The Martian Shrub of Peru
By Cole Herrold
When people think of extraterrestrials,
the first thought that comes to mind is of small gray or green beings with
large almond shape black eyes, yet if history has shown us anything, this is
not to be the case. The world of extraterrestrial encounters has some downright
bizarre entities, but almost all of them have a symmetrical or human-like form.
Whether it's the Flatwoods Monster, Space Penguins of Tuscumbia, or the La
Rubia Abductors, these entities, while mostly different compared to the
organisms we know, do share some features with us or animals that make them
seem less alien. It's from these accounts even the most seasoned Ufologist is
familiar with reports of machine-like or animal-like extraterrestrials, yet
sometimes the entities reported do not follow those categories and seem to
resemble something that is around us all the time. The Martian Shrub of Peru is
an extremely short case but compelling nonetheless, perhaps most notably as the
entity described in the encounter bears none of the earmarks of the classic UFO
driver but instead seems to be some form of a sentient plant.
It was in August or September of 1965 when
Julio L. de Romana and Antonio Chavez Bedoya were driving along the Pan-American
motorway. The pair was almost 12.5 miles from Arequipa when they noticed a
strange figure standing in the road. The car continued to truck down the road
as they expected this figure to eventually move or scurry across the road, but
as they came closer, they realized that this dark form was still standing
perfectly still. The two realizing that if they did not alter their course,
they were going to strike whatever this creature was, promptly swerved off the
road. As they looked over at the strange form blocking the road, they at first
thought it to be some sort of litter or some plant that managed to get knocked
into the road. Yet as they continued to stare, they realized this clearly was
not the case.
There standing in the road was a dark
entity black in color and a little over 2 ½ feet tall. The witnesses could only
describe it as "a strange being, a Martian" the entity appeared to be
alive, but at that moment refused to move its body, gave the witnesses the
impression that it was some sort of plant life as to them it looked like a
shrub. Whether there were branches or leaves is unknown, but the creature's
overall plant-ness was not its most startling feature. There towards where the
witnesses felt the head should be, was a bright golden eye that appeared to be
gilded this eye was large, but it was not alone as all along the body were
several smaller golden eyes that were skittered around in the assumed branches.
These eyes seemed to glint in the sunlight as well and were joined on several
of the branches or body segments by long metallic objects like strips of gold
and silver.
As the pair was reeling in this bizarre
entity that sounds suspiciously like a sentient Christmas Tree was shocked to
see a UFO fly above their car and the vegetative visitor. What happened after
this is not known except for assumedly the duo had put the pedal to the metal
and drove out of this area of high strangeness. While the UFOs' direction went
unreported other individuals in the area would later go on to report seeing a
strange craft in the sky.
As
for the Martian Shrub, there have been no reports of anything remotely similar
to it in the annals of Ufology. UFO creatures that bear a strong resemblance to
plants have been collected; the Walking Stumps, for example, were three
spider-like entities of varying colors and patterns that, to the witnesses,
seemed to be like crawling tree stumps. While these entities did not exactly
have the appearance of something of the flora persuasion, another entity known
as the Vegetable Man had features that clearly seemed to be of a kind of sentient
plant humanoid. This entity had long ears that appeared leaf-like and had long
fingers which were tipped with suction cup-like appendages that ended in long
syringe-type fingers. The entity's body was often described as something like a
stalk or a carrot and communicated to the witness as well as draining blood.
While this entity clearly was plant-like, the UFO connection to it is
speculative as there was no craft seen but a strange whirring phonograph sound
which was believed to of been the craft taking off. So, with that said, there
are still no plant-extraterrestrial cases making this one incredibly unique.
Now, much like in other cases I've written
about with assumed Extraterrestrials, there is always the chance that the
creature seen has nothing to do with the UFO phenomenon. In this case, the
strange shrub was seen standing in the middle of the roadway before the UFO was
in the area, and when the UFO came to the area, apparently it did not stop and
pick up its occupant as if this was to be the case it would have been reported.
So perhaps this creature is some bizarre plant that has gone undiscovered and
just happened to of been crossing the road at the same time as the UFO was
crossing overhead. I will say, given the appearance of the creature and the
metallic strips, this seems unlikely and probably isn't the case.
With that said, if we take the
extraterrestrial route because this creature seems to have either some sort of
technology or even what might pass for clothing on its world, it is particularly
bizarre. The tinsel-like strips seem to almost be used only as an ornament as
they apparently did not do anything particularly spectacular when the witnesses
saw it, so what the actual purpose of it is can truly only be left for
speculation. Yet this almost point-blank description only leads into one of the
issues with this case.
One of the problems with this case is the
vagueness of it. I have found this to be a problem with a lot of the South
American and Central American cases as rarely there's a follow-up or finding
the newspaper accounts are exceptionally difficult, so all we have to go on is
the scant information reused in the Ufological literature. That’s one of the
major problems with this case is that it sort of abruptly ends we don’t know if
the witnesses did see some sort of landing and the Martian Shrub return to the
craft or if the drivers simply could not handle all of the high strangeness and
simply drove off it appears that there was just no follow up in this case at
all.
Another issue with this case is that each
resource that does publish something on it has alternative dates for when the
encounter took place. Some sources state August 1, August 29, August 30, and
even a month later on September 29, even though the newspapers covering the
case were released for the 31st. Perhaps this is a simple error or
some issue with translation when the accounts were published in other sources,
but it does make it difficult to get a true point on when the encounter took
place.
While this encounter is extremely
frustrating, it is interesting nonetheless, mainly for the description of the
entity seen by the two men. There has been nothing similar to it as far as what
has been reported, and I think that is one of the most important elements to
the case as there has never been something that appeared as a goth Christmas
tree in either the world of cryptozoology, demonology, or Ufology aside from
this encounter. If it was the typical Grey, we probably would not be talking
about this case today since nothing really happens, but it's the appearance of
this entity that steals the show and definitely something we perhaps will never
see again.
Quick Facts:
Species/Potential Species: Vegetable
Extraterrestrial
Location: Pan-American Motorway, Near
Arequipa, Peru
Sighted: Either August 1, August 29, August 30, September 29, 1965
Works Cited:
The Humanoids By Charles Bowen
Humanoid Encounters: 1965-1969 -The Others
Amongst Us By Albert S. Rosales
Cronica, Buenos Aires, Argentina, August
31, 1965
La Prensa, Lima, Peru, August
31, 1965
Gross, Patrick. “August 1965, Near
Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru, Julio L. de Romana and Antonio Chavez Bedoya” URECAT
July 3, 2008. https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/ce3/1965-08-31-peru-arequipa.htm#jv1.
Accessed September 14, 2021.
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