By Scott Corrales,
Institute of Hispanic Ufology (IHU)

Source: Criptozoología en España
Date: 09.14.2011

By Javier Resines

“Residents of the pedanía in the locality of Orihuela (Alicante) have been terrorized by the manifestation of a gigantic snake measuring one and a half meters in a local farm. Its head is described as comparable in size to that of child of several years of age. No one wants to go to work on the aforementioned property and all kinds of precautions have been taken in the event that the aforementioned serpent should decide to make any inroads. For the time being it has made a den in an artichoke grove.” (News item from the Fiel News Agency)

The defunct Fiel news agency recorded this curious news item, published on 6 June 1970 in several national newspapers. There is nothing surprising about a large snake being seen by the locals but...one having a head the size of a child’s? Let’s see what’s behind this unique report from over four decades ago.

In the days that followed, several entirely trustworthy persons, accustomed to dealing with the local snake population, claimed having seen the tremendous animal at a farm in El Rincón de Bonanza, a pedanía located 3 kilometers from Orihuela. The descriptions offered by the witnesses all coincide in that the serpent measured at over three and a half meters long, having the girth of “a large syphon bottle of Selz”, an estimated weight of 28 kilograms and having a head like that of a child. Some of the locals who have run into this specimen have tried killing it with sticks and have even used dogs to pursue the creature through various caves and ponds in the vicinity, but always with negative results.

As is customary in these cases, and faced with the fear arising from the community, the authorities decided to take action (a month after the sightings commenced, of course) and a fire brigade was sent from the neighboring town of Alcoy, equipped with dogs and the best search equipment available at the time. The safari, as locals dubbed the expedition, was met with great expectations and rejoicing by the townspeople.

The fire fighters combed the sierra’s brush in earnest down to the banks of the Segura River, killing several specimens of common snake, but none of them unusual. Days went by and after several days of unrewarding searching, the fire brigade from Alcoy suspended operations, in spite of the iron will that people from that region are supposed to have when dealing with thorny issues. The story lapsed into oblivion without the protagonist ever being found.

However, interest in the case transcended national borders. An American professor known as Mr. Persons put forth the theory that the gigantic snake had marine and terrestrial habits at the same time, and the likelihood of finding prints, or its possible capture, was therefore reduced. In any event, someone should have informed the scientist that the pedanía where the creature supposedly existed is nearly 30 kilometers from the sea, an insurmountable distance for nearly any animal. But since venturing an opinion is free...

(Translation (c)2011, S. Corrales, IHU)