by Charles Lear

When a nine-year-old boy in Harrah, Washington, approximately 12 miles west of the city of Toppenish, told his mother a story about seeing strange creatures and their vehicles on the morning of a school day, she heard him out, and then sent him to school. His story would likely have gone no further, had it not been for a teacher’s aide who went with him back to his house during recess after hearing his story and believing him. This lead to the discovery of physical traces that backed up his story and an investigation by members of the Center for UFO Studies and a reporter from a local paper.

According to the article “Harrah Youth Reports UFOs With ‘Greenish Creatures,’” written by Frances Story and published in the January 26, 1977 Toppenish Review, nine-year-old Jose Cantu woke his mother up at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 19, wanting her to explain a “little man” he’d seen outside. His mother, Martha, had had a rough night with her baby and sent him away so she could get some more sleep. Jose then went out to investigate on his own.

Jose came back in and told his mother what he’d seen. According to him, there were two greenish creatures in the yard that were about three feet tall, and instead of having feet, they rotated on round bases. He said he saw two “steely” craft, one sitting in the yard and one on a flat section of the roof, and that there was a creature in each one. He said he observed all this while hiding behind a washing machine outside next to a shed.

As he watched, the two creatures in the yard returned to the vehicles. He said they had “straight stairs” leading to doors that opened “in two parts, like a cross,” and that there were two chairs with tall bases inside. The vehicles then rose up and disappeared into some sort of vaporous cloud.

Martha sent Jose off to Harrah Grade School, and there, he told his story to a teacher’s aide, Diane Gomez. She is quoted in the article as saying, “Jose is a serious boy. He’s not one that tells stories or lies. What he told me, I took very seriously.”

Gomez and another aide went with Jose to his house and he showed them where he’d seen the creatures standing. According to Gomez, where Jose said one of the creatures had rotated on its base, there were two round marks in the gravel, and where he saw both creatures standing together there were three indentations in two separate spots.

The aides spoke with Mrs. Cantu and then took Jose back to school. Mrs. Cantu called her neighbor, Irene Sanchez, and asked her to come over. They examined the yard, and besides seeing the indentations described by Jose and the aides, saw a ten-foot-diameter circular impression in the grass with the grass in the middle “whirled up.” Mr. Cantu said he could see it clearly when he returned that evening from work.

On Thursday, two investigators, Bill Vogel and David Akers came to the house. Both were affiliated with the Center for UFO Studies. They were able to see the circle and the indentations and took Geiger counter readings, which showed no unusual radiation.

Story visited on Saturday and by that time the trace evidence had faded. He could see only one of the “foot marks” and the circle was only faintly visible. He brought along a translator to interview Jose in Spanish, the language he was more comfortable with. The translator is described as being a skeptic in the article and is quoted as saying after the interview, “I believe he saw what he said he saw.” According to Story, Vogel said that he and Akers thought Jose “definitely” had a UFO experience.

Vogel himself had seen a UFO in the area (Story doesn’t say when, but it seems to have been within three years prior to Jose’s sighting) after being contacted by the Toppenish Police and told that Mrs. Stan Johnson and her friend Judi Farquharson had spotted a bright light over Toppenish ridge. Vogel was able to see the light and watched it until it disappeared. According to Story, the Johnsons were area farmers and not only had repeated sightings of lights, but also remained mystified by a series of three holes, six feet wide and four foot deep, that showed up at some point in one of their fields.

Story talked to others who had witnessed UFOs in the area but the closest thing to corroborating evidence he presents in his article is information offered by Toppenish resident Ron Gardner, who’d had a UFO experience in 1958 or 1959 when he was 14 years old and “living in a rural area.” Gardner told Story that there had been reports by CB radio users of a bright light over Harrah the night before Jose’s sighting.