extraordinary%20encounters

gry nor thirsty. Though the entrance to the
cave was accessible only with difficulty, and
the searchers were scratched and bruised by
the time they got to him, the barefoot Ramiro
had no marks on him. He explained that
while playing by the river, he got lost. Five little
men found him and fed him “sweet food”
and milk. He then fell asleep and woke up in
the cave, with one of the men still with him.
He and his companions, who came to the
cave on occasion, played together until the
rescue was accomplished.
Ricardo Gutierrez related that while walking
through a forest one day in June 1970, his
six-year-old nephew, Arturo, who had been
accompanying him, abruptly vanished. When
the boy failed to reappear, the local authorities
arrested Gutierrez for murder. Thirty-three
days later, as the man awaited trial, a healthylooking,
unconcerned Arturo entered his
house. Asked where he had been, he said he
had been living with the little men. They fed
him food and honey-flavored milk and played
games with him. The investigators interviewed
local police, who confirmed the mysterious
disappearance and the equally enigmatic
reappearance.
Driving a six-ton truck between La Tinaja
and Tierra Blanca at 8 A.M. on May 22, 1973,
Manuel Angel Gonzalez suddenly saw five
small figures standing in the road in front of
him, holding their arms up in the air. He
slammed on the brakes barely in time to keep
from running into what he assumed were
small children. As he sat in his cab trying to
recover his wits, he had a chance to look more
closely at the figures. Now they looked like
adults, only two feet tall, perfectly proportioned,
with light brown complexions and
black hair. He also realized that they had not
stepped out onto the road, but had materialized
there.
After a time he stepped out of the truck
and approached the figures. His action apparently
frightened them because they scattered
into the dense undergrowth and fled in the direction
of a nearby mountain. When Gonzalez
turned around to return to his vehicle, he
Channeling 59
was dismayed to see blue flames consuming it.
Within half an hour it and its cargo—asbestos
sheeting, sacked cement, and reinforcing
steel—had been reduced to fused metal and
ash.
The story made the Mexican newspapers.
Soon afterward, the two investigators interviewed
Gonzalez and his boss, who confirmed
the truck’s destruction, which neither could
explain; neither could the police officer who
was on the scene within an hour. Gonzalez
thought that the little men were not
Chaneques but “space travelers from some
other planet,” since Chaneques were not
known to cause pointless destruction.
See Also: Close encounters of the third kind; Fairies
encountered
Further Reading
Pantoja Lopez, Ramon A., and Robert Freeman
Bound, 1974. “Chaneques: Mexican Gnomes or
Interplanetary Visitors?” Fate 27, 11 (November):
51–57.
Channeling
Channeling is new in name only. It refers to
the process whereby disembodied entities
communicate ideas and information through
human beings who are either in full waking
consciousness or in an altered state. The communicating
entities may be deceased persons,
gods, angels, extraterrestrials, extradimensional
intelligences, “ascended masters” (mystical
adepts who have transcended physical existence),
nature spirits, and more. In earlier
times, channeling was called “revelation,” or
“mediumship.” Whatever the name, it is often
accompanied by visions of otherworldly entities
or unearthly realms. Some channelers believe
that through their consciousness alone,
they can travel through the universe and into
other dimensions.
In ancient times oracles and priests communicated
with the gods. The resulting divine
messages formed the basis of religious and
mystical faiths. Such communications often
involved prophecies as well. In the Judeo-
Christian tradition, the Bible documents visions
and messages recognizably related to the