LITTLE ALIENS

The most effective argument for the possible reality of occupant cases is the fact that similar cases are reported by individuals who have no apparent contact with one another and are separated by hundreds and thousands of miles. An example of this "coincidence" is the detailed account of an encounter with small "entities" in France in the fall of 1954 and similarly described little bipeds in Venezuela just a few weeks later.

On October 9 that year, during the great French UFO "wave," three youngsters were roller skating in the village of Pournoy-la-Chetive (Moselle). They later claimed that a round shiny machine landed quite close to them and that out of it came a "kind of man," about four feet tall, dressed in a black sack or cassock. The little man's head was hairy and he had big eyes, they said, and he talked to them in a language which they couldn't understand. The children became frightened and ran away, and when they stopped and looked back the machine was ascending into the sky at high speed. This particular report of the "machine," at least, was backed up by another villager who claimed that he, too, had observed the machine as it climbed into the sky.

At the other end of France, on the same night, from the village of Lavoux, which is about twelve miles east of Poitiers, came the strange story of M. Roger Barrault concerning the little creature he had seen while riding his bicycle near the village. He claimed that about 7 p.m. he was confronted by a little man about four and a half feet tall wearing what appeared to be a "diver's suit." The head, he said looked like it was covered with shaggy hair, out of which shined two "dazzling" eyes. It was only in sight for about a minute, ahead of Barrault, but he did discern what appeared to be very bright headlights which were located about halfway up the front of his body, one above the other. It shortly disappeared among the trees of the woods by the road.

Almost two months later, on the morning of November 28, 1954, two produce workers were on their way from Caracas, Venezuela, to Petarre to pick up a load of produce for the next morning's market. As they turned into the street Gustavo Gonzales, who was driving, immediately braked his pickup truck. The road was blocked by a metallic-appearing globe-shaped object which hovered about six feet off the road. Scurrying back and forth from the side of the road to the object were two little dwarfish appearing men, carrying rocks and chunks of dirt. Gonzales dismounted from his truck and headed toward the vehicle, just as one of the little fellows headed toward him. Unafraid because of his obvious advantage of size and weight, Gonzales later said, he intended to capture one of the creatures and take it to the police. His description, although not exactly like that of the "whiskered Martians" of France described by Michel in Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery (Criterion, New York, 1958) was roughly similar, for the Petare "dwarves" were small, about three feet tall, broad-shouldered, and had large dark heads with glowing or bright eyes. Gonzales made a dive for one of them and it was then that he discovered that the little fellow had an extremely hard body covered with stiff, bristly hair, and his strength was prodigious.

Whether or not the creature's next action was a result of Gonzale's somewhat aggressive manner we do not know, but he struck Gonzales with one arm, and the force of the blow knocked Gonzales backward about fifteen feet.

Meanwhile, back in the truck, Jose' Ponce, the other worker, watched with a mixture of fascination and fear, but when Gonzales was knocked to the ground he made his exit and headed for the nearest police station, which happened to be about a block away.

And Gonzales was having a hair-raising time of it. The creature which had knocked him down appeared to leap into the air and came toward him with its eyes glowing. Gonzales pulled a knife used to prune produce, and as the little man came toward him with his clawed hands extended, he made a stab at its shoulder with the knife. He was amazed to find that the knife seemed to glance off as though it had struck metal and the little fellow seemed none the worse for it. At this point another of the little fellows emerged from an opening in the side of the globe and pointed a small tube which beamed a light at Gonzales, temporarily blinding him. Both of the creatures then got into the globe, which took off at high speed and was out of sight within a few seconds. Gonzales, terrified from his experience, headed toward the police station and arrived there just a few minutes after Ponce did. The police officers on hand, who had thought Ponce was out of his mind or drunk when he related his story, gave the tale a second thought when Gonzales arrived on the scene. Both were given sedatives and Gonzales was treated for a long, angry red scratch on his side.

The little hairy fellows seemed to have been culprits in an incident which took place on the night of December 10 when two young boys were badly clawed while returning from a hunting trip in the vicinity of the Trans-Andean Highway between Chico and Cerro de Las Tres Torres, Venezuela. Lorenzo Flores and Jesus Gomez, both teenagers, spotted what they thought was a car parked some distance from the road, and thinking it might have been an accident, went to investigate. As they approached it, they saw it was a shiny metallic object which resembled two huge washbowls placed lip to lip and hovering about three feet off the ground. It appeared to be about nine feet in diameter, they later said, and there was a fiery exhaust issuing from the bottom.

About the time the boys realized the object of their attention was not a car, four "little men" got out of the thing, and they seized Jesus and seemed intent on dragging him into the ship. Lorenzo, frightened but determined to help his friend, grabbed his shotgun by the barrel and swung it as hard as he could at the little fellows. It felt as though it had struck rock, and broke into two pieces. This seemed to deter the little fellows, for they left the two boys alone. Neither of the boys saw the ship leave, for Jesus had lapsed into unconsciousness and Lorenzo was busy dragging him toward the highway. When Jesus regained consciousness a couple of minutes later, the boys ran as fast as they could out of the area. They rushed to the nearest police station and told their story, both exhibiting multiple scratches and bruises. Later investigation by authorities revealed some strange-appearing little footprints in the area where the boys claimed they had their adventure.