Monday, November 29, 2010

Spain: An Extremaduran Mystery Beast (1974)

Source: www.zoopedia.blogspot.com and IIEE
Date: 11.29.2010


Spain: An Extremaduran Mystery Beast (1974)

In Spain, Extremadura’s beastiary is both rich and extensive. Creatures of unknown nature, having grotesque or chilling shapes, have terrorized witnesses and entire towns, in some cases. Beings and humanoids form part of the Extremaduran folklore, and one of the first articles of this space deals with José Pancho Campo’s encounter with a strange entity, claiming to be the devil, and displaying hooved feet. This incident resulted in the witness’s untimely death under strange circumstances: similar events have occurred in other nearby locations in Las Hurdes, La Vera and other places in Extremadura, where diabolical apparitions have been reported. The entity or being of Saucedilla, as we have mentioned earlier, is a cassocked being standing some three meters tall, appearing to float in the air. There are direct eyewitness reports of “ojos rojos” (red eyes), a roadside apparition that cannot be explained, or of the Entiznau, a typical supernatural being from the folklore of Las Hurdes.

This region of Spain has not eluded news items on curios subjects, such as the reports published in Karma-7 Magazine #24 (Year 3), November 1974, mentioning that in late August of that year, in the town of Moraleja, a village in Caceres Province, not far from the Borbollón Reservoir, a large number of people witnessed a large animal crossing the lake’s waters. A sailboat regatta was taking place on the day that the “monster” made its appearance on the resevoir’s waters, making it visible to a considerable number of onlookers, some of them using binoculars.

The monster had a length of some four meters and a thickness of 20 centimeters. It traversed the lake at high speed, moving along the surface, and accompanied by another creature of similar characteristics, although smaller.

By the next day, the news had reached local residents and those from nearby. Hundreds visited the lake, without the strange animal ever being seen again. What did people actually see? Was it a prank?

The story is all that remains for curiosity seekers and residents of Extremadura interested in the legends of their region.

(Translation (c) S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to IIEE)