Paranormal/Supernatural Events
**********
INEXPLICATA
The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
February 23, 2004
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SOURCE: El Norte Edicion Digital
DATE: February 23, 2004
SAEZ PE STILL IN UPROAR OVER STRANGE PHENOMENON
ASSAILING WOMAN
SAENZ PE (Agencia). From midnite on Saturday until two in the morning on Sunday, residents of 31st Street and 0000 of Barrio Santa Teresita were on the lookout, fearful that the strange events that may have taken place last week would occur again. These attacks were attributed to the work of a "pomberito" (imp, goblin) and black magic.
However, yesterday morning was peaceful, as it had always been in this neighborhood until the strange event shattered the habitual calm. In the meantime, the 26 year old woman at the center of the events is still hospitalized, claiming that she was attacked by a creature standing less than 1 meter tall, completely black, that struck her in the face and wanted to drag her away by her feet. Neighbors armed with sticks, machetes and daggers tried to defend her against something they couldn't see.
Even the police was alerted, and residents were told to call law enforcement again should a repetition of the events occur. Police officers reported to the scene on the evening of Thursday and early Friday morning when the entire neighborhood was turned on its ear by the alleged Pombero attack on the girl, and the shower of stones that fell on the dwellings. They [police] were also witnesesses--although armed with weapons they didn't know where to point at--of the strange "brickbatting" of the homes, according to the police report itself.
As these events occurred on Tuesday and Thursday, the fear was that they would repeat on Saturday, following the logic of one "off night" between events. But this was not the case, and locals consulted by NORTE yesterday pointed out that this is due to the visit of a holy man who prayed with them in their homes.
"I've come to give you some relief, not to increase your fear. And your knowledge of God must be increased, and of the value of the family itself," said deacon Dionisio Castagna of the San Jose Parish, who visited the dwellings affected by these events at the neighbors' own request. "They asked me to bless their homes, and I thought it was a good thing. What's important is not that I should go pour water at the homes, but to give them a chance to speak with God," said the clergyman in a marked Italian accent.
Mario Obregon, a neighbor of the young woman attacked by the alleged Pombero, witnessed her falling to the ground and being dragged along, screaming that someone was pulling her feet and trying to drag her away. "She went into some shrubs were she was beaten. All of the neighbors went out to check the site and found nothing. In the meantime, from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., the shower of stones continued."
"My neighbor saw a shadow behind my house. The locals crowded into the back of my property, and that's when something grabbed this girl and threw her to the ground. When I saw that she was prone, i went back and saw that something was dragging her along. She screamed that it hurt, that [someone] should get it off of her, that she saw a critter, or a man, something. We could see nothing."
"I never saw this, nor did anything remotely similar ever happen to me. The boy who lives next door says it could be the Pombero. I don't know the Pombero, so I can't say, because I don't know. We simply saw something we can't describe, but it was supernatural," he concluded.
According to tradition and the remarks of Maria Jaime, a Corrientes native residing in Canada, the Pombero or "Pomberito", as he is affectionately know, is the most popular of the Corrientes goblins throught the ranch country of that river basin. He also appears in conversation, songs, sayings and tales.
He is short and squat, always covered by his large straw hat. He is as lascivious as the "curup has hairy feet and walks noiselessly--for this reason, he is dubbed "Pirague", a name that has been used to describe indpendent or left-wing politicians.
It is said that the Pombero can be a faithful friend in whom one can trust blindly in a time of need. An inveterate smoker, he likes to chew tobacco, and cigarrettes or tobacco products must be left out for him at night, by a window, on a barbed wire post, etc. For this he is also known as mascadita ("Chewie"). Black tobacco is his favorite.
The Pombero is a protean imp. He can turn into a bird, a floating log, anything. He has the gift of turning invisible and penetrates ranches through any hole. He sings like a small chicken when anouncing himslef, but can imitate all birds perfectly. Out of fear of causing a manifestation, some only name him in low voices, but he also has adepts who claim to have dealings with him and hold conversations as well.
He sleeps in backfills and abandoned ovens. He mesmerizes the girls he wants to seduce, which is why whenever there is a suspicious birth in town and the father is unknown, people say: "Surely it was the Pombero!"
In regard to the Pombero's preference for women, it is said in Corrientes that he falls in love with pregnant women who are carrying girl children. Women say that they know for sure if they're giving birth to a girl, because they can feel, from the very first months, that the Pombero is escorting them when they walk at night, or when they are asleep.
Among the Araucan natives there is also a Pombero known as Peuken who pursues women. He is also a short, lascivious dwarf from the forested regions of Chile.
[...]
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Translation (C) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Special thanks to Gloria Coluchi.
~*~
INEXPLICATA
The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
February 23, 2004
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SOURCE: Diario Primera Linea (Chaco, Argentina)
DATE: 02.23.04
NEIGHBORS BLAME POMBERO
Residents of Barrio Santa Teresita claim having witnessed a paranormal or poltergeist phenomenon that was unleashed in an empty field in this location--an episode they have retold in vivid detail. Blame has been assigned to the popular character of Guaranegend known as the "Pombero".
The Pombero reappeared this time as an explanation to what happened on Thursday night to a local resident, Lili Medero (NOTE--name given as Liliana Nieves in other sources--SC) who was interned in a medical facility with strong, disfiguring blows to her face.
Locals claim that the woman was seized by a metaphysical phenomenon before their very eyes, naming the Pombero as the offending entity. More skeptical hospital workers believe this fallacy was employed to cover up an alleged case of domestic violence.
"We don't know what was going on there. All we saw was something grab her and hold on to her, dragging her along the ground. Some said that it was the Pombero, because Lili said later that an old black creature had seized her neck and wanted to kill her," said Felipe Goitea, one of the witnesses to the strange event.
When a group of local residents entered an empty field in search of the culprit behind a shower of stones falling on their houses, they did so armed with flashlights, sticks and bladed weapons. Upon entering the empty field, they claimed having walked beside a tree under which a "large nest made of branches" was found. It was at that spot that something--they cannot describe what it was--seized the only woman among the men (Lili Medero) and started beating her. They say that for a brief moment, half of the woman's body had vanished into thin air.
Fear spread throughout the neighborhood and some said that they would go off to neighbors' houses to sleep at night until the strange events came to an end, which, they claim, were repeating in the early morning hours of Tuesday and Friday.
At the close of this edition, a priest from the San Josarish had appeared to calm down the residents of Santa Teresita. He blessed the dwelling beside the empty lot where the phenomenon took place, and he was also asked to repeat the blessing in the empty lot, and particularly, in the large nest of branches found under a tree, and which allegedly belonged to the Pombero.
"I have come to bring peace to these people, who are gripped by fear and need something to comfort them. We are going to bless this family's dwelling to inspire peace among the residents of this neighborhood," said the clergyman. Other residents awaited visits from ministers of other religions to repeat the same ritual at the site.
Local residents stated that they are upset because orderlies at the 4 de Junio Hospital did not believe Lili Medero when she told them what had happened. When she described the black imp, medical personnel said that "it was an invention to conceal an episode of family violence."
Skepticism by medical experts is based on the fact that if the woman's assailant was the Pombero, no one can be held liable for the major injuries to her face. It is worth noting--regardless of whether the Pombero was involved or not, or that it may be a case of domestic violence--that the injured young woman is poor, unwed and the mother of a numerous family.
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Translation (C) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Special thanks to Gloria Coluchi.
~*~
INEXPLICATA
The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
February 25, 2004
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SOURCE: El Norte Digital (Chaco, Argentina)
DATE: 02.25.04
WOMAN ATTACKED BY POMBERO WAS IN THE SAENZ PENA PSYCHIATRIC WARD
The woman who claimed having been assaulted by the dwarfish entity known as the Pombero was a patient in the 4 de Junio Hospital's Psychiatric Ward (Room 8) from early morning on Friday to Monday morning. During this time period, physicians were unable to complete the evaluation of her mental condition, but they believe that she suffered hallucinations common to a hysteric attack.
However, there are doubts about who inflicted the blows to her face, leading experts to believe that it could all be a case of doemstic violence, and the possibility that doctors may ask law enforcement to investigate the case has not been ruled out. It is worth noting that Mercedes Liliana Nievas [NOTE--this is the third name given to the victim, the other two being "Lili Mederos" and "Liliana Nieves" -- SC] caused a stir in Barrio Santa Teresita when she claimed having been attacked by a short, black, animal faced entity that beat her. Earlier, both the young woman's family and some neighbors reported that the roofs of their homes had been pelted with shards of brick.
When the police intervened, the woman was taken to Ward 8, victim of a nervous attack that caused hospital personnel to bind her hands and feet and administer powerful sedatives. "She left the hospital on Monday because her family took her away. In other words, she wasn't released by physicians, because we advised her to stay longer in order to complete our findings," Dr. Ramiro Islas, head of the psychiatric unit, told NORTE.
"The evaluation was not completed, but all indications point to a hysteric attack. There are several types of hysteria, and hers was of the dissociative type, meaning that there is confabulation on her part," noted the physician.
Dr. Islas interviewed the patient on two different occasions, and says that she provided a different version in each case. "The first time she said she'd fallen in the bathroom, but I didn't believe her because the injuries on her face seemed to be the product of a blow more than a fall. The second time she said it was a Pombero."
According to the psychiatrist, hallucinations of this sort are very common in hysteria cases "but what is not common is that the confabulation should involve a popular imaginary character such as the Pombero."
Finally, Islas believed that the hysteria attack could be the result "of a conflict that sometimes involves family, finances or critical situations which lead to the nervous breakdown." Consequently, there is the suspicion that domestic violence could be involved.
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Translation (C) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU). Special thanks to Gloria Coluchi.
~*~
Hunt for 'dinosaur' on volcanic island
March 12, 2004 - 3:59PM
Port Moresby: Reports a live dinosaur had been sighted on a volcanic island of Papua New Guinea prompted the deployment of heavily-armed police in search of the mystery creature.
Villagers in the superstitious island province of East New Britain this week said they fled in terror after seeing a three-metre tall, grey-coloured creature with a head like a dog and a tail like a crocodile.
They said the creature was living among thick green plants in a mosquito-ridden marsh just outside the provincial capital Kokopo, near the devastated town of Rabaul which was buried by a volcanic eruption in 1994.
Kokopo's Mayor Albert Buanga said the dinosaur would make a great a tourist attraction, if it existed.
A government official today confirmed police carrying M-16s and shotguns searched the area but found no trace of the creature.
Eyewitness Christine Samei told reporters she ran for her life after seeing a three-metre tall, grey creature with a head like a dog and a tail like a crocodile which was as fat as a 900-litre water tank.
"It's a very huge and ugly looking animal," Samei told local media.
A government official said the villagers had identified the creature from books and movies about dinosaurs.
"They told us it was a dinosaur," the official told AAP.
Although police found no trace of the creature, Senior Sergeant Leuth Nidung warned villagers to take extra precautions when going about their daily business, amid reports it had eaten three dogs.
Villagers were told to report any further sightings immediately to police, who were already organising a more thorough search of the area.
Black magic and other superstitions are common in many parts of PNG's predominantly village-based society.
Each year large numbers of foreigners visit the area to see World War II relics as well as the devastated town of Rabaul - the only urban centre in the world built inside the crater of a giant volcano.
AAP
~*~
March 21, 2004
Indo-Asian News Service - People of a village in Madhya Pradesh are facing hostility from an unseen and a mysterious enemy.
The people of Ratria village in Neemuch, a district in western Madhya Pradesh, for the last one week have been coping up with unexplained fires and stone pelting. And they do not know who is behind them.
Not only the villagers, even the district administration and the police have till now failed to provide any solace to the villagers.
The villagers feel that if their problem is not solved soon, they may soon face shortage of water. "Our wells have started drying up fighting the fires," said a villager.
Ratria is a village around 20 km from the district headquarters of Neemuch, with a population of 1,000 people. Most of the villagers are farmers. It all started a week back when a fire suddenly broke out in the village. The villagers did not find anything unusual in the fire. Assuming that the fire resulted from the stub of a cigarette, short-circuit or a matchstick, they doused it.
But to the horror of the villagers, breaking out of fires soon became very common. "Fire breaks out anywhere in the village and at anytime of the day," said Sardar Singh Gurjar, the headman of Ratria village.
"We draw water from the wells of the village to douse the fire. The wells have started drying up. Major fires have broken out in the villages 11 times in a span of few days," said Gurjar.
But the villagers of Ratria do not have to have to cope with fire only. "Stone pelting is another problem," said Gurjar.
According to the villagers, they suddenly have to face shower of stones. "Many people have been injured in the stone pelting till now," said the chief of Ratria.
"I was going to my fields in a usual manner a couple of days back when suddenly the stones started hitting me from all directions. I ran for cover," said Ram Deo, a farmer of the village. "I thought that it was a mischief. But the same thing happened on the following day also," he said. The harassed villagers informed Neemuch Police about the matter.
Taking the incidents seriously, district police chief Yogesh Deshmukh visited the village. But much to the surprise of Deshmukh, he and his men also came under the shower of stones and had to scamper for saving themselves.
Once the "rain of stones" subsided, Deshmukh sent his men to all directions of the village. He was suspecting the hand of some mischievous person. But all his men returned empty handed.
"We have deployed policemen in plain clothes in the village. Secondly we have decided to take scientists to the village to allay the fears of the villagers. We have also deployed cameramen on rooftops," said additional superintendent of police NP Varkade. "We believe it's a mischief," he said.
~*~
SOURCE: La Ma de Cba (digital)
DATE: March 22, 2004
ARGENTINA: THE MONTE MAIZ PHANTOM
[Note: students of ufology may recognize Monte Maas the scene of the Eugenio Douglass CE3K some 40 years ago, one of the most spectacular cases in South American saucer lore. There are certain points of contact between the following story and "Springheel Jack" events --SC]
A silhouette of a man who walks on rooftops, drags heavy chains and makes strange noises turned into a disquieting "phantom" that has made residents of Monte Marestless. As is common in these cases, the accounts of those who claim having seen or heard this ghostly shade spread by word of mouth and eventually reach local police authorities without the persons who claim having undergone the experience ever being identified. Opinions on the phantom are diametrically opposed, since some claim having seen "a figure standing over 2 meters tall, dressed in black and with spectacular agility" while others say it's all imagination. Journalist Carlos Maldoni has not hesitated to say that the culprit "is a foolish or stupid person in disguise, with a face mask, red eyes and white cape over his shoulders, who ventures out at night to terrify women living alone." Police authorities, in any event, are patrolling the streets and listening to the stories of the terrified residents.
The peace of this 9000 inhabitant locality in the department of Unias interrupted in the past three weeks by a strange creature who wanders the night to terrify residents. It is seen in outlying neighborhoods close to the city limits, where people wait for sunset to shut themselves in their homes under lock and key.
The residents call it "the phantom". Those who have seen it say that it is a young person, very tall and slim, with red eyes. It dresses in white, sometimes black and others grey. Always wears a hat and covers its face with a mask or hood.
The sounds on the rooftops begin after 21:00 hours, as do the calls to the police. Residents claim that it walks on the roof, shuffles and runs, drags chains, scratches at windows and bangs at doors. It doesn't speak or yell -- it has only been heard to laugh in dark or whistle; some claim having heard it imitate the howling of a dog.
One of the characteristics that locals coincide on it the creature's agility. "They say it runs swiftly and jumps over barbed wire fencing and walls without touching them," according to concerned neighbors. Its agility has made law enforcement's tasks all the harder, since the person runs and vanishes into the pasturelands surrounding the town. Police say it appears to have no intention to commit burglary--only to frighten. "It's a sick person that's causing residents of Monte Maiz to lose their sleep," said Sheriff Jorge Vivas.
The sheriff added: "Given its m.o., we suspect [the phantom] to be two youths with a thorough knowledge of the town and the community. [the phantom] moves very quickly and can be in two different neighborhoods within minutes. It knows which homes to upset and chooses those with single women."
In Monte Mathe popular imagination is fed hourly with a new story and a different version of the events. There is talk of a phantom, supernatural doings and special powers are ascribed to the person. The lack of answers from the police has fed the legend.
Police units scoured the area at night and reconnoitered the outlying neighboirhoods. Since the police force is small, they have had collaboration from municipal workers and volunteer firemen. Neighborhood watch groups have also formed to spend the nights awake waiting for "the phantom" to appear. They sally forth with clubs and some weapons, which is of concern to policement. They spend the nights awake defending their homes.
Eyewitness accounts follow.
Ivana Molina: "I went out to the yard and saw a man dancing, whistling and slapping his hands. The neighbors heard similar noises. The next day, I went out the next day and the same man tried to grab me. I ran into the house and phone de police. It banged on our bathroom window and wrote "mueres" (you will die) with its finger.
Oscar Gonzalez: "I was standing in the yard and saw a shadow walking along. I could see its red eyes. We went out with another fellow to find it and [the phantom] jumped into the neighbor's yard. It was dressed in white. On the following day it whistled at us again. We went out to chase it and it vanished.
Veronica Bertrando: "My husband saw it as it crossed the patio. He says it was dressed in grey with a hood over its head. When it went by, the dog barked, my husband went outside and it took off running. He tried to find it but couldn't find it. [The phantom] hides in such a way that no one can find it."
In a report to Radio Mitre in the city of Buenos Aires, Sheriff Vivas reported that the alleged phantom has the following characteristics:
-1.8 to 1.9 meters tall
-dresses in black
-white face (possibily a mask)
-black hat (some describe it as a gaucho hat)
-movements are generally silent
-extreme agility: jumps over fences, walls and climbs up trees with ease
-normally appears between 21:30 and 03:00 hours
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Translation (C) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU). Special thanks to Christian Quintero, Planeta UFO.
~*~
SOURCE: El Dragon Invisible and El Diario de la Republica
DATE: April 10, 2004
CONCERN IN JUSTO DARACT
**Child hospitalized; claims he was startled by El Unudo ("The Clawed One")
SAN LUIS -- Local residents, police and community protection brigades went in search of the elusive creature, but it managed to escape yet again. The child only suffered a fright.
First it was a source of amusement and very few paid it any attention. But the fact is that since Wednesday night, El Unudo went on to become the main subject of conversation in [the town of] Justo Daract after a child was hospitalized with nervous shock after having encountered the mysterious character.
As mentioned by this newspaper in earlier editions, the strange character drew attention when it appeared before some young women who work for the Community Safety Watch, one of whom fainted. In any event, the most serious episode involving this creature occurred on Wednesday night, when a child heading home from doing some errands was startled by it.
According to the information collected, the 11 year-old boy was returning home when on the dark corner of Liniers and Los Andes streets in Justo Daract's Barrio Nrote, he felt someone tap him on the back. Upon turning around, he found something or someone that frightened him considerably. Terrified, the boy ran home screaming, alerting neighbors to the situation. They immediately came out of their homes to find out what the commotion was about.
While residents of this sector, adjacent to the train station, started the search, elements of the 18th Sheriff's Department combed the area as well, without positive results.
Journalist Maura Avila of the RJD1 radio station reached the scene to conduct interviews as the search continued. She told El Diario de la Republica the following: "I was informed that there was a great deal of movement in Barrio Norte, near the hospital, and we headed there just as the police arrived. We learneed that El Unudo had appeared -- a character who has gained notoriety in Justo Daract because he/it has been appearing for several days now, and has now terrified an 11 year-old on the corner of Liniers and Los Andes."
[...] "Those who claim having seen El Unudo [say] that it doesn't have human form, rather an animal one, adding that it walks on four legs and hops, being capable of very swift movments."
The search, conducted by residents, policemen and community watch memebrs, concentrated around the railroad tracks since "some claimed having seen it climb to the very top of the grain silos found there. Some men climbed but saw nothing abnormal. They also search nearby wells without any results. It managed to escape once again."
Regarding the child, the journalist confirmed that "he was taken to the hospital to see if he'd experienced any injuries, but it was made clear that he'd only suffered a good fright."
Beyond the remarks and eyewitness accounts regarding this phenomenon, Maura Avila stated: "Personally, I've seen nothing at all, and I think that there isn't much reality to it and a good deal of psychosis. It is true that much is being said about this character in Justo Daract, especially among the kids, but it could be a case of mass hysteria."
She added that "El Unudo isn't the only weirdo being spoken about in town: "There have been other cases, and not only featuring this entity, and they always take place in poorly lit locations. For example, a naked man is believed to appear in certain areas as well."
Avila finally added that "it is worth noting the time at which these episodes take place, that is to say, Easter Week. In this regard, there are those who speak of the existence of black magic cults that could be involved in these events."
A resident of Barrio Norte told the Panorama Informativo radio show, hosted by Maura Avila, that what happened was "that a little boy was frightened and the neighbors, especially the men, ran everywhere and couldn't catch it, although many saw it. The kid was taken to the hospital and the entire neighborhood is alarmed, since this character, who I believe is known as El
Unudo, has already appeared in this area twice before."
The woman added that "there is very little light in the neighborhood, so let's see if the commission can do something about it because you can't see a thing at night. But there is a great deal of concern now because it's not normal. It isn't a game anymore and an end must be found to this situation."
Many sources claimed that several police officers were able to reach the mysterious fugitive on Wednesday night, and were able to trap it, but in a display of tremendous strength, and because of its slippery body, it was able to slip away and escape with prodigious leaps and bounds.
Sheriff Miguel Miranda of Section 18 rejected said stories, stating that "it is true that there are rumors about a person dressed in black, but officially we have nothing, no reports making reference to such an event. In any case, we have increased our patrols as a preventive measure." The police officer acknowledged having ehard remarks that the creature "walks on four legs like an animal and hops like a kangaroo, but there is no evidence to corroborate such statements."
While some alleged witnesses describe it as a mythical, almost ethereal animal, others have described it as a tall man, dressed in black and caped, covering his face with a mask and using gloves equipped with long, seemingly metallic nails -- a detail which earned him the name "The Clawed One" (El Unudo). His latest apparition leads to the belief that its a person disguised with the aim of frightening the population. Added to this is the fact that children and teenagers in Justo Daracat are fans of the "X-Men" cartoons, whose protagonists are mutants. One of them--Wolverine--has metallic claws as his main weapon for fighting crime.
On the other hand, the exploits of this mysterious creature are reminiscent of others that aroused popular curiosity at the time. Last year, around this same date, there was talk of "The Crow" (El Cuervo), a being described as similar to the bird in question, while in 2002 several locals claimed having seen two individuals clad in white robes, and others recalled another
character whose brief fame earned him the nickname "Green Hood" (El Encapuchado Verde) until he was identified as a mentally impaired individual.
Most people have a predilection for fear at the level offered by a horror film. This explains the repercussion achieved by these strange apparitions. However, beyond the countless anectdotes that keep piling up, nothing proves the existence of the paranormal in these events.
On the other hand, most people suspect that behind this situation are one or two individuals who want to have fun by frightening people, not dismissing the possibility that these could be deranged persons or practitioners of black magic or the occult in general. Some residents of Justo Daract told this newspaper that they knew who were the parties behind this wave of apparitions.
Padre Fabi parish priest in Justo Daract, dismisses the phenomenon, saying that "there are only three things to be said: first there isn't enough street lighting in Justo Daract. Therefore, at night one sees not only clawed ones, but also dinosaurs, sea serpents and other things, especially when there's a psychosis afoot. Secondly, if a prankster is involved, he will be apprehended at any time by the authorities, since the police force is on alert. Finally, if it is a supernatural force, it would evidently be some game of the Devil to confound people, since at this time of the year their attention should be fixed on Christ. Of course, you can add the psychological element to all this, especially in small towns and
cities."
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Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU).
Special thanks to Mario Luis Bracamonte and Carlos Iurchuk.
~*~
Source: El Diario de la Republica
Date: April 11, 2004
SEARCH FOR "CLAWED ONE" CONTINUES
"**Strange character who frightened boy, young women has not been found***
SAN LUIS -- It all began a few weeks ago when some young women left school around 23:00 hours and came across someone described as "dressed in black, masked, with long nails" who climbed deftly up the main flagpole in Pringles Plaza, causing terror among the students.
Almost simultaneously it was said that a person involved with the Community Watch program saw the strange entity in an open field between the Pringles Club soccer field and the Libertario Ferrari neighborhood, while other ladies claimed having seen it climbing up trees in the Juan Esteban Pedernera square of the Barrio 331 Viviendas neighborhood.
Remarks began to spread despite the fact that no formal complaint had been made, according to authorities of the local sheriff's office. Some locals said that the authorities had indeed been apprised of the strange phenomenon, accepting that the stories indeed existed.
Up to this moment, the descriptions of the persons who claimed having been startled in the dark involved a somewhat tall person wearing a mask and who appeared to have horns; subsequent acounts changed its size, although descriptions of its agility of movement remained the same in all accounts.
Little by little, the intrigue increased along with the collective psychosis, and manifestations of "El Unudo" (The Clawed One) took place
in a variety of neighborhoods, times and with other circumstances and appearances.
Reliable official sources said that on the evening of April 5th there were joint operations involving police and community watch personnel to the south of the Ilusind Libertario Ferrari neighborhoods, where some claimed having seen the sinister character near a soccer field.
"It jumped over the barbed wire fences with remarkable agility and moved with such long strides that it appeared to be floating on air, and was impossible to reach," said some witnesses to the enigmatic apparition, while adding that the chase and tracking were fruitless.
That same night, others claimed having seen the now "small" character in the Jardin Ferroviario neighborhood to the south fo the city and in 62 Viviendas to the southeast of the urban radius.
Tuesday night was restful, since no one reported encoutners with "El Unudo" the next day, but Wednesday the 7th caused the most comment and terrified many people, unleashing mass hysteria: an 11 year-old boy from Barrio Norte went into shock after the sinister creature of the night tapped him on the shoulder and showed his terrifying face to him.
The boy was was treated and released from the "Ernesto Pompeo Borsani" hospital. But it was precisely in this medical center that became the source of the rumors, since it is said that a nurse, a doctor and an ambulance driver, along with security personnel on site, caught a fleeting glimpse of the night creature, causing panic in some of the witnesses.
The authorities were informed immediately and a patrol car reached the site, but nothing could be gleaned except for the considerable fright experienced by some witnesses, particularly the nurse. Another guard did not deny this event occured; on the contrary, he said that the Police had been phoned and that nothing was found. Further details were unavailable since "everyone
here was really scared."
A truck driver living close to the Pringles Club's stadium also claimed having seen the character appear over the wall of this building and although this has not been ascertained, he fired some shots against "El Unudo", who seemed immune. A subsequent inspection of the site with a flashlight showed no signs of the apparition.
"It has an ape-like appearance, standing no more thatn 1.20 meters, and leaves footprints similar to those of a goat." This is what some who claimed having seen the creature are saying after having witnessed it climbing the flagpole at Plaza Pringles, the Pringles soccer field and the cereal silos in the vicinity of Barrio Norte.
This apparition is linked to a young woman who was riding her bicycle back to her home in barrio Libertario Ferrari around 3 o'clock in the morning on Friday, April 8th. She saw a strange character jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the 331 Viviendas neighborhood.
Frightened, the young woman pedalled back to the bus station, some 10 blocks distant, to take the bus and return home in tears, as was seen by the very same employees of the bus stop who attended to the young lady.
Large and with a mask and horns; small and apelike, black or brown, with a nude upper torso and covered with tattoos; walking upright or on four legs; leaving goat-shaped hoofprints; climbing trees, pipelines or metal silos; jumping over wire fences and large lagoons, swift and elusive -- these are the descriptions that have been given of the sadly notorious Unudo who has captured the public's attention and caused fear in most.
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Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU). Special thanks to Mario Luis Bracamonte and Carlos Iurchuk.
~*~
SOURCE: El Diario de la Republica
DATE: April 23, 2004
EL UNUDO MANIFESTATIONS CONTINUE IN JUSTO DARACT
**Locals Claim "El Unudo" still wanders through the night***
The bothersome and disquieting manifestations of "El Unudo" (The Clawed One) have become more sporadic but have not vanished altogether, accoridng to
eyewitness accounts from residents of Justo Daract, who claim that the night
still belongs to this elusive character.
Everyone believed that the strange phantom would vanish with the passing of
Easter, but this has not been the case. Some claim having seen it under
different guises.
It was thus that two persons were in the offices of the ADAD organization,
located in Barrio 331 Viviendas, and noticed a being descending from the
rooftop of a nearby building, while others claimed having seen a similar
apparition near the swimming pool of Public School No. 16 in the center of
town and in locations adjacent to said school. The witnesses have been a
community watchman and a young stalwart from the Pringles soccer team.
Nearby Villa Salles allegdly witnessed a similar creature last Monday night,
spreading panic as has occured in early events.
What no longer coincide are the descriptions of the creature's shape and the
color of its attire: it is now being described as small and dark, brown or
black, and at other times taller and dressed in white.
The strange and improbable character seems to be affiliated to some
transportation company, since nocturnal travel by night using hired cars has
increased significantly, according to half-humorous remarks. Many people in
Daract, especially women, now avoid walking the streets after dark.
On Wednesday, police officers in Justo Daract acknowledge having received
reports of a similar event in Villa Mercedes. These accounts state that an
undefined figure had been seen by some persons in the Ciudad Jardin neighborhood in the city's northwestern corner, bordering the Serranias
Puntanas Highway.
"We were told that some persons had seen a kind of shadow in that area,
which has little light at night. Knowing that we were dealing with
apparitions here in Justo Daract, the called us for advice. In any event we
must make it clear that there is nothing that attests to the veracity of
this phenomenon from a police perspective," said police sources.
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Translation (C) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU).
Special thanks to Mario Luis Bracamonte.
~*~
"Black Holes" Devour People
04/26/2004 14:06
A group of 150 people disappeared within one minute
Witnesses clearly saw that a glimmering cloud shrouded the people who entered a small valley. Then the foggy mass lifted off and disappeared in the blue carrying along the first battalion of the 5th Norfolk regiment of the British army - all soldiers to a man were gone...
Vanished in a cloud
The event which occurred on August 21, 1915, when an entire battalion was gone in the presence of other people, had been an official secret for over fifty years. Only in 1967 the documents containing the testimonies of twenty witnesses to this incident, which happened in the Southern Europe near Dardanelles, were made public. A long search for the vanished soldiers was mounted. But none of them had been found neither among the dead, nor among the POWs released by Turks after the war.
Mass disappearances of people are among the mysteries in the world history which are most hard to explain. So far scientists cannot offer a lucid explanation for such strange things, as the disappearance in 1590 of about a hundred men, women and children, who lived in an American colony on Roanoke Island. When the soldiers marched in the village, they saw burning candles and tables set for meal in the huts, but with no settlers around. The first idea was that Indians had killed them, but no drop of blood or dead body could be found anywhere. Only a few words were left carved seemingly in great haste on a tree near the priest's house reading "it doesn't look like... ".
The search for six hundred inhabitants of the settlement Hoer-Verde in Brazil, who disappeared on February 5, 1923, was given up a long time ago. The police thoroughly examined the vacated small town. At school, they noticed a gun, which was apparently used the day before, lying on the floor and words "there is no salvation" written on a blackboard.
"We can only guess why such mysteries happen, but so far we have failed to find any scientific explanation for them," said Zong Li, Doctor of History from Harbin, who had been investigating cases of mass disappearances in China for many years. "Well, how can the disappearance of 3, 000 Chinese soldiers near Nanking, where they held their positions on a December night in 1937, be explained? Next morning, radio communication with this unit was suddenly lost, and a reconnaissance group dispatched quickly did not find any trace of the people. It appeared as if they had deserted, but around there were posts of armed guard and the soldiers could not escape unnoticed. Recently, an investigation in the city archive produced evidence of the 12th company 100 strong of the Soviet NKVD forces disappeared in November 1945. The group was heading for the railway station and did not come back. A search yielded only slight traces like tents put up for a halt, or an extinguished fire. That same year, a train carrying hundreds of passengers traveling from Guandun to Shanghai was lost halfway to its destination, leaving not a single nut. Where might all the passengers have gone?
The Ominous God
Researcher Richard Lazarus suggests that meteorites are behind these mysteries. During their fall on the ground, celestial bodies are charged with a potential as high as billions (!) of volt. On hitting Earth's surface they explode with a violent force, as it happened near the River Tunguska, Siberia. But sometimes meteorites fall apart before they reach Earth, hitting it with a huge wave of energy that creates electrostatic levitation. Under these circumstances, large groups of people, ships or even trains may be lifted up and transferred across vast distances.
Ancient Greeks of the city-states situated in Italy attributed the disappearance of people to the deeds of god Proteus. Consisting of protoplasm it dozes underground and once in 50 years wakes up to have a meal. Proteus could transform into any thing and was imagined as coming to the surface from volcanoes. So, people had to sacrifice to it a hundred of virgin slave girls leaving them near a volcano. And they disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only their fetters. The well-known American writer Dean Koontz in his horror book Phantoms favors a theory of the incorporeal god and believes that Proteus existed in reality.
"It is an enormous mass of protoplasm covering maybe an area of some square kilometers," explains Koontz. "Some millions years of age, it is probably one of the very first forms of life existing in the entrails of Earth or deep in the ocean. Once or twice in a century it eats people dissolving and digesting them almost entirely. Deep pools of water were found in the huts of Roanoke colony. A Chinese pilot searching for a missed train spotted from air a small lake that seemed to emerge from nowhere. Frozen water was found in the huts of an abandoned small Eskimo village on the shores of Lake Anjikuni, Canada, in 1930. The human body is 90 percent water, and that was perhaps all that was left of the dissolved victims of Proteus.
Missing ships
Stories about crews vanishing with their ships are known worldwide. The story of the brig Mary Celeste found in 1872 drifting between the Azores and Portugal is a classic example. A boarding party dispatched from another ship discovered unfinished smoking tobacco pipes, prepared meals, mugs with dried up beer... and not a single sailor onboard.
The same happened near Philippines when in 1955 the steam-ship Hoita was found drifting without a crew, or in 1941, when a patrol vessel in the North Atlantic came upon the ship Iceland to find her engines running and everything looking normal, except that not a single soul was seen anywhere around.
"I blame the so-called "black holes" for disappearance of people", says Jane Lindsett, Professor, California University, San Francisco. "Periodically, time and space on Earth refract, and entire cities may find themselves in a different dimension, which sometimes "spits them out". There are scores of such "black holes " on Earth, and people frequently get in them. A decade ago, a 36-year-old Lydia Kimfield, Androver (Texas), disappeared during her visit to the doctor. An hour later her body was found one thousand kilometers away from the city. An autopsy showed that she had died two months earlier! In the state of New Mexico there is a road on which 19 people disappeared without a trace, the last case being in 1997. The road runs across the desert, which can be observed from air. The vanished people might have been carried over to the ocean or woods where they perished. Objects cannot travel across space, that's why ships were found vacated, but the belongings of those who disappeared were in place".
At the same time, Professor Lindsett cannot explain the mysterious signs on the wall of the Mayan temple and on the tree in Roanoke.
One of the recent bizarre events happened in the village of Stomu, Congo, in 2001 in a quiet area in the north, where the local insurgents were not active. The UN staff that brought humanitarian aid to the village (there are problems with food supplies in that country ) found there neither people, nor domestic animals and poultry. The tribe leader attempted to give a warning in the local language about something awful using a piece of charcoal to scrawl "Run! It...". But the phrase was left unfinished.
Apropos
In the Soviet Union, the authorities generally hushed up cases of unexplained disappearance of people. However, in 1991, the KGB declassified some information about an An-2 airplane, which had vanished from the radar screens thirty years earlier near the city of Sverdlovsk with seven people aboard. Soon, a rescue team in the woods found the wrecks of the disintegrated airplane. Not a trace of bodies or a drop of blood inevitably present after similar crashes was found, only a circle of unclear origin 30 meters in diameter was burnt out on the ground not far from the crash site. Later, the rescuers had to sign papers undertaking recognizance not to disclose anything they had seen.
Translated by: ZM
~*~
Chile: Ghosts in Valparaiso
SOURCE: Planeta UFO
Date: March 8, 2004
FEAR AND TERROR IN THE HAUNTED MANSE
As demolition takes place, more and more strange sounds have made themselves heard. Earth-moving operations have laid bare a series of unexplained situations.
Construction workers dismantling an ancient mansion that was once property of the University of Viel Mar, located at Alvares 132 and which was known in its day as the "Casa de la risa" (house of laughter) because it was supposedly used by the CNI to hold political prisoners during the days of the military dictatorship.
When the demolition operations commenced, workers began to see and hear strange things. "On the first night after our arrival from Santiago, each of us slept in a separate room. After that, we all decided to share a single room, since none of us could endure the noises we heard the previous night," said one worker who chose to remain anonymous to avoid problems. The most common thing, according to workers, is to hear the sound of someone pounding against the windows, or else strange voices. The crying of a child can be heard now and then.
Workman Juan Aburto, who has slept alone in the house several nights, says the situation is rather complicated but nothing to be scared of. "When I spend the night there, I hear many noises and voices, but I try to find a logical explanation for them. I'm almost always convinced that [they are the result] of poorly placed bricks that fall due to the wind. However, tehre are times when the sounds have no logical explanation and that's when one feels fear."
The sounds heard by Juan Aburto can be heard throughout the house, but are accentuated in a property beside it, which was built in 1935. "Strange things really did happen in that house. One could see shadows and even ghosts. They say that a family from Santiago visited there every so often and that they saw spirits more than once."
The construction foreman experienced a strange situation, to say the least. "We were barbecuing in one of the rooms and I suddenly felt someone grab my rear end. I thought some of the boys were teasing me, but then I realized it hadn't been tehm. I don't like to think about this stuff, yet it would seem that a ghost grabbed my butt."
There is no doubt that the house's past is of great historical importance and that the explanation for the phenomena experienced by the workers could be linked to the structure's purpose during the dictatorship. "There is no doubt that bad things happened here. When we started the demolition we found things that aren't part of a normal house. For example, we found a series of tunnels and rather strange passageways," said the foreman. "We inspected all of them, but found nothing."
The last of the dungeons has yet to be inspected, and it cannot be reached due to the earthmoving. However, this appears to be the most important one, because it even has a vent located several meters away from the entrance. Another significant and rather curious aspect of the house is the series of false doors that can be found on the proeprty. "As we demolished the walls we found a series of false doors that lead nowhere," he added. "The best thing would be for an expert to spend the night here, to see what happens."
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Translation (C) 2004. Scott Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Liliana N
~*~
SOURCE: INFOBAE.COM
DATE: June 5, 2004
SYRIA: Witnesses Report Seeing Alien
The entity was red in color and had a "peasantish" look. It was seen in an olive grove near Al-Naiisia in Central Syria, according to eyewitness reports.
The state newspaper Teshreen cites the eyewitness accounts of seven workers who claimed having seen " a strange creature that remained seated for a while before taking running strides to climb up a tree."
According to the peasants, the apparition came to an end when "the creature rushed skyward with incredible swiftness after leaving a wake of smoky white bubbles."
The journal went on to explain that authorities mandated an inspection of the site after the event became known, but nothing abnormal was found.
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Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU). Special thanks to Christian Quintero, Planeta UFO.
~*~
INEXPLICATA
The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
June 8, 2004
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SOURCE: Diario Austral - La Araucania
DATE: June 5, 2004
CHILE: THE MYSTERIOUS SACRIFICE OF COLLILEFU
**Children were sacrificed to appease the 1960 earthquakes**
It was the end of the world. An enormous tsunami had devastated the southern coast of Chile, destroying Valdivia and dozens of coastal towns...and the earth wouldn't stop shaking.
Rivers had changed course, the coast was ruined and hills had shifted. But the earthquakes continued apace, one after another, for days and days. In a term of two weeks beginning on May 22, 1960, seismographs had recorded nine large earthquakes, one of which reached the highest number ever recorded by a scientific instrument: 9.8 on the Richter scale.
In towns and cities people gathered to pray in churges. It was the fear of having to live through the end of the world, people repeated ceaselessly.
Throughout the region, the Mapuches offered up their last animals as sacrifices, asking God to bring an end to the situation. Throughout the coast, these ceremonies were repeated over and over and the smoke of ritual fires repeated day and night ascended ominnously skyward. People went from ceremony to ceremony, desperate and almost bereft of hope.
But nothing worked. No ritual appeased the rage of nature. There was only one way, said a Machi (seeress) during a revelation: to sacrifice a child, as had been done in time inmemorial, when Cai Cai had flooded the earth and only a few were saved.
44 years ago, in the village of Nueva Imperial, a judge had to face the most startling of cases: the arraignment of five people accused of slaying a five-year old boy as a sacrifice to nature in order to bring an end to the earthquakes that devastated the land.
The event occurred in the mountain known as La Mesa in Puerto Saavedra at 20:00 hrs on June 5, 1960. What is most startling is that hours later, the devastating wave of earthquakes came to a halt. "There were nine earthquakes all along the country, runninfg from May 22 to June 6," said Edgar Kausel, at the time director of the Seismological Institute of the University of Chile.
At the entrance to the City Hall of La Araucania there is an emotional picture behind glass that shows two facing serpents and two people on a hill. This is the ancestral myth of the Mapuches, in which the serpent Cai Cai flooded the earth, causing most of humankind to perish. Only a few survived by climbing on a mountain that started to grow thanks to the serpent Treng Treng--an ancestral tale burned in letters of fire in the Mapuche unconscious.
In the abstract to her dissertation, journalist Myriam Rios concluded that the Lafquenches who were [involved in the sacrifice] had been motivated to do so by the feeling of living that basic myth of their cultore once more.
In Collileuf?Machi and other members of the community had a startling reveleation: the aid of the serpent Treng Treng had been the result of a child sacrifice--it was now necessary to do the same again.
Rios states that this was not a homicide to them. "What occurred was part of their ancestral religion, emerging in exactly the same context. From the Mapuche perspective, it is nothing but the culture expressed in its purest belief--the origin myth."
She agrees that it is almos impossible for a Western mind to understand what happened. "It is something we neither lived through nor believe in," but believes that we can at least accept it.
Five people were found guilty, although only two were processed and released two years alter. However, all of them suffered cruel mistreatment during their prison terms, causing protests and a petition from anthropologists involved in the case.
Judge Jorge Osses ruled that the accused acted without free will and "motivated by an irresistible force of ancient custom." Their fear was not of the powers of nature, explained the magistrate to the press, but of the power of the Machi.
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Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Special thanks to Liliana N. O.
~*~
SOURCE: Diario Austral de Temuco
DATE: 07/26/04
CHILE: SATANIST BEHEADS PRIEST IN SANTIAGO CATHEDRAL
***"I know where the Satanic sects meet in Araucania"***
***Sociologist Humberto Lagos analyzes priests' murder***
***Doctor of Theology states that Chile has turned into a paradise for Satanic cults coming in from other countries***
The crime against Father Faustino Gaziero D' Stefani, 69, who died after being beheaded by a 25 year old man during a mass that was being held on Saturday afternoon at Santiago Cathedral, revealed not only a horrifying murder, but also the existence of Satanic cults in our country.
Witnesses claim that the assailant, after slaying the priest, shouted: "For Satan" and "I am Satan" while autoinflicting several wounds to his abdomen and neck using the knife used to commit the homicide, before the dozens of churchgoers who attended the religious rite.
Sociologist and attorney Humberto Lagos, born in Nueva Imperial, is one of the most knowledgeable persons in our country on the subject of cults. He states that all elements point to the fact that the author of the crime belonged to a Satanic cult.
- Was the Santiago attack a strictly Satanic event?
- "We still do not have all of the information needed to issue a definitive opinion, althought when the homicide became known, I immediately set forth the hypothesis that whoever was behind such a horrible crime was a person tied to some religious order that was sectarian, fanatic and destructive."
- What is your analysis of the event?
- "Well, the assailant was present throughout the entire mass, and as it ended, he appeared and attacked the priest from behind. He slit his throat. Throat-slitting is also a ceremonial gesture, if one reads it from what satanic sects do in their internal practices. We must then bear in mind that the murderer is looking to create a spectacle. In other words, the impact of the situation is a direct assault against Christianity as expressed by the Catholic Church, and the killing also took place in the most significant center of Catholic worship in Chile. The other item that wasn't very clear at first was that the murderer shouted at the top of his lungs that he was a Satan worshipper, practically assuming that he was Satan incarnate. If one thinks about these events, from the analytical point of viw, one realizes that there was some sort of premeditation, that it wasn't all the result of an insane mind that decided to kill a priest at a given time."
- Are there Satanic cults that could order one of their members to kill a priest, as a test?
"The hypothetical supposition is that the murder was designed by a fanatical group firmly rooted in Satanism. The last elements of proof that I have suggest that there is probably a commitment by a group of religious sectaries that are opposed to Christianity."
-What is the most recent information collected on this case?
"The police went to the house where the perpertrator lived. They found Satanic paraphernalia everywhere. They found black sheets on his bed, horns belonging to a sort of goat, satanic apocalyptic images, inverted crosses...this person's body is covered in satanic symbols such as tattoos and even a mark created by a hot iron brand, like what would be used on an animal. It is a badge of honor among fanatics to withstand pain and bear the devil's mark to the bitter end."
- The crime consummated on the Church altar, is it a sacrifice to deliver the priest's body to Satan?
- This is basically what I'm seeing. The beheading has symbolic meanings. In my opinion it's a malign imitation of the lamb sacrificed in Judeo-Christian ritual, in which the animal is slain to be given to Jehovah-God. This comes from the Old Testament and still survives in numerous groups. What happened in the Cathedral can be read as a way to offend this other tradition, which is really a sacred sacrifice in which the animal is slain as a thanks to God."
The expert believes that there are some 400 Satanic sects in our country. Among them display several variants of international satanism that are operating in Chile, such as the Satanists who belong to the Temple of Seth, the Church of Satan and the Luciferians.
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Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Special thanks to Liliana Núñez.
~*~
SOURCE: Diario La Estrella de Arica Año XXVII - Nro. 10.343
DATE: Sunday, August 1 2004
STRANGE CREATURES REPORTED IN PAMPA ACHA
Two strange creatures, described as small dinosaurs and with a physical appearance similar to that of a kangaroo, were reported by the occupants of a Terrano pickup truck traveling between Iquique and Arica on Thursday night.
The vehicle's driver, Dario Riquelme, was traveling in the company of Army official Hernan Cuevas, his wife and two young children. According to his account, the situation left them feeling rather nervous and confused at 9:40 p.m. that evening. The event took place in the Pampa Acha sector exactly, only a few minutes before passing by Presencias Tutelares, located some 17 km south of the city.
Riquelme and his party had left Iquique at 6:00 p.m. They were only a few minutes away form Arica and were holding a normal conversation when something strange darted in front of the vehicle. "My companions said: "look at that tremendous beast" and I managed to hit the brakes. Then after a few minutes, the second one ambled past and it was even more startling, because it was just like a dinosaur, walking on two legs. It had very noticeable thights," Riquelme said.
According to the driver's description, the figures were grey and hairless. The second one, which crossed a few minutes later, was clearly seen by Riquelme, Hernan Cuevas and his 12 year-old daughter Tania. They estimated the creature's height at 2 meters thanks to the fact that the beast's distance from the vehicle at the moment it crossed them was not more than 4 meters. In the case of the second "animal", they said ti was smaller, but were able to see it clearly because it was a clear night and there was moonlight. However, what was most remarkable about both creatures was the speed at which they crossed the road and the strides they took.
The trip from Iquique, where Riquelme and Cuevas had gone to purchase a vehicle, had been normal up to that point, but the strange event caused nervousness among Mr. Cuevas's wife and daughter. "The good thing is that when they started screaming, my companion and I didn't lose control and kept calm. Later we stopped to smoke a cigarette and walk around. From there I descended calmly to Arica, but I'm still nervous," explains the driver, who reached "La Estrella" imediately after reaching the city.
Riquelme's account coincides with that of Hernán Cuevas, who is a recruiting officer with the Army in this city. "When the first crossing occurred, I asked Dario if he had seen it and he said yes. Then we started making comments on what it might have been and shortly after another one walked by, shorter, but very similar to a dinosaur or a lizard running on two legs. Even my daughter saw it and let out a scream," said Cuevas.
12 year-old Tania stated that the creatures were very similar to a dinosaur and with short hands. Meanwhile, the Mrs. Cuevas almost didn't realize what was going on because she was paying attention to the couple's young child, who was asleep.
Neither Riquelme nor Cuevas had ever experienced a similar situation and will not even compare it with descriptions of other creatures, such as the alleged Chupacabras that attacks and exsanguinates animals in the field. But they have still not managed to find an explanation for what they saw Thursday night.
Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Special thanks to Claudo Ojeda.
~*~
INEXPLICATA
The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
August 3, 2004
_________________________________________
SOURCE: La Estrella de Arica
DATE: Tuesday, August 3, 2004
CHILE: MORE STRANGE CREATURES REPORTED IN ACHA
Fernando Perea
An animal very similar to the one shown here has been reported in the Pampa Acha sector, 20 km from our city. The latest case involved four of thse creatures and at almost the same time of day.
A new report involving the sighting of strange animals in the Pampa Acha sector was made know in our city yesterday and coincides almost exactly with the one described on Thursday by the driver of a pickup truck carrying 5 passengers from Iquique to Arica and which we published in our Sunday edition.
This case involves the six members of the Abett de la Torre Diaz family, whole live at Fuerte Baquedano in the community of Pozo Almonte. All of them were travelling from their home toward Arica two weeks ago and as they crossed the Pampa Acha sector, less than 20 kilometers away from the city, near Presencias Tutelares, they were faced with four creatures they described at first as "dog-faced kangaroos" that moved slowly through the air.
The event occurred at approximately 21:00 hours and left almost all of the family's memebrs traumatized. The family consisted of Carlos Abett de la Torre, an Army subofficer, his wife Teresa, their three children and a 3 year-old nephew. "I was traveling in the backseat with my brothers, talking, and suddenly everything went dark. Then I told my brother what I was seeing and he told me to keep quiet, because Mom gets nervous. Later I looked through the window and saw some things that looked like birds, with dogs' heads and backswept wings. My father said they were like gargoyles," explained Carmen Abett de la Torre, one of the couple's daughters.
Carmen added that she wasn't very sure if the creatures had wings or elgs, but that they moved them toward the back (sic). The height of these animals was calculated at some two meters: Two of these beings flew over the vehicle; minutes later, another two appeared, but this time leaping in front of the vehicle. "We were speechless for some 10 minutes and my Mom told us to react, and then we started discussing what we'd seen," said Carmen.
Teresa Díaz, Carmen's mother, was traveling in the front passenger seat beside her husband and was the one who saw the entities the clearest. Her impression was that these animals were moving slowly over the car first, and then in front of it. However [they appeared to match] the vehicle's speed, which was nearly 100 kilometers per hour.
The situation caused such nervousness among the whole family that all they wanted to do was get to Arica to forget the traumatic incident. Once in the city, they told their relatives what had happened. "Then we were terrified to go back," Teresa added with regard to the day they were getting ready to return to their home in Fuerte Baquedano.
At the time of the strange encounter, the moonlight provided certain visibility, which in this case, as well as in the earlier one made known last week, enabled the event to be clearly seen. Furthermore, the animals did not go any farther than 20 emters from the car in which the Abett de la Torre family was driving. All of the family's members agreed about what they had seen. They are startled and nervous as a result of their sighting. None of them went public earlier for fear of ridicule and mockery.
Teresa Diaz's husband is a subofficer with the "Cazadores" regiment of Iquique and according to his wife, he had never seen anything similar after 25 years of driving along the same highway in this region.
Carabineros of the Cuya barracks stated that until now no one has approached them to report a similar event. However, they had heard of strange creatures being witnessed in the Pampa Acha sector from third parties. In any event, they added that they constantly patrol the road and near the sector where the incident occurred. Nothing unusual has been found up to now.
There are now two eyewitness accounts of these strange animals in the same sector and almost at the same time. This is reminiscent of what occurred last year in Chaca, where a hundred birds were found dead from exsanguination. At the time, one witness claimed having seen an animal attacking the birds, and according to his description, the assailant was similar to the ones reported by both families in recent weeks: in other words, a sort of bird or kangaroo standing two meters tall, with lower extremities shorter than its upper ones and which moved by taking prodigious leaps.
Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Special thanks to Liliana Núñez.
~*~
INEXPLICATA
The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
August 6, 2004
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SOURCE: La Estrella de Arica (Chile)
DATE: Thursday, August 5, 2004
ACHA PHENOMENON ATTRACTS INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION
Young men traveling in vehicle show the puncture marks in their vehicle's tire. The claim feeling blows against their car while touring the Presencias Tutelares sculpture.
Three young me from the Españoleto sector of Villa Universidad visited the Presencias Tutelares section in Pampa Acha driven by reports of encounters with strange creatures. Their curiosity, however, played a trick on them: as they were reaching the site at 20:00 hours, their Ford Festiva received several blows from something they couldn't see. Their suprise turned to panic when they felt one of the tires begin to lose air, showing signs of having been punctured with a sharp object. "We turned around immediately," said Calezca Fuentes, who traveled with her brother Danelo and Paola Astorga, his girlfriend. Once they reached the city, they ascertained that the tire had eight puncture marks.
Phone calls were recieved yesterday from news media in Santiago, Colombia, Argentina and researchers linked to paranormal subjects all day, requesting more background information on the sightings of strange animals in Pampa Acha, near the Presencias Tutelares sculpture.
"La Estrella" also received a variety of opinions to account for the phenomenon, substantiating the opinion given by ostrich breeder Ricardo Arancibia, who claims that what the traveling families encountered on the road were these birds, which had escaped from another area breeder.
Yesterday, avian biologist Ronny Peredo provided information substantiating Arancibia's remarks, saying that ostriches can indeed reach speeds of 100 kilometers an hour, between 72 and 96 KMH to be exact, and are able to take flying leaps.
"We must udnerstand that at night, and when people have not seen an ostrich up close and personally, they tend to be startled and confuse things," Peredo explained. The biologist added that one of the characteristics that most led him to think that this type of flightless bird was involved is the description of the creature's wings being swept backward. "This is typical of these birds, because when they run, they extend their short wings backward, precisely to keep their balance, and that's what they often do when they encounter people."
Further supporting information can be found in the height and color of these birds, which coincides with the descriptions given of the creatures, which is to say, standing nearly 2 meters tall and grey in color. With regard to the question of would ostriches be able to survive two months alone in the desert, Peredo said that it is probable that they adapted to their environment "because they eat everything, from insects to branches, fruits, anything they can get a hold of, and it is likely that they would come close to the highway to feed."
However, Dario Riquelme, the first one to go public with his story of the strange encounter with these beings, completely rejected the statements involving ostriches, because he is sure of having seen something he'd never seen before. Furthermore, he claims being knowledgeable about these brids, as well as the ñandú, and says that neither bird looks anything like what he and the family of Army official Hernan Cuevas saw in the Pampa Acha sector last Thursday night. "I was afraid of being ridiculed when I told my story. Now those who say that ostriches are involved are the ridiculous ones. What they say is a laugh, because they don't look anything like what we saw, and one thing has nothing to do with another," he said decisively.
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Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Special thanks to Liliana Núñez.
~*~
INEXPLICATA
The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
August 11, 2004
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SOURCE: El Vocero (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
DATE: August 10, 2004
HIGH SEAS: HALLUCINATION OR MONSTER VISITATION?
[To our readers: it isn't often that we preface a news report with
editorial comments. This story was received this morning from a highly valued IHU correspondent and it involves the sad situation of migrants leaving the troubled island of Hispaniola (divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in search of a better life elsewhere. In this case, forty-two would-be refugees died in the high seas before being rescued by fishermen, and among the details of their ordeal there is -- of all things -- a monster sighting. A hallucination caused by thirst, hunger and exposure? Or a sighting of a paranormal entity mocking the boat-people's plight? You be the judge.--SC]
37 Dominican Castaways Found Alive
by Joaquin Asencion-EL VOCERO
NAGUA, Dominican Republic -- Fishermen from Matancitas, located in Nagua (180 km NW of the Dominican capital) rescued 37 castaways alive, two of whom died enroute to the hospital, along with 42 who died in the high seas, out of a total of 79 dominicans who were stranded in the Atlantic Ocean for 12 days despite intense searches by the Dominican Navy and Air Force and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The group of survivors was sighted adrift in the high seas at 4:00 p.m. this Tuesday. Their fragile vessel was towed to the Nagua shoreline where authorities and rescue workers reported to transfer them to the Antonio Yapur province of this northwestern province. The majority of the castaways were natives of Yuna - Villa Riva, Arenoso, Villa Altagracia and Higuey. 25 of the undocumented survivors were from the community of Yuna y Villa Riva.
[...]
Dr.Rafael Emilio Chalas, who heads the medical team tending to the illegal voyagers at the Yapur Hospital, said that the health of these survivors is ery delicate, and efforts are being made to keep others from dying as a result of the acute dehydration of their frail bodies. Among the 37 rescued alive are Dany Cruz, Francisca Paulino, Ricardo Rojas, Kelvin Rodríguez, Francisca Mejía, Domingo Vásquez, Villa Riva, Fello Cedeño, Odalis de Jesús and Yamara Amparo among others.
Meanwhile, one of the tragedy's survivors told EL VOCERO that while they were adrift in the high seas, following no certain course, a "monster" with vast wings appeared before them. Filled with panic and fear, they began to read a book of the New Testament they carried aboard their yowl, but that the pages of the holy text vanished mysteriously from their hands.
Out of the 79 undocumented migrants, 37 were rescued and the remaining 42 perished. The majority died of hunger. Others became desperate and went insane, causing them to jump into the sea and drown, according to some survivors. Although 79 people were supposedly traveling in the vessel, some of the survivors claim that the actual count was more like 82, mostly young people and children.
The vessel left in the early hours of Thursday, July 29 headed for Puerto Rico, but was left adrift with its passengers.
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Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic Ufology. Special thanks to Dr. José I. Gómez.
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