Hello dear Steemians!
To my followers who are reading this, thanks for not unfollowing me in the time I have been absent. I swear I've wanted to post, but I feel like I've lost control of my life, so it's been a bit difficult for me to post things as often as I'd like to. Still, I'm trying to change that.
Today I want to bring back a project which I love very much, The Bestiary. For those who do not remember this, I’m gonna refresh your memory. The Bestiary is a series of posts about creatures from Venezuelan folklore. A fairly simple concept.
If I'm not wrong, this would be the third bestiary post. And to commemorate this wonderful number of publications that shows how mediocre I am, I decided to do something a little different this time. My entry today is not about a creature in itself, rather it is a peculiar phenomenon that occurred in my city.
This phenomenon is called La Mancha Negra, or literally the black spot in english.
What is it?
La Mancha Negra is a mysterious substance that appeared for the first time on the Caracas - La Guaira highway in 1986. It was apparently quite dangerous, as it was the cause of many car accidents in the late 80s and early 90s.
Although everyone who lived the 90s here knows about it, few know for sure what this phenomenon is really about. It is said that the government invested "millions of dollars" in studying the stain, but nowadays it is difficult to find information related to such studies.
Therefore, La Mancha Negra went down in history being little more than a mystery that was never solved.
Appearance
La Mancha Negra is described as a black, greasy, substance with a consistency similar to chewing gum. Others say the stain made the road feel like it was covered in ice.
It is a shame that the government didn't take advantage of this curious phenomenon to make some money out of it. They could have planned the world's largest ice skating ring.
Living the fantasy.
Habitat
As mentioned above, this phenomenon was discovered in 1986 on the asphalt of the highway that connects the city of Caracas with La Guaira.
It is said that the stain grew in size when the weather was hot and humid, and it disappeared when it was cold and dry... I assume that by that they meant that it was always there; it's never cold in La Guaira.
Apparently, the stain got so big it got to cover eight miles of the highway.
And despite the reign of terror caused by La Mancha Negra, no one found out the cause of it...
Abilities
Honestly, I don't think I would say existing and causing car accidents is an "ability". In fact, this is the only "ability" I could attribute to Pokémon Go since it appeared.
However, I believe that the true power of La Mancha Negra lies in the fact that it managed to transform itself into some sort of urban legend thanks to the incompetence of the government in power at the time. Only in Venezuela road problems caused by the poor quality of asphalt can transcend and become something supernatural.
Now, I find it super curious that we do not consider the holes on the roads of the Caracas of the present as supernatural entities, those frighten me more than what I just told you.
Bonus GIF of the illustration process
Final comments
I hope you enjoyed this edition of The Bestiary. I also hope to turn these publications into something that happens more often, because I really enjoy writing these and I love to keep the content flowing on my Steemit.
If you would like to know more about any creature from Venezuelan folklore, do not hesitate to say so in the comments section. I would be happy to get suggestions for my next post.
Thanks for reading!
Steem on!
EdenCI out!