Texas Border Business
McAllen High School Librarian Noe Torres is featured in an upcoming episode of the nationally-broadcast cable TV series “Mysteries of the Outdoors,” which will be aired August 24 at 10:30 a.m. CDT on the Travel Channel. Torres appears in “Strange Attractions,” the first episode of the second season of the series, which was filmed at Big Bend National Park in West Texas and in which Torres is interviewed extensively about several strange, unexplained phenomena that have been observed at Big Bend over the years.
“I’ve always been interested in UFOs and unexplained mysteries,” Torres said, “I grew up reading books about flying saucers, Bigfoot, and other strange events. My love of reading and research, in turn, eventually led me to become a librarian. As a school librarian, I work with students every day trying to inspire the same thirst for knowledge and truth that has always motivated me.”
Torres, who has worked for McAllen ISD for 18 years, has written several books about unidentified flying objects and other paranormal topics. One of his books, Ultimate Guide to the Roswell UFO Crash, is the number one bestselling book at the stores and gift shops of Roswell, New Mexico, which is one of the world’s top tourist destinations. Torres is well-known in the field of paranormal research, appearing regularly at national conferences and on television and radio. Earlier this year, he was a featured speaker at the International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is the world’s largest event of its kind. Torres was also responsible for creating the first major UFO conference in South Texas, the Edinburg “Out of This World!” UFO Conference & Festival which is held annually and is now in its seventh year. It was recently ranked the third best UFO festival in the world on Listverse’s “Top 10 Festivals for UFO and Alien Lovers.”
Several months ago, the producers of the television series “Mysteries of the Outdoors” contacted Torres and invited him to appear on an upcoming episode of the show. He agreed and met the production crew at Terlingua, Texas, just outside of Big Bend National Park, where filming took place over a two-day span at Indian Head Trail, a popular local hiking trail that features ancient petroglyphs. “I appreciate very much McHi principal Albert Canales for always being so supportive of me and encouraging when I have to take a few days off to do a filming or to speak at an out-of-state conference,” Torres said. “He and all of the school district officials have always been extremely supportive, for which I am very grateful.”
For the upcoming episode, Torres drew on the extensive research he has done into mysterious events that have occurred in and around Big Bend National Park. “I’ve been interested in Big Bend since I was a teenager,” Torres said. “I have read virtually every book that has been written about that area of the state. Big Bend is unlike any other place in Texas. It is huge, desolate, mountainous, very sparsely populated, kind of mysterious, and sort of spooky. I have travelled out there on numerous occassions and have really enjoyed exploring it.”
Three of Torres’ books – Mexico’s Roswell, The Coyame Incident, and The Real Cowboys & Aliens – contain stories of mysterious events that occurred in the Big Bend area, which has led to Torres being invited to appear on several TV shows, including the History Channel’s “UFO Hunters,” “UFOs of the 1970s,” and “Mysteries of the Unexplained.” Clips from Torres’ appearance on the “UFO Hunters” were shown on CNN’s Larry King Live show on July 11, 2008.
For several years, Torres and his frequent co-author Ruben Uriarte hosted an annual UFO conference in Presidio, Texas, located in the Big Bend region. “We had three really good conferences there,” Torres said, “Unfortunately, it is pretty far off the beaten path and is about four hours from the nearest airport. So, we did not have sufficient attendance to continue the conferences, but we had three really good years there with some fantastic speakers, including Travis Walton, Stanton Friedman, Nick Pope, and many others.”
In his travels, Torres has been to many interesting locations and has spoken to many fascinating people. “Sometimes I feel a little bit like Indiana Jones,” Torres said, smiling. “Ruben Uriarte and I have been on location for film shoots and also have done field research in the deserts of Northern Mexico, throughout the Southwestern U.S., and elsewhere. We have encountered people with some very strange stories and experiences. The way I figure it is that they can’t all be making it up. The truth is out there.”
In the upcoming Big Bend episode, Torres is interviewed about the mysterious crash in 1970 of a U. S. Air Force missile containing nuclear material just south of Big Bend, in an area of northern Mexico known as the “Zone of Silence.” Torres said, “The producers were interested in this mysterious zone where missiles and aircraft have lost their guidance systems, compasses spin wildly, and radios inexplicably stop working. So, in the show, you will hear my comments about this strange area, which some people call Mexico’s Bermuda Triangle.”
Torres also speaks about the many meteorites and micro-meteorites that fall frequently in the Big Bend region. The area is geologically so strange and unearthly that NASA brought many of its Apollo astronauts here to train for the moon missions in the 1970s. “In the Strange Attractions episode, I actually close the show by saying that Big Bend remains extremely mysterious and is unlike any other place on Earth.”
In his job as librarian at McAllen High School, Torres often uses some of his experiences and his contacts to promote reading and literacy at the school. He has arranged for a number of special guest speakers from among the people he has met on his travels. He also gives presentations to students about his books and his research into unexplained mysteries. “I know the topics I deal with are kind of out there,” Torres said. “But it’s all part of life’s mysterious tapestry. It’s part of our yearning to better understand our world and our universe. To quote Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living. What good is our time on Earth if we do not ponder and explore the really big questions, such as who are we, where do we come from, what is the meaning of life, has earth been visited by inhabitants of other worlds, will we ever travel to other worlds, and so forth? Reading, doing research, and studying are all part of this lifelong quest for knowledge that transports us beyond just taking care of our daily needs.”
In addition to its August 24 airing on the Travel Channel, “Strange Attractions” is also available for viewing on Travel Channel’s YouTube page ( https://youtu.be/1ME7cyYzXWU ) as an “on demand” episode, which can be purchased for either $1.99 for SD or $2.99 for HD.
LINKS:
Travel Channel web site for “Strange Attractions” – https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/mysteries-of-the-outdoors/episodes/strange-attractions
“Strange Attractions” episode available on demand at Travel Channel’s YouTube page – https://youtu.be/1ME7cyYzXWU
Listverse’s “Top 10 Festivals for UFO and Alien Lovers” (Edinburg is # 3) – https://listverse.com/2017/04/16/top-10-festivals-for-ufo-and-alien-lovers/
Transcript of CNN’s Larry King Live for July 11, 2008, featuring “UFO Hunters” and clips from the episode done by Noe Torres – https://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0807/11/lkl.01.html
