A TOWN in South America is living in fear after several sightings of a 'creepy gnome' that locals claim stalks the streets at night.
The midget - which wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk - was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters.
Teenager Jose Alvarez - who filmed the gnome - yesterday told national newspaper El Tribuno that they caught the creature while larking about in their hometown of General Guemes, in the province of Salta, Argentina.
He said: “We were chatting about our last fishing trip. It was one in the morning.
“I began to film a bit with my mobile phone while the others were chatting and joking.
"Suddenly we heard something - a weird noise as if someone was throwing stones.
"We looked to one side and saw that the grass was moving. To begin with we thought it was a dog but when we saw this gnome-like figure begin to emerge we were really afraid."
Jose added that other locals had come forward to say they had spotted the gnome.
He said: “This is no joke. We are still afraid to go out - just like everyone else in the neighbourhood now.
"One of my friends was so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital.”
Here's another purported gam-cam video, following hard upon the last post's more compelling fare. It's nice to be able to see the whole creature this time. But this one is almost certainly a fake. The only other video this guy has up is an interview with Hollywood costume maker Janos Prohaska about the Patterson/Gimlin film, where Mr. Prohaska states he doesn't believe it was a costume. Is this video an answer to Mr. Prohaska?
LATE UPDATE: Some of the comments in the thread at YouTube say that this is a known video of Oliver the chimp.
EVEN LATER UPDATE: I think it's worth pausing and thinking about what that first video seemed to show. When I first saw it, the lack of movement in the mouth convinced me it was a mask of some sort. I thought it was a very good mask because I could not see the usual gap where the eyes won't fit closely enough over the face. But as it turns out, this was a real, living creature.
The parts that did impress me when I first saw it was the hair pattern on the belly and back. I thought those looked real. But the face, I wasn't buying it. And yet, at the risk of being overly repetitive.. this was a real, living creature.