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      UFOs in Greece - 2001 The Greek Year of the Humanoid  

        by  Thanassis Vembos

Close Encounters of the Third Kind and experiences with humanoid apparitions in general, have always been rare in Greece. Nevertheless, various researchers have meticulously unearthed several interesting UFO incidents. Unfortunately, such incidents are usually decades old; witnesses do not remember the details well and little field investigation can be done.

Humanoid apparitions connected or not with UFOs, may be uncommon but on the other hand I had the chance to investigate two such cases in one year -2001. There seemed to be a global surge of otherworldly events in this particular year. There were also some particularly strange synchronic connections. But let?s start from the beginning.  

Mr. G.P. a university professor in a Greek city (name and city name is omitted for obvious reasons) was at home, in the wee hours of Sunday, June 24, watching a late talk-show on the TV. It was approximately 2 am . His wife and son were fast asleep and his daughter was out. The program was starting to be quite boring and Mr. G decided to go to bed. He was walking to the bedroom, when he noticed that the kitchen light was on. Reaching out to switch it off, he felt a sense of coldness, like a cold wind on his back. He turned to see what it was. The thing he saw was like a bolt from the blue. A strange humanoid was standing right there, before his eyes. It was a slim, tall creature ?almost 1.90m- and seemed to be wearing a tight fitting light blue ?coverall?.

?It was like the stockings that burglars put on their head, but it was covering the whole body, from head to toes?, the witness explained later. The face of the creature was ?coarsely-formed?; it had only bulges and cavities where the eyes, the nose, the ears and the other facial characteristics should be. Later the witness would describe the humanoid?s whole appearance like ?that of a coarse computer graphic?.

The witness had the impression that the apparition was masculine. It was moving in ?slow motion? with large strides showing great flexibility, ?like that of a dancer, not touching the floor?. It came out of the kitchen and went right to the bathroom (the bathroom door was open). Its movement reminded the witness a hurdler in action. In spite of his shocked astonishment, the witness was curious enough to run after the creature. But it disappeared into thin air. Before the witness realized what he had just seen, the humanoid appeared for a second time. Now it came out of his daughter?s bedroom and ran into the kitchen, where it again disappeared. After that, it made its appearance for a third time, coming out from the bathroom and disappearing again - for good - in the living room. The whole ?chase? had lasted approximately 30 seconds. Now Mr. P. felt the sheer magnitude of the shock and he nearly collapsed. During the incident he did not have the time to realize how weird, how out of the ordinary, this experience was.

The high strangeness of the incident was intensified by the complete lack of any sound. It is not known if the ?sense of cold? the witness felt in the beginning of his experience lasted through to its end, since Mr. P. was too dumbfounded to notice or recall later. He had the impression that the apparition was ?running away from something, trying desperately to avoid contact with something that was chasing it?. The nearest distance between him and the creature was 2 meters.

During our meeting, Mr. P. revealed some other older experiences, related to strange apparitions. In 1974, he was at home - in another Greek city, where he was residing with his family. The doorbell rang and he went to open it. There was a woman standing on the doorstep, apparently dressed like a ?nun?. Her face was ?indescribably beautiful?, ?radiating dazzling splendor? (maybe it is useful to clarify that Mr. P. is not a religious person). The ?nun? seemed to be ?self-illuminated? even though the outdoor light  was off. The woman asked him for some money. He turned and reached out to get some from a small box. But when he turned again to the door to give her the money after a few seconds, the woman had vanished.    

He was shocked, realizing that there was not time enough for the woman to vanish. He went out, pressed the elevator button and saw that the elevator was somewhere on the upper floors. He came down the stairs and went into the street but he could not find any trace of her.

The experience was not as subjective or illusionary as it seems at first glance, since his family also heard the doorbell ringing.

Mr. P. had a third experience in 1986, inside a city bus, full of people. He was returning home when he saw the apparition of his mother-in-law (she had died six months before). The incident lasted about five minutes until the witness reached his destination. He was so stunned that he could not believe his eyes and could not even try to speak to her.  Coming back to 2001, it is very remarkable that a few hours after Mr. P?s experience, a ?conceptually similar? incident took place vary far away - in Chile.Las Ultimas Horas, at Montecristo, near Tocopilla, four members of a family traveling along an isolated road reported encountering a horrific two meter tall creature with huge powerful hind legs, huge wings on his back and an animal like head, that flew alongside their vehicle at speeds of up to 100 km per hour. The creature then accelerated and flew past their vehicle and out of sight. The terrified witnesses drove straight to the police station in a state of shock.  

We can only notice that, despite the time zone difference between Greece and Chile (7 hours), both incidents took place at around 2 am. In both cases, a strange apparition appeared from nowhere and returned there creating panic in a tranquil family environment - on June 24. Space-time patterns of otherworldly phenomena are always weird. Also, the phenomena seemingly accumulate on ?special dates?.  Cryptozooligist and anomalist Loren Coleman has examined the especially strange date of June 24 in his book Curious Encounters. On this date, a wide spectrum of anomalies - UFOs, monsters, fortean falls - congregate. It is needless to remark that June 24, 1947, was the date when modern UFO history started. Athens, when I learned that a close encounter had happened to a friend of his - only two months after the ?hurdler? of Mr. P.  

The site of the incident was Perati, an area near Vravrona, not far away from Loutsa. Vravrona (Brauron) is the site of the beautiful ancient temple of Artemis (Diana), still standing in rather good condition. Perati is a hill that John Keel would have classified as a ?window?; lots of strange happenings, apparitions, UFOs and other unorthodox phenomena are reported there.

The witness, I.M. was a 45-year old fireman, who was doing the night shift with two other colleagues, watching for forest fires. They were stationed with their vehicle at Hamolia, a small peninsula at the base of Perati hill. It was the end of August 2001 (probably the 26^th). On the top of the peninsula, which has a splendid panoramic view, there was a deserted heliport - just a landing platform 15 m in diameter - and a small wooden kiosk.  

The night was hot and serene and the three men were sitting at the kiosk talking idly, right beside the fire engine. It was about 10 pm, when they noticed a disk-shaped light-colored object flying low and noiselessly above the sea, coming towards them from the NE. As the UFO was approaching, their mobile phones, the CB and their portable radio ceased to function. I.M. had the slight impression that during the approach, there was a faint noise, ?like a small electric motor?.

Astounded, the three men saw the UFO coming down and landing softly on its belly upon the old cement heliport platform. It was just 3 m in diameter, seemed like ?two deep plates glued together? and its color was whitish or gray metal. It did not have any discernible characteristic or features. It was half hidden from their sight by shrubbery. All three of them were flabbergasted and a little afraid. ?What are we supposed to do now?? they wondered. I.M. felt strange that he was witnessing something that he had read about or watched on TV programs.

After a while, a door seemed to open on the UFO. It opened like ?the hatchway in some airplanes that becomes a stairway when opened?. From inside, a dim light was coming out. Three small (about 80-90 cm tall) humanoids emerged from the open door, and came down the stairway, one after the other. It was too dark to perceive details, but the humanoids seemed to wear tight fitting, ostensibly metallic  ?scuba diver suits?. A hood covered the head but not the face. The witness could not make out any perceptible complexion or details on the humanoids? limbs or body.      

The three ufonauts walked in line for 6-7 m until they reached a point where a small path comes downhill from the flat top of the peninsula, all the way to the sea. The creatures disappeared, coming down the path, into the night. The door on the UFO remained open.

The three men, trying to come around from the shock of the unbelievable sight, started to discuss what they should do. One of them started to walk towards the landed UFO but when he reached halfway he came back, saying that ?something? had prevented him from going any further.

A few minutes later, the creatures appeared again, coming up the path. Walking in line, they entered the UFO, climbing up the ?stairway? one after the other. The door was closed and the UFO took off noiselessly. It flew until it vanished, to the south, behind Perati hill. After its departure, the electronic devices started to function again.

The witnesses searched the landing area for traces but could not find anything. Eight months later, when I made the field investigation, I could not find anything either.

They did not report their experience to the authorities, fearing that they would be ridiculed. Two or three days later, the three men were again doing the night shift in the same spot. It was around 11 pm when a giant - 30 m - disk shaped UFO appeared, flying slowly towards them from NW. It passed right above their heads, at a height of 100-200 m, had a whitish-metallic color and emitted a sound like ?an electrical motor?. The UFO vanished into the distance, flying above Perati.

Again, we have something similar from - again - Chile. In the town of Calama (Northern Chile) on August 28 (possibly two days after the Greek incident) and at roughly the same local hour (10:30 pm), Mr. Martin T and his wife were returning home in their vehicle after a church meeting. Only about 35 meters from the house they were startled to see a strange creature suddenly glide at high speed in front of their vehicle, just above the road. The creature was seen to come out of some shrubbery on the side of the road. Immediately Martin turned on the high beams thinking it was somebody he knew. The creature was of a bizarre nature, it held its arms closely by its side, and it was covered with thick gray-white hair. At the moment when the creature glided in front of the car, both witnesses felt a strong chill and a strange sensation of fear. Later one of his sons reported being paralyzed as he stared at the strange creature with bright red eyes that was standing under a nearby tree (Source: Calama UFO Center)

Detailed research can unearth even stranger tales from the rich lode of Greek forteana - usually disguised as ?folklore? or ?religious miracles?. But one of their most charming attributes is the synchronicity factor that permeates and interconnects them - and simultaneously creates new baffling enigmas.  

You can get a taste of Thanassis Vembos's work on paranormal research, spaceflight journalism and science fiction in English at his fascinating site www.vembos.gr/indexen.htm or in Greek at www.vembos.gr