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in December 1969, according to Brazilian correspondent Eduaido Keffel of the German magazine Die Bunte Ilhstriette, March 24th, 1970. Within a few weeks a minor mystery had exploded into a frightening epidemic. Scores of youngsters, ail between the ages of nine and fifteen and all from poor families (ruling out any ransom motive), vanished without a trace. The police in the state of Espirito Santo rallied their forces and began a massive search for a sinister kidnapping ring. But they had no leads. The disappearances seemed random, were not ordinary runaways, and none of the children knew each other or shared a common school. Then in February 1970, four of the missing youngsters reappeared separately. Two were stumbling about the streets blindly, suffering from amnesia. The other pair were able to remember fragments of their adventure, but their stories were as bizarre as a James Bond tale. They had been stopped on the street, they said, and offered a ride in a large American style limousine (quite a treat to a poor Brazilian youngster). Once they were in the car, they were given a cigarette {apparently drugged) and they lapsed into unconsciousness. One returnee recalled that he awoke in a small hut, tied hand and foot, when a stranger entered, freed him, and told him how to find the nearest police station. An eleven-year-old girl identified as Vani said her ‘kidnapper \ was a woman named Laura. Laura fed her sweets and then took her to a field -the--- ae - ae A ae Wo 2 Le where an aeroplane was waiting. Vani began to scream and fuss, and surprisingly Laura gave her some money and returned her to her viliage. Most of the Brazilian victims were boys, although a few girls were included. Once the kidnapping wave received publicity, a number of youths had narrow escapes, fleeing the big cars and their mysterious occupants when they were offered a lift. Local police never caught up with these cars and speculated they were dealing with some kind of slavery ring. Actually, children have been disappearing in large numbers for centuries all over the world, and most of these cases have remained unsolved. In the Middle Ages it was popularly believed that fairies and leprechauns frequently stole children away. The Indians of North and South America also have many myths and stories about children being kidnapped by the little people. The notion alia that para- ' Jessup discussed the case of the teleported Spanish soldier mentioned at the opening of this chapter in his book The Case for the UFO. Among the annotations in the later Vato edition there was a pointed description of bow the soldier had made so much trouble that they decided to let him go. humans kidnap children is deeply entrenched in every culture. In more recent times Gipsies have often been accused of kidnapping. The celebrated Pied Piper of Hamelin, Germany, is more than just a charming children's story. A stranger actually did appear in Hamelin in the Middle Ages, and he lured away 1,50 children never seen again. The event is still commemorated with an annual festival in Hamelin. Children began to disappear in the city of Villa Velha, Brazil, early