Monday, November 19, 2007

Argentina: Tornadoes and Cattle Mutilations in Argentina

Argentina: Tornadoes and Cattle Mutilations in Argentina
By Silvia Pérez Simondini, Vision OVNI

[Paranormal research outside the U.S. tends to be physically harder due to the lack of easy access to rural areas. This November 2007 report from Silvia Perez Simondini bears witness to the hardships involved with confirming claims of a possible cattle mutilation]

A tornado occurred in the city of Rosario on October 25, 2007. It toppled the television towers belonging to Channels 3 and 5 and the CTI tower as well.
That same night, an incident took place in Victoria which stunned rural residents, who had never witnessed an incident similar to what happened on that occasion.

There is a small body of water called Las Coveras which emerges from the larger Laguna del Pescado. 15 dead cows were found in its waters, some 150 meters away from the shore. The animals had been pasturing in an adjacent field, so it was believed that the storm had lifted them into the air and then dropped their carcasses into the lagoon. The cattleman who informed us of this case, and who has asked to remain anonymous, could not bring himself to believe that this could have been the work of the high winds, as the herd of animals included a bull weighing in excess of 600 kilograms.

The cattleman’s son gave us some slightly confusing clues from which conjectures cannot be drawn, but which led us to look into the subject. He told us that the animal nearest the shore had a circular incision in its back. The rear of the herd had been pointing to the North, which led us to believe that if this event had been the result of the tornado activity, the animals would have been scattered everywhere at random. But since there is no evidence to support this claim, we delved deeper into our investigation.

We visited the area with Pablo Puchet, a member of our team, carrying with us the necessary elements with which to carry out research. Another friend, Javier Rojas, kindly lead us to the site, some 15 km distant from Victoria.

We then had to cross a cornfield, dodging and jumping over barbed wire, to be able to reach the cattleman’s location. We found him with his farmhands engaged in the task of castrating horses – a task I had never seen before and which frankly did not amuse me. We presented ourselves and the men began to tell us their stories

These accounts, told by each of the farmers, are quite possibly the most rewarding aspect of the research, [as they have witnessed odd phenomena] in the wilderness for years. In some cases, they have felt true terror. As time went by, the invited us to share a delicious roast with them. I asked them if it was possible to reach the site where the events took place, and the reply floored me: it was only possible to get there on horseback, and was many leagues distant from this location.

As we had already collected the interviews, we set off on the return journey, with the difference that now we didn’t have a guide to lead us back to the road, some 6 km distant, and to negotiate the barbed wire and the cornfields. This would have not been so onerous if it hadn’t started to rain, but the prevailing heat allowed us to shoulder the burden with dignity.

Upon returning to Victoria, I got in touch with someone who could take me to the site, but by river. That’s when I discovered that when the water level dropped, not even a boat can come close to the spot. The task has been less than fruitful, but it is imperative to find out the location of the carcasses, if only to verify the incisions and the position they were found in. We will have to brace ourselves and do what we must.

This, for the moment, is the report of the events. I hope to be able to see for myself the report given by the cattleman, who asked me again not to disclose his name. This is a request that we always respect from rural people to insure that they continue to place their trust in us, and inform us of any developments.

(Translation (c) 2007 S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez)