Truckers Tangle with Aliens

The above mystery appears on November 28 in the Almanac of the Infamous. In 1954, two truckers in Venezuela, Gustavo Gonzales and Jose Ponce, found their way blocked by a UFO hovering over the road. When they stopped to investigate they were attacked by a gang of hairy dwarfs with glowing eyes and sharp claws.

Being the research junkie that I am, I keep my eyes open for further information even after the story is apparently finished. Sometimes I am well rewarded. Doing my weekly run of garage sales I came across a magazine with more details. It seems that the truckers weren't the first to encounter these aggressive assailants.

During the next month, two rabbit hunters were attacked by four of the miniature aliens. Taking aim, one of the hunters had his shotgun blown apart in his hands. Only days later, three men were walking in the woods of the Ministry of Agriculture's Exposition Park. One of them wandered off on his own. The two friends soon heard his screams and came rushing to his rescue. They reached the unconscious man in time to see a hairy little man jump into a shiny saucer and fly away.

Snakes Alive!

On the banks of the Rewa River, wending its way through the rainforests of Guyana, lay an 18 foot anaconda; much to the delight of biologist adventureres, Niall McCann and Rob Pickles. Of course they had to pick it up. All 220 pounds of it. Luckily they had help.

This impressive beast is still just a baby compared to the giant anacondas have previously popped to shake the souls of earlier exploreres. First recorded sightings came from European explorers making their way through the dense South American jungles where they claim to have witnessed a 59 foot long snake. In 1906 mysteriously missing adventurer Percy Fawcett wrote that he shot an anaconda that measured 62 feet. Scientist Vincent Roth claims to have shot a specimen measuring 34 feet. In 1944 a petroleum expedition in Colombia states they measured an anaconda 37 feet long.

But these claims have never been proven.

Should you decide to go on an anaconda expedition yourself you should know, that it is rumoured, that the Wildlife Conservation Society has been offering a large reward (currently US$50,000) for nearly one hundred years now, for live delivery of any snake longer than 30 feet. Might be a rumour worth confirming before you set sail along the sumptuous jungle shores.