El Duende reportedly seen in Uruguay

It seems that El Duende has been seen again. For those who don't know, El Duende is a mythological creature in Spanish folklore (think a troll or gnome) that tends to cause mischief to those that happen across it. There was a rash of sightings in South America during 2008 and I had reported on it and the possible relationship to any sightings in Fresno. Well after a near two year hiatus, the creepy little bastard is back and was seen in Uruguay recently.

According to the reports, a duende had been spotted perched on top of some powerlines late at night in the small city of Nueva Palmira. Local shopkeepers and several other witnesses notice the strange creature sitting on top of the powerlines for several minutes. Upon closer inspection, they notice that it would change colors. Attempts to photograph it using cellphones failed, as the image was not clear or usable at all.

According to the eyewitness reports collected by repoter Roberto Tatto, “It was on Saturday night, out comes a business shop owner and he sees a bright light. He noticed that it was at a noticeable height. It was on top of a powerline. He called his wife and a few of his cusotmers, who got closer and stood underneath the figure and noticed that it was changing colors. It had the shape of a doll. With a flash light they illuminated it and it started to move, as if bothered by the light. It looked like a doll of 25 centimeters that would move on the cable. Later on that morning, the local police with spotlights and that’s when it really started to move more. Like it was nervous. It would move its head and get bothered.“

It wasn’t until around 4 am that the creature started to slowly shrink, so much that it had completely vanished. More witnesses were on sight by that time. According to them, after the creature had completely vanished, it left a ‘pearl-colored ooze’ dripping from the cable.

The residents of Nueva Palmira believed that what they had witnessed was either a duende or an alien being.

Personally I just blame this on World Cup hysteria (and those damn horns), but that's just me.

Link to the original article (in Spanish) can be found here.

El Duende in Fresno??

I recieved a text message from my sister earlier asking me about the El Duende. For those who don't know what this is, it's the South American (and most likely Spanish) version of a gnome. Back in 2007 there was a wave of sightings in Argentina. She asked me where she could find the links on YouTube, which I'm posting here.




The Salta, Argentia sighting


I'll be honest, the side stepping thing scares the hell out of me.



This was another one, this time you can see the, well thing, move against the wall.


What does these vidoes have to do with the Fresno area? El Duende is from Spanish folklore, I'm curious if Hispanic folklore has something similar and maybe there has been sighting around the Fresno area?