Post by hi224 on Apr 22, 2019 6:19:20 GMT
If episodes of possible mass disappearances such as the colony of Roanoke, the lost Inuit tribe and the Lost Battalion of the Dardanelles chill your blood, then the story of Hoer Verde, the town with 600 inhabitants that vanished will certainly be worth reading.
Like so many legends and ghost stories from such remote areas of the world, information on Hoer Verde is difficult to track down. But what information is out there weaves a tale worth reading.
The story takes place in 1923 in the jungles of Brazil as visitors to the village of Hoer Verde entered the small town they were immediately struck by how dead everything was. Unlike other villages in the area that boasted similarly large populations of 600+ no one was walking through the streets. Hanging signs waving in the wind and the uneasy footsteps of the visiting people were all that could be heard. As they passed by local houses and looked in the windows it was evident immediately that something wasn't right. No one was anywhere to be seen, doors and in some cases windows were open but otherwise undamaged.
The police were sent for from a nearby town, and investigators soon descended on the town to look through the village building by building. As they came to the town's school they found a gun which according to some versions of the story still smelled freshly fired, which they took to be forensically examined. And then the investigators looked to the blackboard on which the words, "There is no salvation" were written. Examination of the firearm showed it had indeed been fired recently, possibly only the day before.
A search ensued for the 600 villagers now missing from Hoer Verde. Despite this, no trace of any of the locals was ever unearthed. To date it is considered an unsolved mystery in Brazil and a well known folk tale by most of South America.
Newspaper reports of the town's disappearance in the western world were treated as morbid curiosity and in some cases highly fictionalized ghost stories, but with the shifting political climate of Brazil in 1923 is it possible that the town had evacuated to avoid conflict with rebel guerrillas or otherwise been compelled to leave?
Artur da Silva Bernardes had been elected the year before, and faced a political siege throughout his term. This civil war led to many displaced people and it is highly likely this is all that happened in Hoer Verde. But political evacuations are by no means unheard of especially in South America during the 20th century, those who leave a village abandoned always turn up elsewhere. If they had simply left the town, where did they go? Others contend that it's possible the town was attacked and the villagers taken or killed. This too leaves a perplexing mystery as no signs of violence besides the gun in the school house were recovered and no one suggested to be from the village has ever been found.
The most mysterious element remains the original language of the phrase "There is no salvation." Though the phrase has been largely translated into English, the phrase holds little significance in English or Portuguese. However, if the words had been "Illic est haud salus." in Latin or some variation of it, this could have been related to the phrase "Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus" which is a Catholic phrase meaning "Outside the Church there is no salvation." If this was the case in a largely Catholic area, the lesson could have been a religious lesson which was interrupted by some unknown force, but with no specific significance itself. Regardless the original language used for the phrase is not known as it was widely reported in many different languages and countries at the time.
Many references to this story exist, but most seem to be derived from a simple article translated from a Russian magazine which in turn may be based on some old articles in western media from the time. There also is no Wikipedia article or modern literature about this incident. This lack of information is one of the more perplexing elements of the Hoer Verde case as the level of detail the story goes to and the widespread nature of the tale at the time must have some origin.
Some explain it as a possible combination of stories and rumours within several South American countries at the time, photos claiming to be of the vilage in 1923 can be found online but have no way to be verified.
The town itself does not exist today though this is not surprising in regards to small villages and settlements within the Jungle interior of South America where politics, climate, rebel groups and drug related activity regularly sees them dismantled or abandoned.
So what do you think? Do you have more to add that you heard about this mystery story or is it simply that, a story lost in the retelling over the last century?
Website links
Like so many legends and ghost stories from such remote areas of the world, information on Hoer Verde is difficult to track down. But what information is out there weaves a tale worth reading.
The story takes place in 1923 in the jungles of Brazil as visitors to the village of Hoer Verde entered the small town they were immediately struck by how dead everything was. Unlike other villages in the area that boasted similarly large populations of 600+ no one was walking through the streets. Hanging signs waving in the wind and the uneasy footsteps of the visiting people were all that could be heard. As they passed by local houses and looked in the windows it was evident immediately that something wasn't right. No one was anywhere to be seen, doors and in some cases windows were open but otherwise undamaged.
The police were sent for from a nearby town, and investigators soon descended on the town to look through the village building by building. As they came to the town's school they found a gun which according to some versions of the story still smelled freshly fired, which they took to be forensically examined. And then the investigators looked to the blackboard on which the words, "There is no salvation" were written. Examination of the firearm showed it had indeed been fired recently, possibly only the day before.
A search ensued for the 600 villagers now missing from Hoer Verde. Despite this, no trace of any of the locals was ever unearthed. To date it is considered an unsolved mystery in Brazil and a well known folk tale by most of South America.
Newspaper reports of the town's disappearance in the western world were treated as morbid curiosity and in some cases highly fictionalized ghost stories, but with the shifting political climate of Brazil in 1923 is it possible that the town had evacuated to avoid conflict with rebel guerrillas or otherwise been compelled to leave?
Artur da Silva Bernardes had been elected the year before, and faced a political siege throughout his term. This civil war led to many displaced people and it is highly likely this is all that happened in Hoer Verde. But political evacuations are by no means unheard of especially in South America during the 20th century, those who leave a village abandoned always turn up elsewhere. If they had simply left the town, where did they go? Others contend that it's possible the town was attacked and the villagers taken or killed. This too leaves a perplexing mystery as no signs of violence besides the gun in the school house were recovered and no one suggested to be from the village has ever been found.
The most mysterious element remains the original language of the phrase "There is no salvation." Though the phrase has been largely translated into English, the phrase holds little significance in English or Portuguese. However, if the words had been "Illic est haud salus." in Latin or some variation of it, this could have been related to the phrase "Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus" which is a Catholic phrase meaning "Outside the Church there is no salvation." If this was the case in a largely Catholic area, the lesson could have been a religious lesson which was interrupted by some unknown force, but with no specific significance itself. Regardless the original language used for the phrase is not known as it was widely reported in many different languages and countries at the time.
Many references to this story exist, but most seem to be derived from a simple article translated from a Russian magazine which in turn may be based on some old articles in western media from the time. There also is no Wikipedia article or modern literature about this incident. This lack of information is one of the more perplexing elements of the Hoer Verde case as the level of detail the story goes to and the widespread nature of the tale at the time must have some origin.
Some explain it as a possible combination of stories and rumours within several South American countries at the time, photos claiming to be of the vilage in 1923 can be found online but have no way to be verified.
The town itself does not exist today though this is not surprising in regards to small villages and settlements within the Jungle interior of South America where politics, climate, rebel groups and drug related activity regularly sees them dismantled or abandoned.
So what do you think? Do you have more to add that you heard about this mystery story or is it simply that, a story lost in the retelling over the last century?
Website links