COVER-UP
Oddo
Brunamonti’s experience is but one of the countless other
occurrences reported by witnesses all over the world, about anomalous
events that at some point see the intervention of the “authorities”
to ridicule, deny, or cover up the facts that constituted the premise
for the anomaly itself. The methods by which certain “problems”
are dealt with by government and/or military people are pretty much
the same across the board.
That
the creature seen around Scheggia were a “problem” is a safe
statement, sustained by the immediate developments following Oddo
Brunamonti’s report. First of all, the local authorities took
immediate action by organizing a searching party on that same day.
This is remarkable, for anybody with an official role should take at
least some time to question further, or compare the primary witness
account with other possible witnesses, or even run a background check
on the person claiming to have seen a “strange creature in the
woods.” In our materialistic society, the authorities are wired
(and, probably, compelled) to bring every strange event down to a
rational ground.
Setting
aside the remote case of sensitive and open-minded authorities, the
most natural explanation must be that they already knew about the
presence of something out of the ordinary in the area, either by
direct experience (some officials may have met the creature during
one of their patrolling) or by indirect intelligence (tracks, other
undisclosed reports, etc). This and only this could explain why Oddo
Brunamonti’s alarm was taken so seriously, and so quickly.
Another
element worth considering is the arrival – the following day – of
the team of “experts” to study the creature on site. The speed
with which these people learned about the incident, and mobilized men
and equipment in less than 24 hours, denotes a particular interest
about the story that had to be in their agenda way before Oddo’s
report; as if, here as well, some key people or groups were in a “red
alert” status, ready to pick up the first opportunity available to
get on the field. Perhaps rumors about the existence of this creature
in the woods around Scheggia had been already circulating within
certain circles?
It
seems that the only ones who were completely in the dark about the
phenomenon were the local residents. That’s why the arrival of the
stranger, the alleged “military official” who knocked at Oddo’s
door suggesting him to lie, caught everybody off guard. The stranger
sounded very familiar with the M.O. to be adopted in such cases:
deceit and denial. His kind demeanor went as far as informing Oddo
Brunamonti that the subject was a “sensitive and serious” one.
Oddo
Brunamonti, however, already upset for the unexpected buzzing that
his story had raised among the local media, openly refuses to follow
the stranger’s “advice”, choosing silence over lies.
The
Cover-up machine can’t be stopped with silence, and thus the coming
of the “bears” in the areas surrounding Scheggia. Six bears
deployed intelligently across a vast area (so to increase the chances
of witnesses reporting their presence), to reinforce a version that
everything could have been staged way ahead of time (with or without
the principal witness’s consensus.) The plan was that any witness
coming out to report about the creature, had instead seen only a
bear.
The
word spread as more and more people see the animals roaming around,
and the fact that their presence has not been planned to reassure the
residents is given by the progressive increase of fear and panic
which swooped down on Scheggia like a tornado. The episode of the man
chased by the bear is just one example of that.
But why the
people were so scared? Because of Oddo’s “debunked” story?
Clearly not. Most likely the screams heard at night by many locals –
who, like Oddo, grew up in the woods – and those who actually saw
something but decided not to come out to tell (we have collected
reports to sustain this,) present enough elements to dismiss the
“bears version” as a plainly forged deception.
Where
there is panic and fear, the Cover-Up finds fertile soil to root. The
stranger who pays one million lira in drinks claiming that the money
is not his – evidently to collect information, to create a “good
image” about himself, or to observe - intended to drive the locals
to believe to the “bears version”.
And
what about the other foreigners walking around, asking such questions
to shepherds and farmers as what time they woke up, when did they
take the animals out and when they put them back, details about the
areas and whether or not something strange had occurred to them or to
their animals in the past weeks?
The helicopter flying
over the National Park of Mount Cucco for a month is one of the most
controversial aspect of the whole story (we will have to elaborate it
on part III of this investigation.) Was it there to protect the
citizens? Or was it there to hunt down (or to monitor) something
else? Our feelings is that the “experts” knew exactly where to
look. They knew there was something out in the woods, and they wanted
to find it.
This
would also explain the rapidity with which the alleged “capture”
of the creature occurred. Military, medical doctors, and possibly
agents undercover walked in and out of Scheggia for about a month.
Then, a helicopter drops down a cage, fills it up, and leaves. After
that episode all the strange screams, tracks, and strangers cease to
be.
And,
with it, ends the Cover-up. The bears disappear after few days, and
every related news upon their presence in the area is erased or
denied. So is it the end? Not quite, for Oddo Brunamonti keeps
receiving, every once and then, visits from the stranger who had so
kindly advised him to lie about his experience with the creature.
During one of these visits, the stranger gives Oddo a file regarding
the “Monster of Scheggia” incident. In it, there is a detailed
study about the South American Chupacabras, and a low-quality
enlarged image of the alleged “monster.”
The creature
seen by Oddo is completely different than the one portrayed in that
picture, but that doesn’t matter. The mission has been
accomplished, and a sarcastic ending is only too often part of the
game. Of their game.