The following article has been published in the newspaper La Estrella del Loa, Chile, on July 7, 2002.
Calama, Chile - In light of recent reports of a mysterious being jumping on rooftops, neighbors from the Manuel Rodriguez area in Calama witnessed yet another bizarre event that included the death of a lamb. The incident took place last Friday at a home near the local mall.
The incident was reported to this newspaper (La Estrella del Loa - ed.) via telephone at around 10 in the morning. A group of investigative reporters were dispatched immediately to the scene.
After following directions from a resident that identified himself only as "Samuel" on the phone, the journalists arrived at a home located at 3448 Balmaceda Avenue, where several people, including local residents, awaited for the members of press.
After crossing a narrow corridor, they were led to a backyard where they found the gruesome scene of the bloodstained lamb. The animal was found lying flat on the ground a few centimeters away from the entrance to the corral.
Several scratch marks were found on the ground, which were similar to the ones found on the dead animal. The marks were at different locations of the scene; some were at the entrance of the corral, and some were located as far as the back entrance of the property. All the marks were similar; they were all showing three parallel lines, one or two centimeters apart.
The possibility of a predator attack was very likely. The property owner showed reporters the puncture wounds around the neck area of the carcass.
After asking people a few questions, the reporters soon realized who the property owner was: It was a quiet man, who was very shy and didn't want to provide too many details about his personal background for fear of being ridiculed. On the other hand, neighbor Herminio Guzman Amurrio, told reporters what happened. "This happened at about 2:30 in the morning. I heard some noises, as if there were dogs running on the roof. I member the noises because I was already awake; I go to work very early because I'm a baker", said Guzman.
Guzman lives by himself; he lost his wife some time ago. Overwhelmed by the curiosity, he decided to step outside to find out what was causing the noise; however, he did not find anything out of the ordinary. He went back inside and returned to his early morning tasks. Minutes later, he went to work at the bakery as usual and forgot about the strange noises for a while, until he returned home and saw what happened at his neighbor's house. When he arrived at the property, Samuel called him to show him the dead animal.
After "breaking the ice", but always avoiding the camera, Samuel began talking a little more to the journalists. He told them his wife was the one who convinced him to report the incident to the newspaper, minutes after finding the carcass. He also stated that the he had just gotten the lamb the day before. He admitted that the corral door was not closed properly due to a malfunction with the latch.
After consulting his opinion, he confessed the thought of the Chupacabras being involved in the death of his lamb did come to mind a few times. He said it was unavoidable to think about it after several reports came from his own neighborhood a few days ago, to which they mentioned the presence of a strange creature jumping on top of the roofs.
Although his answers and statements were somewhat evasive and vague, Samuel did state that to say that dogs caused this horrible death would be totally absurd. On the other hand, he admitted that one of his dogs was very mean, but incapable to kill an animal in that grotesque manner.
Neither Samuel, nor his family of five (four adults), recall hearing any noises that night. After facing the death of his only livestock, he soon realized that nothing will bring the animal back; therefore it would be a waste of time to keep on lamenting for the loss. He believes it is unnecessary to give too much importance to this incident, but he will make himself available for questioning in case any report needs to be filed by the police.
Jaime Ferrer,
Calama UFO Center
Translation by Mario Andrade.
