by Charles Lear
Argentina has had more than its share of cases involving people reporting finding themselves transported, some while driving, tens of kilometers to hundreds of kilometers after an encounter with a UFO. From the city of Bahia Blanca comes a particularly bizarre tale. The witness ended up in a hospital where he was reportedly examined by a multitude of medical doctors and psychiatrists. There is a report on the case in the March 1975 APRO Bulletin, and APRO Directors Coral and Jim Lorenzen wrote about it in the updated version of their 1967 book, “Flying Saucer Occupants.”
In the Bulletin, the writer, very likely Jim Lorenzen, who was acting director at the time, thanks Field Investigator Jorge R. Martinez of Bahia Blanca for giving APRO the information on the case. According to the report, on the morning of January 4, 1975, Carlo Alberto Diaz, 28, was heading home after finishing a shift as a waiter at a private party. He bought a newspaper and then caught a bus. The stop where he got off was several blocks from his home, so he took a shortcut through a “desolate rail yard.” There was a sudden flash of white light that temporarily blinded him that he assumed was lightning. He didn’t hear any thunder and later described the light as “broken.”
When he regained his sight, he became frightened and got it in his head to run the rest of the way home. When he went to do so, he realized he was paralyzed.
Diaz then heard a sound that he compared to the sound of wind and felt himself being pulled up into air. When he was about three meters up, he lost consciousness.
When he came to, he was inside what seemed to be a semi-transparent plastic sphere that he estimated was between two and a half to three meters in diameter. The inside was an empty space and the light seemed to come from the walls.
Diaz said that he was completely conscious at this point. He was half kneeling, half lying on his side. Underneath him were three holes, about three cm in diameter, through which some sort of gas was flowing. Diaz said he felt ill when he turned away from the holes and got the idea that whatever the gas was, it was keeping him conscious.
Then, according to the article, Diaz said “three humanoids came sliding into the sphere.” They are described as being around 1.8 meters tall. Their heads were mossy green, about half the size of a human head and they had no eyes, ears, nose, or mouth. They were hairless and their bodies were covered with a rubbery, light cream-colored material. Their arms were straight but flexible, and they had no hands.
They immediately started pulling tufts of hair from Diaz’s head and chest, and they jumped up and down and waved their arms as if this gave them delight. Diaz struggled and then one creature held him as another creature continued pulling out hair and the remaining one watched.
Diaz felt the softness of their bodies as they handled him and realized that they had suckers on their arms that enabled them to pull his hair out. He also noted that he felt no pain as they did so. He said they moved slowly but were strong and seemed tireless.
When they were done, he lost consciousness. When he came to several hours later, he was lying in the grass and had to close his eyes because the sun was high and shining directly in them.
He became aware that he was next to a busy highway. He looked at his watch and it had stopped at 3:50 a.m., which was the time just before his experience began.
The highway was 30 meters away. A man driving by thought Diaz had been hit by a car, and he stopped. Diaz told the man what had happened, and the man drove him to Railway Hospital, 35 minutes away, where they arrived at 8:30 a.m. This was in Buenos Aires, which is said in the Bulletin to be 785 km north of Bahia Blanca whereas Google Maps shows the distance to be 635.5 km. When Diaz became aware of the time, he became convinced that he’d had an experience with extraterrestrials and their craft.
At the end of the article, it is emphasized that the investigation is ongoing and that any new information will be presented in the “Follow-Up” column.
In the August 1977 Bulletin, there is an article headlined, “Carlo Alberto Diaz Was a Hoaxer.” The authors are listed as Roberto Enrique Banchs and Richard W. Heiden. Banchs is described as having investigated the case on behalf of the Centro d’Estudios de Fenemonos Aereos Inusuales of Buenos Aires. According to the authors, Banchs’s investigation showed that Diaz’s account was a hoax because the events he described “could not have occurred as the witness claimed.”
They summarize the case, and their summary differs from Martinez’s report. In Martinez’s report, Diaz was taken by a passing motorist to the Railway Hospital where he arrived at 8:30 a.m., and later (no specific time was given in the Bulletin) went to Ferroviaro Hospital, where he stayed for four days. Diaz’s wife and relatives were said to have arrived at midnight. In the summary from Banchs and Heidman, Diaz came to at 3:00 p.m., hitchhiked to Railway Hospital and arrived at 4:15. The authors acknowledge that their version differs from the earlier version and note that “several versions” had been published.
The problem the authors have is with the timeline, which in Diaz’s account, makes it seem impossible that he could have travelled the distance that he did in the time given. They surmised that he could have caught a train to Buenos Aires, that left Bahia Blanca at 6:15 a.m. According to them, the records of the guard at Railway Hospital showed that Diaz arrived at 5:30 p.m., which differs from both accounts and is certainly much later than the 8:30 a.m. arrival given in Martinez’s account.
The results of Diaz’s psychological assessments are offered (seemingly in violation of ethical standards) as further evidence that Diaz made up the story. According to the authors, it was found that Diaz had a “rich imagination, quick intelligence (but without depth), inclination to exaggerate, good memory, occasional use of poor judgment, and maladjusted personality.”
While APRO did its due diligence in publishing the follow-up report, the case still stands in “Flying Saucer Occupants” as originally reported to lead unfortunate, less-than-diligent researchers astray in their search for the truth.
https://podcastufo.com/cars-lifted-up-and-transported-by-ufos/