March 18, 2008
I earlier posted about the “creepy Argentinan gnome video” making the rounds, along with one of the versions of the footage. As the comments there indicate, multiple uploaded videos demonstrate that several takes of the “incident” were made, the images look like a puppet, and other things point to a hoax. Nevertheless, interest is still running high about the visuals.
I was interviewed by reporter Alex Davies of Wireless News Flash service yesterday, for the following story they sent out today to their 800 radio stations and other news outlets:
ARGENTINIAN GNOME A RED-HATTED HOAXPORTLAND, Maine (Wireless Flash) — Strange gnome sightings in Argentina are pointing to evidence of a red-hatted hoax.
Last Tuesday (Mar. 11), footage of a weird, tiny, sideways-walking gnome in General Guemes, Argentina, made its rounds on the Internet, leaving people to wonder whether it’s a real sighting or just a hoax.
According to cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, the answer may lie on the gnome’s noggin.
He explains, “What makes me scratch my head is that the gnome is wearing a pointed hat, like a garden gnome or the Travelocity gnome. The hat is more of a pop culture reference, so I have to be suspicious of it.”
Coleman also says the gnome looks more humanized than typical hairy gnomes, leading him to believe that it’s just a little Argentinian who, as he puts it, “ate too many tacos.”
He also insists the video is nothing more than a great story for St. Patrick’s Day (Mar. 17), or maybe even travel website Travelocity’s attempt to get higher sales, since their mascot is a gnome.
CONTACT: Loren Coleman
Of course, my above comment is a multiple-leveled in-joke, as it refers to the travel book, There Are No Tacos in Argentina: 15 Days in South America with Randy Clark (1999) by Rick Stivers, and the non-existent nature of the very wide gnome eating non-existent tacos.
Only question that really remains, who fashioned this stunt?
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
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