The Great 1954 Greek UFO flap

One of the greatest UFO flaps in history took place in the autumn of 1954. The main epicenter of this flap was located in south Europe and in South America. As every good Fortean knows, hundreds of close encounters of every kind took place.

France is maybe the best-known nation where the 1954 flap broke out. But of course the great UFO flap of 1954 was not confined in this particular country, but in the whole area of Mediterranean as well. And of course in Greece.

In the 1950's, Greece was a country in ruins mainly because of WWII and partly from the Civil War (1946-1949) between the National Army and pro-Soviet communist Liberation Army. Greece was a poor agricultural nation, with minimal infrastructure, small industrial output, and hardly existent telecommunication networks. Radios were very rare in the open country and only after twenty or so years television would become popular in urban areas.

The only relatively credible medium of information was the newspapers. So, the only source of ufological information were the local press, even though it usually was distorting the narrations and presented information with no substantial details due to complete lack of knowledge about UFOs (the UFO subject was unknown to the greatest part of Greek society, until the late 1960s). These are most of the known 1954 Greek incidents.

* 6 October. A telegram from the local police station of Lesvos island (Aegean sea), reports that on 3:15 pm, the president and residents of Vryssos community, saw a little star-like object, which maneuvered over the village for a quarter of an hour. Finally at 3:30 pm it moved to NW, then to North and finally disappeared westwards.(1)

* 8 October. Another telegram from the same source, reports that on 6:00 pm, a luminous object with a "tail", was reported hovering over Anemotia village. The UFO was as big as the full moon and was emitting gold-white light beams. After 3 minutes, it moved to NE and disappeared.(2)

* 9 October. Again at Lesvos island, Mr S. Horiatellis with his 12 year-old son, were hunting near the village of Stymmi, when they witnessed a luminous cigar-shaped body, moving horizontally. Then the object started moving vertically and simultaneously parted in two. The two parts were also cigar-shaped and continued to move, keeping a constant distance between them. The newspaper also reports that these two UFOs were sighted also by scientists from nearby Turkey.(3)

* 12 October. At Agios Georgios village, at Pilion mountain, Thessaly, central Greece, Mr Helias Voyagis observed at night, a luminous object which had a resemblance with a giant cigar. The UFO moved from East to West with relatively slow speed and disappeared in the horizon.(4)

* 15 October. Again a telegram from the local police station of Ayassos, Lesvos, reports a "luminous phenomenon", witnessed by hundreds of local people. The UFO was round and was hovering at 2 - 3,000 m (6 - 9,000 ft) for about half and hour. Then it disappeared, to reappeared again after 10 minutes, divided into two separate objects that departed and vanished, moving into two different directions.(5)

* 17 October. At Doxato, northern Greece, Mrs Athena Gelemiris (dentist) and Mrs Sophia Capaouras, observed at East, a "bright tail" that was moving in circles. This strange object was red at first but then it changed colors, as it was moving. After five minutes it disappeared in the horizon. The same or a similar UFO was also observed by hundreds of residents of the nearby Choristi village.(6)

* 23 (?) October. An alleged UFO landing created upset among the residents of the Didimoticho area villages. This area is near the border with Bulgaria and Turkey in Thrace, north-eastern Greece. According to the testimonies of local shepherds, two cigar shaped UFOs were landed in a particular point, stayed on the ground for about 20 minutes and then took off with incredible velocity.(7)

* 26 October. At Antimachia village, Kos island, Dodecanese, Aegean Sea, Irene Sarris and Socrates Caraliamis saw a flying object which was emitting blinding light. The UFO had the shape of a basket, and for a while it was heading to Antimachia, but suddenly changed course and went away.(8)

At the same night, we have another very important UFO-related report, which unfortunately is composed by a few lines in the same newspaper clipping. According to another resident of Antimachia, Mr George Cacamoundis, a "winged man" was also seen crossing the sky over the village, at roughly the same time with the luminous UFO. The witness, terrified, sought hideout in a nearby church, where he stayed for a long time scared to death by this extraordinary encounter.(9)

Here, I consider necessary to remark that the "classic" 1954 UFO wave, had many reports with short humanoid occupants, usually dressed in "diver's clothes", according to the witnesses. But a report for a winged "Mothman" over a Greek village, is not only an extremely unusual case but an incident that John Keel would have very much appreciated! Sadly, the case is too old to become an object of investigation…(9a)

* 27 October. A giant luminous disc was sighted over the city of Rhodos, at Rhodos island, at Dodecanese, Aegean sea. For five minutes the disc was maneuvering over the city; then approached the balloon of the local "Voice of America" radio station and then it disappeared, moving with immense speed. The first witness, was owner of "Acropol" hotel, Mr Emmanuel Manolakis, who was astonished and called Constantine Valsamis, John Reissis, Mrs Flora Stamatakis, Fotis Fotaras, Nikos Haideftopoulos, Helias Stamatakis and many others, among them a local police officer. (10)

* End of October. A report of a "flying frying pan" above Moudros, Limnos island, Aegean. Unspecified date and details.(11)

* 1 November. Pyrgos, Helis county, Peloponnese. Witness Mr Theodoratos, saw in the sky above the suburbs of the city, at 6:00 am, a "strange luminous body of unspecified form", according to a local newspaper clipping. He also said that the object was emitting a blinding light. The "peculiar object" was moving with tremendous speed from West to South and in a few seconds it disappeared in the horizon of Ionian Sea. It had the size of a full moon and little before fading, "a sort of small rocket that the object seemed to have at its aft point, was switched off". Also, at 5:50 am, another witness, shipping agent Dionysios Yannatos was in his bedroom, preparing to leave for his work, when he observed a very strong flash, behind the curtains of the window. Finally police officer Mr Stefanatos who was patrolling outside town, saw a strange flash in the sky, to the same direction and at the same hour. (12)

* 7 November. 4:45 am. Near Issamos village, at Patras, Peloponnese, a group of hunters being inside a car, saw a luminous object, heading for North. It had the size of a full moon. The driver stopped the car, and everybody got out to see the object suddenly emitting a strong flash that lit the whole area "like a thousand bonfires". After a few seconds, the object leaving behind a pink tail, vanished towards Erymanthos mountain moving with immense speed.(13)

* 7 November. At 10:30 pm, Nikolaos Diamantis, hospital attendant, and A. Yaprakis, merchant, saw in the moonlit night sky, a silvery flying saucer, with size a little bit less than the full moon, moving over Pagaseticus Gulf, at Volos, Thessaly. The saucer was rotating with great speed, and after a while it exploded with a hollow sound. At the point of the explosion a cloud was formed. The cloud was so bright that, according to the witnesses, the whole sky was lit up.(14)

* 7 November. In the evening, a "flying saucer" was seen over Comotini, Thrace, moving in circles and leaving behind three little luminous dots.(15)

* 11 November. Mr Nikos Stefanopoulos, reported that at 6:20 am, while driving between Faliro and Athens, saw to the direction of Elefsis, a luminous UFO which disappeared after a while.(16)

* 11 November. At Playari village, near Yannitsa, Macedonia, near Paikon mountain, many residents, among them the local priest Rev. Nicholaos Exarchos, saw for 2-3 minutes a "great flying saucer" emitting continuous bright flashes of light.(17)

* 12 November. About 5:00 pm. At Athens, Canningos Square, a great number of people saw in a height of approximately 10.000 m (30.000 ft) a round silvery object that stood still for 5 minutes and finally moved upwards and became invisible. Around the object, a kind of "frozen exhaust gas", like that of the jet planes, was visible.(18)

* 16 November. At Chalki island, Dodecanese, farmers George Spirou and Mitsos Dimitriou, were returning home from the fields when they suddenly saw in the clear sky a luminous object, moving with great speed.(19)

* 20 November. A strange report comes from Vovoda village, near Aegion, Peloponnese. At 7:00 am, 84 year old Helias Coromilas was at his field, at Voulomeni area, outside Vovoda when he noticed a small object, resembling a small car, rolling on the road and then entering the field at a distance of about 100 m (300 ft) from the witness. Coromilas run to warn the driver of the "car" that there was a steep cliff in front of him, but when he approached it, suddenly, the "car" took off making no sound at all and, engulfed in dust, flew away in the sky. Coromilas said later that the "car" was dark in colour, had two wheels and was 1,5 X 2 m in size, and 1 m in height. He considered the whole incident "supernatural".(20)

These are some UFO reports I managed to unearth from newspaper archives. It is most likely sure that many other incidents took place in Greece during this great UFO flap, but except from searching in newspapers' archives, little can be done to investigate them. The most unfortunate fact is that today the witnesses are deceased or are so old that is difficult for them to remember details. But these few, reports represent a considerable specimen of the whole real population of Greek 1954 UFO incidents
.

Sources:
1: Acropolis, newspaper, 7 Oct 1954
2: Macedonia, newspaper, 9 Oct 1954
3: Hellenicos Vorras (Hellenic North), newspaper, 10 Oct 1954
4: Macedonia, 13 Oct 1954
5: Acropolis, 16 Oct 1954, Macedonia, 19 Oct 1954
6: Hellenicos Vorras, 20 Oct 1954
7: Clipping from unknown newspaper, 23 Oct 1954
8. Hellenicos Vorras, 30 Oct 1954
9. Ibid.
9a. There are much more Mothman sightings in the island of Rhodes among with appearances of UFOs and strange creatures.
10: Clipping from unknown newspaper, 29 Oct 1954
11: Undated clipping
12: Patris Pyrgou, newspaper, 2 Nov 1954
13: Acropolis, 9 Nov 1954
14: Ibid.
15: Undated clipping
16: Acropolis 11 Nov 1954
17: Macedonia 12 Nov 1954
18: Acropolis 13 Nov 1954
19: Hellenic North, 20 Nov 1954
20: Patris Pyrgou, 26 Nov 1954


Special thanks to fellow researcher Mr Homer Carajas for the compilation of the above list.

SHADOW AND SHADOW BEINGS

Shadows and Shadow Beings

Thank you Albert Rosales

Sooner or later anyone who engages in paranormal investigations or has read about ghost/spirit hauntings will encounter the topic of shadows and shadow beings. While the study of shadows and shadow beings (aka shadow entities) is a whole field unto itself, as paranormal investigators we feel it is important to discuss the subject to some extent.


Shadow beings, as the name suggests, are characterized by simply a dark black shadow figure. Sometimes the figure is wispy, other times more solid. The shape is usually a human form, though non-human (possibly animal) shapes have sometimes been reported. The shadow usually is from 3 to a much as 7 feet tall. Sometimes faint facial features can be seen, most notably eye openings. On rare occasion a full face is seen. The shadow usually doesn’t show any signs of arms or legs. Shadows seem to have the ability to move a great speeds. They can be seen standing still then quickly accelerate out of view. They do not seem to be contained by walls or other solid structures as they have been seen passing through them.

Photograph of a "shadow man" in the East Wing of Rolling Hills Asylum.
(picture courtesy of Lori Carlson & RHGHS. Reprinted with permission.)

Close up of the "shadow man" in the East Wing of Rolling Hills Asylum.
(picture courtesy of Lori Carlson & RHGHS. Reprinted with permission.)

Shadows can be seen in both bright daylight or at night. Most often they are capture by photographic equipment (still photos or video) but have been seen with the naked eye. When seen with the naked eye they are often seen indirectly. That is, it’s rare to look straight on at a shadow. Rather, they are seen off to the side of direct vision. Some individuals seem more prone to viewing shadows than others. For these reasons the very existence of shadows are subject to much criticism.
People often associated a sinister meaning to shadows, owing to the black color. This most likely is a false assumption. Black simply means the absence of emitted or reflected color. Whatever shadows are composed of it’s possible they do not emit or reflect any visible light (visible to the naked human eye at least) so they appear black to the human eye.


As previously mentioned the true nature of what shadows are is the subject of an entire field of study with in the paranormal and is beyond the scope of this discussion. However, there are a few theories that should be reviewed:

• Ghosts/Spirit Manifestations – Some theorize shadows are just another way ghosts and spirits can manifest themselves. While not as common as the more usual white or bright light manifestation, it is possible that for whatever reason some spirits manifest more darkly. As mentioned before, whether this can be interpreted as having purpose or meaning is uncertain at best.
   
• Non-Human/Inhuman Entities – It is theorized that shadows are another class of paranormal entity, possibly representing non-human or inhuman entities. If so, whether they are angelic or demonic is not known.
   
• Aliens – Some believe that shadows are an alien life form. They could be the actual alien itself or a telepathic manifestation of their projection to our world. This theory isn’t widely discussed or accepted as it leans so much towards the science-fiction. But it deserves to be mention in the interests of completeness.
   
• 2-Dimensional Entities – Some have theorized that shadows are only 2 dimensional in structure (they have length and wide but no depth). It is theorized that shadows can only be seen when looked at by right-angles (i.e. 90 degrees or close to its profile). When viewed straight on or directly from behind they can not be seen because they have no depth (thickness). When a shadow seems to appear and disappear it might just be turning from side profile to head-on and visa-versa.
   
• Alternate Life Forms – The sometimes observed animal-like form of a shadow leads some to believe these are a type of rare and undocumented life form. Some paranormal researchers have taken video they believe shows a shadow in a very animal-like form. One video we have seen claims to show a shadow moving along the ground then "sprouting" wings and flying off. Since we did not take this video nor have access to the source LIPI is unable to perform an analysis of the claim.

There is no report we are aware of that indicates shadows are dangerous or threatening (other than their appearance). Some people have reported shadows moving small objects but there are other types of paranormal activity as well as non-paranormal events could also explain it.


To summarize, shadows and shadow beings (shadow entities) are an aspect of paranormal investigations. The probability of encountering a shadow is low compared to the other paranormal events that are more commonly reported. Still, investigators should be aware of the theories about shadows to better understand what they may encounter on an investigation.

---

In March of 2007 Long Island Paranormal Investigators took part in a 4 day trip to the famous Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO. During the trip Rosemary Ellen Guiley gave a presentation on the subject of Shadows. The following is a summary of her presentation.

Rosemary Ellen Guiley presents on the subject of Shadows and Shadow beings.

Rosemary has spent years researching the shadow people (shadow entities) phenomena and cataloging accounts of encounters with shadows. She stated her studies show that:

• Most shadow entities appear while a person is asleep, or about to fall asleep/wake up.
• They usually enter a room (or building) through a door way but have been seen coming right through solid walls.
• Encounters can be occasional or throughout a person's life time. Sometimes they seem to "follow" a family from one generation to another.
• Encounters can start when people move to a new location. They sometimes are seen lurking in woods and undeveloped areas around buildings.
• The most commonly reported physical characteristics of a shadow are:
  • Tall 5-6 feet, sometimes 7 feet
  • Male in appearance
  • Dark and slim
  • Very black - "Blacker than black"
  • Looks like they are wearing a long black trench coat and a large brimmed hat
  • They appear to be 3-dimensional, opaque and seem to have physical mass
  • No eyes
  • Silent - they make no noise as they move but movement is clearly known
• They react when their presence is noticed, usually moving away very quickly
• They don't seem to obey common physical laws - can move through walls, unnaturally fast movement, can appear or vanish instantly.
• People often feel a sinister or mischievous feeling when they are encountered.
• Direct verbal communication is rare but some kind of thought-level communication sometimes appears to be occurring.
• Pets often react very negatively to them and places they have been
• They seem to "invade" your personal space
• She described 6 sub-categories of shadows:
  • Sentinels - They stand in corners/edges and just watch us
  • Lurkers - They move through an area, often the same path over and over.
  • Predators - They seem to want to invoke intense fear/terror. Physical attack is sometimes reported.
  • Visitors - Groups of shadows. Often described as appearing other worldly.
  • MTB - Minding Their own Business, similar to Lurkers they seem not to notice us as they move through an area.
  • Omens - Often appear just before a bad luck event or death happens. Often follow a person or entire family for generations.
  • Haunters - Are associated with accepted haunted locations
• Possible explanations for shadows include:
  • Ghosts/spirits
  • Shape Shifters
  • "Old Hag" legends
  • Thought Forms - beings that are formed out of our subconscious thought (like in the old movie "Forbidden Planet" with Walter Pigeon).
  • Ultraterrestrial beings - "Moth Man"
  • Extraterrertrial beings - May be related to the M.I.B. (Men In Black) reports
• Things people can do to try to rid themselves of a shadow haunting:
  • Prayer
  • Spiritual cleansing
  • Mediate for emotional harmony
  • Change your environment
  • Sleep with the lights on (they rarely show during the day or in the light)

MRS. PAT NORRIS, MOBILE, ALABAMA

Albert S Rosales Humanoid Contacts

 

Mrs. Pat Norris, 28, lives with her husband, Carl, and three children in a suburb of Mobile, Alabama. On the evening of February 3, 1983, she had visited a friend in Mobile and when the friend's husband arrived from work, Mrs. Norris left and headed home on Highway 90. She had turned off the Highway and when about 90 minutes' ride from her home she heard an explosion. At this point, her car began to vibrate and continued to do so, making it difficult for her to steer. She negotiated another turn off the road she was on, brought the car to a halt, opened the car door and leaned out and down and looked to ascertain if the transmission could have been causing the trouble. It had not.

Mrs. N. continued driving and the vibrating stopped. She executed another turn onto another road and saw that the woods ahead were brilliantly illuminated. At first she thought that there was a helicopter search in progress because of the lights and was very frightened. She again stopped the car, and at this point sighted a huge object about l/2 mile west of her. She now feels the explosion she had heard earlier was the object coming down over a clay and gravel pit in the vicinity.

The thing was huge — later estimated to be 7 to 8 stories (70 to 80 feet) high and "six telephone poles" (210 feet) wide, and appeared to be moving toward her at 4-5 miles per hour. The evening had been clear and cool and she had driven with the car windows closed. After the explosion, she noted a "chopping wind, a high-pitched sound and a roaring sound" as well as the vibration. She particularly noted the "whipping of the wind — like a tornado."

When the object reached a point fairly close it stopped and all of the noise stopped. It was completely silent and Mrs. Norris lost all of the fear she had felt before. She then got out of the car to get a better look. She strained to take in every detail — feeling like a child with "unbelievable happiness."

Mr. Norris said that although Pat told him of her sighting after it happened, he didn't realize how important it was to her until she started checking books out of the local library pertaining to UFOs and "related subjects."

She estimates the time duration of the sighting as five minutes. As the craft appeared Mrs. Norris' attention was drawn to a top deck with a long window which she estimates 53 feet and through which she viewed 20 to 30 persons, apparently oblivious of her presence, walking about as if they were changing shift. The wall behind them was curved and white. There were no instruments. The people did not give the appearance of looking out. The beings were pale skinned, dressed in white one piece suits. She judged them to be about our height, five feet 10", quite slender but with chests larger than ours, the top of the head more prominent, no hair, and having the lower half only of ears similar to our own. She noted nothing out of the ordinary about the eyes. What did draw her attention was the great grace of their movements. The atmosphere seemed "sterile."

Below this top deck window was an opaque window. The area around it was all white. This window was in sections and was inset. The glass was tinted.

Below the center of the craft a door was closing from right to left. (See drawing). And she looked onto a street that was dark as if made of asphalt or possible concrete. Off to the side of this street was tubular rectangular equipment. All across the craft she saw rivets and portholes. She said she could see the portholes "inside out" as she peered into the craft. She saw some construction that included "huge I beams like they put ships together with and beams holding the glass in there." The bottom side was tiered upwards. The construction reminds her of a ship or submarine. She said it seemed possible, very likely, it could have been constructed here on Earth.

The very bottom of the craft was formed into a cross made with one foot square mirrors and an observation deck hung down and around the bottom with beings in it. In this case, unlike the top deck, the people were peering out, while overhead she heard a very low pitched but clearly audible (almost like a growl) "announcing" coming from the area of the observation deck now closest to her.

Mrs. Norris said she believes they didn't realize she was there until directly over her position.

As drawn, she saw four pipes projecting six to eight feet out from the craft set in three or four foot square boxes. They had a hollow flange on the end like a tank cannon and she believes "it looked like a weapon."

The craft took a southerly turn as it went on from where she was parked. She said it was staying in the wooded area and did not cross Highway 90 again. Possibly it was doubling back towards Irvington and Pascagoula. It lit up the wooded area, and all beneath it as it moved on off. It had white spotlights and to the side blue and red lights that intermingled, pointing up to the clouds and then down to Earth.

She told Mr. Brown she had prayed she might have such a sighting. She had extensive dream material both prior to and after the February 4 incident. The late dreams contain a detailed physical examination and scan of her emotions, which we expect to present later, when prepared.

After the object was out of sight, Pat continued on home, arriving at 1:10 a.m. - APRO - Field Investigators Bob Gribble and Ed O. Brown

THE MAN WHO WOKE UP ON A ROCK

The Man Who Woke Up on a Rock – A Thousand Feet in the Air

By Scott Corrales

[Our friend and colleague Paulo R. Poian has called our attention to this bit of undeniable high-strangeness from 2008 in Brazil’s Espiritu Santo province. No UFOs were present. Could a hapless stoneworker been teleported to a rocky summit by those reckless entities we know as the djinn? Perhaps we’ll never know – SC]




BRAZIL: The protagonist of this story was rescued by firefighters. No UFOs were reported in the region and the episode was described as a “strange form of somnambulism”.


The event took place in the Brazilian state of Espiritu Santo: “A mystery is perplexing the residents of Bananalzinho in the municipality of Rio Bananal. Odair José Berti, 35, a stonecutter, does not know how he wound up on top of a rock some 980 feet in the air – remaining on this precarious perch for some 17 hours. He was rescued by firefighters during a hazardous operation that took 12 hours and ended early yesterday morning. Even experienced firefighters like sergeants José Ailton and Caldeira could not find a logical explanation for the bizarre episode.


According to the rescuers, reaching the top of the rock poses considerable difficulty, even using proper gear. It would be virtually impossible for local residents to make a successful ascent without the proper mountaineering equipment.


“Only God knows how he got there,” remarked Claudecir Berti, the stonecutter’s nephew. Odair himself was terrified by the situation. He lives in the town of Colatina and had decided to take a walk over to his brother’s house in Bananalzinho, where he arrived late on Wednesday.


“I was very tired,” he told his relatives, and fell asleep early.


Upon awakening the next day – according to his story – he was greatly shocked to find himself on top of a rocky summit. In desperation, he started to scream, waving his shirt, until a local resident took notice. When he was rescued, the stonecutter was found wearing shorts, a shirt and carpet slippers, and didn’t have a scratch on his body, as the rescuers would testify. He was in weakened condition, however, due to thirst and hunger. Mr. Berti was treated at the local hospital and released.


The rescue mission involved a team of four firefighters, who were driven to the site at around 1:40 in the afternoon. Upon realizing the seriousness of the situation, they took a helicopter belonging to the state government. However, the flying vehicle was not rated for nocturnal operations, so the rescuers decided to attempt a climb using rappelling techniques. Aided by local residents, they took over an hour to reach the best-suited area for an ascent.


The operation lasted about an hour. During the descent, two firefighters became lost and only managed to find their way out with the help of some locals. During the climb, Sgt. Jose Ailton experienced several foot injuries.


The stonecutter’s relatives insist that the does not suffer from mental problems. Odair is separated from his wife and lives with his mother.


LINK: http://www.ufo.com.br/noticias/em-2008-homem-despertou-no-alto-de-pedra-com-300-metros-de-altura


Source: Gazeta Newspaper
Visit Scott's website: http://inexplicata.blogspot.ca/
(Translation (c) 2012, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez and Paulo R. Poian)


From UFO Digest 
_________________

Giant humanoids in Portugal, 1980


Location. Montargil, Ponte do Sor, Portugal
Date: February 6 1980 Time: 11:00 a.m.
A 55-year old farmer, Mr. Pavao, had left his farm taking his sheep to the fields. At about 1100A he heard a noise, at the same time his dog panicked and he felt something happening behind him. He turned and was surprised to see two 8-feet tall humanoids standing close to him and staring at him. The humanoids were described as very strong looking, and dressed in gray suits. Their faces resembled humans except that the eyes and skin were different. Their hands were hairy and very big. The beings approached the witness and with friendly gestures touched his left shoulder and several other parts of his body. At the same time they spoke in a strange language with a modulation like a human’s voice. One of the beings then pointed to the sheep, and Mr. Pavao told him the type of animal it was, meanwhile the two beings kept talking and laughing. The witness then gave an order to his dog to fetch one of the sheep. When he looked back at the beings he saw an intense flash of light, which blinded him for a few seconds. After that the beings had disappeared.


HC addition # 2378
Thank you Albert Rosales, Humanoid Contacts 

STAN JOHNSON ENCOUNTERS A SASQUATCH

Near Oakland, Oregon


I was deer hunting in the mountains when I had my first experience with them. It was about 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon on October 27, 1983. The day was dark and it was pouring down rain. I was sitting on a stand behind some brush watching out across an opening where the deer usually came across, when I had a funny feeling that something was looking at me. Whatever it was I knew it wasn't a deer because I know how deer feel. I'm a good tracker and I figure that I'm a pretty good hunter after all these years.


Finally, I turned and looked at the direction I felt it coming from and I spied a big stump. It looked like there was something on top of the stump.


I got my binoculars and looked at the stump again. There was something on top of the stump. It was leaning over the top of the stump looking right at me. It had its arms crossed over the stump with its chin resting on them. In this position all I could see was the arms, head and shoulders.


I sat there and watched it for a few minutes while it watched me. Finally it turned around and started to walk towards some big cedar trees. Suddenly, the creature walked back, leaned over the stump and picked up something besides it. This stump was a bucked-off log, a windfall. The loggers had cut the stump about seven feet high.


Since the creature was just walking back and forth, not paying any attention to me, I decided to get closer. He was about eighty-five yards from me when I got up. I pulled my gun out from under the poncho I was wearing so he could see it. When the creature saw my rifle he threw both arms straight up over his head, palms inward. I remembered then what I had read in the paper years ago about a guy that was walking down a road with a walking stick when he saw one of the Big Foot creatures. He became scared and threw his hands and stick up over his head. The creature immediately reached down and picked up a stick. The man thought the creature wanted to fight so he threw his stick away - the creature immediately threw his stick away too. Remembering this I raised my gun in the air where Big Foot could see it and then laid it down on the stump I had been sitting by and showed him I had nothing in my hands.


I then walked down, over a bank about twelve feet high onto a road-bed. I walked down the road-bed to within about thirty-five feet of the creature and squatted down. I didn't go any closer because I figured if he wanted to come closer he would.


While I sat there he made more trips to that stump. I couldn't see, due to some brush screening the area, what he was picking up, and walking over and putting under the bark of the big cedar tree.


I kept thinking of this creature as a man because I think he is as much a man as any of us. He looks very intelligent and has no hair on his face, except around his lower jaw line, the corner of his chin and long sideburns that went down to the whiskers on his chin. His nose, upper and lower lips were all human looking with no hair on them.


He had nice-looking features. They resembled human teeth and were not fangs. The creature was about nine-feet tall and weighed approximately four-hundred and fifty to five hundred pounds. It had normal length arms and legs in proportion to its body. The hands were above the knee. The body was covered in long dark brown hair. Since it was approaching winter, I imagined he was beginning to grow a winter coat or maybe the creatures don't shed at all. His hands and fingernails were as normal looking as mine.


He turned around and walked in long springy steps. He didn't really run but he walked kind of fast down over the hill into a canyon and out of sight.


The next day my daughter and I went up there and we found what he had been putting in behind the bark of the tree. He was pulling moss up around the bed of that stump and walking over there and putting it in under the bark of that tree. He took his fingernails or fingers and just hacked across on the bark leaving a mark. He didn't appear to have long fingernails.


We walked over to the stump that I had thought to be about seven and a half feet high as I am six feet tall, but I had to reach up and could barely lay my fingers on the top of the stump. If the stump was eight feet tall and he was standing on the ground right where I was standing, he must have been at least nine feet tall - at least.


On the cedar tree where he made the mark, I reached with my 243 long barrel deer rifle as high as I could and could just touch the top marks so I would say they were at least ten feet up on the tree. The marks were crosswise on the tree so he didn't just reach up and claw down. He was clawing sideways.


My daughter and I went home and I didn't say anything about it to anyone because I thought people would think I was crazy. I wasn't so sure whether I was or not, but I knew that I had seen something.
________


Stan Johnson has since died but since he wrote up his story in a little booklet we have more of his story to share. The name of the book is: The True Story of Big Foot (Stan Johnson's Close Encounters)


I too went to where Stan Johnson met the creature. While we were there we heard a scream like I have never heard before. I think Stan's friend was not too happy with us being there and wanted us to leave his territory. Stan showed us where the Sasquatch had beaten on logs to communicate with other ones. It was very interesting.


P. Urial

THE MAN WHO WOKE UP ON A ROCK

The Man Who Woke Up on a Rock – A Thousand Feet in the Air

By Scott Corrales

[Our friend and colleague Paulo R. Poian has called our attention to this bit of undeniable high-strangeness from 2008 in Brazil’s Espiritu Santo province. No UFOs were present. Could a hapless stoneworker been teleported to a rocky summit by those reckless entities we know as the djinn? Perhaps we’ll never know – SC]




BRAZIL: The protagonist of this story was rescued by firefighters. No UFOs were reported in the region and the episode was described as a “strange form of somnambulism”.


The event took place in the Brazilian state of Espiritu Santo: “A mystery is perplexing the residents of Bananalzinho in the municipality of Rio Bananal. Odair José Berti, 35, a stonecutter, does not know how he wound up on top of a rock some 980 feet in the air – remaining on this precarious perch for some 17 hours. He was rescued by firefighters during a hazardous operation that took 12 hours and ended early yesterday morning. Even experienced firefighters like sergeants José Ailton and Caldeira could not find a logical explanation for the bizarre episode.


According to the rescuers, reaching the top of the rock poses considerable difficulty, even using proper gear. It would be virtually impossible for local residents to make a successful ascent without the proper mountaineering equipment.


“Only God knows how he got there,” remarked Claudecir Berti, the stonecutter’s nephew. Odair himself was terrified by the situation. He lives in the town of Colatina and had decided to take a walk over to his brother’s house in Bananalzinho, where he arrived late on Wednesday.


“I was very tired,” he told his relatives, and fell asleep early.


Upon awakening the next day – according to his story – he was greatly shocked to find himself on top of a rocky summit. In desperation, he started to scream, waving his shirt, until a local resident took notice. When he was rescued, the stonecutter was found wearing shorts, a shirt and carpet slippers, and didn’t have a scratch on his body, as the rescuers would testify. He was in weakened condition, however, due to thirst and hunger. Mr. Berti was treated at the local hospital and released.


The rescue mission involved a team of four firefighters, who were driven to the site at around 1:40 in the afternoon. Upon realizing the seriousness of the situation, they took a helicopter belonging to the state government. However, the flying vehicle was not rated for nocturnal operations, so the rescuers decided to attempt a climb using rappelling techniques. Aided by local residents, they took over an hour to reach the best-suited area for an ascent.


The operation lasted about an hour. During the descent, two firefighters became lost and only managed to find their way out with the help of some locals. During the climb, Sgt. Jose Ailton experienced several foot injuries.


The stonecutter’s relatives insist that the does not suffer from mental problems. Odair is separated from his wife and lives with his mother.


LINK: http://www.ufo.com.br/noticias/em-2008-homem-despertou-no-alto-de-pedra-com-300-metros-de-altura


Source: Gazeta Newspaper
Visit Scott's website: http://inexplicata.blogspot.ca/
(Translation (c) 2012, S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez and Paulo R. Poian)


From UFO Digest 
_________________

Giant humanoids in Portugal, 1980


Location. Montargil, Ponte do Sor, Portugal
Date: February 6 1980 Time: 11:00 a.m.
A 55-year old farmer, Mr. Pavao, had left his farm taking his sheep to the fields. At about 1100A he heard a noise, at the same time his dog panicked and he felt something happening behind him. He turned and was surprised to see two 8-feet tall humanoids standing close to him and staring at him. The humanoids were described as very strong looking, and dressed in gray suits. Their faces resembled humans except that the eyes and skin were different. Their hands were hairy and very big. The beings approached the witness and with friendly gestures touched his left shoulder and several other parts of his body. At the same time they spoke in a strange language with a modulation like a human’s voice. One of the beings then pointed to the sheep, and Mr. Pavao told him the type of animal it was, meanwhile the two beings kept talking and laughing. The witness then gave an order to his dog to fetch one of the sheep. When he looked back at the beings he saw an intense flash of light, which blinded him for a few seconds. After that the beings had disappeared.


HC addition # 2378
Source: Victor Laurenco, Portucat

ANOTHER KIND OF HARVEST

 

 

ANOTHER KIND OF HARVEST: THE REMARKABLE VEGETABLES OF JOSE' CARMEN GARCIA

Jose Carmen Garcia Martinez is a 49-year-old farmer, one of hundreds who eke out a meager livelihood by tilling the granite-like soil of the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, some 260 miles northwest of Mexico City.

Like his neighbors, Garcia hitches a pair of mules to his plow each autumn and prepares seedbed furrows on his three-acre plot. Then he plants seeds he has purchased at the community store.

This store (it should be noted) also supplies seeds to Garcia's neighbors - identical seeds. All have been shipped from Texas in burlap bags. No seeds planted by Garcia differ from seeds sown by the other farmers of Guanajuato.

The products which grow from Jose's seeds are quite another matter. Each spring after the harvest, Garcia again hooks up his mules and heads for the local marketplace, where he instantly becomes the focal point of excitement that has begun to spread through Mexico and promises to reach around the world.

A crowd draws around as Garcia starts to unload his wagon. Onions weighing eight pounds each, and more, draw gasps of admiration from the onlookers. There are huge cabbages 60 pounds each with some even larger, and collard greens five feet long bearing leaves more than two feet wide. These king-sized super vegetables quickly find their way into the wagons of shoppers, who rush to buy out Jose's vegetables as fast as he can unload them.

Thirty-two years have passed since Garcia first astounded the people of Guanajuato by marketing his gargantuan produce. Despite their bulk, his vegetables are as tender and tasty as any of conventional size. Many of Jose's customers assert they not only go farther, but taste better than any others.

Other farmers ask how it can be that Jose Carmen Garcia buys seeds where they buy theirs, plants them and harvest his crops exactly as they do in soil no different than theirs, yet grows vegetables of magnificent proportions, the likes of which are found nowhere else on earth.

I asked those questions of Garcia myself when I met him for the first time in April 1976. I also saw his giant vegetables and tasted them - and was greatly taken by their flavor and tenderness. What Garcia told me, he has told other people. The story has subsequently been published in Mexican newspapers and magazines.

Garcia told me that in 1947, when he was seventeen years old, he was plowing one fall afternoon when he met a stranger, although everyone, quite literally, knew everyone else in Garcia's farm community. However, the trespasser was invited by Jose to eat and drink.

Warmed by homemade sweetbreads and coffee, the stranger soon unfolded a story which stirred Garcia's youthful imagination and was to have a major impact on his life.

Jose sat spellbound as his mysterious guest told how he had been captured by a band of strange beings and held for a number of days in a long, spacious tunnel beneath one of the many inactive volcanoes surrounding the area.

His captors were described as humanoids - tall and fair-skinned, and who spoke in weird, unintelligible sounds. Most seemed occupied at harvesting giant vegetables. As they worked, they appeared to be studying an odd formula consisting of heiroglyphic symbols.

Young Garcia's guest said he had memorized this mysterious formula and would share it with Jose out of gratitude for such fine hospitality. Working quickly, he sketched the symbols on paper.

"Concentrate on these writings," he told the youth, "and in time you will understand their meaning. It is a magic formula, and by using it, you will feed the world."

Evening came, and as mysteriously as he had appeared out of nowhere, the stranger disappeared in the gathering darkness.

Jose followed the instructions he had been given. Day and night he thought of nothing but the symbols. After three sleepless nights, he knew it was time to plant his seeds. Three months later, he harvested his first crop of outsized onions, cabbages and greens. The legend of Jose Carmen Garcia had begun and his fame has spread each year by word of mouth.

Now, communicating through a friend named Oscar Arredondo, Garcia says he wants the world to have his secret, even if his government won't help.

Arredondo, a photographer, has compiled an impressive record of Garcia's accomplishments in the form of pictures. He says there really isn't anything surprising about the story of the mysterious stranger and his message to Jose. The state of Guanajuato is host to numerous visitors from outer space, he adds, and people report UFO sightings almost every day.

And there are other interesting facts, Arrendondo asserts, including:

o Nicolas Infante, a farmer, heard the sound of rushing water when he reached the 40-foot level while digging a well. Infante says the well expels strong bursts of air, and absorbs air at night. He believes he inadvertently hit a tunnel linking two of seven inactive volcanos which may house inhabitants from other worlds.

o Maria Carmen de Guisma swears she was the captive of extra-terrestrial beings in a space ship for three months.

o Dr. Manuel Garcia Rivera, a local physician, says he cared for the woman caretaker of a hacienda near one of the craters. She told Rivera she left her bed at 3 a.m. and saw a bright object on the ground. Four beings, all glowing, disembarked and gathered samples of the earth. She described the four as being of medium height.

These and other incidents have been reported in a local newspaper and in a national magazine, but to date have not generated the interest they appear to warrant.

"Why isn't the world interested?" asks Arredondo. "If this happened anywhere other than Mexico, world scientists and agricultural experts would gather here."

To prove the validity of Garcia's revelation, a challenge was issued. On a warm March day in 1978, two crops were harvested on a farm far from Guanajuato's volcanoes in Tampico. The site had been selected by government agricultural specialists, who inspected all seeds with great care and supervised the planting three months prior to the harvest.

Two farmers had sown identical 20-acre plots. One was a local man, the other Jose Carmen Garcia, and every step of the growing process, from plowing until final harvest, was under the watchful scrutiny of government agents.

The seeds planted by both men were identical. No fertilizer was used. On the final day - the day of harvest - government scales were trucked to the farm. It was sundown before results could be tallied, but the outcome was never in doubt.

Crops grown by the farmer enlisted by the Federal Department of Agriculture averaged 30 tons per acre. Jose's output totaled 105 tons and 690 kilos per acre.

Garcia's onions, including stalks, stood six feet tall. His cabbages spread their leaves over a seven foot circumference. His collard greens boasted five-foot stalks, exactly like the greens he had grown in Guanajuato for more than 30 years.

The officials climbed into their trucks and disappeared into the fading sunlight. Only Raul Moreno, a balding government employee who had believed in Jose from the beginning, remained.

"We would normally keep these huge vegetables for research," he said to Garcia, "or sell them for the government. But since we took you from your farm, you may sell them yourself and keep the money."

The next day, the poor families of Tamaulipas added very large vegetables to their meager diets - given to them free of charge by Jose Carmen Garcia, the uneducated farmer from Guanajuato.

A disappointed but not embittered man, Garcia still wonders why, having passed the test, the government has refused to acknowledge what he has done.

The officials of the agriculture department had promised a visit by President Jose Lopez Portillo and official recognition, perhaps a news conference where the President would bestow a medal on Jose, or possibly fly him to Mexico City to proclaim his formula to the world.

If the President himself couldn't make it, the officials said, at least there would be a visit by the Minister of Agriculture.

However, there has been no visit by the President or his Minister of Agriculture, no news conference, nothing.

Asked why he thought no official took him seriously, Jose scratched his head for a moment. Finally he replied: "They took it personally."

Garcia has no wish to keep the secret of this annual phenomenon to himself. He believes vegetables like his could end hunger everywhere in the world if grown in other countries. For three decades, he has attempted to enlist the interest and support of Mexican governmental agencies, but has encountered only disinterest or disbelief. Official have not been able to deny the existence of Jose's outsized cabbages, onions and greens, but they consider his story of how they are grown as far-fetched and - in a manner of speaking - out of this world.
By Bill Robinson for San Diego Home and Garden - date unknown

BREAKTHROUGH AT SKINWALKER RANCH?

Posted by Fatemag On October - 13 - 2011

An investigation into the unexplained incident mutilated cows and vandalized property.

by Robert A. Goerman

October 2011

 In UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities, author John B. Alexander Ph.D., a former Green Beret commander and developer of weapons at Los Alamos, New Mexico, elaborates upon a mystifying event that we first read about in Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah by Colm A. Kelleher Ph.D. and George Knapp.

For readers unfamiliar with the narrative of the so-called “Skinwalker Ranch,” Terry Sherman purchased this 480-acre property near Fort Duchesne, Utah in the summer of 1994 with the intention of starting a cattle ranch business. Terry, his wife Gwen, and their son and daughter, fled the property in May of 1996. A succession of terrifying occurrences on their ranch had left the family anguished and afraid. If I were forced to limit my personal library to a single book about transient anomalies, Hunt for the Skinwalker would be my hands-down choice. Enter the National Institute of Discovery Science (NIDS). Founded in 1995 by real-estate developer and aerospace entrepreneur Robert T. Bigelow, NIDS was established to research and advance scientific study of anomalies. 

Bigelow bought the Sherman ranch in 1996 and Colm Kelleher set up shop. George Knapp was the only journalist allowed to personally witness and document the NIDS effort. The NIDS team eventually installed three telephone poles in one of the pastures. Each was topped with a sophisticated package of sensors and a combined total of six standard surveillance cameras. These researchers kept hard copies of the 24/7 time-stamped recordings and monitored them for extraordinary activity. On July 20, 1998, it was observed that the trio of cameras on telephone pole #1 had stopped recording. A cursory inspection revealed that somebody had badly sabotaged this reconnaissance equipment. Wiring was ripped out forcibly. One section of cable was missing and analysis of the remaining cable showed that it had been slashed with a knife. Each set of wires (the video and power feeds) from the three cameras had been separately wrapped in heavy-duty duct tape and then carefully secured to the utility pole with several windings of that same durable binding before entering sturdy PVC tubing (anchored to the pole with U-clamps) and going underground at the base of the pole.

Now the PVC pipe rested twisted and mangled at the foot of the pole and every inch of duct tape was gone. Adhesive residues from the duct tape were unmistakably visible on the dangling wires and pole. Videotapes from the camera array on telephone pole #1 did not reveal perpetrators but disclosed that these three cameras almost simultaneously lost power at 8:30 P.M. on the previous night. Someone on the NIDS research team suddenly realized that one of the cameras on telephone pole #2, about two hundred feet away, was aimed directly at the “scene of the crime.” That recording would undoubtedly expose the identity of the vandals. A mad dash resulted and, sure enough, the available daylight was sufficient for the event to be clearly and duly recorded for all to see. But all that was visible on this tape as it passed that fateful 8:30 P.M. time-stamp was the pristine stillness of the telephone pole and cattle munching peacefully in the pasture beyond. With multiple rounds of digital enhancement of the video, the resolution became good enough to see the tiny red lights on the bottom of each camera lose power at exactly 8:30 P.M. This was absolute proof that the trio of cameras on telephone pole #1 definitely lost power while under continuous video surveillance. This event made entirely no sense. The perpetrators who ripped the wiring out of the cameras at exactly 8:30 P.M. should have been obvious on this videotape.

From the perspective of an investigative scholar of the unknown and unexplained, there several important questions remain to be resolved. First of all, we need to know if the resolution of the surveillance video allowed the NIDS investigators to clearly determine the distinction between the PVC pipe and duct tape wound around telephone pole #1 in perfect condition versus the vandalized state. If a clear and marked transformation could be plainly seen, when was the destruction first confirmed on the surveillance videotape? Was it by the time-stamped dawn’s early light of the following morning? Or was it before darkness set in on that Sunday evening of July 19, 1998? Were these perpetrators invisible? Was the video surveillance of the destruction of this equipment like “watching” time-lapsed invisible vandals at work? Going frame by frame in viewing the time-stamped surveillance video, can it be determined how many frames (or how long it took) for this sabotage to take place?

If the surveillance video recorded the destruction of this equipment as “instantaneous,” that suggests a case for Tempus Interruptus or that the local space-time continuum was interrupted. Think in terms of that popular device in science fiction where the character is able to “suspend” time and move freely about that “frozen” moment making changes. This also may explain how lights, objects, and creatures/entities might be able to “blink” in and out of our reality at will. For illustration purposes, imagine that our own space-time existence is like a four-dimensional “movie” that can be “paused” allowing “actors, etc.” to mysteriously enter or walk off the “set.” Maybe our question should not be “Where do UFOs and monsters go when they disappear in plain sight?” Maybe we should be asking “When do they go?”

By his own admission in UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities, John Alexander was one of the first scientists to pull a watch at the Skinwalker Ranch. In Chapter 14: Considerations, Speculation, and Puzzles Addressed, he confirms and addresses this baffling act of vandalism.

“As all cameras were recorded with date and time stamps, the exact time of the damage was known. The extent of the damage was significant,” he writes, before particularizing that the “wires leading to camera one were affixed to the pole by a large amount of duct tape (probably about half a roll). That duct tape was totally missing. Anyone who has worked with such tape can attest to how hard it is to remove that material.

Further, near the ground, the wires had been protected from animals by being encased in PVC tubing and held to the pole via U-clamps. The PVC had been pulled loose from the pole and the U-clamps were again missing.” John Alexander adds significant details that were not previously reported. He describes the cameras as “strategically placed on the ranch taking time-lapse photography 24/7. Each camera snapped a frame every second and a third, day and night.” Referring to the segment of the wire that had been cut and was missing, Alexander states that “tests on the remaining segments of wire suggested that a rusty instrument had made the cuts.” What sort of demented individual carries a corroded knife? Why might this be important? “Coincidentally,” Alexander informs us, “the cattle just happened to have been grazing right around the camera one pole at that same moment. They did not move in any excessive or excited manner.”

This lack of nervousness by the cattle might be noteworthy. Terry and Gwen Sherman once watched as something unseen to them under the noon sun terrorized a single cow before it plowed through the herd and parted those cattle like the Red Sea. There were also reports of invisible creatures that could roar ferociously and splash wildly in a stream. On the opposite end of the weirdness spectrum, there were also several encounters with various visible but unusual animals that proved impervious to gunfire and that could disappear without a trace in mid-stride.

John B. Alexander concludes: “Considering the amount of physical damage that occurred, for the entire event to have happened in a little over a second (or between video frames) is simply out of the question.” Why would this learned gentleman (who was probably privy to the viewing and analysis of the original time-stamped time-lapse video photographs) even suggest such a thing? This violent act of vandalism to the surveillance cameras brings to mind the inexplicable set of circumstances that involved the horrific mutilation of a newborn calf on this same Utah acreage.

The gruesome crime happened one sunny morning just a stone’s throw and heartbeat away from Terry Sherman as he tagged new arrivals to the herd. We agree with John Alexander’s assessment that “the notion that some team of people raced across an open field and was able to conduct this extensive amount of surgery in a short time is highly improbable.” Both events involved some level of intricacy and difficulty. Both events were completed undetected in plain sight. Both events seemed to be accomplished in an impossibly short time or in that temporal space between tick and tock. Did NIDS capture video evidence of Tempus Interruptus?

   

SOURCE MATERIALS

UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities by John B. Alexander Ph.D.; hardcover; 336 pages; Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition (February 15, 2011) ISBN: 0312648340

Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah by Colm A. Kelleher Ph.D. and George Knapp; paperback; 320 pages; Paraview Pocket Books (December 6, 2005) ISBN: 1416505210

__________

From Fate Magazine

VISITORS IN THE TREES

The event I'm going to relate happened at our house, in a sparsely populated part of the countryside.The house has two stories and is built on a steep hill, so that when you look out the windows on the second floor, you can see into the tops of the trees that grow next to the house.


At about nine p.m., what I thought was a large car with bright headlights rolled down our gravel driveway.  I was washing the dinner dishes while looking out the kitchen window, which overlooks the circular driveway, but I didn't see any car there, so I thought nothing of it and went on up to bed.


We slept until about seven a.m., and when I was back at the kitchen sink after breakfast, I looked out the window to see a woman in a red windbreaker jacket enter the stables.  She was wearing white pants, and was holding a long stick in her hand.  I told my daughter to go see who it was, but when she returned, she said no one was there.  I then saw a man jump off the pump house nearby, which is eight feet tall, and run off towards the trees.  He was small, with brown hair, and seemed to bounce in a way that had no relation to gravity.


Next, I left to do some marketing, and when I returned my husband walked up to me and said, "There are people in the trees!  We've been trying to talk to them, but they won't answer."  My husband and I walked up to the front porch, where we saw the children calling up at the treetops, 'Come down, we won't hurt you.'  I looked and saw that whoever was up there had constructed some sort of platform.


We went upstairs to look out of the bedroom window at the beings we had been trying to talk to from below.  The second story windows are just at the right height so that we could view them in a level plane.  The trees they were in are right outside this window, about sixteen or twenty feet away, so we could see the beings clearly.


I said to my daughter, 'Do you see what  I see?

  She said, 'Yes Mom, there's two of them.  What's that thing coming out of that one's head?'  I noticed that there was some kind of beautiful beaded antenna sticking out of the left side of the head of one of the beings.  One of them looked slightly Oriental, and the other seemed more American, but smaller and with a brown mustache.  One of them had on a remarkable piece of jewelry -- it was a band striped in different metals of all colors: silver, gold, platinum, green, red, purple and black.  We could only see them from the chest up, since the branches and leaves covered the rest of their bodies.  I got the feeling they were monitoring everything; our yard, the air, perhaps radio waves.


Since they continued to ignore us, we went downstairs and outside again.  I felt brave and wanted to find out more about what was going on, so I went and got our Rottweiler dog.  Holding him by the collar, I explored underneath the trees.  This caused a commotion, and I saw ten or twelve pairs of legs, all wearing white pants, scamper away from me up the hill.  I let go of the dog, and as I approached the house, I saw a woman who was the same type of being you describe in your books.  She was dressed in a kelly green jumpsuit and was too long and thin to be a human being.  She was climbing among the branches of one of the trees next to the house.  I said, 'You have no right to do that without my permission; you should have asked.'  I instantly realized how silly this accusation sounded, and I quickly opened the front door and went back into the house


Back upstairs, at the bathroom window this time, I was able to get a closer look at her.  She was unlike anything I've ever seen.  Her arms were long and unbelievably thin, and she had some sort of faun colored soft leather flight cap on, of the type that pilots used to wear in the old-fashioned open cockpits of early planes.  She was also wearing goggles from the same era, although the lenses were shaped to fit her large, slanted eyes.  I can't recall that she had a mouth, or much of a nose.  She had soft-looking gloves on, and her jumpsuit was closed down the front with some sort of metal fasteners.  She looked like she was engaged in filming, and aimed a black video-type gadget directly at me.  I immediately jumped into the shower and jerked the curtain shut as fast as I could, whereupon my husband walked in.


I said, 'Did you see her?' and he said no, so determined to learn more, I left the bathroom and went out of the house, across the front yard and into the rundown paddock area of the property.  There I saw the most incredible being that I have ever seen.  It was almost indescribable -- a silver, crystal, moving mass of energy and light with the exact same striped band of jewelry that I described before on it, perhaps where a neck would be  I stood three feet away from it, awestruck.


The children and I are a little bit vague about what happened the rest of the day.  We remember that at about four p.m. two of our friends arrived, and I told them to come and see the people in the trees.  I insisted that they come upstairs with me and look out the windows, but we saw nothing.


The next morning, as we headed for the beach, we noticed that the birds were back in the trees again.  There had been one there the previous day.  My daughters and their girlfriend and my husband and I all talked about our adventure while at the beach.  Jini had seen the man with the mustache, as well as some of the other beings.  My daughters Dana and Ruth verified their height; Jini showed me with her hand how tall they were (about five feet).  My husband took the stance of denial, postulating that we'd all somehow had similar hallucinations.  Since then, he's acknowledged their presence, but is reluctant to discuss it.


I got very ill after that visit.  The following week I lost thirteen pounds.  I needed two liters of intravenous fluids the following Friday.  On Saturday I was better, after a week of sore throats, fevers, restless nights and nauseous days.  My littlest one has ground her teeth down, and pulls the covers entirely over her head every night, but we're more calm about it now than we used to be.
___________
Used with permission by Whitley Strieber out of his book "The Communion Letters"