u/Asleep_Context_399

This is my first write up.

And is something I recently found out in my searches of lesser known real mysteries.

Our story starts, and ends, in Zaragoza, Spain. In 1934 Palazon family began to hear strange noises from their kitchen walls. Sometimes it was screaming, sometimes laughing, and sometimes male voice just called out to them.

The primary place where it was most heard was their wooden stove and its chimney.

Given that this was an apartment building, and they were on a second floor their chimney was further connected to many other chimneys all leading up to one exit at top of the building.

Sane minds would assume whatever was heard was coming from one of the other apartments and that it may have been a neighbour messing with them.

However none of the other residents admitted to doing it and some of them said they also heard the strange male voice from their chimneys.

While most took it as harmless joke, soon the rumor began to spread of a creature called duende.

The literal translation is "Master Of The House" and there are many different kinds, however to make it simpler, the closest English translation from Spanish would be goblin (and in some contexts elf).

In folklore these critters are not seen as malicious, usually they are benevolent, neutral or sometimes pranksters. Think of fairies in middle ages myths.

As rumors spread, so did the interest of general populace. Soon whole town was interested and came to hear duende as it was known to answer questions, but also it seemed to be curious.

It also had a strange fixation on the young house maid (or as somewhere reported the sister of the owner's wife) who was also the first to hear it.

Over time the family could no longer take the attention or tolerate the voice, they were no closer to solving the mystery, so they called the police.

Given the time period, police didn't really have time to bother with supposed spirits in the walls, however the popularity of the monster and the interest it generated in the public forced their hand.

However calling the police had a counter effect. Rather than calming down, people went even crazier and it exploded in popularity, to a point newspaper started writing about it.

It even reached "The Times"

However police presence did nothing to change the behavior. It has kept answering and asking the questions as it did before. London Times even reported that the professionals were sent to investigate, but the source could not be found.

It was also reported that when discussing should the chimney opening be measure the voice replied “You need not trouble, the diameter is just 6 inches (15 centimeters).”

Supposedly duende was right.

Everyone from doctors to priests were called. The building was evacuated and guarded. Yet the voice remained. People from all over the Spain were now organizing and coming to visit.

Until suddenly the voice stopped.

Two days of peace and quiet, and finally when everyone thought it was over, prankster got bored, governor asked to just say it was an anomaly and move on, it was back.

And it was back louder than ever, calling everyone cowards. With voice being back so was police. The only ones not back were members of the Palazon family. They had enough.

As more time went on, the more popular the voice grew, to a point international detective agencies were organizing to come and find out what the hell was going on.

But before any of that happened the Governor of Zaragoza came and put the blame on young maid Pascuala.

“Unconscious ventriloquism” they called it, based on a flimsy witness account by one police officer. It's unclear how that was possible given that for a lot of these events maid was away from the building with the family, but officials didn't care. They closed the investigation and Pascuala had to move back to her town.

Strangely as she moved, the voice disappeared, seemingly confirming the official story, yet many would say goblin simply lost interest as it was interested in her the most.

Few more reports of the voice were reported over time, but this has now turned into obscure true story without satisfying conclusion.

What do you think the voice was?

A prankster?

Duende/Fairy/Goblin/Elf?

Unconscious ventriloquism? (I personally couldn't find any other mentions of this phenomena anywhere else).

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/1934/12/16/archives/zaragoza-ghost-is-laid-by-science-but-citizens-refuse-to-accept.html

https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/09/the-phenomenon-of-the-zaragoza-stove-goblin-was-blamed-on-unconscious-ventriloquism.html

https://michcelanea.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/el-duende-de-zaragoza/