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  Gender played a role in my research. Unlike men, who spoke freely with me as I was under the protection of indigenous drivers, guides, and interpreters, women were less likely to speak with me. Even when I was able to identify women who would talk with me, it was almost always through the encouragement of a male relative, an extended family member, or someone who was respected by the woman’s family. When I was introduced to females who had an encounter, the women preferred speaking to me without the presence of males, unless an interpreter was required. Even then, the interpreters were trusted friends or relatives.

  Prior to taking my journey, I had already engaged the services of drivers/interpreters, based upon their indigenous heritage and connections and their interest in UFOs. I wanted to hire individuals who spoke fluent English, Spanish, and an indigenous language most common in the area I traveled. I interviewed all of them, via e-mail and telephone, and completed contracts with them prior to my arrival. On repeated trips to the countries, I continued to engage the same drivers when they were available. Over the seven-year period, I worked with a few other individuals who could more accommodate my needs, but when possible I stayed with those drivers who had a proven track record and were interested in my work.

  Most of the interviews took place in individual homes, especially among the women and elders. When visiting homes, if there were female relatives or friends present, I offered cold drinks and gifts for the women and children. On my visits, I carried crayons, sticker books, coloring books, paper pads and pencils, balloons, miniature toys (especially Matchbox cars and trucks), Beanie Babies, and sweet treats. Huckleberry candy from Montana was a favorite among young and old. The women preferred small sewing kits, lipsticks, and heirloom seeds. The men chose tobacco. Food and drink, especially Coca-Cola, was welcomed by the interviewees where sharing and eating together was a widespread practice even among the poorest of families. In villages with small local markets, ice cream treats were a favorite of the children.

  During my journey, I walked with people who communicated with Sky Gods and told me of encounters with the space men and Sky People. I met with others who feared the aliens who came from other worlds and avoided them at all cost. Many of their beliefs were grounded in ancient stories and superstitions that had been passed from one generation to another. The fear of devils and curses colored many perceptions of their encounters. These were sometimes viewed within the context of Christian religious doctrines and symbols combined with ancient religious practices and their own superstitions, which brought about a unique interpretation of events.

  The number of stories I collected from the countries of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico varied dramatically. In total, I collected ninety-two stories; half are included in this book. While following in Stephens and Catherwood’s footsteps, I visited only one site in Honduras, and that limited my interaction with the Maya. Further, the Maya of Honduras were more reluctant to speak with strangers about UFO encounters. Almost all of my connections in Mesoamerica were arranged by my drivers/guides; some identified friends and relatives who had experienced UFO encounters. In other cases, an innocent introduction or casual meeting sometimes led to a discussion of UFOs and Sky People.

  While in Mexico, I often met individuals who told me their stories without an introduction from a go-between. This was perhaps the result of the Maya of Mexico having far more exposure to outsiders, more individuals who spoke English fairly fluently, and more positive experiences with outsiders, especially among those in tourist areas. Many of the stories I collected in Mexico were told by individuals who worked in the tourist industry. As a result they were more outgoing and approachable. In Guatemala, there was a fear of reprisal among the people if they talked with outsiders. This was perhaps a result of the endless violence carried out against the Maya people. In Honduras, the fear of someone in the communities finding out about their experiences was an inhibitor. In Belize, the only English-speaking nation, the people were forthcoming and open about their experiences.

  As an indigenous researcher, I walked in two worlds. I came from the safe and secure world of academia and a country where realizing dreams was possible despite one’s birth. Many of the individuals I met during my journey lived in a state of survival with little hope of upward movement in their societies. On the surface, we found common ground as indigenous people from the Americas, but as time passed, it was clear that we shared more than a historical or physical heritage. Stories of giants and little people from the stars, Sky People, and legends about the cosmos all fused to make us a part of something unique to the Americas.

  PART I

  Walking With the Ancients:

  Exploring Belize

  I arrived for my first trip to Belize on December 14, 2003. Modern-day Belize City, with a population of about 70,000, was nothing like the place that Stephens described. He and Catherwood arrived on October 30, 1839. They saw a thin row of whitewashed houses that stretched along the shore, framed by towering coconut palms. When they arrived on shore, they sunk up to the tops of their boots in the muddy streets. It did not take them long to realize that Belize City was no more than a dirty, tropical village with a few hundred people.

  I found Belize City to be a charming place with an old-world atmosphere. Timber dwellings perched high on posts intermingled with buildings of reinforced concrete. There were two streets, originally named Front Street and Back Street (now Regent Street and Albert Street). The city was divided into thirteen sections with quixotic sounding names like Cinderella Town and Lake Independence. The streets swarmed with people, and the roadways were snarled with traffic. Reggae music blasted from every car and shop. British Honduras no longer existed, and in its place was the English-speaking country of Belize.

  A few days before Stephens and Catherwood set sail for Belize, the U.S. minister for Central America died in office. Seizing the opportunity, Stephens applied for the job to President Martin Van Buren. Overnight, Stephens was an ambassador, commissioned by the State Department to present himself to the government of the Confederation of Central America. This diplomatic appointment provided Stephens with unparalleled access to Central America. I was not so privileged, but I was fortunate to be under the protection of a spirited, spontaneous, adventurous driver/guide who showed me Belize from an insider’s perspective and introduced me to people that few visitors or researchers would ever encounter.

  Prior to flying to Belize, I had already engaged the services of Bud E. Martinez. I found Bud E. (Buddy, as he liked to be called) through Belizean friends who suggested five potential drivers/guides who could not only escort me around Belize but could drive me to Copán, Honduras, the first ancient Maya city visited by Stephens and Catherwood. I interviewed all of them, via e-mail and telephone, before deciding. I chose Buddy, a self-professed Red-Carib Indian, a descendant of the indigenous Carib, who was born and raised in a village near Belize City. Buddy, who described himself as “not so handsome, but definitely lovable,” had a personality that was outgoing and spontaneous. I recognized him immediately when I saw him waiting for me outside the airport terminal. A barrel-chested man whose upper torso overshadowed his short legs, he reminded me of a football player I knew in college. His black hair curled around a baseball cap. His business card declared that he was “the best damn tour guide in Belize,” and before the week was over, I concurred with his advertisement. I also decided he was both handsome and lovable in his own inimitable way. A father of five and, according to him, “the proud survivor of three ex-wives,” he was the kind of individual who had never seen a stranger. When combined with his interest in UFOs and his connection with the indigenous community, his affable personality and uninhibited manner proved to be a major asset as we traveled the highways of Belize.

  The country of Belize is made up of six distinct districts. My visits were centered around four of those districts: Belize, Cayo, Stann Creek, and Toledo. I made three trips in all, following the footsteps of the 19th-century explorers. The Stann Cr
eek District was the home of the Garifuna, also known as the Black Carib. The Garifuna were descendants of the Carib, Arawak, and West African people. The majority of the Maya lived in the Toledo District, although I interviewed Maya in both the Belize and Cayo districts. Their subsistence, based on ancient agriculture, which required shifting cultivation of small plots of black beans and corn like their ancestors, was still practiced. In addition to their small gardens, they also raised pigs, chickens, cattle, and tobacco. Unlike the Garifuna, they did not assimilate to any great degree with other ethnic groups in Belize. Although the majority were Catholic, or at least accepted some of the symbols and beliefs of the Catholic Church, they often mixed them quite seamlessly with their ancient native religion.

  Stephens and Catherwood only spent two days in Belize City before leaving for Copán, which is located in the country of Honduras today. They did not travel outside the immediate area; instead they used the city as a place to rest from their ocean voyage and to seek out government officials so that Stephens might present his official credentials. On my first trip I stayed five days, which allowed me to visit a few small ancient Maya sites that were unknown to Stephens and Catherwood. Along the way, I interviewed Maya and Garifuna people, who told me about their encounters with UFOs and Sky People. Many of the stories were about sightings of strange objects, but several stories stood out as unusual and unique. In the following chapters, I will share those stories.

  Chapter 1

  The Backward-Walking People

  My first night in Belize City turned out to be one of the most interesting nights of my trip. My driver, Buddy, took me on a prearranged sightseeing trip of the city. Little did I know, this tour would include a five-minute sighting of a UFO hovering over Belize City, a visit to the house of one of Buddy’s ex-mothers-in-law, a stopover at the hospital to visit a friend recovering from surgery, and crashing the wedding reception of his cousin. It was at this nuptial celebration, when most of the guests had left, and the discussion turned to the earlier UFO sighting over the city, that I first learned about the “backward-walking people” from the stars.

  “My grandfather said he saw them when he was a boy. My grandfather is a Red Carib. He is 102 years old, so they have been around for a longtime,” Serena explained. “Their bodies are tall and skinny, but their legs are huge. Their knees allow them to walk backward. We call them the backward-walking people. They have strange heads. When they are walking, their heads flip backward so they can see where they are going.” I watched as this tall, angular girl, not yet a woman, mimicked the vision she unfolded. Her cousins laughed as she backed around the room demonstrating the exaggerated movements of the alien creatures she described. She was a striking young woman with long black hair that fell in waves down her back. Unlike her cousins, who were dressed in bridesmaid dresses, Serena (a name she adopted from a movie character) wore designer jeans and an embroidered blouse with a gathered elastic neckline, which allowed her to reveal one shoulder. A mixture of Red-Carib Indian, Spanish, and several other ethnic groups, according to her description of herself, Serena was a beautiful young woman.

  “Have you seen these creatures up close?” I asked.

  “Not too close. But close enough to know how they walk. I can’t describe their faces, but I can tell you they had big heads.”

  “Do they walk forward?”

  “Oh yes. They walk forward, but they also walk backward like they are constantly checking what is behind them.”

  “What else can you tell me about them?” I asked.

  “They stay away from the villages and cities. I don’t think they want us to know about them. They come from the stars. That’s what I think,” she said.

  “Why do you think they come from the stars?”

  “Because we always see a UFO when we see them,” she answered.

  “Tell me about the time you saw them.”

  “I’ve seen them more than once. In those days, Papa [her grandfather] had a small farm in the Stann District. I spent many weeks with him when I was a girl.”

  “How old were you when you saw the people who walked backward?” I asked.

  “I think I was about six the first time. I thought they were funny. The last time I saw them I was about fourteen or fifteen. They were no longer funny. They made my skin crawl.”

  “Can you describe anything else about them?”

  “I was never close enough to see exact features. But what I did see was terrifying. I saw their spaceship, too. It was long like the cigars my father buys in Havana. Round and long, but huge. I never saw anything like that before. It had no wings. I don’t know how it flew.”

  “What else can you tell me about them?” I asked.

  “Papa said their skin was like a snake, but their features were human-like except for their heads, legs, and skin. I should say they were shaped like a human. I was never close enough to see their skin. Papa said that when he was a boy, the men hid women and children from them. There were stories that they abducted women. I never knew if those stories were true, but they scared me when I was little. They scare me now. What if they did abduct women? What did they do with them? It is frightening to think about it. Can you imagine having sex with one of them?” She shivered, shaking her whole body and the bridesmaids, who were as captivated by her story, as I was, giggled.

  “Can you tell me anything else?” I asked.

  “You should ask my cousin, Bud. He has seen them.”

  “Do you mean, Bud, my driver?” I asked.

  “The same,” she replied.

  On the way back to the hotel, I asked Buddy what he knew about the backward-walking people.

  “Sounds like Suzzana—or is she still calling herself Serena?—has been talking,” he said. “It comes from my uncle. He tells stories about these strange aliens that visit the countryside. He says they walk backward.”

  “Have you ever seen them?” I asked.

  “To tell you the truth, I have seen them. I have seen the UFOs and the giants that come with them—the backward-walking people. I know it is too strange to believe.”

  “What can you tell me about them?”

  “They are giants. Twice as big as an average man. When I was growing up, the old men talked about them. They came from the stars. They stole women, and the women were never seen again. The old men would speculate about what happened to the women. The believed they were raped and were forced to have their babies. That was the most popular conclusion. I listened to their stories. But one day, I was at my uncle’s house. It was daylight. Not a cloud in the sky. And I saw a UFO. It was a long, cylinder-shaped craft. It glowed orange and then turned gray. I crouched down to make myself small so they would not see me. The craft landed, and I saw a giant creature get out. At first it walked forward, and then all of a sudden, it began to walk backward. Its knees actually reversed, its head pivoted and it walked backward. It is difficult to describe. It rotated its head around so it looked like it was going forward even though it was walking backward.” He stopped for a moment. “I know this doesn’t make much sense. But that’s what I saw. I can’t explain it any better. All I know is that this creature I saw is not of this earth. I called my uncle and he saw it, too. We both said it was best not to talk about it.”

  “I’ve never heard of the backward-walking people,” I said.

  “You probably won’t again. Sometimes I think it is only my family that knows about them. But if that is the case, they have been targeting my uncle’s farm and his father and grandfather before him. They must come here for a reason. The old men say that it was for women, but I’ve never heard of any disappearances of women in my lifetime. I know these creatures exist. And I know they come in spaceships. That’s all I know, and frankly, I don’t like to talk about it. I think there are things in the universe that we are not suppose to know.”

  We pulled in front of the hotel, and Buddy stopped the van. He got out and opened the door for me. He offered no other information, and I expected he w
ould give none. We parted with a promise that he would pick me up the next morning at 9 a.m. Thus ended the first day of my trip in search of Sky People and Stephens and Catherwood.

  Chapter 2

  A Double on Another Planet

  In 2008, a series of UFO sightings, which occurred for several weeks south of Belmopan, the capital city of Belize, made international news. The general consensus among witnesses was that the lights were definitely UFOs especially because they were repeatedly seen in the same area. The observers described the lights as “circular disks” that appeared in groups ranging from four to twelve for a period of more than two hours. Witnesses likened the lights to extremely bright headlights or big balls of light as bright as the moon. These visits became commonplace in Belmopan with the lights appearing approximately every two years. According to local accounts, UFOs had been appearing for more than fifty years.

  I was scheduled to visit the village of Hopkins the next day. After years of serving as the director of the Center for Bilingual Education at Montana State University, I wanted to visit Hopkins, a village known as the last place on earth where Garifuna was the first language. The trip to Hopkins turned out to be far more than I anticipated. Along the way, Buddy told me about a fifth or sixth cousin who saw the Belmopan UFOs when he was a toddler and had been abducted repeatedly ever since. The last time Buddy saw his cousin, he was living near Hopkins.