The Zaragoza Goblin, 1934
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Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/a6Lq3awNXfU
It’s common for people to feel they’ve been visited by aliens or supernatural beings, but sometimes, a dialogue takes place where there is no being at all. The seemingly sourceless voice that tormented the Palazon family from their apartment in Zaragoza, Spain, evaded explanation for two weeks before vanishing. The story of the “Zaragoza Goblin” remains a strong case for the possibility of disembodied consciousness, and it makes us question the physicality of any paranormal experience.
The Story
In late November 1934, the Palazon family of Zaragoza, Spain, began to hear a moaning voice call out to them from inside their apartment. The family maid, Pascuala Alcocer, was the first to interact with it, when she reached for the stove and heard a voice say, “You are hurting me.” Pascuala switched off the lights and ran from the room, and the voice shouted, “Light! I can’t see!”
The voice had a pleasant tone, but it could be maniacal too, and often unnerving. It’s boisterous, cackling laughter could be heard by every resident in the building. The voice seemed to be coming from inside the old wood stove of the Palazon family apartment, although Pascuala claimed it was coming from inside the walls.
The voice was still going at five in the morning, so the residents called the police. The voice responded by calling them cowards. Amazingly, the voice then called each of the officers by name as they entered the building. This was just one instance in which the voice seemed to show omniscience of the surrounding environment. In the very least, it had a total view of the apartment, as it correctly responded to questions about the number of people in the room. Once a mason came to take some measurements of the apartment, and the voice called out the exact length of the segment he was measuring before he’d even read his tape.
For the duration of the police investigation, the Palazon family was relocated to another apartment, and the domestic haunting became a public affair. The story of the the Zaragoza Duende, or goblin, in English, spread like wildfire, and warranted nearly a dozen articles in the London Times. These articles have become the primary English-language sources for the incident, although members of the Palazon family were also interviewed in the Spanish press. People flocked to the apartment in the thousands in hopes of confronting the supernatural. Many though, considered it an evil spirit, and priests were sent to bless the apartment and the family.
Beginning on November 25th, the voice went silent. After many hours without a word, the police went home and returned the Palazon family to their apartment. But 48 hours later, the voice suddenly and angrily called out, “Cowards, cowards, cowards, here I am!” It then resumed its usual pleasant tone and gave everyone present permission to smoke. The police resumed their guard, and by the 29th of November, the tormented Palazon family had moved out for good.
The Governor of Zaragoza called a media blackout while police began searching for evidence of a hoax. A wide range of specialists were invited in to look for answers, but nobody could explain where the voice was coming from. A thorough search of the entire complex found nothing. In a desperate attempt to stop the phenomenon, authorities had the entire block isolated, and the army cut power to the apartment complex. Though unaffected, the voice was outraged, and according to some sources, threatened to kill the residents.
The investigation changed course when the famed psychiatrist, Joaquin Orriera, accused the family maid, Pascuala, of projecting some kind of “unconscious ventriloquism.” To test this, authorities sent Pascuala out on an errand, and found that the voice carried on without her. Nevertheless, the Governor informed the press that the culprit had been identified.
On December 4th, the affair came to the neat and tidy resolution authorities were looking for. Some frightened officers sent in the building owner’s son, Arturo Grijalba, then 6, up to the Palazon family stove to start a communication. Frustrated by all the commotion, the young Arturo said aloud that the situation was crazy, to which the voice responded, “Not crazy, little one,” in a drawn out, guttural tone. It was the last communication ever heard from the Zaragoza Goblin.
The Aftermath
The voice never returned, and in 1977, the building was torn down and replaced with a new apartment complex, named “Duende,” or “Goblin,” to commemorate the phenomenon. Pascuala was widely accused of fraud for the rest of her life, as many are who are implicated in similarly mystifying experiences. She returned to her home town and refused to speak more of the incident.
No one has ever stepped forward to take responsibility for the Zaragoza voices, and it has never been demonstrated how anyone could have perpetrated such an elusive hoax for so long. It could not have been a powered speaker, since the military cut power to the complex without effect. If someone managed to hide in the walls, then they evaded detection by those who knew the building best, and remained day and night for two weeks with their own source of food and drink.
Analysis
The Zaragoza Goblin case makes it apparent that not all encounters with unknown intelligences involve physical beings like angels or aliens. As in the case of some ghosts and poltergeists, there can be conscious action where there is no visible body.
Unlike ghosts, however, the Zaragoza Goblin did not seem to be capable of altering the physical environment. Where poltergeists will move pots, pans, and furniture, the voice in the Palazon family apartment only ever used its words to interact with the residents. This suggests the incident should be put in a category of its own, but as is often the case in anomalistics, it is very hard to tell where one phenomenon ends and another begins.
In this way, the voice was similar to “Gef the Mongoose,” who spoke to the residents of a remote homestead on the Isle of Man, apparently from within the walls of the house. Though Gef had called himself a mongoose, he was never seen. His voice also stopped without warning, and never returned again.
On the other hand, however, hauntings are also known to start and stop without warning, and to be concentrated in weeks or months-long “bursts” of activity. Many alleged “ghosts” are also reported to focus their attention on certain people, as the Zaragoza Goblin did on Pascuala.
The apparent non-physicality of the Zaragoza voice makes us question why some paranormal entities appear in visible form at all, and what relationship exists between this spectre - or body - and its vocalizations. More research is needed, of course, but the Zaragoza Goblin case is an invaluable piece of evidence in our understanding of the place of consciousness in the physical world.
Sources and Other Links:
The Times (London) Newspaper, Nov 24 - December 8.
Video by Ghost Theory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeExnmHv6M4
Writeup By Ghost Theory:
http://www.ghosttheory.com/2009/12/06/zaragoza-poltergeist-maniacal-voice-and-my-isolation
Support new videos on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by Colin Campbell. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain.
It’s common for people to feel they’ve been visited by aliens or supernatural beings, but sometimes, a dialogue takes place where there is no being at all. The seemingly sourceless voice that tormented the Palazon family from their apartment in Zaragoza, Spain, evaded explanation for two weeks before vanishing. The story of the “Zaragoza Goblin” remains a strong case for the possibility of disembodied consciousness, and it makes us question the physicality of any paranormal experience.
The Story
In late November 1934, the Palazon family of Zaragoza, Spain, began to hear a moaning voice call out to them from inside their apartment. The family maid, Pascuala Alcocer, was the first to interact with it, when she reached for the stove and heard a voice say, “You are hurting me.” Pascuala switched off the lights and ran from the room, and the voice shouted, “Light! I can’t see!”
The voice had a pleasant tone, but it could be maniacal too, and often unnerving. It’s boisterous, cackling laughter could be heard by every resident in the building. The voice seemed to be coming from inside the old wood stove of the Palazon family apartment, although Pascuala claimed it was coming from inside the walls.
The voice was still going at five in the morning, so the residents called the police. The voice responded by calling them cowards. Amazingly, the voice then called each of the officers by name as they entered the building. This was just one instance in which the voice seemed to show omniscience of the surrounding environment. In the very least, it had a total view of the apartment, as it correctly responded to questions about the number of people in the room. Once a mason came to take some measurements of the apartment, and the voice called out the exact length of the segment he was measuring before he’d even read his tape.
For the duration of the police investigation, the Palazon family was relocated to another apartment, and the domestic haunting became a public affair. The story of the the Zaragoza Duende, or goblin, in English, spread like wildfire, and warranted nearly a dozen articles in the London Times. These articles have become the primary English-language sources for the incident, although members of the Palazon family were also interviewed in the Spanish press. People flocked to the apartment in the thousands in hopes of confronting the supernatural. Many though, considered it an evil spirit, and priests were sent to bless the apartment and the family.
Beginning on November 25th, the voice went silent. After many hours without a word, the police went home and returned the Palazon family to their apartment. But 48 hours later, the voice suddenly and angrily called out, “Cowards, cowards, cowards, here I am!” It then resumed its usual pleasant tone and gave everyone present permission to smoke. The police resumed their guard, and by the 29th of November, the tormented Palazon family had moved out for good.
The Governor of Zaragoza called a media blackout while police began searching for evidence of a hoax. A wide range of specialists were invited in to look for answers, but nobody could explain where the voice was coming from. A thorough search of the entire complex found nothing. In a desperate attempt to stop the phenomenon, authorities had the entire block isolated, and the army cut power to the apartment complex. Though unaffected, the voice was outraged, and according to some sources, threatened to kill the residents.
The investigation changed course when the famed psychiatrist, Joaquin Orriera, accused the family maid, Pascuala, of projecting some kind of “unconscious ventriloquism.” To test this, authorities sent Pascuala out on an errand, and found that the voice carried on without her. Nevertheless, the Governor informed the press that the culprit had been identified.
On December 4th, the affair came to the neat and tidy resolution authorities were looking for. Some frightened officers sent in the building owner’s son, Arturo Grijalba, then 6, up to the Palazon family stove to start a communication. Frustrated by all the commotion, the young Arturo said aloud that the situation was crazy, to which the voice responded, “Not crazy, little one,” in a drawn out, guttural tone. It was the last communication ever heard from the Zaragoza Goblin.
The Aftermath
The voice never returned, and in 1977, the building was torn down and replaced with a new apartment complex, named “Duende,” or “Goblin,” to commemorate the phenomenon. Pascuala was widely accused of fraud for the rest of her life, as many are who are implicated in similarly mystifying experiences. She returned to her home town and refused to speak more of the incident.
No one has ever stepped forward to take responsibility for the Zaragoza voices, and it has never been demonstrated how anyone could have perpetrated such an elusive hoax for so long. It could not have been a powered speaker, since the military cut power to the complex without effect. If someone managed to hide in the walls, then they evaded detection by those who knew the building best, and remained day and night for two weeks with their own source of food and drink.
Analysis
The Zaragoza Goblin case makes it apparent that not all encounters with unknown intelligences involve physical beings like angels or aliens. As in the case of some ghosts and poltergeists, there can be conscious action where there is no visible body.
Unlike ghosts, however, the Zaragoza Goblin did not seem to be capable of altering the physical environment. Where poltergeists will move pots, pans, and furniture, the voice in the Palazon family apartment only ever used its words to interact with the residents. This suggests the incident should be put in a category of its own, but as is often the case in anomalistics, it is very hard to tell where one phenomenon ends and another begins.
In this way, the voice was similar to “Gef the Mongoose,” who spoke to the residents of a remote homestead on the Isle of Man, apparently from within the walls of the house. Though Gef had called himself a mongoose, he was never seen. His voice also stopped without warning, and never returned again.
On the other hand, however, hauntings are also known to start and stop without warning, and to be concentrated in weeks or months-long “bursts” of activity. Many alleged “ghosts” are also reported to focus their attention on certain people, as the Zaragoza Goblin did on Pascuala.
The apparent non-physicality of the Zaragoza voice makes us question why some paranormal entities appear in visible form at all, and what relationship exists between this spectre - or body - and its vocalizations. More research is needed, of course, but the Zaragoza Goblin case is an invaluable piece of evidence in our understanding of the place of consciousness in the physical world.
Sources and Other Links:
The Times (London) Newspaper, Nov 24 - December 8.
Video by Ghost Theory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeExnmHv6M4
Writeup By Ghost Theory:
http://www.ghosttheory.com/2009/12/06/zaragoza-poltergeist-maniacal-voice-and-my-isolation
Support new videos on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by Colin Campbell. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain.
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