Oh, ffs, what now, dammit? Haven’t we got enough to be going on with?
On top of everything else – you know, the usual tedium, war, disaster, death and pestilence – have aliens invaded too? It’d be bloody typical.
The Peruvian authorities are warning people not to visit the site of a suspected meteorite strike in a remote area of the Andes after 600 people succumbed to “headaches, vomiting and nausea” caused by inhaling gas at the scene.
According to the BBC, the impact occurred on Saturday night near Carancas in the Puno region, around 800 miles (1,300km) south of Lima. Locals reported “a fireball in the sky coming towards them” and the subsequent falling to earth left a 98ft (30m) wide by 20ft (6m) deep crater.
The sizeable dent then began to emit “fetid, noxious gases” which seriously affected curious sightseers. Local resident Heber Mamani told the Beeb: “It [the suspected meteorite] is buried in the earth. That is why we are asking for an analysis because we are worried for our people. They are afraid. A bull is dead and some other animals are already sick.”
The government has accordingly dispatched a team of scientists to Carancas to investigate. Geologist Honorio Campoblanco “discarded the possibility that the symptoms would have been caused by any form of radiation”, but urged the powers that be to prevent people getting too close to the sickness-inducing pit. ®
I don’t know what the actual story behind this is – it’s not known where the gas is coming from though it might well have something to do with heightened geological activity in Peru following the recent huge earthquake. It might not too. That’s what’s so weird and interesting about these stories.
But if it were an alien invasion, I’d blame religion, or what passes for religion in certain circles.
No doubt there are some Heaven’s Gate wannabes who worship Vogons or something who’re convinced that it’s the pilot ship of a galactic fleet that’s coming back from the future to rescue America and who’ve already sent a greeting party down to Peru.
The Scientologists, for example, have been trying to attract aliens for years.
The fundies, as you’d expect, are already declaring it to be yet another sign of the impending End of Days. Even I have to admit to secretly hoping that if it is aliens it’s an invasion of super-intelligent space squid.
It would explain so much.
Oy. Sometimes we humans’re so stupid and gullible we deserve everything that’s thrown at us.
