By Tim Binnall
A television segment detailing alleged haunted happenings in an Argentine town sparked a scandal in the community that ultimately led to two municipal employees losing their jobs. According to a local media report, the controversy began over the weekend when journalist Mauro Szeta's program profiled the tiny village of Ernestina. Describing the community of around 150 people as "a town where the living prefer not to walk at night," the segment focused on a particularly creepy shuttered orphanage said to be the site of chilling paranormal activity such as ghost sightings and inexplicable eerie sounds.
During the program, Szeta spoke to town employee Leticia Echenique, who mused that "I feel that there are energies; some places give you a headache, while others make it hard to breathe." She also recounted visitors to the village telling her about strange sightings, presumably of the ghostly variety. Another Ernestina municipal worker, Victoria Pastorelli, echoed those accounts, recalling how people have reported hearing screams and smashing sounds emanating from the old orphanage. She also revealed that tourists visiting the town have refused to venture to certain spots because they were fearful or uneasy about the locations.
As one might imagine, when the program aired on Argentine national television this past weekend, community leaders were aghast at how the village had been portrayed on the program. Insisting that they had been led to believe that the segment would focus on the "identity, history and heritage of Ernestina," a tourism official reportedly rebuked the spooky showcase that "ridiculed" the town. Unfortunately for Echenique and Pastorelli, their proverbial fifteen minutes of paranormal fame ultimately cost them their jobs, as the town's mayor indicated that the duo had been fired for participating in the program without proper authorization.