Caracas, Venezuela – A dark sticky mystery has plagued the roads of Venezuela for decades. La Mancha Negra, or “The Black Stain”, is a sinister substance that appeared randomly on roadways, leaving a trail of accidents and a haunting sense of unease. This unexplained phenomenon has fueled tales of the supernatural and conspiracy theories. What La Mancha Negra is, where it comes from, and why it appears is still open to debate, but here is what we know.
La Mancha Negra Video
What is La Mancha Negra?
While the composition of La Mancha Negra is still open to debate, what we do know is that it is a thick, oily, black substance that randomly seeps up through the asphalt on the road leading towards the Caracas airport. It creates a dangerously slick surface, and people claim it has lead to numerous vehicular accidents, injuries, and in some tragic cases, fatalities. Witnesses describe a greasy texture and sometimes a pungent odor accompanying the stain.
The History of La Mancha Negra
The first recorded appearance of La Mancha Negra dates back to 1986. Initially, the phenomenon started as a stain on the road leading into the Caracas airport. Discovered by road workers, the blob started out as an odd but innocuous blotch on the road leading into the Caracas airport.
While it was initially of no concern, the ooze spread quickly and eventually was covering about 8 miles of road throughout the city, seeming to prefer tunnels and the uphill slopes of roads. For the next several years La Mancha Negra persisted, spreading with the warmer weather and receeding when it was cool and dry.
By 1992 the fantastic number of 1,800 deaths due to car crashed were claimed to have been caused by La Mancha Negra.
The Venezuelan government eventually stepped in and claims to have spent millions of dollars and consulted with scientists from the USA and Europe, but no one could identify exactly what the substance was, or what the source of it was.
Despite not knowing what the material was or where it came from, the government attempted some mitigation efforts. Pressure washing was ineffective, as was a variety of detergents and scrubbing. Scraping the material off and repaving was also of no use as the ooze would just reapear.
They even tried dumping limestone dust on the goo thinking it would bind it up, but that only made the roads so dusty that drivers and people living in the area started complaining about the air quality.
Lastly, in 1996 the government brought in German scrubbing machines to remove the material from the roads. This seemed to finally work, and at last the roads of Venezuela were free of La Mancha Negra, but the reprieve was to be short lived.
In 2001 La Mancha Negra returned, once again spreading throughout the city. It is said to have appeared on Baralt, Nueva Granada, Fuerzas Armadas, Sucre, and Urdaneta Avenues.
What Is La Mancha Negra Made Of?
Despite years of investigation, the precise composition of La Mancha Negra remains a source of debate. Witnesses described it an inch-thick, greasy, black substance with the disturbing consistency of chewed bubble gum. A hazard to drivers, the ooze become dangerously slick when it rained, described as being “slick as ice” by Venezuelan drivers.
Initial investigations by Venezuela’s Ministry of Transport and Communications theorized that the substance might be a blend of dust, oil, and various unspecified organic and synthetic materials. A 2001 report in The Sunday Telegraph further muddied the waters, suggesting La Mancha Negra was a noxious cocktail of used engine oil and corrosive brake fluid. However, the report conceded that even after 14 years of study, the true nature of this unsettling substance remains elusive.
Potential Cauzes for La Mancha Negra
The theoretical causes for La Mancha Negra are widely varied.
The accepted answer to the source for La Mancha Negra is that it simply was the result of poorly maintained vehicles dripping oil and other petroleum based fluids onto the roads, which then built up and coated the roads. While this likely happened, it doesn’t explain why it only occurred in selected areas, and doesn’t offer a solution to why it expanded and contracted with the weather.
Some people accused sewage leaks for mixing with road oil and causing the mess.
One semi-probable source would be oil and sludge from the oil fields that lay under the Caracas area. This might explain the ebb and flow of the sludge with the changes in the weather and rainfall.
Of course political motivations have been suggested as well. Some people think that political rivals were purposely sabotaging the roads.
From the Mundane to the Mythical
In all likelihood, La Mancha Negra is the result of some natural phenomena, even if it is unusual. The story has gained some level of paranormal notoriety. Stories like this get repeated time and time again, getting slightly more fantastic.
For example, in the stories about La Mancha Negra, the number of 1,800 deaths of motorists is often cited. That seems like a highly inflated number. That would equate to one a day for the first 5 years of its appearance. The sources I found refer to “several” deaths due to car crashes. A small number of fatalities due to slick roads seems reasonable, but 1,800 makes for a better story.
Not Paranormal, But ParaRational
This case highlights the title of this website. Not all things beyond explanation are paranormal, but they can be beyond rational explanation. No one can explain what La Macha Negra is, or where is came from but there is evidence that it was a real issue in Venezuela, not just an internet mystery.
Do You Have Firsthand Experience With La Mancha Negra?
If you have been to Venezuela or are from the Caracas area and have firsthand information to share on this story, I want to hear from you. With so much conjecture and a lack of verifiable sources on this story, eyewitness testimony if vitally important.
Send me an email at [email protected] or fill out our contact form and let me know what you know about this phenomenon.
