On the border between the United States and Mexico, 400 miles from El Paso, there is a desert area, within which televisions and radios refuse to work for some unknown reason. It is called the zone of silence
In the nearby town of Seballos, located 25 miles from the anomalous area, an unknown force periodically jammed TV and radio signals, despite the absence of visible interference. In the silence zone, the radio finally dies down, and other devices invariably fail: the wristwatch stops, and the compass needle spins like mad.
Legends say that back in the middle of the 19th century, local farmers often watched "hot stones" falling from a completely cloudless sky to the ground … In the 1930s, a Mexican pilot Francisco Sarabia's radio station failed during a flight over the desert. He reported the problem to his superiors. But then no one gave it due importance.
In 1964, a geophysical expedition conducted a survey in the San Ignacio area led by chemical engineer Harry de la Peña. Going into the desert, Harry suddenly found his walkie-talkie not working. He returned to the base, and then it turned out that the device was in good working order. At the next visit to the zone, the radio went out again. The same thing happened with Harry's comrades.
Later, in the 70s, the American experimental ballistic missile "Athena", launched from the White Sands test site, suddenly went off course and crashed in the silence zone. A few years later, one of the stages of the Saturn rocket exploded over the desert.
After analyzing a number of mysterious incidents, the US government has come to the conclusion that they are difficult to explain by coincidence. The military department sent a group of scientists to the zone.
Sea of Tethys
Since then, the area has been visited by scientific expeditions. The Mexican government has built a town called Biosphere in the middle of the desert, which serves as a base camp for the researchers. The zone of silence itself received the conditional name "Tethys Sea" (in memory of the ancient ocean that covered these places millions of years ago). Inhabitants of the camp studied the paranormal phenomena taking place in the area.
And there were many such phenomena. Even Harry de la Peña reported that meteorites were falling unusually often in the zone. UFOs were also recorded here in the form of strange lights, leaving behind bundles of scorched and scorched grass, and bright balls hanging motionless in the air, and then instantly disappearing in front of eyewitnesses. Once, two farmers watched as a huge luminous ball descended from the sky, from where the same bright creatures came out and headed towards people. They fled in fear.
Encounters with aliens
There are many tales of aliens walking around the zone among the indigenous people. One such episode dates back to the mid-70s of the last century.
On October 3, 1975, Ernesto and Josephine Diaz, who were fond of archeology in their free time, went to the territory of the silence zone in their pickup truck, hoping to find something interesting.
On the way back, they were caught by a heavy thunderstorm with pouring rain. The pickup skidded and then slowly sagged into the mud. Suddenly, the couple, vainly trying to move the car, noticed that two men in yellow raincoats and hats were approaching them. Approaching, passers-by offered their help to Ernesto and Josephine. They agreed. True, the faces of the unexpected assistants seemed unusual to them.
The strangers asked the Diaz spouses to get back into the car, while they themselves went back somewhere. And then … The pickup by itself literally flew out of a muddy puddle! Barely recovering from surprise, Ernesto jumped out of the cab to thank the rescuers. But the strangers disappeared, as if melting into thin air in the middle of the bare desert …
In 1976, a photo reporter who wandered into the zone of silence in search of sensations, managed to film a silvery object that flew into the sky before his eyes and quickly disappeared from sight …
In November 1978, journalist Louis Ramirez, along with his photographer, went to the zone's research camp to collect material for the newspaper. The path led through the desert, and soon they noticed that they had lost their way.
Suddenly Ramirez saw that some people were wandering towards. Deciding to ask them for directions, he told the photographer who was driving to stop the jeep next to three passers-by. But he drove by without slowing down. To the surprised question of his comrade, he replied that there was nobody on the road!
After a while, the journalist again noticed those three ahead. This time he insisted that the driver stop the car, although he still insisted that there was no one else here.
The passers-by looked like ordinary people, and Ramirez mistook them for locals. The "natives" very sensibly explained to him how to get to the "Biosphere", informing at the same time that they were farmers and were looking for missing goats and sheep here. The journalist, meanwhile, was very surprised that the travelers did not have any flasks of drink with them, nor the special equipment needed in the desert.
Having reached the camp, Ramirez told about a meeting with the "farmers" Harry de la Peigne, by that time the head of the research laboratory. He said that there was no one in the zone except for the staff of the "Biosphere" and visiting correspondents, and no one grazed the cattle in the desert. Who were these mysterious strangers?
One night, local businessman Ruben Lopez was driving across the desert to Ceballos. Suddenly, the car's engine stalled, and Lopez noticed five small figures in silver overalls and helmets on the road. The dwarfs moved towards his car. Frightened, Lopez pressed on the gas. This time, the engine started, and, hearing the noise, the aliens rushed off into the darkness. The businessman made his further journey without incident …
The owners of one ranch on the edge of the zone of silence said that they were regularly visited by two men and a woman - all three long-haired beautiful blondes. The visitors were oddly dressed and spoke excellent Spanish, although their voices had some unusual musical timbre. They always turned to the owners with the same request - to fill their flasks with water from the well. When asked, the guests answered that they had come from somewhere "from above." By the way, similar long-haired blondes were seen in California, near the Sierra Nevada, and in the Pyrenees, where, according to rumors, they exchanged bread and milk from local residents for … gold bars.
Ancient mystery
Another secret of the zone of silence is the ruins of an ancient stone structure found in the desert by archaeologists. Apparently, these are the remains of an astronomical observatory built several thousand years ago. But by whom? In that distant era, these lands were inhabited only by primitive Indian tribes …
What is hidden in the "Sea of Tethys"?
One of the researchers of the zone, Dr. Santiago Garcia, is inclined to believe that all the strange things happening there have nothing to do with the supernatural. It is possible that magnetic ore is hidden in the depths of the desert, which is the cause of man-made anomalies. And UFOs are nothing more than probes launched by the military during secret experiments. But how then to explain the numerous encounters with humanoids?
Dina KUNTSEVA
"Secrets of the XX century" March 2013
