A reader from Argentina contacted me about the 'Lobizón' or werewolf tradition in his country and includes a few examples of suspected cryptid canine shapeshifters.
I received the following account:
"Hi, Lon. My name is Francisco, and I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am passionate about cryptozoology and the paranormal. The number of sightings of alleged cryptids and creatures in the U.S. is enviable and fascinating; however, my country is not far behind.
Among the many creatures that supposedly inhabit my beautiful country—from lake creatures and unknown hominids to aliens, elementals, and lost souls—there is one that I believe is the protagonist of this story.
In Argentina and other regions of South America, particularly Paraguay, southern Brazil, and northern Uruguay, the legend of the “Lobizón,” which you might call a “werewolf,” is quite well known. According to popular legend, the seventh male child born to a family with exactly seven male children (without exceptions) transforms into a Lobizón at age 15. Years ago, it was not unusual for the nation's president to act as the godfather of that child to prevent any tragedies arising from superstitions.
The story I’m about to tell you may not be extraordinary, but I have always found it interesting, and I think it represents the legend above quite well. This story happened to my maternal grandmother, who shared it with me when I was a child.
To provide some context, my family lived on the outskirts of San Miguel, a city just 30 kilometers from the capital, Buenos Aires. We resided in a working-class neighborhood that was quite precarious, with dirt streets and plenty of greenery. You could say it was a semi-rural area.
Returning to the story, it dates back to the 70s or 80s. One night, my grandmother heard a pack of dogs barking and running, seemingly going back and forth around the entire block without stopping. At one point, she looked out the small window that faced the street and saw the pack of dogs, but with the peculiar sight of a furry gray blur passing in front of them. I call it a blur because she spotted it in the blink of an eye, but it appeared to be a large, furry creature leading the group of dogs.
At that moment, my grandmother felt a sense of imbalance and instinctively lowered the window curtain.
The next day, she went outside to see if what she had seen the night before had left any traces. Among all the paw prints left by the dogs, she noticed a furrow cutting through their trail, which seemed to indicate that something had crawled by—perhaps it was a fairly long tail. The question is: what animal or entity did my grandmother see that night? In this area, we don’t have wild animals or anything like that. The largest carnivore in the country is the puma, but they live deep in the mountains, hours away from where the story took place. This completely rules out that option.
To add to the story, there was a rumor in the neighborhood that this being was none other than “Mr Pepe,” an elderly man who lived on the corner of my grandmother’s house.
It was said that on certain nights, he would turn into a werewolf to sing his sorrows to the full moon and roam the dark streets of the neighborhood.
Despite its simplicity, I believe this story well represents the idiosyncrasies and folklore of my country, as there are many tales of local residents being the so-called Lobizón. I recently read an intriguing story in the media about a man who, in his youth, lived in the Province of Misiones, in the town of Santa Inés (a jungle area in the north of my country). He claimed that the grocer in his neighborhood would leave town once a week to become a werewolf, but he did no harm to his neighbors. Out of respect, the townspeople maintained a pact of silence about the situation that man endured.
If anyone is interested, here is the link to the article.
I send greetings to everyone, and I will continue to pay attention to these stories that I am so passionate about. I hope to have the opportunity to share more tales from my country and discuss these intriguing topics with you." FG
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