FFabio Picasso, who seriously delves in the fantastic and cryptozoology,[1] has published on the web an interesting article on a “snow man” at Rengo, Chile in 1956 and 1957. I believe it is interesting, considering all my previous posts regarding Homo erectus and its possible entry into America before the arrival of modern humans.
The creature was described as a potbellied being about 2 m tall (6.6 ft.), clad in furs. It was referred to as an “ape man”, with long arms and long hair (it reached its waist).
The exact location is the following: VI Region, Cachapoal province, on the slopes of the extinct Palomo Volcano, close to the border between Argentina and Chile, and just north of Tinguirrica Volcano (home to some dwarves, the Tinguirricas – see map showing location).
Palomo (34° 36’S, 70° 17’W), is 4,850 m (15,901 ft.) tall, and is very close to the village of Popeta.
Carlos Soto, an eyewitness said he saw “an enormous man covered with hairs” [1].
Though not in Patagonia, it is quite close to it, just to the north of its northernmost reaches. Its habitat is similar to that of the other Patagonian mountains, which are all part of the Andean mountain range.
Could the hairy being (dressed with furs like a cave man) be an extant Homo erectus?
A hairy apeman has been reported in Patagonia, close to Taitao Peninsula: it is a variety of Yeti or snowman seen on Guaitecas Islands.
Maybe a hoax
Then again the whole thing may have been a hoax, a joke. At that time the “yeti” abominable snow-man was in the media. Yeti tracks were photographed and published in Life magazine and other newspapers in 1951. [3]
This “caused a sensation and the world was launched into a yeti craze” [4], which surely would have reached even the remote village of Popeta in Chile.
In 1953, Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first men to climb Mount Everest on the border between Nepal and China. And, they said that they had seen large prints in the snow (yeti footsteps). [2] Hillary returned to lead another expedition searching for yeti evidence. [3]
Some websites that deal with cryptozoology also mention some "snowman" sightings further north along the Andes, in the Argentine provinces of Salta and Jujuy, and, the witness who saw the creature in the mid 1950s was a fellow named: Audio Level Pitch.
This is evidently a joke (someone got the name from a radio manual on how to handle the gadget's volume!), furthermore Audio is not a name (nobody is called Audio in Argentina), it is as fake as being called: Ipod Gigabyte Broadband.
However the "Ucumar" myth is true and can be found in the northern reaches of Argentina but it may be related to a local variety of bear, which is very rare (the only South American Bear), the Spectacled bear.
Sources.
[1] Fabio Picasso, (2008). El abominable Hombre de las Nieves de Rengo (Chile). EL FUEGO DEL DRAGON. Boletin Mensual de Ovnilogia. No. 113 Jan. 2008.
[2] Sue Hamilton, (2007). Monsters. World of Horror. ABDO- pp. 13
[3]Epitaph to the elusive abominable snowman. Life Magazine. Jan. 13, 1961. Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. +72.
[4] David H. Childress, (2001). The Yeti, from Far Out Adventures: The Best of World Explorer Magazine. Adventures Unlimited. pp. +465.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia
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