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In Argentina's Río Negro province, the small Patagonian farming town of Cinco Saltos carries a nickname few agricultural towns share: “the City of Witches.” Behind the label is a real irrigation-engineering history, and a documented discovery in the town cemetery that gave the old stories new life.
The Real History
Cinco Saltos (“Five Waterfalls”) takes its name from the five stepped drops of the irrigation canal that begins at the Ingeniero Ballester Dam on the Neuquén River and runs past the town's eastern edge. The town sits at the head of the Alto Valle del Río Negro, one of Argentina's main apple- and pear-growing regions.
The first settlers arrived around 1914. The settlement was originally called La Picasa, reportedly after a roaming horse of that name, and took the name Cinco Saltos when its railway station opened. Floods in 1918 covered the lots of the original layout and pushed building elsewhere. The 2010 Argentine census counted about 22,800 residents.
The canal system is the reason the town exists. The Ballester Dam diverts Neuquén River water into the main canal, which feeds a network of irrigation channels across the upper valley and turned dry steppe into orchards during the early 20th century.
The “City of Witches” reputation centers on a district known as Bajo Negro (“black lowland”). Residents describe it as a low, shaded area, and local tradition holds that its secluded terrain made it a place where folk magic and rituals were practiced.
The most concrete event tied to the town's eerie reputation came in the early 2000s. In October 2003 the regional newspaper Río Negro reported that the remarkably well-preserved body of a girl, estimated at eight to twelve years old and dead for about 72 years, had been placed in the common ossuary of the Cinco Saltos cemetery about a year earlier. Cemetery workers were struck by how little she had decomposed. Forensic specialists quoted in the report attributed the natural mummification to soil conditions, and residents debated whether she should be displayed or moved to the local museum. This case is unrelated to Argentina's famous Inca “Llullaillaco mummies” found on a volcano in Salta, which date to around 1500 CE.
The Haunting
According to local legend, Bajo Negro was, and in whispered tradition still is, a meeting place for witches practicing black magic, which is where the “City of Witches” nickname comes from. Some residents near Lake Pellegrini, the reservoir just north of town, also tell of hearing a baby crying at night, said to be the spirit of a child who drowned there. The preserved girl in the cemetery has since been folded into this lore, with some popular retellings adding details, such as chains, that do not appear in the original news coverage. None of these stories has been documented beyond word of mouth.
Can You Visit?
Yes. Cinco Saltos is a working town of more than 20,000 people, reachable by road from Neuquén city, roughly 20 kilometers to the south. Its cemetery and the Bajo Negro area can be visited, but visitors should respect residents and cemetery rules.
Related: More South American folklore and urban legends.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Cinco Saltos called the “City of Witches”?
The nickname comes from the Bajo Negro district, a low, shaded area that local tradition links with witchcraft and ritual gatherings.
Was a mummified body really found in Cinco Saltos?
Yes. In 2003 the newspaper Río Negro reported on the naturally preserved body of a girl, aged about eight to twelve, who had died roughly 72 years earlier and was placed in the town cemetery's common ossuary. Experts attributed the preservation to soil conditions.
Sources
- Polémica por una momia de Cinco Saltos – Diario Río Negro
- Municipalidad de Cinco Saltos – official site
- Cinco Saltos – Wikipedia
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