URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

1965: ALIENS TRY TO ABDUCT PEOPLE IN ARGENTINA

Two of the strangest abduction attempts on record occurred during February 1965 in the small town of Torrent in northern Argentina.

"One night in the first week of February (1965), a man living at Torrent, near Santo Tome (in Corrientes province, about 560 kilometers (350 miles) north- northeast of Buenos Aires--J.T.) called his neighbors to come outside and observe five luminous objects flying overhead. Then a transparent craft landed, and from it emerged five 'Martians.'"

The aliens were described as "nearly 2 metres high (six feet, four inches), each having only one eye in the centre of the forehead. On their heads were instruments giving off flashes of different colors."

According to witness Rodrigo de Riana, "They entered a farmhouse and tried to seize a man, but withdrew in the face of the firm attitude of the villagers," reboarded their craft "and flew away."

"On February 6 (1965) however, they returned and were seen by many people. Once again they tried to catch a man and failed. He escaped and gave the alarm. The villagers turned out in strength and fired their shotguns at the 'Martians,' seemingly with no effect."

The second foray proving equally unsuccessful, the aliens reboarded their craft and departed once more. They have not been seen since. (See the book THE HUMANOIDS, editor Charles Bowen, Henry Regnery Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1969, "The Humanoids in Latin America" by Gordon Creighton, page 109.)

Roberto Banchs

THE INVESTIGATIONS

It has been years that the Souriau family does not live any more in Torrent. We thus had to locate the elder of the brothers, one of the main protagonists, in Santo Tomé. There, Luis Héctor Lucho Souriau resides, working in a butchery he owns close to the terminal of the slow train. With surprise, and something dubitative as of the reason for our presence, he agreed to an investigation for the first about the episode of Torrent. Being wary, he starts the dialogue by saying lukewarmly "that night I wasn't there", but as our conversation went on he appeared to acquire a certain confidence and he finally admitted that he witnessed this event: "the truth, truth: the lie, lie", he told us.

Carlos Souriau gives his testimony to Roberto Banchs.

"That was a great panic. I am not sure of what was actually seen, but something was seen. It was in the evening, I would say... in the middle of the night, because at these hours everyone went home. We were young, I was 24 and my younger brother, Mario Alejandro, some 6 or 7 years old... He was very panicked. 4 or 5 farm hands were also there, I do not remember their names, they were there occasionally: credulous people, superstitious, sugestionable. Indeed I remember that one of them was, especially, very impressed, he talked to people. The same thing occurred with my other brother, Carlos (aged 17), because he was following him, whereas I was not there."

"I was hunting, when I suddenly saw a large creature, of one meter or little more, with a large head and a light on the head. It was within 100 meters, some 30, 50, or 100 meters, although I cannot determine that, because in the field and at night, that could have been any distance. It was a farm hand who alerted the others (who were in the house), and all saw these beings, they were several dwarves, I could not specify how many they were. The farm hands that were inside the house came out again, they see them again and entered the house and that was it."

"No flying saucer was seen. No traces were found either, nothing burned. This is certainly only the inventions of the farm hand, (Author note: according to one of the versions, a farm hand wanted to attack the beings with the machete, and found himself with a paralyzed arm); that was said on one occasion, but it is nothing true. This version is too whimsical... It is a story on which some embroidered."

"The observation lasted 2, 3 or perhaps 5 minutes. The time we saw these bulky characters moving in the darkness. That was much less spectacular than what was published. My brother Mario Alejandro was too young to remember what had happened, and my brothers Juan Pablo and Carlos, like my father, Pablo, were not there. They were in another field of their property. As for the farm hands, they were people from around the country or the vicinity, they left and others died. But I repeat: this is what happened. Now, perhaps my brother Carlos recalls it a little better, since it appears that he followed the matter, but he lives in Posadas (Province of Misiones)."

And we went to Posadas, to continue the investigation. There, we located Carlos Souriau, owner of a fruits and vegetables warehouse. A pleasant man, calm, who likes to distract himself from his working hours with his friends and his guitar.

Welcoming the interview, he states: "I was not there, but my older brother told me about it 4 or 5 days later, or perhaps more; I was in another field at 15 km, returning towards Torrent. I remember that one said that I had seen lights of several colors, something of this kind, which came down, but I did not. As at that time it was the flying saucers madness, they then imagined that... That they saw lights, that they saw them; now, that there was a craft, maybe all sorts of things! The episode was in the memories during a few years, and then remained without continuation, because they [UFOs] appeared everywhere, and in numbers. It was usual to see these things. "

"If a clear and simple report must be given, it is that one saw lights, after what these beings were reported, which were initially believed to be small and who then proved to be tall, because if somebody is in the field and sees lights, he cannot know if they are at 100, 200 or 500 meters. They had only one light, as if it were in the center, in the medium of their face [or "forehead"]. But if you look at a light in the evening, you do not know if it is high, low, or if it comes nearer or if it changes. They could have had lights in the medium of the belt, or have lights at the top, and they could change; this is how the height of these people was guessed, by these lights, but in the field one can be mistaken..."

"In all that area, there are trees, there are trees everywhere by there. And well, they must have walked around there, and they might have entered this shack, a hut of a ranch that was abandoned (Authors note: this hut is at some 150-200 meters of the farm house); perhaps this is the impression they had, at least it is what the farm hands and my brother told, at these times they were walking in pursuit of them, crossing the field. It is possible, because in the distance, close to this shack, an empty shack, that's where these lights came out, from this direction. What happens is that in the field, you look at it and believe to see a night light at 100 meters, but it is perhaps at 300 meters. Precision, when the weather is very dark, like that night, cannot be reached. There could have been a wrong interpretation that they entered the house where these people were (Authors' note: he refers to the witnesses now), but what I remember is that all that occurred in the distance. It did not occur in the house where the people were, but these lights were seen from far away."

"And well, they said that the light was strong, that's how they saw it. Because, who knows, there are many people in the field, and there in the backgrounds... did the light enter by the walls? (Author' note: he refers to a journalistic version), sometimes you don't see the light entirely. Like the light of the Moon seen by night. Or a car that comes by and, and seems to be inside the house, but actually it is the light that enters the house."

About to the alleged attempt of the witnesses to push back the invasion by weapons, Carlos Souriau expresses: "That, I do not recall really much of it, but if I said that sometime, it is because I repeated what was told to me on this occasion. As for the rifle, with the panic, it would have been related to the fear! Or he believed that he had loaded the weapon and did not load it, and he pressed the trigger of the rifle or the shotgun and it was simply useless because it was not loaded, because of the panic", Carlos speculates. "Often one believes to have done something and it was not done", he says. Referring to the attempt of a farm hand to "attack them with the machete", he refers again to his brother Luis Héctor: "It is something that one of the farm hand said. They are people able to face something they know, a wild animal or something of this kind, but if they do not know what they are confronted to, they would run away. So if nowadays they see a delta wing, it is possible that they confuse it with a big devil, and as they do not know what it is, they are panicked and won't confront it."

"The farm hands were adult people. It was a group. In the field, they gathered in the evening, neighbors sometimes came... In this occasion my senior brother Luis was there, and my younger brother, Mario Alejandro. The latter, it was told that he was in a great panic, although he does not remember anymore. One of these farm hands was also very afraid, he left towards another field, perhaps that of the neighbor, by there."

"The observation lasted a moment, one or two minutes. But not more than that. That was a fast thing, according to what they told me. This is why I say: I was not there, but it was a collective opinion, of good source, because it comes from my brother and all these people who saw it, I hold it for true, for certain. It is very different from the case where a single person saw a flying saucer, a UFO, that would have landed, and whose psychological state, beliefs, are not known... in my opinion."

"The thing was very simple, as they told it to me. The history of R. Flores is too flowered (Author's note: Flora, Flores [pun between "Flores", flowers, and "florida", adjective meaning "embellished with flowers", "exaggerated."]). Somebody perhaps spoke with me and passed the data, gave him my name; I do not remember to have spoken to him. Nor how he approached the case... He would have visit people and talked to a correspondent of the newspaper - someone questioned Carlos - but I never saw the publication, I was only informed about it by rumors. Because I did not use to read the newspapers. It arrived here very little by here; the newspaper arrived with one day of delay. And the people of the village are very different from those of the city". Speaking quietly and now holding a series of newspapers clippings that we show him, he adds: "the case is very distorted, in these documents, there are words which are the fruit of the authors. Nobody saw flying saucers, or something that would have flown; weak lights of the flashlights kind is all that they saw; a confrontation with these people did not take place, with these supposed people or beings. There was no confrontation, at all (Authors note: the version by Rialto Flora, correspondent of the CODOVNI in the area of Corrientes, allots such statements to Carlos Souriau). I did not hear either that a farm hand suffered burns, because the light was seen from far away. Everything happened in the distance."

FINAL COMMENTS

The spectacular of the initial stories, and the contradictions, woke up the curiosity of the ufophiles during years, who believed to find there one more proof of the reality of the phenomenon. However, this investigation made it possible to reveal recently to the enemies of counter-investigations of old cases, to show them, that at least it is necessary to do it in order to prevent that so many stupidities are promulgated as realities. Only those who treat with lightness or with dishonest goals can consider that research and new investigation of such events are useless, and in particular, those of high strangeness. Only stupid or hallucinated people can claim that it is necessary to avoid raising the veil of the mystery, as if it were a profanation of a sacred thing, by postulating its nonsignificant character in the treatment of the problem and by relativising its validity because of the passage of time. This same time that strengthens the myths, in the absence of a rational and direct research on the spot where the events occur, or where the fables are born.

The episode of Torrent alerts us, therefore, on the not quite accurate handling of information and the manner how rumors are born. Simply starting from the perception of lights and masses in the distance, and the comments that were made in a rural medium, that a newspaper of the area used. Without checking or crediting the statements. To get the thrills of its readers, and to get it circulated around the world.

What did the Souriau brothers, and the farm hand see? Perhaps it could be speculated they were galactic beings, or furtive hunters... But the data recorded by the witnesses is so poor, that one can only speculate about what they describe: dubious masses and lights in the distance, the wooded thickness which surrounds a lagoon. In the house, panicked people to whom - at that time - the flying saucers appeared from everywhere.

As for the date on which the observation occurred, Souriau could not specify that. However, the only possible evidence, subjected to a reasonable doubt, we found it in El Territorio, of Posadas, Misiones, of January 31, 1965 (the first media that published the news), when it indicated that "it was one night dark, without moon". from that, the date "without the moon" (the new Moon) preceding immediately the publication, is between Friday 1 and Saturday, January 2, 1965. This lunar phase included the first day of the year, and half of the second day.

A short comment on Souriau. The not very pleasant surprise of Héctor when he was discovered as witness and his initial refusal to comment on his youth experience, showed in fact a certain resentment towards his brother Carlos because of his indiscretion at that time, as he talked about it in spite of the latter's attempt to avoid any publicity. With regard to Carlos, his communicative character does not prevent prudence and his demystifying attitude. Even if he says: "I regard it (the sighting) as true, as certain." He does not go beyond that.

REFERENCES

• (1) Ribera, Antonio. Platillos volantes en lberoamérica y España. Pomaire, Barcelona, 1968, pp. 142/143; citing El Territorio, Posadas, January 31, 1965.
• (2) Creighton, Gordon W. en: The Humanoids (Charles Bowen, ed.). Neville Spearman, London, 1969, ps. 109/110; citing Crónica Matutina, February 10, 1965.
• (3) Clarín, Buenos Aires, 14 febrero 1965.
• (4) CODOVNI (Comisión Observadora de Objetos Voladores No Identificados). Bue­nos Aires. "Informaciones auténticas sobre platos voladores en la República Argentina", 1965, ps. 1-2.
• (5) Crónica, Matutina, Buenos Aires, 10 febrero 1965.

BANCHS CASE REFERENCES
by Richard W. Heiden

33. (Late Jan., 1965, Torrent, near Santo, Tomé) (the references for each version of case are listed separately) (late Jan,: grabbed witness: skin disease: gun failed)

• Posadas El Territorio, Jan, 31, 1965, Translated in Le Courrier Interplanétaire (Ferney-Voltaire, Ain, France) n° 71, 2nd quarter of 1965, p. 2.
• C.O.D.O.V.N.I. (Buenos Aires UFO group) report for 1965. pp, 1-2. Quoted 10 Antonio Ribera, Platillos Volantes en Iberoamérica y España, Editorial Pomaire, Barcelona, Spain. 1968, pp, 141-142: and summarized in Flying Saucer Digest (Cleveland, Ohio) n° 6, summer 1968, p, 9, The latter is in turn reprinted in Allan J. Manak, ed.. The Best of Flying Saucer Digest, United Aerial Phenomena Agency, Cleveland, Ohio, 1969, pp. 13-14.
• Saucer News (Fort Lee, N.J.) 12:3 (n° 61), Sep. 1965, p. 24, citing unspecified press, Cited in Saga's Special UFO Report (Brooklyn, N,Y,), vol. III, 1972, pp. 22-23, and in Saga's 1975 UFO Annual (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 1:1, p. 28.
• Cuarta Dimensión (Buenos Aires) n° 65, (July 1979), p, 60. Reprinted in La Mejor Selección de Cuarta Dimensión n° 2, Oct, 1983, p, 67.

33. 34. Torrent (Souriou error for Souriau): hide inside: light comes in) (this is a new footnote, not in original book)

• C.O.D.O.V.N.I. report for 1965, p, 2, citing Rialto Flores of Corrientes. Quoted in Antonio Ribera, Platillos Volantes en Iberoamérica y España, pp. 142-143, and sumarized in Flying Saucer Digest (Cleveland, Ohio) no. 6. summer 1968, p, 9, and Allan J, Manak, ed., The Best of Flying Saucer Digest. p. 14.
• Oscar Uriondo, Los Aterrizajes de Ovni en la Argentina, p. 51, citing Ribera.
• Héctor P. Anganuzzi, Historia de los Platos Voladores en la Argentina. pp. 185-186.
• Saucer News (Fort Lee, N.J.) 12:3 (no. 61), Sep. 1965, p. 24, citing unspecified press. Cited in Saga's 1975 UFO Annual (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 1:1, p. 28.
• Cuarta Dimensión {Buenos Aires) n° 65, (July 1979), p. 60. Reprinted in La Mejor Selección de Cuarta Dimensión n° 2, Oct, 1983, p. 61.
• Henry Durrant, Les Dossiers des O.V.N.I., Editions Robert Laffont, Paris, 1973, pp. 132.
• Roberto Banchs, personal investigation, Sep. 1992..
• J. G. Dohmen, A Identifier et le Cas Adamski. Editions Travox, Biarritz, France, 2972. p. 78 (only a passing reference, for the light-through-the-wall effect).

35. Torrent (1st week of Feb: 5 one-eyed beings tried to kidnap man, but they fled the other witnesses) this footnote was originally no. 34: the old n° 35 (Clarín Feb 14. 1965) is now in the text)

• Rodrigo de Riana's report via the Saporiti news agency, in the Buenos Aires Crónica (morning edition). Feb, 10, 1965, p. 6. Cited in Charles Bowen, ed., The Humanoids, Neville Spearman, London; 1969; Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, Ill., 1969 (the chapter by Gordon W, Creighton), pp, 109-110 of both editions, Also cited in Antonio Las Heras, Informe Sobre los Visitantes Extraterrestres y sus naves voladoras, Rodolfo Alonso Editor, Buenos Aires, 1974, pp. 95-96. And cited in the bulletin of the CORBE group (Bahía Blanca) n° 1. Feb. 1973, p. 17.
• Strange Magazine (Rockville, Md.) n° 9, spring-sumer 1992, p. 35, citing Crónica, Feb. 10, 1965.
• Thomas E. Bullard, UFO abductions: The Measure of a Mystery, case 263 - passim, especially pp. C-234 to C-235. Cites Bowen.
• Jacques Vallee, Passport to Magonia, p. 305 (case 636). Cites Bowen.
• John A Keel. Strange Creatures From Time and Space, Fawcett Publications, Inc, (A Fawcett Gold Medal Book), Greenwich, Conn., 1970, p. 144 (the Spearman hardcover edition published in England has the same pagination as the Fawcett paperback); edition retitled as Strange Mutants, Global Communications, (New York), 1984, p, 45. Cites Bowen.
• Strange Magazine (Rockville, Md.) n° 10, fall-winter 1992, p, 52 (in article by Keel, citing de Riana via Bowen).
• Felipe Machado Carrion, Discos Voadores Imprevisiveis e Conturbadores, p. 139 (ref. La Cronica [sic] Matutina 10 Feb 65, probably via Bowen).
• Brad Steiger, Alien Meetings. Ace Books, New York. 1978. pp. 157-158 (errors; no reference).
• Phénomènes Spatiaux n° 4 (per J. Pereira).
• Phénomènes Spatiaux n° 11. March 1967 (per Dohmen (see ref, 34), J. Pereira, and the supplement to Vanquelef's book that she sent me 3 June 1986).
• G.A.B.R.I.E.L., Les Soucoupes Volantes: Le Grand Refus?, Michel Moutout [sic, Moutet] Editeur, Régusse, Var, France, 1978. p. 83 (lesmaigres détails pourraient être compatibles avec toutes les versions: mais la date donnée est 4 février 1965).
• Jader U. Pereira, Les "Extra-Terrestres", 2nd special issue of Phénomènes Spatiaux, Paris. 1914, case 141 (dates it 1 Feb.), citing CODOVNI 1965: El Territorio Jan. 31 [sic–inconsistent with the date Pereira gives the case!]; Carrion p. 139; Ribera PV en IyE, p. 141: Vallee, Passport to Magonia, p. 305; and Phénomènes Spatiaux n° 4 and 11.

Sightings of the years 1964 to 1966

Abduction attemps by aliens in Argentina (1965)

Two of the most known attempts at kidnapping which were recorded occurred in February 1965 in the small city of Torrent in Argentina of the North. One night of the first week of February 1965, a man who lives in Torrent, close to Santo Tomé in the Corrientes province (approximately 560 kilometers in the North-East of Buenos Aires) called his neighbors to come outside to see with him five brilliant objects which hovered high in the sky. One of the five objects landed little afterwards and unloaded five beings. The extraterrestrials were described as of almost 2 meters in height. They had however only one eye which was in the middle of the forehead. On their heads, devices launched flashes of various colors. The witness Rodrigo de Riana reported how the extraterrestrial beings penetrated in a farm and tried to seize a man. The inhabitants of the village however had all withdrawn and had barricaded with panels. When the attempt at kidnapping failed, the extraterrestrials went up again in their object and flew away. On February 6, 1965 however they came back and were seen by many people. They still tried to seize a man and again failed. He managed to escape and gave alarm. Then many inhabitants of village left their houses and shot with their rifles at the extraterrestrial beings. That however did not have an obvious effect. After the second attempt also failed, the extraterrestrials departed and were not seen any more since then.

CORRIENTES, TORRENT (1965)

At the beginning of the year 1965, the press of Buenos Aires published several news on the attempts at abductions carried out by "Martians" on residents of the area of the North-East of the country. The following is the only one of these cases for which we have details. One night of the first week of February, a man who lived in Torrent, a locality close to Santo Tomé, called his neighbors, telling them to come outside to observe five luminous objects which flew above the house. Immediately afterwards, a transparent craft landed, from which five "Martians" emerged, who had only one eye in the middle of the forehead. On the head, they carried devices which projected sparks of various colors.

They entered a working room and undertook to seize a man, but had to withdraw in front of the energetic attitude of the villagers. They then went back in their craft and left. However, on February 6, they came back and were seen per many people. Again, they tried several times to seize a man, who managed to flee to give alarm. The villagers came in crowd and apparently directed their rifles against these "Martians", without any effect. This is the summary of news with accompanying notes by Mr Rodrigo de Riana, who predicted that the case would not stop there and that "they" would return.