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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Hairy ape man at Guaitecas Islands, Chile

 
Magdalena Island
Magdalena Island, Chile. Copyright © 2010 by Austin Whittall


In a previous post on Patagonian dwarfs at Taitao Peninsula, I mentioned a sighting there by a Chilean sailor in the late 1940s which may indicate that hominids were alive in the region at the time. Today I found an interesting story (totally hearsay, and lacking evidence) which I translate below, regarding an island (Magdalena), which is located just to the north of Taitao:

Anonymous wrote...

Myth or not, a few days ago I heard a story which perplexed me, because, at least in Chile I had not heard about any previous records on this kind of stories
[about the Yeti].

A person pointed out an old local person, that does not know anything about bigfoot or the yeti, because it is an area where not even the radio waves can be tuned, that some forty years ago, they landed on one of the largest islands in the area, Magdalena Island in the Guaitecas islands (thousands of islands, many of them untouched).

The surprise was to se "sitting on a rock a tall hairy man, that resembled a monkey, the dogs barked at it, and the man or monkey... I do not know what it could be ..." he tells ... "went towards the forest".

Strange story isn't it? especially from an old man, that has little or no information on these subjects.
[1].


The Place

Roughly three quarters of Magdalena Island (44°40′S, 73°10′W) is a Chilean National Park, but there is no personnel there and very few visitors enter the park. The island is covered by the dense Valdivian rain forest, and the 6 km wide caldera of the Mentolat volcano (1.660 m - 5,442 ft.) is permanently covered with ice and snow.

The island is placed on the eastern side of Moraleda channel and has a surface area of 2.585 km2 (998 sq.mi.). Jacaf channel runs between the island and mainland.

This was the land of the now extinct Chono natives, boatmen who lived along the beaches, fishing, collecting clams or hunting seals. By the late 1700s, they had disappeared.

Perhaps their (now lost) myths told about strange wild men that lived in the forests.

A variety of Yeti or snowman has been also reported in the Andes just north of Patagonia.

Bibliography.

[1] Cagliani, M. Blog. Mundo Neandertal. El Yeti ¿quién es le culpable detrás del mito? 12.12.07


Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia
2010 International Year of Biodiversity Copyright 2009-2010 by Austin Whittall © 

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