INVESTIGATIVE FILESJ O E N I C K E L L

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While visitingArgentina for the2005 Primera Con-

ferencia Iberoamericana SobrePensamiento Crítico (“FirstLatin American Conference onCritical Thinking”) in BuenosAires, I was also able to take alook at some local mysterieswith which I already had somefamiliarity. These included ahaunted cemetery, miracles ofpopular saints, and tales of ani-mal mutilation by the dreadedchupacabras. Here is a brieflook at each in turn.

Haunted CemeteryIt is a memorable sight: “a citywithin a city,” as one writerdescribes it (Winter 2001).Actually, it is a city of the dead,a necropolis consisting of nar-row alleys lined with ornatecrypts and mausoleums. Givenits roster of burials of the richand powerful, it is said that“For the living and dead alike,Recoleta is Buenos Aires’s mostprestigious address” and “one of theworld’s grandest graveyards” (Bernhard-son 2004, 72). (See figure 1.)

I visited the memorable Cementeriode la Recoleta on September 14, in partto view the crypt of Eva Perón. (The lateactress-turned-controversial-first-lady isdiscussed in the next section of this arti-

cle.) An Internet search had turned up acautionary remark: “Everybody will tellyou the stories about this interestingplace, but don’t believe all of them;ghosts don’t walk there at night” (Fodors2004). Sure enough, two days after myvisit, a local guide told me just such atale about the cemetery.

As the story goes, one nighta man met a woman in theneighborhood, and the pairwent to the cemetery for atryst. She borrowed a jacketfrom him but then suddenlyran away. He followed, search-ing for her. Eventually, hefound his jacket at a crypt bear-ing a picture of a young womanwho was entombed there. Itwas the same young lady!

The guide who related thetale, Paola Luski (2005), toldme she was dubious of it. Shesaid one reason to question thestory was the general absence ofpictures of the deceased at thetombs of Recoleta.

More important, the taleseems especially doubtful be-cause of its obvious similarity to the widespread “VanishingHitchhiker” urban legend (albeitwithout that story’s automobile).Shared narrative elements (ormotifs as folklorists say) includethe meeting of the pair, theirlinking up, the young lady’s dis-appearance, and the cemetery as

the final destination and scene of revela-tion. The jacket (like the coat, sweater,etc., present in some versions of the pro-liferating hitchhiker tale) is clearly

Argentina Mysteries

Figure 1. Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires is a grand city of thedead. (Photo by Joe Nickell)

Joe Nickell is CSICOP’s Senior ResearchFellow. His Web site is at www.joenickell.com.

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intended to provide verisimilitude (asense of truthfulness) to the story, and itrepresents an unmistakable link with thefamous roadside-phantom narrative.

Thus, the Recoleta tale is simplyanother variant of the ubiquitous legendwhich has antecedents as far back as1876. As American folklorist Jan HaroldBrunvand (1981, 21) points out, multi-ple versions of a tale provide “good evi-dence against credibility.”

Popular SaintsUntil quite recently, Roman Catholi-cism was the official religion ofArgentina, and it still dominates thedaily lives of its people. In addition totheir formal faith, however, Argen-tinians often seek help from a number ofpopular, unofficial saints. They repre-sent a spreading folk Catholicism thatoften diverges from orthodoxy and evenincludes spiritualist practices.

Like official saints, the popular varietyare often believed to work miracles. Forinstance, there is “the Robin Hood ofCorrientes,” the gaucho, Antonio Gil. Anarmy deserter in the 1850s, Gil was hangedon an espinillo tree but before dying he sup-posedly warned the commanding sergeantthat his son would become deathly ill andcould only recover by means of thesergeant praying for Gil’s soul. Upon theboy’s recovery, his repentant father carvedan espinillo cross which he placed at Gil'sdeath site. Today, as many as 100,000 pil-grims visit the site on the anniversary of hisdeath and credit Gaucho Gil with miraclesand life-transforming experiences(Bernhardson 2004, 186, 273, 606).

Even more popular than Gil is leg-endary Maria Antonia Deolinda Correa,known as the Difunta (meaning“Defunct” as the deceased are called inthe countryside). A pious legend tellshow she followed her husband, a con-script during the civil wars of the nine-teenth century, and died in the desert ofthirst. However, when her body was dis-covered by passing muleteers, her infantson was found alive, “miraculously”feeding at her lifeless breast.

Adding to the implausibility of aninfant surviving on milk from a corpse isthe limited evidence that the Difuntaeven existed. Nevertheless, the legend

was so resonant among the local folkthat they transformed the waterless siteinto a shrine. Today it is visited by pil-grims who stand in line to visit a cham-ber which holds an effigy of the pros-trate Difunta with her infant at herbreast (Bernhardson 2004, 273–274).

There are many other popular saintsincluding the faith healer Madre MaríaSalomè. Sardonically, novelist ThomásEloy Martinez has called his fellowArgentines “cadaver cultists” for being sodevoted to the dead (Bernhardson 2004,606–607). Not all of the unofficial saints,however, are widely believed to work mir-acles, and perhaps the most famous—orinfamous—of all has had her status slip.

Alternately reviled and beloved as“Evita,” Maria Eva Duarte Perón(1919–1952) was the controversial firstlady of Argentina from the election ofher husband Juan Perón in 1946 untilher death from cancer in 1952. A for-mer film actress, she lent her charismaand ambition to the popular causes ofassisting the poor, of improving educa-tion, and helping to achieve woman’ssuffrage. Nevertheless, Perón’s increas-ingly demagogic methods cost him thesupport of the Catholic Church, and hiswife’s death diminished his appealamong workers. He was ousted by themilitary in 1955.

In her last speech, she had stated, “Iwill be with my people, dead or alive.”Perón helped the mythologizing processby having her body mummified andplaced on display while a monumentwas being prepared. A popular move-ment sought to have the Church makeher a saint. Her followers installed altarsto “Santa Evita” in their homes, andover 100,000 requests for her canoniza-tion flooded the Vatican, many credit-ing her with the requisite miracles(McInnis 2001; Fouché 2002; Evita2005; Mosca 2005).

Instead, after Perón was deposed in1955, the Church conspired with thenew regime to spirit away her body. Itwas buried in Milan, Italy, by the sistersof the Society of St. Paul. There, underthe false name Maria Maggi, it reposedfor fourteen years. Meanwhile the anti-Peronists attempted to efface her mem-ory, tearing down statues of her and

burning copies of her autobiography,The Sense of My Life.

In April 1971, however, theArgentine president ordered what hasbeen called “the world’s most beautifulcorpse” returned to Perón, who was liv-ing with his third wife, Isabel, in Madrid(Which Coffin 1978). According tojournalist Wayne Bernhardson (2004,73), Perón’s “bizarre spiritualist adviser”Jose López Rega—known as “TheWitch”—“used the opportunity to tryto transfer Evita’s essence into Isabelita’sbody.” (After Perón’s brief return topower in 1973 and his death the follow-ing year, Isabel succeeded him but wassoon deposed by the military.)

I visited several related sites, includ-ing the Museo Evita, where the contro-versial First Lady is honored. It appearsthat claims of miracles have largelyabated. However, one writer concludes(Morrison 2005):

Though efforts to have her made intoa saint have been turned down by theVatican, Evita still holds near to saintstatus in Argentina. Slogans proclaim-ing Evita Vive! (Evita Lives!) can beseen everywhere even today in a newcentury. At her family crypt in theRecoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires,supporters and pilgrims still leaveflowers, and a continual guard is keptto prevent vandalism.

Questions remain: Were none of themiracles by Santa Evita authentic? Werethey rejected for lack of merit, or dis-missed out of hand for political reasons?How does the Church reject her butcanonize Mexico’s Juan Diego? (He isthe legendary—possibly fictitious—fig-ure on whose cloak the Virgin Mary“miraculously” imprinted her image,but which is, in fact, painted [Nickell2002].) Are any miracle claims credible,officially sanctioned or not?

El ChupacabraThe face of the Argentine pampas(plains) was altered in the sixteenth cen-tury by the arrival of feral livestock thatdisplaced the native rhea (Americanostrich) and guanaco (ancestor of thellama and alpaca). The Spaniardsbrought such domestic animals ashorses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry(Bernhardson 2004, 633).

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In recent years, the “animal mutila-tion” hype that burgeoned in the mid-1970s in the United States struckArgentina. Like its northern counter-part, the South American version of thephenomenon was often attributed toextraterrestrials, especially the blood-thirsty El Chupacabra (“goat sucker”).That creature was described by the CoxNews Service (April 1996) as “part spacealien, part vampire, and part reptile,with long sharp claws, bulging eyes, anda Dracula-like taste for sucking bloodfrom neck bites.”

The chupacabra is traceable to PuertoRico, where it “spawned something nearhysteria”; then the myth spread toMexico and still later to Florida—all viathe Spanish-language media. Its furthermigration is no surprise. Involving majorlivestock areas, the reported mutilationssparked conspiracy theories byUFOlogists, journalists, and local work-ers. Typical of the reports I collected was“Chupacabras Attack Ranches inArgentina” (Trainor 2000).

Actually, however, animal mutilationclaims have consistently been counteredwith prosaic explanations. For example, arash of cattle mutilations in the westernUnited States during the 1970s was care-fully investigated and attributed to thework of predators and scavengers (Frazier1980; Nickell 1995, 115). And when thechupacabra scare reached Mexico in April1996, a scientific team staked out farm-yards where the goatsucker had report-edly struck. Wild dogs were caught eachtime (Nickell 2004, 29).

As I would discover, Argentina wasno exception. I was able to spend a dayat a horse ranch in the pampas north ofBuenos Aires. In addition to having anopen-pit barbecue lunch, going horse-back riding, and experiencing otherentertainments, I was able to talk withthe head gaucho who told me (with myguide translating) that the chupacabraclaims were nonsense and that there werecertainly no such mutilations of horses atthis ranch or any credible attacks on cat-tle or other livestock nearby (Romero2005). One of the five brothers whoowns the ranch was similarly dismissiveof the idea that chupacabras were on theloose (Rossiter 2005).

At the conference, I met journalistGabriel Alcalde of Santa Rosa who gen-erously shared his knowledge of the localphenomenon. He related that almost100 cases of animal mutilation werereported in La Pampa and Buenos Airesprovinces between May and August2002. (See figure 2.) However, he notedthat research conducted by the NationalService for Food and Agriculture(SENASA), with the Veterinary Collegeof National University of the Center ofthe Province of Buenos Aires (as well asother universities in the area where muti-lated livestock were found), had foundmundane explanations. In a reportSENASA concluded:

The deaths can be attributed to nat-ural causes. Under direct and closeobservation it could be ascertainedthat the injuries to the tissues andorgans were caused by predators.Histological studies done on the car-casses showed conclusively that nospecial tools had been used to pro-duce the cuts, e.g., cauterizingscalpels.

The conclusion was that the animals’deaths were due to natural causes, suchas alimentary deficiencies, and that themutilations were subsequently causedby predators, including field mice. Thereport stated that “in all the cases underreview there were traces of bird, carrion(fox), and rodent (mice) feces on the

carcasses and near the dead animals.”And so the chupacabras were van-

quished, although Gabriel Alcaldepointed out that many Argentines deniedthe scientific evidence and “continued tobelieve the spellbinding stories concoctedby the media.” He told me that he feltthe real mutilation was that which hadbeen done to critical thinking.

AcknowledgmentsBenjamin Radford accompanied me onsome of my travels. Center for Inquirylibrarian Tim Binga provided research assis-tance and David Musella helped with edito-rial matters.

In addition to those mentioned in thetext, I am especially grateful to Alejandro J.Borgo and Hugo Estrella for their culturalassistance, and—of course—Paul Kurtz,Barry Karr, and dedicated CFI staffers forlaunching a great conference.

ReferencesAlcalde, Gabriel. 2005. Personal communication,

October 20.Bernhardson, Wayne. 2004. Moon Handbooks

Argentina. Emeryville, California: AvalonTravel Publishing.

Brunvand, Jan Harold. 1981. The VanishingHitchhiker: American Urban Legends & TheirMeanings. New York: W.W. Norton.

Evita biography. 2005. Available online at http://papercamp.com/biog21.shtml; accessed Sept-ember 9.

Fodors.com. 2004. From a message that appearedon an online travel forum, dated July 10. Avail-able online at www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=6&tid=34511723; accessed Nov.2, 2005.

Figure 2. A “mutilated” ram. (Photo by Argentine journalist Gabriel Alcalde.)

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Fouché, Gwladys. 2002. Eva Peron. Guardian,July 26.

Frazier, Kendrick. 1980. Cattle mutilations: mys-tery deflated, mutologists miffed. SKEPTICAL

INQUIRER 5:1 (Fall), 2–6.Granero, Mario J. 2003. Evita: Life & Images.

Buenos Aries: Maizal Ediciones.Luski, Paola. 2005. Interview by Joe Nickell, Sept. 16.McInnis, Judy B. 2001. Review of Marta

Raquel Zabaleta’s Feminine Stereotypesand Roles in Theory and Practice inArgentina Before and After the First LadyEva Perón (2002), in De RLAS 2:2 (July15); online at www.udel.edu/LASP/Vol 2-2McInnis-ZabaletaRev. html; accessedNov. 7, 2005.

Morrison, Eddy. 2005. The colourful career of EvaPeron. Online at www.spearhead.com/0412-em.html; accessed Nov. 7, 2005.

Mosca, Alexandria Kathryn. 2005. The enduringlegacy of Eva Peron. Online at http://web.acc.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/SS680/Funeral_Evita.html; accessed Sept. 9, 2005.

Nickell, Joe. 1995. Entities. Amherst, N.Y.:Prometheus Books.

———. 2002. “Miraculous” Image of Guadalupepainted. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 26:5 (Sep-tember/October), 13.

———. 2004. The Mystery Chronicles. Lexington,Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 28–30.

Romero, Luis. 2005. Interview by Joe Nickell withguide Paola Luski translating, September 16.

Rossiter, Patricio. 2005. Interview by Paola Luskifor Joe Nickell, September 16.

Trainor, Joseph. 2000. Chupacabras attackranches in Argentina. UFO Roundup 5:28(July 13); online at http://bbs.destinationspace.net/view.php3?bn=dspace_ufoenigma&key=963669845&first=9. . .; accessed Sept. 9,2005.

Which coffin holds the world’s most beautifulcorpse? 1978. In Perrott Phillips, ed. Out ofThis World. Paulton, England: Phoebus,115–120.

Winter, Brian. 2001. Ghosts of the present hauntArgentine cemetery. Available online at www.funeralwire.com; accessed September 26,2005. !

Camp Inquiry will premiere July 12-17, 2006 at Camp Seven Hills in Holland, New York. Boys and girls, ages 7-16, areinvited to participate in a wonderful week of adventure and exploration. Opportunities are also available for JuniorCounselors and volunteers 17 years and older. With experienced staff, campers will be introduced to skepticism, sec-ular humanism, and ethical inquiry, in a new and exciting light. Activities will include an introduction to moral val-ues and how to make wise choices, a superstition fair, a thinkathalon, a secular investigation of comparitive religion,nature hikes and experiments in evolution, cryptozoology and astronomy. Children will participate in ethical skits,replicate unusual phenomena such as Bigfoot prints and UFOs. We will host a Star Party and explore the mythologyof the stars and the concept of heaven and hell. Magic and illusion will be transformed into interactive activites.Many crafts and games will be planned with the final day being a celebration of diversity around the world—exploring the development of human societies, the many cultures and beliefs that have existed through history andthose that remain in our world today. Children will return home, armed with the tools and understanding to navigatethe world around them, evaluate the ideas they encounter and apply critical thought to the choices they will make.

July 12–17, 2006 • Holland, NY

introduces a new summer camp programfor Inquiring Minds ages 7-16 years

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