In 1971, Belmez de la Moraleda a tiny town located in southern Spain became the center of a world paranormal controversy that is still hotly debated today.
Maria Gomez Pereira was cooking in her kitchen when she noticed a face start to form on the cement floor beneath her feet. Maria a superstitious woman had her husband destroy the cement with a pick ax. He then laid a fresh slab of cement.
A week later the face reappeared again on the spot where the slab was replaced. Maria then noticed this face faded but later another one replaced it on her floor.
Word spread quickly and people by the thousands began to show up in Belmez with the hope of catching a glimpse of this strange phenomenon that became known later as the Belmez Faces.
Research was done and it was discovered that the Pereira home sat on an area that had been used for 100s of years as a burial site. The Belmez City Council decided to excavate the spot where the faces appeared.
Nine feet down human remains were found. When these bodies were removed and given a “proper burial” it was assumed the faces would stop appearing. But this wasn’t the case.
After this excavation more faces appeared–among them smaller ones that appeared to be children.
Scientists and paranormal teams where called in to try and determine what was happening. * It was felt by many that these faces could easily be debunked. But again this wasn’t the case.
Skeptics immediately announced that it was just a hoax. Over the years many have pointed to the Pereira’s son as the culprit, stating he was painting these faces on the home’s floor and the family was just out to gain attention.
One problem with this is it was determined the faces were apparently within the cement not on it. The mayor of Belmez at one point had the slab completely removed–it had two different faces on it at the time– so it could be checked for tampering etc.
No definitive conclusions were drawn from this investigation including any kind of chemical reaction. No paint was found on the cement.
Bender and Argumosa
The main investigative team of Hans Bender and Greman de Argumosa arranged to have the floor in the kitchen and the home sealed off for 3 days. No one was allowed in during this time.
When the Pereira’s home was reopened it was discovered that the face on the floor that was observed before the home was sealed off had shifted position. Oddly, neither of these two men ever published an official report about their investigations. Bender did make the following statement during a lecture.
“In Belmez, slight changes of the faces’ configuration during the period when the phenomenon was under seal (attested by a notary) have contributed to ensure its paranormal origin.”
Maria eventually viewed the faces as a blessing and the Periera’s stopped trying to remove them. She lived with them for 33-years–these faces were both male and female and appeared in various shapes and sizes.
In 2004, Maria died at the age of 85.
It was believed after her death the faces would stop appearing. They did stop but strangely soon after her death they appeared in another home nearby–the one she was born in.
* Some investigators felt the faces were a “thoughtographic” phenomenon–caused by Maria–which is the ability to burn an image onto a surface with the power of the mind.
The following has an investigator that believes Maria was the cause like mentioned above. It also has an interview with Maria–my impression is she is telling the truth.
