Sky People (7 page)

“What was that all about?” Buddy asked as I joined him in the van.

“It was about men who walk through mountains,” I replied.

T
he next time I returned to Belize, I stopped at the hotel and inquired about Alexandro Jean. He had moved to Belmopan. The hours at the hotel had taken a toll on his family life and his wife had given him an ultimatum: either he leave, or she leaves. The clerk did not have a forwarding address, so I was never able to reconnect with Alexandro. But I have not forgotten the man who told me about men from the stars who walked through mountains and made him and his friends give up their drinking ways
.

T
here is a natural cave in Belize near San Ignacio in the Cayo District. It is not only a popular tourist destination but also an archaeological site. Inside the cave are six and one-half kilometers (4 miles) of passageways along a resurging stream. Scientists estimate that there are an additional six kilometers (3.7 miles) of passageways as shown by traces at sinking streams. Evidence suggests that the first kilometer (.6 miles) of the cave was used by Maya. Archaeologists have discovered pottery shards dating to 200
CE
along with the remains of twenty-eight humans
.

Buddy and I stopped for fruit at a vendor stand on our journey through the Cayo District. On that trip we met a local farmer named Gabriel, who spent an hour under the shade of a palm tree telling us about the blue-skinned space giants with enormous skulls. This was not the first time I had heard of blue-skinned aliens
.

In this chapter, Gabriel tells his story of blue-skinned men
.

“When I was a boy, I always heard rumors and stories of space giants. I grew up in the Cayo District where Barton Creek Cave is located. It is a complex cave with hundreds of passageways where, over time, different visitors and inhabitants, including the Maya and the space giants, lived. My grandfather told me that in his youth, he saw the giants just outside the town of San Ignacio. That would have been in the 1880s, I believe.” He paused as a car drove up with a family of eight children who bounded out of the car and proceeded to touch every single piece
of fruit on his stand. When his customers left, he returned to the shade of the tree and began again. “My grandfather said everyone was afraid of the giants from the stars. They stole women and sometimes little girls.”

“Did he ever describe them to you?”

“He said they were twice the size of normal men; some were taller. They had heads four times that of a regular adult man and feet several times bigger than men.”

“Have you ever gone into the cave?”

“Many times when I was a boy. My friends and I were always looking for something we could sell to the archaeologists who sometimes visited Belize.”

“Did you ever find anything unusual that might confirm the story about the space giants?”

“My friend and I once found a strange skull. It was big and heavy. It took both of us to carry it. Now I know it was probably the greatest find of all times in this area, but when I was a boy, I just hoped to sell it to an archaeologist or a museum. We found it in a grave in one of the passageways. Part of it was sticking above the ground and we decided to dig it up. The space giants had a strange method of burial. They buried their dead in a square grave with the bodies sitting upright. When we discovered the grave, only the top of the skull was poking out. We carried the skull back to the village. My grandfather was upset. He said that it belonged to the space giants and if they discovered we had stolen it, they would kill us and all of our families.”

“What did the skull look like?”

“It was huge. Not the skull of a Maya. It was the skull of the giants my grandfather had seen. The skull resembled that of a human except it had sockets on the side of the skull as well as the front. The eyes wrapped around the side of the head. My grandfather said we must return the skull to the cave, but when we went back to bury it, there was no evidence of the grave. We searched for hours but couldn’t find it.”

“What did you do?”

“We took the skull back to the village and reported to my grandfather. I read the fear on his face, but he said nothing. That afternoon, we took the skull into the forest and buried it for safekeeping. That made my grandfather happier. Months later, we heard of a wise man up near the Guatemalan border who knew of such things. We made the journey and took the skull to him. He said it was a space giant, but from the blue kind.”

“The blue kind? What does that mean?”

“The blue kind were the blue-skinned giants of the old stories told thousands of years ago. The blue-skinned giants were different because they had eyes in the front of their head and in the sides.”

“What did the wise man tell you about the blue-skinned giants?”

“He said they were diminishing in number and that they were becoming extinct. That is the reason they stole women. They were trying to preserve their race.”

“Did they ever return the women?” I asked.

“There was one very old story that my grandfather told me. He said his grandfather told him. One woman actually escaped and returned to Earth with a blue boy. When the boy grew up he fought for his mother’s people. He became a great warrior, but he had other powers, too. They said he could move mountains. He made valleys so the people could farm.”

“Do you believe that story?”

“When I look upon the beautiful valleys, I think of the blue boy,” he said. “I believe it is true.”

“Where is the skull now?” I asked.

“When my grandfather and I arrived in the village, rumors of our mission preceded us. Our presence brought a number of curious onlookers. There was an archaeologist and a number of local men who came around to see the skull. It just happened that among the onlookers was a man in the village who had lost his daughter many years earlier, maybe fifty years or so. The villagers blamed the blue giants on her disappearance. He
had eleven sons who went in search of the giants in an effort to rescue their sister. Six of them died in the pursuit. He was a man in pain who had never gotten over his loss.”

“How did the sons die?”

“Not sure. Stories say they were thrown over cliffs by the giants. One was nailed through the heart to a tree. Several different stories.”

“What happened to the skull?”

“The man who lost his daughter was so angry when he saw the skull that he drew his machete and broke it into hundreds of pieces. There was an archaeologist present. He wrestled with him, but the man was so filled with anger, nothing could stop him. So the skull was gone, and my hopes of fame and fortune disappeared.”

“What else can you tell me about the event?”

“They say the blue giants returned one more time to the village. This time, the man who had lost his daughter was ready for them. He was a powerful conjurer, and when they appeared he placed a curse on the giants. The wise ones believe his curse was so powerful that it ended the visits of the giants. Some say they died off, for they were never seen again. They no longer travel the universe in search of women and little girls.”

Another car pulled up and stopped. Gabriel stood and shook my hand. A broad smile crossed his face. “I tell you the truth, Señora. You can do with my story what you like. He moved forward and kissed me on the cheek. He smelled of sweat and overripe bananas. I kissed his cheek in return. “Travel safe, daughter,” he said as he turned and walked to his fruit stand. When I climbed in the van, I looked in his direction one more time. He waved to me.

I
never saw Gabriel again even though I looked for him on my return trips to Belize. One thing is for sure: I will never forget him. He held in his hands evidence that giants from space existed and once walked the planet Earth. Not only that, they were giants of the blue kind
.

“M
issing time” is a phenomenon that is often reported in connection with UFO encounters. It refers to a gap in conscious memory and can last for several hours with no recall of what occurred during that time period. The memory of what happened during the missing time reported is often recovered through hypnosis
.

In this chapter, you will hear the story of Enrique, a hotel worker in Belize, who encountered a UFO on his way to purchase supplies for his employer. Returning four hours late with no explanation other than the encounter with the UFO, the event had caused him personal problems at home
.

“I hear you like stories about UFOs,” the waiter said as he set a bowl of tortillas in front of me.

“Yes, I collect stories about UFOs.”

“I have a story. I get off in forty-five minutes. If you would like to hear my story, I will meet you in the bar.” I agreed to meet him later in the hotel lounge. I watched him move to the side of the room, where he kept an eye on all of the patrons in the restaurant. He had introduced himself earlier in the week as Enrique, the head waiter. A short, stout man with coarse, black hair plastered down with hair oil, he ruled the dining room with an iron hand. In the several days I stayed at the hotel, I observed his meticulous attention to detail. He spoke to the other waiters in the local Mayan dialect, and yet he appeared fluent in Spanish, English, and French.

When I arrived at the bar about forty-five minutes later, he stood as I approached. He had chosen two wicker chairs in a corner for privacy. “Tell me, Doctora. Will you make me famous if I tell you my story?” he asked, smiling.

“That depends on whether you want people to know who you are,” I replied. “People are skeptics. They will know if you speak the truth.”

“I am a devout Catholic. I always speak the truth,” he replied. After ordering the local sangria for both of us, he began his story. “I am K’iche’ Maya. I have worked twenty years at this hotel. I make more money than all the men combined in my village. Yet, sometimes, I think the village men are richer than me. But because of my loyalty to the hotel, I am a trusted employee. I often go to the city to run errands for the hotel restaurant when the owner is too busy to go. I saw a UFO on such a trip.”

“When did the event occur?” I asked.

“Last month. It was very early morning. I left my home about 6 a.m. I wanted to get to the city when the shops opened so I could return to the restaurant before dinnertime. The drive is monotonous. I became sleepy and decided to pull off the side of the road, walk around, and smoke a cigarette. My drive had been uneventful, and I was ahead of schedule.” He paused, fished a cigarette out of a pack in his front shirt pocket, lit it, and took a long drag, releasing the smoke slowly. “The sun was coming up, the air was still, and it was cool.” He paused, sipped from the glass of sangria, and inhaled his cigarette. “I was standing just in front of the van looking toward the south when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was an airplane and I became frightened. It was very low, and I thought it was going to crash. When it came my way, I realized there were no wings. It was like a big gasoline tank, and as it soared over me, I dropped to my knees for fear it would strike me dead. For several moments, I couldn’t move. I wondered how it could fly without wings.” Enrique paused again when one of the waiters approached him with a question. He excused himself and left the lounge. I looked around at the other tourists. A busload of twenty-something French tourists had arrived at the hotel
earlier in the day and it looked as though most of them were sitting at the bar engaged in loud conversation. Several minutes passed before Enrique returned.

“Sorry, Doctor. A problem in the kitchen.” He seated himself across from me again and called for another sangria.

“Could you tell me more about the UFO?” I asked.

“It was a long, tank-like craft. If you have ever seen a gasoline tanker that delivers gas to the stations, it was like that, only about five times as long and three times as round. It was huge. It was bigger than my village if it was stretched from one end to other.”

“What color was it?”

“It was a dull gray. There were a few small indentations near the top. I thought they were windows, but I couldn’t see lights. Maybe they can see out, but we cannot see them,” he said. “When I realized there were no wings, I was in shock, but the biggest shock came when it flew by me and it made no noise. A plane would roar but there was nothing, only the wind that disturbed the calmness of the morning.”

“Was there anything else you can remember?”

“The strangest thing was that as I was watching it, it seemed to vanish before my eyes and then reappear again. It did this twice. Once when it was flying north to south and then again when it flew south to north. When it came back the second time, it vanished almost right in front of me. That is when I knew for sure it was a UFO.”

“Can you tell me anything else about the craft?”

“I decided to hide behind the van. I didn’t want to be abducted. I heard they take you and do experiments. I didn’t want to lose my job because of a UFO. At the same time, I was very excited. Actually, seeing a UFO is very exciting and I kept thinking, ‘They don’t even know I’m here.’” He paused and laughed nervously. Enrique took another drink of sangria and offered to refresh my glass.

“Did something else happen?”

“I watched until the craft was out of sight, thinking to myself that they did not know I was there. I returned to the driver’s side of the van. That’s when I heard what I thought was a car door slam. I turned, because I thought someone else had seen the UFO. That’s when I saw two rolling balls of light. They blinded me. I raised my arm to shield my eyes.” Enrique lifted his arm to show me how he had covered his eyes. He leaned back in his chair and lit another cigarette from the ashes of the existing cigarette in his hand.

“Do you want to continue?”

“Oh yes. I am just trying to remember every detail. That is important, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Take your time.” I watched as he ate several chips and drained his glass.