Amid a landscape that appears before our eyes virgin The mountain rises which houses within it the village of Tor. We are in the country, on the nature of the Pyrenees, a few kilometers from the border with Andorra and in a town very high, one of the highest in the Pyrenees, some 1,800 meters above sea level. At the foot of the mountain, about 2,300 hectares approximately aguardba Alins people every year come the fall to welcome the residents of this tiny town, with only thirteen houses. Some of them are torn down and burned in the aftermath of civil war, and where the maquis seemed to find refuge. There is a small church, which rose in the last century a priest provide religious services, and that little else can we see behind the walls, almost in ruins, it seems one of the few buildings still remain standing after all these long years.
say the town's name comes from the very god Thor, the Norse mythology, who said he hit her with his ax which would rise a people. No wonder that such legends arose about gods and the new town, as in the mountain that is situated behind the village there is a vast emptiness - a void that could easily have been made with the ax god of thunder - and from which have sprung this and many other legends.
But behind the beauty of this enigmatic enclave, where this one is a satellite dish and the houses are still standing still contain the basics you may have a house, another story, much more disturbing and more attractive for lovers of mystery. It is the story of a cursed people, families who keep silent and hide the secrets that only few "privileged" have had the gift of witnessing. Everyone knows what long ago, it happened right in the middle of town. Residents often remain silent, and forget trying to escape the memories of the past. But a report conducted by the Catalan television station TV3, and the subsequent release of a book, Catalan Tor, three morts i Tretze houses, and Castilian Tor, the cursed mountain have revitalized some stories that were thought lost, forgotten. The book was a tremendous success, especially in Catalonia, mixing journalism and literature. The truth is that among the villagers has also revived old resentments. And this mountain, vast, which is completely covered with snow come the fall, making it impossible to completely step as the winter will arise again, is the sole and exclusive property of the few families that still have their property there.
In 1896 he founded the Society of Condueños Tor Mountain, as it is written on a stone near the village, so that everyone could benefit from the mountain in the part they played. Being a very large mountain, which generated large profits for their inhabitants, plus the only place where you can go to Andorra without having to go through a customs office had raised fears among owners. However, there were some disagreements, since the majority of families leaving Tor in the coldest months of the year, since it was absolutely impossible to live under such conditions of extreme cold, isolated in the middle of nowhere and the only way (a forest track some eight miles) to carried to the nearest town, Alins, at the foot of the mountain, snow-covered access to it impossible. However, there were two houses (or families) that were much stronger than the others. Sansa house and home were Palanca. Only one child could be the owner of all that he had his family, so the "houses", and with them the power, have been passed from one generation to another. Everything was normal until the families started to spend the colder months in Alins. This was not liked by many residents, who thought they were breaking some laws. A lever house heir, Jordi Riba, was sent to study in Lleida, which meant, for the inhabitants of Tor, the loss of rights to the mountain. They say that the heir Sansa house in those days, Josep mountain, he had a deep hatred for this kid, who was dying to climb the mountain. His background in the Marist was short, and despite the misgivings of the people, went to live in the mountains.
say that the Sansa were billionaires who Josep mountain had buried treasure on the mountain, that's why he wanted to. They say many things, and certainly many of them do not contain an iota of truth about what really had everyone, all probably motivated by jealousy. But what is certain, and any passing through the narrow forest track, especially when the night has fallen, you can see, is that the smuggling of goods from Andorra is an obvious fact. I was already more than two centuries, and still is, thanks to the Sansa way it did with his own hands in 1967, which goes to Andorra through the Port of Cabús. It appears that contact was interested in Andorra, whatever the causes. So the way was open for smugglers. However, many say that Sansa out, shotgun in hand, or cutting off the trunk of a tree or a stone to stop the jeep who crossed his path, and demanded something in return, eg snuff, alcohol, or one of the Sansa jeeps "collected." But this step of smugglers would be affected by the intensive efforts of the Lleida Provincial Council to make a path that would connect to Andorra, the mountains being completely expropriated. This too did not like the locals, so the project never got that, apparently, had the support of Andorra.
But history is not only stranger than we can find in a place like Tor. This small town has always been a place of passage, which also sheltered those fleeing the law, and entered the service of the "lords" of Tor. You can not certify that the maquis took refuge in the mountains but it is something often talked about when it comes to the issue of the killings occurred in Tor. In 1944, half-abandoned town, with the chapel demolished and some houses were only rubble after intense battles fought in the Civil War, only a few families could stay and live there. The "hippies", as usually called, served their masters with the intention of having a roof under which to shelter and food have ensured. The fact is that two of the men who acted as bodyguards for Lever, died in a shootout that no information clearly and accurately. It appears that the house and the house Cerdà Sansa, for the year 1976, rented an Andorran, Ruben Castañer the whole mountain, excluding the other neighbors. This led to the formation of a parallel board, led by Lever. Timber lease about Vic loggers, which would eventually end in a shootout. Castañer Ruben used to take guard, and Lever, who made use of these "refugees" to protect the mutual hatred between the two houses. Castañer's bodyguards tirotearían Lever's bodyguards. Where was justice then? We do not know. Maybe they washed their hands, watching the turn was taking everything up there. And thank goodness they were only thirteen houses ...
In 1981, Sansa try to take over the mountain, accusing it's neighbors not to live all year round, but it was not until 1995 when the Sansa you would grant this enormous benefit. Who could confirm who lived twelve months of the year Tor was the owner and master of the mountain. And the only one who could prove, with the smoke from the chimney on the four seasons, was Sansa. Who knows if it was he who was there? Probably, if he were not (although this is to assume too much, as it was a strong and robust man, accustomed to the harsh winters in the mountains), had been a "hippie" of those who always accompanied him. The fact is that, finally, the Court Tremp decided to give the whole mountain, leaving aside the above would have been his ally, the representative of Cerdà house, but maybe Sansa did not know that joy would last bit. Five months after this victory, Sansa would be found in his house, hanged and beaten, his body almost broken by the passage of time (almost four months that nothing was known of him and found the body in summer). The coroner, after several experiments with a cat, we noted that Sansa had died about two weeks before they found the body, but could find no trace inside the house, where lay the old and Sansa. It appears that had agreed to sell the entire mountain and do some ski slopes, which would be the largest in Europe, much more than those of Baqueira Beret with a hundred miles of tracks that belong to Spain and the Principality of Andorra. But still, today, can not say exactly who could kill Sansa.
Following statements by José Antonio Gil, a pastor who had lived for a time in Tor and testified that he witnessed the crime, was accused of murder Marili Pinto, a Brazilian national, and Josep Mont, who lived in La Seu d 'Urgell and it seems that had dealings (not too legal as you can imagine) with the victim. It was a couple who had been a smuggler in another time, but had apparently recovered from a debt Sansa: an amount of about one million pesetas. Both said only that he had been beaten and that his intention was not to kill him, and allegedly left him alive when he left home. However, the Court of Lleida few months later acquit the accused for lack of evidence, as José Antonio Gil had no evidence of having been in Tor during the dates on which the murder was committed. In 1997 he declared the mountain community, but again, in 2002, is returned to the mountain and rights the same to the people whose property had been registered more than thirty years before, and so their heirs, ratified this decision in 2004 by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. Even today
not been able to clarify many details of the crime, but what is certain is that many of the "alleged" murderers were not very legal dealings with the victim, who was dam Sansa much envy and jealousy, as well as the cause of many of them. Cause a tremendous impression when you get to the border with Andorra and can be seen in the huge panel announcing the move to the principality, a series of holes that appear have been traces of bullets from a shotgun.
There are a blend of characters that have been tainted or accomplices, but there is nothing that can be blamed directly to any of them right now because the lack of evidence is clear, and the silence of its inhabitants sometimes too stubborn or perhaps influenced by fear and the fear of who knows what ...
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