Ucumar Zupai – Killer of Horses Part II
Posted by: John Kirk on March 11th, 2006
The case of the unknown South American hairy hominid known as the Ucumar has mystified investigators for decades. One such creature terrorized the area of Arroyo Salado, Salta Province, Argentina. The saga of the Ucumar continues.
An extraordinary testimony collected by the investigators of this mystery during that spate of sightings in Salta province was that of Patricio Saldaño, caretaker of the local garbage dump, who along with his wife and children saw the beast at very close quarters with the creature separated from them by a distance of a mere 10 metres.
Patricio’s dogs – he had 30 of them – began to bark ever so vociferously at something in the dark. Patricio quickly grabbed a flashlight to see what was going on, exited his residence and ran over to where his pigsty is situated.
Standing on its hind legs just 10 metres away was the same hairy animal he had heard of reported by various other people. To Patricio the animal looked like some sort of gargantuan monkey, but queerly it had red eyes, and was not averse to waving its strong arms to scare off Patricio’s dogs. The nails on its hands were said by Patricio to be as long as daggers and oddly enough they gleamed when light was shone upon them. Never in the 15 years he had lived at the dump had he observed anything like this creature.
His wife, an eight year-old daughter and a four year-old granddaughter were present when the creature made its foray into the yard, but they were in no way harmed. The females could see the creature from a vantage point at the house and when the sighting was over ordered them to not stray too far from the house and not to go out when it was dark.
Before his sighting, Patricio thought the reports that had earlier emanated from Arroyo Salado were simply unbelievable, but now he was singing another tune in the aftermath of his close encounter with the Ucumar. The local man whose colt had been devoured had earlier actually asked Patricio if he had seen the horse prior to its grisly discovery and also prior to Patricio’s sighting.
Patricio thought to himself that a puma had probably been responsible and that is why when the Ucumar showed up at the dump, Patricio thought it might be after the pigs. However, it was a hominid that was quietly gazing at him that he ran into, which in turn abruptly pivoted on its heel and marched out of view.
The Saldanos were backed up in their story by members of the Pereyra family who were on their way to the dump in their pickup truck, when an animal they described a big monkey leapt over the hood of their truck, scratched the vehicle’s bodywork and then vanished into the brush by the side of the road.
About John Kirk
One of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998).
In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur.
Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC.
In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.
As far as my knowledge goes, there is no known primate that is purely carnivorous, or that has claws like that. The shine on the claws could be explained by, and I really hope this isn’t the only possibility, blood. As to what this thing is, it’s feeding habits bring to mind the Gorgonopsid, but the rest seems much more advanced. It is possible that this is an offshoot of the mammal line, maybe even closely related to the Gorgonopsid. Has anyone figured out the meaning of Ucumar yet? So far, its name in english is _______ Devil.
Could be a warewolf 😛
One of the names for the local Bigfoot or Sasquatch in South Jersey, when not being lumped in with Jersey Devil sightings, is “Red Eyes”, which in some cases is the only thing that witnesses really experience (Aside from an overwhelming stench of wet dog). Ours are also seldom very gargantuan, being somewhere in the 6 foot range. Curious that this South American form should be so similar to our Mid-Atlantic variety.
According to this Quechua vocabulary, ukumari means bear. So ucumar zupai means devil bear.
According to this Wikipedia disambiguation page, ucumari is the local name for the spectacled bear.
That doesn’t really imply any taxonomic relationship of course. Consider that the Lakota word for “horse” translates to “spirit dog.”
Native societies often use general words to describe things we might see as specific. Not too long ago, the English weren’t too different- just think of all the things named “fish” that aren’t really fish- Starfish, Jellyfish, Shellfish, etc., or the fact that whales were seen as fish too…