INVESTIGATIONS/Italy

Who Was Watching Us?

The Valmalenco Files #1

After watching the two blue metallic lights that appeared out of nowhere in the woods and stood there for more than an hour we decided to retire into our cabin. Our guide had strongly advised us not to get any closer to those lights. He didn't give us any further explanation but we knew he had said that for a reason. On the other side of the mountains, in another valley that for the moment we won't name it, hunters who had walked into the woods at the wrong time had seen their dog shot dead, and their weapons held there while they were sent back to town until the following morning by unidentified men who wore masks and never talked (except the one who gave the orders).
Needless to say, we were not equipped to engage in any sort of fight, nor it was our intention. We were there to observe, and so we followed our guide's suggestion.

In the morning, however, we were ready to scout the area where the lights were, determined to search any rock, tree or shrub to find signs that someone was there in the night, and to find out what they were doing.
Based on the previous night's observation we marked an area of about 200 yards radius, which had a mound in its center, for we believed the lights had come from that mound. The mound was dotted with trees and shrubs, but for the most part was made of rocky clearings. We split into two groups, one walked to the side of the mound to reach the valley behind it, which stood right at the bottom of the mountain walls. The second group cut through the shrubs and climbed straight up to the top of the mound.
The first group spotted this track in the slope facing the mountain walls. The marks of three claws are clearly visible in the soft patch of earth between the rocks. According to our records, the mark is supposedly the upper hand of a "Grey type" (we think not a Trantaloid, though), what the locals call "Fumini" (Little Smoky Men) or "Ometti" (Little Men) in their dialect. These are the creatures mostly spotted in and around the valley.