Outer Space Object Sickens Peruvians

This one is absolutely wild! I actually read about it a few days back on one of the various paranormal sites (a very good, reputable one -- one of the very few I rely upon) but it seemed like one of those stories that was just too wide-open to be true if it hadn't been picked up by any of the larger news agencies.

Of course, the thing about stuff like the things we cover here is that very fact: most of the larger news agencies never pick stuff like this up, so a lot of patience and a lot of knowledge is essential in trying to separate the wheat from the chaff... and even with that, it isn't always so easy. So when I read this one, I said to myself, "If this is true... this is a major event! No one else has said anything about it, so..."

Then I read it on the BBC earlier!

Saturday, some object from outer space landed in a region of Peru known as Puno -- a remote area near a town known as Carancas -- and residents began getting ill! Most complained of headaches, eye problems, breathing difficulties, nausea, and vomiting -- one of those who complained of some of these symptoms was a local health worker! Further, many local animals have been reported ill and some have even died.

Most experts do not think it was a meteorite; they actually believe people saw a fireball -- which one expert said was "not uncommon" -- went to investigate, and discovered a sedimentary lake "rich in organic matter." Other experts believe an actual meteorite did hit the ground and the reaction released such toxins as sulphur and arsenic from the resulting crater.

Mind you, this hole is 98' wide and 20' deep, so even though this is a remote area of the country, one would have to assume that at least some locals would have been aware of a lake -- especially a poisonous one -- if it previously existed; at the very least, some sorts of legend(s) would. At any rate, while it is understandable that residents who traveled to the area might have fallen ill (and they have asked local authorities to keep people from visiting the site), I don't believe that illnesses from exposure to gases of that nature could be contracted by others without direct contact, so unless the animals actually visited the site (or I'm wrong - which is always a possibility... always), how is it that they have never fallen ill before?

As far as that goes, no matter how remote the area, at least a few travelers would have discovered the "lake" before Saturday. Like I said, these people have lived there their entire lives, so it just isn't feasible that a sedimentary lake, or any other major land feature, existed for this long without anyone in the area even being aware of it until last weekend, when they were magically led to it by a fireball, falling from the sky...

Like I say, sometimes the wildly "normal" explanations given to explain-away these events are more implausible than just believing something from outer space caused a fireball in the sky and left a crater in the Earth! And this is definitely one of them.