Plan 9 from Veghenza

Terror of the Space Monkeys!

poster for the film Plan 9 From Outer Space

(Image caption) "My friends, can your hearts stand the shocking facts about grave robbers from outer space?" (Image caption ends)

Fans of Ed Wood's notorious Plan 9 From Outer Space (in which alien invaders resurrect the dead as zombie slaves) may well question the motives of a posse of Ufonauts seen investigating a graveyard in rural Italy one afternoon in July 1951.

The witness, a farmer, saw a strange aircraft land in one of his fields adjoining the town cemetery. He walked over to take a closer look and found a 20-ft-wide metallic disc perched on struts with a ladder leading to the ground at either end.

The witness was so fascinated by the craft that he initally failed to notice the six humanoids busy exploring the cemetery. The 3-ft-tall beings had monkey-like faces with large round blue eyes. They wore shiny white coveralls and utility belts filled with multi-coloured glass lenses. Each had a breathing tube in its mouth connected to a cylinder worn as a backpack.

The entities communicated with each other by gesture alone. At first, they seemed amused by the witness's astonishment at seeing them. But then a panic broke out among them, as though they had suddenly grown afraid of him. One of them aimed a small metallic tube at the farmer, which emitted a brilliant flash of light but caused no noticeable physical effects.

Enough to Wake the Dead

The monkey-men quickly clambered aboard their craft. The ladders and struts were retracted and the outer rim of the saucer began to rotate. Then the machine slowly rose into the air, emitting a jet of reddish-green flame from its underside. When it reached a height of 30 feet, it tilted at an oblique angle and shot into the distance.

Sources

Jenny Randles: Alien Contact: The First 50 Years, pp18-19.