RAHEEL MUGHAL: Hombre Gato: The Cat People of Argentina

The Hombre Gato or Cat People are known by many different names across the continent called South America. However, several aspects link all of the reports together: the Hombre Gato are nocturnal, largely arboreal and have a taste for cattle and livestock. Recent spates of cattle mutilations in Argentina and Chile have been blamed on these leonine beings. Moreover, a number of people who ventured too far into the forests late at night are said to have been the unforeseen victims of this feline fiend.

The rural people of Argentina and Chile are largely superstitious God-fearing folk. Could tales of the Hombre Gato have been inspired by cultural aspects rather than true-life encounters with otherworldly cat-like beasts (such as the Chupacabra or Moca Vampire of Puerto Rican lore?). If so could these tales be based on a mixture of superstition, cultural influences and/or racial memories of cults that routinely mutilated cattle as an offering to their deities and the stories pertaining to kidnappings in the forests at night – the result of murderers or escaped convicts hiding in the forests and attacking unfortunate victims who may otherwise have informed the authorities of their illegal activities? We will probably never now as there are hardly any recent encounters with the creatures, and a lot of the stories about them are largely steeped in tradition or based on hearsay – the Hombre Gato are a convenient bogeyman used to blame all ills on.