TERRIFIED locals in a South American town are running scared after a strange creature they describe as “Gollum” crawled out of a lake and charged schoolkids.
The beast — which has “sparked fear and confusion” in the small town of Cerro Azul, Panama — was spotted on Saturday when four 14 to 16-year-olds were playing by the waterfront.
According to their account, reported by Panamanian news service Telemetro, the youngsters “screamed” when the five-foot creature emerged from a cave and started clambouring over rocks towards them “as if to attack them”.
In a “desperate bid to defend themselves” the four terrified boys said they hurled rocks at the strange creature to kill it, before throwing its corpse in the water and running away.
Their disbelieving parents returned to the lake the following day — and were stunned to discovered the beast’s body washed up on the shore.
Experts have yet to examine the images — or make any statements regarding their discovery.
But locals told Panama news channels, who ran the story, that the water-monster was “Gollum from Lord of the Rings”.
One said: “I have only seen that creature once before – and it was in the Tolkien film.”
The fictional Gollum — originally known as Smeagol — was a hobbit whose later name was derived from the “disgusting gurgling, choking cough he made”.
JRR Tolkien — who wrote the Middle Earth adventures — said of the character: “He had become deformed and twisted in both body and mind by the corruption of the Ring.
“His only desire was to possess the Ring which had enslaved him, and he pursued it for many years after he lost it.”
Taken from www.thesun.co.uk
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