Creepy Gnome terrorises town in General Guemes, Argentina

[dejan]

Apparently, creepy Gnome terrorises town in General Guemes, Argentina.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece

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.

It seems to be serious situation.

Any thoughts?

[kosai]

Darn I so wanted to post this story, you beat me to it. Thoughts, hmmm... How about it's just the best story of 2008??

Screw bigfoot, I'm calling creekfreak and goin' gnome huntin'

[Drudgewire]

It seems to be serious situation.

Any thoughts?
Watch the locals' reactions to any story about the Chupacabra or UFOs in that continent and it will seem far less serious.

Or, watch reactions to a leprechaun in Alabama and laugh your patootie off:

nda_OSWeyn8

:dl:

[wahrheit]

Darn I so wanted to post this story, you beat me to it. Thoughts, hmmm... How about it's just the best story of 2008??

Screw bigfoot, I'm calling creekfreak and goin' gnome huntin'

Count me in. Bigfoot is sooo 1990. That gnome looks like more fun, plus he shows up in urban areas.

[dejan]

what is it if its not gnome?

[Sasha]

One of the comments:

"A drunk with a traffic cone on his head....we have loads of 'em where I live sadly."

Drunks wearing traffic cones are common? What a fun place. And nice of the drunks to wear a warning. :)

[Drudgewire]

what is it if its not gnome?
One of this guy's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_the_Angry_Drunken_Dwarf) family members?

[CFLarsen]

Apparently, creepy Gnome terrorises town in General Guemes, Argentina.

So that's where Ron Paul went.

[dejan]

Nobody gave any rational explanation

[Gate2501]

Blatant Travelocity advertising IMO.

[wahrheit]

Nobody gave any rational explanation

It's a small dude with a pointy hat. Also known as a prank.

Seriously, how would we know? Could be anything so far.

[Drudgewire]

Nobody gave any rational explanation
You're right. Must be a gnome. I've let my skepticism turn into cynicism, and am no longer able to look at a blurry, ambiguous picture and conclusively call it a fictional being.

Man, where did I go wrong? :(

[SezMe]

Or, watch reactions to a leprechaun in Alabama and laugh your patootie off:
Ya wanna see the side effects of meth. Take a look at the teeth on that guy right at the beginning of the video. I'd bet he does meth.

[Drudgewire]

Ya wanna see the side effects of meth. Take a look at the teeth on that guy right at the beginning of the video. I'd bet he does meth.
"Probably a crackheeeeeeed." :D

[kosai]

Better video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHXEqC5BCus

[gnome]

It was all a big mistake. That was Phil, he's new. Our bad.

[Miss Whiplash]

Apparently, creepy Gnome terrorises town in General Guemes, Argentina.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece

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.

It seems to be serious situation.

Any thoughts?

Well, for one it's carrying a shopping bag. Personally, I think it's the Travelocity Gnome (http://leisure.travelocity.com/Promotions/0,,TRAVELOCITY%7C1751%7Cmkt_main%7C,00.html). He most likely took the wrong cab and is lost again.

[dejan]

It seems that nobody takes that situation seriously

[Miss Whiplash]

It seems that nobody takes that situation seriously

Why should we?

[Limbo]

pgnwmed!

[Locknar]

It was all a big mistake. That was Phil, he's new. Our bad.Classic!

[sinclairmcevoy]

It was all a big mistake. That was Phil, he's new. Our bad.

I thought that might be where Gerome went for a respite.

[SezMe]

It seems that nobody takes that situation seriously
If you take it seriously, then do more than post a video. What do you think it is? Why? What alternatives did you consider and on what basis did you reject them? Ya know, some actual thinking.

Secondly, how would one take it seriously? Its a video and an extraordinarily crappy one at that. What are we supposed to do, get an NSF grant to mount a major expedition?

If you want serious analysis, you have to put serious data on the table.

[GT/CS]

One of this guy's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_the_Angry_Drunken_Dwarf) family members?

Or this guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTCZtPNnzQ&feature=related)

[gnome]

pgnwmed!

I love it! Can I steal that? Hell, I'll give you credit each time if you want.

[ugot2bekidding]

Better video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHXEqC5BCus

That appears to be a separate film, no? I did not see a flashlight in the first, and the second also showed a curiously floppy arm. I bet it's just a marrionette.

[wahrheit]

Looks like a little kid in his older brother's clothes to me. Also, it seems that this "gnome" is wearing sneakers.

[devnull]

Im using Gnome (in preference to KDE)...... does that count?

[kosai]

That appears to be a separate film, no? I did not see a flashlight in the first, and the second also showed a curiously floppy arm. I bet it's just a marrionette.

The two differ in many spots... the view up the street, the masked friend doesn't appear, the flashlight, the scream. I think it's a rehearsal or something, the quality is much better though. Since there is two different but similar films I think we can be pretty certain it's staged. The Sun article one has now shown up on YouTube as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEhIlhJUpXg&feature=related

[Elphaba]

It's the black sheep of the traveling gnome adverts: it's the Evilocity Roaming Gnome. :)

[Katopale]

Looks like the "Gnome" is not even a small person. It appears to me that it's someone moving from a squatting position.

[kosai]

Looks like the "Gnome" is not even a small person. It appears to me that it's someone moving from a squatting position.

I agree with the creepy gnome squatter theory (hereby known as the CGST), in the flashlight video to me it appears someone is wearing a hat, overly sized shirt, and squatting with their arms and legs tucked inside. That would explain the comically floppy arm and ridiculously short legs. It also would explain his sideways street skittering (jayskittering I might add.)

[ugot2bekidding]

When I looked at it agian, the CGST made a lot of sense due to the sideways bobbing motion. Scratch the marrionette theory. Case solved, imo.

[Locknar]

I'd agree, CGST seems the likely explanation.

It is sad that the main stream press is so desperate for money that they pump “woo woo” like this out, with the appropriate hyped headlines to go with it.

[toneii]

Here's my explanation - How did I do?

Nicaraguans celebrate mass for dogs, pray for cures

MASAYA, Nicaragua (Reuters) - Hundreds of dogs, many dressed as babies or clowns, were taken to celebrate mass in this Nicaraguan town on Sunday, an annual ritual where the owners pray for their pets to be cured or avoid falling ill.

A long queue of Catholics, carrying their pets or leading them on leashes, waited their turn to pass by an image of a saint in a tiny church in this town 20 miles to the south of the Nicaragua capital, Managua.

The faithful thank the saint for curing their pets or ask for the dogs to be protected from illness. The town's priest always conducts a special canine mass.

"We brought him so he does not get sick," said local resident Nora Espinosa, talking about her six-month-old Basset Hound, dressed in a soccer outfit.

Locals say the tradition goes back to the colonial period after the Spanish conquest.

search Reuters for the story, Randi would not let me post the link

[TX50]

If that Argentinian "gnome" is a doggie in fancy-dress from Nicaragua
then he's very lost

In the "Sun" video, it's evidently just a prankster duck-walking along.
Nothing to see here...

[kosai]

3/11 TRUTH
Never Forget.

[Showmeproof]

Actually, seeing a drunk midget dress up in a gnome contest and walking sideways is pretty creepy looking lol

[ThatSoundAgain]

I really like this news story. Especially the fact that there are two different takes of the video.

The scream at the end is quite effective - it plays much like the cliffhanger of a really old X-files double episode. While the abrupt ending is correct from this - hitchcockian dramaturgical - perspective, I always feel like smacking these incompetents who shut off the camera just as the strange creature is, say, about to peacefully walk under a street light.

[wahrheit]

..., I always feel like smacking these incompetents who shut off the camera just as the strange creature is, say, about to peacefully walk under a street light.

Weird, isn't it. The UFO, Bigfoot – and now gnome – folks have a knack for low quality, shaky video that never shows the real stuff, only a blurry glimpse of it.

And then they scream like little kids when they see a two foot gnome on the street. :rolleyes:

[Everything]

I thought this thread was going to be about a new Radiohead world tour. :confused:

[Tristan Chi]

How is squatting in a bush 30 m away in the dark "terrorising a town"?

[Spektator]

How is squatting in a bush 30 m away in the dark "terrorising a town"?

The USA is proof that a bush can terrorize a whole country.

[GT/CS]

The USA is proof that a bush can terrorize a whole country.

or a whole world.

[Tristan Chi]

So Saddam was right after all about "little evil bush".

[Juustin]

Apparently, creepy Gnome terrorises town in General Guemes, Argentina.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece

Teenager Jose Alvarez -


How awesome would it be if this was a hoax with an obvious Carlos reference thrown in for good measure?

[Nihilus]

How is squatting in a bush 30 m away in the dark "terrorising a town"?
It's the sideways walk.

Creepy, I tell you!

[quarky]

looks like the kkk has infiltrated the world of woo-beasties.

[Tristan Chi]

[insert random witty oneliner]

Sorry. Just wanted to reach 50 posts to get an avatar.

[quarky]

[insert random witty oneliner]

Sorry. Just wanted to reach 50 posts to get an avatar.

That's a Don Martin drawing in your avatar, no?
If so, I forgive you.

[Monza]

It's the sideways walk.

Creepy, I tell you!

True. Try walking around like that for a while. People will definitely think you are creepy.

[Minarvia]

How is squatting in a bush 30 m away in the dark "terrorising a town"?

Ha! I thought the same thing. When I viewed it I laughed out loud and laughed again when the "scream" came at the end. :D

[Harry Lime Juice]

Little do they know about the coercive agenda of said gnomes:

Underwear + ? = profits

[Pato2747]

I live in Argentina, and have friends on a city near General Guemes.

The video was set on the General Guemes' Cementery, at around 3-4 AM. Man, you gotta be real brave to get on a cementery at 4 AM. Or drunk. And they weren't precisely talking about a "fishing trip". They were talking about the "Cuco", the childish story of the monster that will eat you if you don't sleep.

I asked my friends about it. It seems that it's fake. v:)v

[tube]

The story was posted to Metafilter, which virtually guaranteed a slew of humorous comments:

http://www.metafilter.com/69912/Dont-Look-Now

[Pato2747]

Oh, I forgot. "El tribuno" is not national. It just covers 3 of the 24 provinces: Jujuy, Salta (The one these kids lived in), and Tucumán.

[illogik01]

El Crabbo Gnomo !