us with the earliest information we possess regarding these beings. They occupy an intermediate position within the divine work of creation—situated halfway between the angels (spiritual beings) and humanity (beings “of clay,” as our own religious texts remind us). The Djinn possess a nature distinct from both; for, as indicated in the Quranic chapter dedicated to these entities, they were created from smoke and fire.

To this day, Islamic scholars maintain the existence of these beings. And while devotees of Islam are forbidden from believing in ghosts or engaging in divinatory practices, belief in the Djinn is, in fact, a religious commandment.

The term "Djinn" appears 29 times in the Quran—not counting the *sura* (or chapter) titled "Surah Al-Djinn," which abounds with specific details regarding our hidden neighbors. These beings inhabit a world invisible to human eyes; they are capable of "eating, drinking, and procreating" just like humans, and—much like us—they come in both good and evil varieties (in this specific context, those Djinn who have embraced Islam are considered "good"). Although they are by no means immortal, they are credited with prodigious longevity; indeed, some scholars assert that there are Djinn alive today who were already living when Muhammad first began preaching in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Another Quranic teaching states: "Verily, We created humanity from clay and soft mud, and the Djinn from smokeless fire." (Qur. 15:26-27). The scholar Ibn Abbas states that two millennia before the creation of Adam and Eve, the Djinn already inhabited our planet, although their tenancy was characterized by corruption and warfare. Regiments of angels sent by Allah battled against these beings made of fire, vanquishing them and banishing them to certain islands. Unlike the Judeo-Christian tradition, it was not until that moment that the Creator decided to undertake the creation of the human race.

For reasons left unexplained, these invisible and intelligent beings can only manifest themselves to us by assuming repulsive forms—specifically snakes and black dogs, much like the Black Shuck of the British Isles—though, as we shall see later, they are also capable of mimicking humans. Muhammad established the existence of three classes of Djinn: those that move through the air; those that manifest as snakes and dogs; and those that exist in a specific location but possess the gift of traveling from one place to another.

Concern regarding these beings who share our world persists to this day, with websites posting legal opinions (fatwas) from various Quranic scholars regarding inquiries related to the Djinn. It comes as no surprise that one of the most frequently asked questions concerns the possibility of humans marrying these beings and having offspring. A strange preoccupation—though perhaps not so strange if we examine the following cases.

 

Forbidden Loves

During one of his television appearances in the United States in the 1990s (*El Show de Cristina*, 1991), the thinker and parapsychologist Salvador Freixedo posited that the interest in "the generational, the generative, and the genital"—an interest that emerged from the phenomenon of alleged extraterrestrial abductions at the time—bore a close relationship to historical accounts of other beings who have engaged intimately with humans—at least within the realm of myth and legend—such as sylphs, undines, nymphs, and other creatures known by various names in legends across the globe.

In early 2007, paranormal researcher and author Brad Steiger returned with a new book, *Shadow World: True Encounters With Beings from the Darkside* (San Antonio, TX: Anomalist Press, 2007), in which he revisited previously unpublished cases involving clearly extra-human beings seeking emotional and physical union with humans. One of the most intriguing cases Steiger recounts in his work is that of Kent Grondhal, a young American of Scandinavian descent who was attending the University of Iowa when he decided to hop in his car for a drive through the countryside, hoping that the scenery—endless cornfields and small villages—might help take his mind off his academic worries. Before long, he passed through a tiny hamlet comprising just a few houses, a general store, and a gas station—a place where a traditional Swedish dance festival happened to be taking place.

Immensely proud of his cultural heritage, young Grondhal decided to park his vehicle and join in the festivities. But just as he was about to do so, a hulking man with intimidating blue eyes blocked his path—apparently intent on landing a punch for no reason whatsoever. At that moment, another man—tall and smiling—stepped in and introduced himself as Erik Hagen. When Grondhal introduced himself in turn, Hagen immediately asked if his family hailed from a certain specific place; upon receiving an affirmative answer, he embraced Kent as if he were a long-lost relative. The student then went on to meet the other partygoers. “They spoke with such a thick Scandinavian accent,” Grondhal noted, “that it was as if they had just arrived straight from Sweden itself.”

It wasn't long before the student’s gaze settled upon Kari Rogeness, a charming blonde who claimed to live right there in the village—whereas the others had merely gathered for an annual reunion. Although the young woman had initially seemed receptive to his interest, as the hours wore on, she began to grow somewhat reticent—especially whenever Grondhal asked if it might be possible to see her again. At the end of the evening, the student returned to the university with the image of Kari etched in his mind. He immediately looked up her name in the phone book—but found nothing. No one by that name existed.

Days later, upon entering a restaurant, he ran into Erik Hagen and his entire entourage—the very same guests from the countryside party. Kari Rogeness, however, was conspicuously absent. Hagen approached the student to tell him that, much as his friends had taken a liking to him, he needed to put Kari out of his mind completely, as any future together was simply out of the question. “We are connected to you people—but not in the way you understand it,” the smiling Hagen told him. “There are some among us who harbor resentment toward your kind because we were here first, and at times we feel supplanted by you. But listen to me, young Grondhal, for we hold sincere affection for you. We ask that you stop searching for Kari. What you hope for can never come to pass.”

As described by Steiger, the student was about to reply when the waitress informed him that his order was ready. In the brief seconds he was distracted attending to her, Hagen and his entourage had already exited through the door. When he attempted to follow them, he could see no sign of them anywhere.

“Three years later, during a visit to New York to see a friend,” the author writes, “Kent Grondhal is certain he saw Kari Rogness and Erik Hagen walking through Times Square while he was riding in a taxi.” When he caught their attention from the window, the pair stared back at him before disappearing into the lobby of a movie theater. “I cannot help but wonder how many Eriks and Karis—and other ‘relatives’ of ours—wander among us, blending into the crowd, concealing their true identities and purposes.”

Thus concludes the story of the young student, as shared with us by Brad Steiger.

The simplest answer is always the correct one. Young Kari felt pestered by Grondhal’s attention and did everything in her power to avoid him. Erik Hagen—her kinsman, guardian, or lover—politely asked the student to keep his distance. Case closed. Nevertheless—if the words spoken by Hagen in the restaurant constitute a faithful quotation—we are faced with a curious instance: “There are some among us who harbor a grudge against your kind because we were here first, and at times we feel supplanted by you.” This sounds like a characterization of the condition of the Djinn, in accordance with the views expressed by Ibn Abbas.

Islamic authorities acknowledge the possibility of unions between humans and Djinn, though they deem such unions undesirable; furthermore, they note that the legal compendium (Sharia) offers no irrefutable statutes on the subject, leading some to opine that a union between humans and Djinn would be lawful, while others maintain the contrary. One of the voices raised against such unions is that of Al-Khateeb Al-Shirbini, who posits that there are two classes of marital restrictions: perpetual and non-perpetual. Matrimony between humans and Djinn falls under the category of perpetual restrictions. Ibn Abidin, a Hanafi scholar, points out that marital restrictions are specific in nature, and that a man may not unite himself with another man, with a hermaphrodite, with a polytheistic woman, with a close female relative... or with a female Djinn.

Other jurists are not quite so categorical. Al-Hasan Al-Basri maintained that a union between humans and Djinn was lawful, “provided that there were witnesses” to the event. Imam Al-Suyuti, citing earlier authorities, affirmed the validity of marriage between our own species and that of our enigmatic neighbors. Let us examine what Ibn-Unus states in his treatise, *Sharh Al-Wajeiz*: “If such a union were deemed licit, would the man possess the authority to compel his Djinn wife to remain within the home? (bearing in mind that the Djinn are known to have a propensity for traveling vast distances). Let us suppose the man finds it distasteful to see his wife in any form other than the human one; would this grant him the right to forbid her from manifesting in other guises? Furthermore, would the standard conditions required for any other marital contract be fulfilled? For instance, is the approval of the prospective wife’s Djinn guardian a prerequisite? Would their marriage be considered valid under the laws of the Djinn? Suppose the husband observes his wife having assumed a form distinct from the one he recognizes, yet she insists upon her identity; would he be capable of believing her and engaging in conjugal relations with her? Would he be obligated to provide her with the sustenance consumed by the Djinn—such as bones and similar items?”

Debates concerning this subject—specifically, carnal relations between our own species and beings that, to the Western world, “do not exist”—are extensive and wide-ranging within Islamic jurisprudence, with arguments advanced both for and against. The ultimate consensus appears to be that marriage between a human male and a female Djinn is frowned upon for the following reason: the possibility—however remote (given that such a union is generally considered to be sterile)—of producing offspring that is half-human and half-Djinn. “A group of Yemenis once wrote to Imam Malik, stating: ‘A male Djinn has appeared before us seeking to take a young human woman as his wife, claiming that his intention in this matter is to follow the path of the righteous.’ Imam Malik replied: ‘I perceive nothing inherently wrong with this; however, I am concerned about exposing this woman to a situation in which she might be asked about her husband and be compelled to answer that he is a male Djinn. Such a circumstance could lead to moral corruption among the Muslim community.’” It would be interesting to draft a letter to these scholars of Islam and ask for their opinion regarding the alleged hybridization between humans—allegedly “abducted by UFOs”—and the large-headed beings who crew them...

Do They Want to Be Like Us?

One of the most intriguing cases involving clearly non-human beings—yet ones that adopt the form of our own species for unknown purposes—is also associated with manifestations of the extremely rare Men in Black (MIB), who, at one time, occupied a distinct category of study within the field of ufology. Most people interested in this phenomenon will recall that one of the best-documented cases of this type occurred in 1976, when American psychiatrist Herbert Hopkins received a visit from a mysterious figure dressed in a black suit and wearing a derby hat. The enigmatic visitor’s face was covered in white makeup, and he wore lipstick on his lips. The figure asked several questions regarding a UFO case the professional was investigating (the Stephens case, Maine, 1975) and then proceeded to make a penny vanish from the open palm of a stunned Hopkins, causing it to completely dematerialize. The stranger warned him: “Neither you nor anyone else on this plane—not planet—will ever see that coin again.”

Well then: on September 24, 1976—following this unsettling visit from the Man in Black—an equally unsettling couple appeared at the home of John and Maureen Hopkins—the son and daughter-in-law of the psychologist investigating the UFO case. The physical description of both individuals, combined with their utter and complete ignorance of American society at the time, led the young Hopkins couple to suspect that there was something strange about their visitors. The man wore clothing seemingly plucked straight out of a 1950s catalog—though the garments themselves were perfectly new, practically brand-new (similar details appear in other cases involving Men in Black). The woman was even more striking due to her bizarre physical build—a distended abdomen and breasts that appeared to protrude directly from her ribs—and the way she wobbled as she walked, as if her legs did not fit correctly into her pelvis. The exchanges between these two figures resembled a painfully memorized script rather than the sort of conversation one would expect from a couple.

John Hopkins answered a few questions regarding his father, the UFO case in question, and other matters. However, the strange man seemed far more interested in other topics: “The man and his female companion were taken aback when John explained that he and his wife carried out most of their activities together. While asking questions, the man groped his companion, asking John if he was doing it correctly” (Schwarz, p. 248). Shortly thereafter, the visitor began pestering Maureen with indiscreet questions, inquiring about “her body’s physical contours” and asking if she had any nude photographs of herself she could show him. After a while, the female declared that it was time to leave, and something even stranger occurred: “Her companion stood up, yet made no move to head for the exit. The woman told him several times that she wanted to go, finally pleading with John Hopkins: ‘Would you be so kind as to move him? I cannot do it myself’—as if she were incapable of, or simply did not know how to, walk around her motionless partner to reach the door.

The rational explanation for this curious event from thirty years ago is perfectly reasonable. In rural areas of North America—as in any other part of the world—tragic cases of mental impairment and physical abnormalities occur due to poor nutrition or incest. Living in isolated communities—almost invariably under the sway of a self-proclaimed preacher—there are individuals who remain completely oblivious to the era in which they live or to customary social norms. It is entirely plausible that “Bill Post” (the name given by the strange man) and his companion belonged to one of these groups.

Nevertheless, the possibility that they were, in fact, intelligent creatures merely mimicking human beings remains deeply unsettling. “Bill Post’s” interest in viewing photographs of the young Mrs. Hopkins in the nude—along with his earlier groping of his own companion—underscores these beings’ determination to pass themselves off as humans by slavishly copying the details of intimate behavior, which they find utterly fascinating. The fact that the companion of “Mr. ...[if the] "Post" did not know how to walk around—this strange immobility also suggests a lack of familiarity with the human body, as if these were human beings attempting to walk while clad in medieval armor.

Strange Yankees from the forests of New England, or creatures fascinated by the "generational, genitive, and genital" aspects noted by Freixedo? We leave the decision to the reader.

Animals and Technology of the Djinn

Islamic literature indicates that the Djinn possess animals, and that it is permissible to feed them both human and animal excrement (with the consequent prohibition against humans consuming excrement—as if such a prohibition were even necessary). However, descriptions of these beings are lacking, and scholars simply offer the explanation that "such is the will of Allah."

It falls to us to speculate on whether the creatures with glowing eyes reported in cryptozoology—certain Bigfoot-like species, the Chupacabras, monstrous birds, etc.—might correspond to these animals of the Djinn. This is despite the fact that we have observed them feeding on blood and carrion rather than fecal matter—though, then again, who really knows? Psychologist Berthold Schwarz, a scholar of the UFO phenomenon from a psychiatric perspective, noted in his analysis of a UFO sighting and encounter with hairy beings in Greensburg, Pennsylvania (USA) in 1973, that the beings' intense red eyes—one adult specimen and one apparently juvenile one which, judging by the sketches produced by witnesses, bore a greater resemblance to a werewolf than to the ape-like creatures associated with Bigfoot—"suggested the possibility that their origin lay in a world of total darkness." (Schwarz, Berthold E., *UFO Dynamics*. Moore Haven, Florida: Rainbow Books, 1983). Could this world of darkness—which has figured so prominently in Western religions—be the reality assigned to the Djinn? If so, it is hardly surprising that they might wish to visit ours from time to time.

Contemporary scholars have taken an interest in the potential technology available within the obscure realm of the Djinn. Charles Upton, author of *The System of Antichrist* (NY: Sophia Perennis, 2001), addresses an aspect that some might consider delusional—or, at the very least, worthy of a *Conan the Barbarian* novel: the possibility that the Djinn possess technology, whether of their own devising or stolen from humans.

 Before turning to Upton’s thoughts on the matter, it is worth noting that others have briefly speculated along these lines—perhaps inspired by medieval engravings depicting "Hell" in all its terror, teeming with demons tormenting the impious with a variety of implements: torture wheels, long needles, hooks, and other objects whose precise functions remain unclear. The logical assumption, of course, would be that the medieval or Renaissance artist simply placed into the hands of the underworld’s masters the very same tools available to any torturer of the Holy Brotherhood...

Upton, however, argues to the contrary, drawing upon the writings of the Orthodox priest Seraphim Rose—who passed away in 1982—and who asserted that the UFO phenomenon, for instance, was nothing more than "demons doing what demons have always done." Their craft, he argued, are the product of a "demonic" technology that originates in the subtle realm yet impacts the physical realm: "It is clear that the manifestations of today’s flying saucers fall squarely within the scope of the technology available to demons. Indeed, there is no other explanation that accounts for them so effectively." “The manifold demonic deceptions appearing in the literature of the [Orthodox Church] have been adapted into the myth of the spatial—and nothing more.” (Upton, p. 334, citing Rose). The late Orthodox priest maintained that UFOs are “both physical craft and psychic devices.”

Upton links the Orthodox priest’s assertions to his own research on the Djinn: “[...] And this aligns precisely with folklore regarding the Djinn throughout the world: they are capable of affecting the physical plane, yet incapable of maintaining a stable presence within it. I sometimes wonder whether our computer technology—which has always struck me as being, to some extent, inspired by the Djinn—might represent a means for them to construct vehicles for themselves that are stable within our world, given the fact that the Djinn and UFOs appear capable of interacting with electromagnetic energy.”

Is Upton, then, an adherent of the 19th-century “Luddites” who advocated for the destruction of the Industrial Revolution’s infernal machinery? His words seem to suggest as much; yet he would be neither the first nor the only person to suspect that the digital realm—epitomized by the World Wide Web, the Internet—has acquired an intelligence of its own, or has fallen under the control of some extra-human agency. In 1997, researcher Steve Mizrach addressed this very subject in his paper “Ghost in the Machine: Haitian Voudoun and the Matrix” (Crash Collusion No. 8, Austin, TX), noting that the new generation of programmers was awestruck by the algorithms they employed to write their code—algorithms that “seemed to possess a life of their own, owing to their unexpected, emergent properties and their reactions to external stimuli... Indeed, many robotics technicians are frequently baffled by the almost ‘lifelike’ responses of their creations—responses that resemble animal or human reactions rather than those strictly dictated by their control algorithms.” Terence Sejnowski, a neuroscientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, does not rule out the possibility that the Internet may have acquired a consciousness of its own (The World Question Center, http://www.edge.org/q2006/q06_8.html). However, this takes us too far afield from the question of the Djinn and their technology.

During the 1960s and 70s, cases occurred that were largely overlooked because they lacked the dramatic elements prescribed by ufology—specifically, the sighting or landing of a craft, the pursuit of a witness by non-humans, and the subsequent harassment of that witness by the military. These cases, which bordered on the "Fortean," included accounts of flying saucers stealing computer technology from Honeywell warehouses and other computer manufacturing plants of that era. Other witnesses, having been taken aboard these saucers, would later claim to have observed human technology inside the craft. Were these technical components stolen by the Djinn, or were they the result of efforts by the military or political establishment to confuse witnesses of the anomalous?

If we entertain the possibility that the Djinn either construct their own machinery or steal ours, might this serve to explain the still-unsolved case files regarding the "phantom airships" that caused such a sensation between 1896 and 1897? Or the phantom aircraft and rockets sighted across Scandinavia in 1946? During the wave of phantom airship sightings, it appeared as though pseudo-humans were amusing themselves by mimicking humanity’s clumsy attempts to realize the long-cherished dream of flight. The case files range from enormous airships worthy of Robur the Conqueror to aircraft that flapped their wings in flight (according to John Keel). As soon as the Wright Brothers, Santos-Dumont, and Blériot achieved their breakthroughs, these flying contraptions ceased to appear.

Saucer Abductions and the Djinn

This brings us to the point we wished to address. We are entirely at liberty to consider the phenomenon of abductions—perpetrated by beings hailing from UFOs or other realities—as either a genuinely unsettling reality or one of the most striking instances of mass psychosis in human history. Some writers and researchers have attempted to examine this subject in depth, asking themselves whether a truly alien and super-advanced civilization would actually resort to the methods of study (or hybridization) employed by the alleged "Greys," "Blonds," and "Reptilians" that feature in contemporary accounts. One would expect a super-civilization to manipulate genetics with far greater ease than our own, without the subject of the experiment ever becoming aware of what had transpired. Yet, despite the displays of technology (or pseudo-technology) that these abductors reveal to their victims, their methods remain primitive, invasive, and even sadistic.

For our 21st-century civilization—immersed in digital technology, deriving pleasure from Nintendo consoles and the passive consumption of television programs—it is far easier to believe in technically advanced visitors from another planet than in creatures whose existence we know primarily through *The Thousand and One Nights*, even though virtually every culture speaks of this other order of beings. The obsession with interbreeding with human beings is a theme that surfaces even in our works of fantasy. A classic example is the wizard Merlin (Myrddin) of Celtic tradition, the son of a mortal woman and a being who, "though not evil, was far from good"—a description that fits the *Djinn* perfectly. We have seen that the Muslim tradition holds that Djinn are capable of easily changing their appearance, assuming forms that are either pleasing or repulsive, depending on their needs. This gift of mutability would seem to correspond to the "Grays" who have become part of the UFO establishment. In many cases, witnesses claim to have copulated with males or females deemed highly attractive by human standards of beauty—only for these figures to ultimately reveal themselves as macrocephalic dwarfs (one of whom, according to a single abductee, was wearing a black wig). This gift—attributed to the Djinn and various other beings in human mythology—has, inevitably, been "technologized" and described as a "screen memory" that the Grays can superimpose over an abductee's actual recollections.

Abductees also claim—sometimes under hypnosis, other times while fully conscious—to have witnessed the fruit of this interspecies mingling: beings that are half-human, half-"Gray"—frail and sickly creatures. At times, they describe more developed entities: beings possessing distinctively human features, yet bearing the enormous black eyes characteristic of their extra-human lineage. Other abductees speak at length of assistants who appear to be one hundred percent human, working side by side with the Grays. Are these individuals part of a human "fifth column" aiding the extra-humans, or are they simply beings who have assumed a pleasing guise in order to put us at ease?

“In recent times, some abductees have recounted visits to a chamber filled with fetuses floating in tanks, or have reported being handed hybrid infants or children with whom they are expected to play or interact. If the witness is transported by these beings, their destination is otherworldly—though not necessarily another planet. A brief journey carries the craft and its crew into a subterranean or submarine environment: an 'intraterrestrial' realm of great beauty, yet devoid of sunlight; or a uniformly illuminated sky [...] often dark and desolate, bearing signs of ruin and destruction.” (Bullard, Thos. “Abductions.” *The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters*, Ed. Ronald Story. New York: 2001, p. 6). The elves or sprites described by the Reverend Kirk in his work *The Secret Commonwealth* claimed to be capable of destroying humanity with a single stroke, yet they refrained from doing so “because they awaited Salvation.” A thoroughly Christian sentiment, naturally. However, they could attain this salvation or redemption only through humans—by merging with us to acquire that which religious believers have termed “the soul”—a concept that would undoubtedly elicit a scornful smile from the lips of skeptics. If we accept as true the premise that alleged abductees have indeed witnessed and experienced everything they have recounted to us, may we then surmise that—despite the frailty of the resulting offspring and the intensive care they require—they now possess a soul?

On the other hand, it is certainly intriguing that ufologists have interpreted this amalgamation of species as something positive. At the Human Potential Foundation conference held in Washington, D.C., in 1993—the theme of which was “The Encounter Between Cosmic Cultures”—a former legal advisor to the National Research Council classified the hybrids of Grays and humans as “the next species: *Homo alterios spatialis*.”

Many abductees insist that they have witnessed images of humanity’s future on a planet utterly devastated by environmental crises, pollution, or impacts from extraterrestrial bodies. These terrifying scenes have been projected directly into the abductees' minds, or have formed part of a kind of “theatrical performance” in which many abductees gaze intently at what appears to be a screen displaying the future. The only ones capable of surviving in this apocalyptic world will be the hybrids of humans and Grays—beings perfectly acclimated to this terrible “new world.”

 Charles Upton offers us a frankly terrifying possibility—one, however, that will likely only convince the religiously minded: “But if they are so intent on mesmerizing poor mortals with their superior powers, to what can we attribute their apparent envy of our capacity to inhabit physical bodies? Could it be that they are fully aware—even if we ourselves have forgotten it—that the human form is the image of God, and that, consequently, they do everything in their power to supplant it—primarily by tempting us to deconstruct it, both physically and psychologically? If they—for all their gifts—seem to desire to become human, even as they seek to make us more like themselves, what does this reveal about their own self-assessment of their condition? Perhaps they are simply attempting to avoid Hell.” (Upton, *System of Antichrist*, p. 338).

In Summary

All of us living today—with a few exceptions—are products of cinema, television, and fantasy and science fiction literature. We feel no hesitation whatsoever in describing a device or situation as “worthy of *Star Trek* or *Star Wars*.” Our primary frame of reference is technology—ranging from the very first handheld calculator to the brand-new iPod® from Apple. If we spot a strange light in the sky, or a disc-shaped craft in the middle of a meadow, we do not hesitate to place it within a technological context—in this case, as a spacecraft hailing from any of the planets, civilizations, or galaxies that our reading and movie-going experiences have conjured in our minds. Indeed, it is far more plausible and culturally acceptable to speak of aliens, extraterrestrials, and the like than of elves, dDjinn, sylphs, and undines—despite the existence of millennia-old traditions concerning these beings and their relationship with our own species.

It is considered perfectly reasonable to imagine that an extra-planetary culture dispatches its ships to abduct men and women—to harvest their reproductive material against their will for the sake of humanity’s future; to save another species that has lost its reproductive capacity; because the members of said species are, in reality, the "Watchers" of the Old Testament; or because their mission is to preserve life across all inhabited planets. Yet, to consider that these beings might actually be the neighbors we have always had—beings that inhabited our world long before the emergence of humanity and that will likely remain here long after our extinction—is deemed preposterous... or, at least, that is what we are told.