The strange voyage of the Maria

Location. Pacific Ocean
Date: 1936 (approximate date) Time: daytime
A Russian civilian transport steam vessel the “Maria” from Leningrad was crossing the Pacific Ocean. Suddenly one day the officer of the watch noticed a strange apparatus ahead on the water, remotely looking like a vessel that ascended out from the ocean. No signs of life could be seen on it and the strange vessel did not respond to the Maria’s radio signals. After a period of observation the Captain of the Maria ordered the launch of a small boat to find out what the object was. Five sailors approached the object in the rowboat and the rest of the crew watched the boat approach the object and the sailors board the strange object. In a short period of time the strange vessel began moving away at very high speed and soon disappeared into a cloud or fog. An attempt to follow it and intercept the vessel was futile and after several hours of searching and waiting the Captain of the Maria ordered its vessel to continue on its original route. As the ship returned to the area several days later the Captain order its crew to follow the same previous route. Coming close to the location of the previous unexpected meeting the officer of the watch caught a glance of a strange boat, unlike any normal boat he had ever seen. This boat was made of a transparent material. Inside the boat there were 3 sailors of the original 5 that original set out to investigate the anomalous object. When the Maria approached the boat one of the sailors screamed and jumped into the water. Despite an immediate search his body was never sound, apparently submerging into the abyss. The other two were taken onboard, they seemed happy to meet their comrades again. After that they told an amazing story. When they were taken onboard the strange craft, they were surrounded by strange entities, dressed in dark shiny suits, look frogmen. Their extremities were only similar to humans, having small webbed membranes between the fingers. The aliens exchanged glances between them (obviously communicating by telepathy) not verbally. Sometimes they exchanged gestures. The aliens then told the humans that there was no way back, and requested that they stay with them. Two of the sailors immediately agreed, they were then separated from the rest and were never seen again. The other three were imprisoned in an isolated room where they spent about 2 days according to their estimation. Soon and by unknown means, the three men found themselves onboard the strange boat, with a stock of strange food resembling tablets in transparent pockets, that the aliens had also offered them onboard the strange vessel. It was enough to eat 1 or 2 such tablets to feel no hunger. One of the men (the one that jumped in the water later) refused to eat the tablets and while the rest slept became tired with fruitless observations of the ocean and grabbed the alien provisions discarding them into the water. They remained without food for 1 day, but felt no hunger. Subsequently they noticed the Maria approaching their location. When the “survivors” were taken onboard and the Maria began moving away from the area the strange boat was suddenly surrounded by waves and sank into the ocean. The crew onboard had not been able to take the strange boat onboard since it had nothing to hook on to. After arriving back to Leningrad the Captain of the Maria sent a report to the Ministry. The Captain and the two remaining sailors were called to the Ministry and interrogated. One of the sailors was labeled a psychotic, the second refused to cooperate any further. The Captain was very persistent in his testimony, referring to the watch journal and stating that everything was accurately documented. But subsequently he was forced to back off and admit that nothing had occurred. Soon the Captain was transferred to another ship.

HC addendum
Source: Engineer Lev A. Popov, quoting the Files of Felix U. Zigel and
Anton Anfalov
make up your own mind

Respectfully, its a good story. If you could provide some information to lend credence to this account, that would be great. Dont take this as me telling you I think this story is full of holes or its bs or anything of the such. There are many accounts that are out there that cant be proven. I'm just saying, "If at all possible, I'd like to hear more". Thanks for putting it out there for us at least.

spikeD.

reply to post by goblin79


Hey there goblin79,

Great story, as 'spikedmilk' said do you have anymore details e.g;

Where did you find this info and what was there source ... are there any official documentations mentioned (naval records etc). Still a great story either way.

Thanks for posting. Woody

The main source is Ukrainian Ufologist Anton Anfalov who got it from a guy named Popov who apparently found it in Felix Zigel's unpublished archives. Zigel was a very prominent Russian Ufologist who wrote several books and was a pioneer in investigating humanoid or entity encounters from the former Soviet Union. I would think that it will be difficult to obtain any original material but I can contact Anfalov to see what he says.