The young man was helped by security personnel. "His eyes were on the verge of bulging out and his face was pale. It was then we realized El Familiar wanted to take him."The legend of "El Familiar" is well known in the sugar mills of the Argentinean northeast, but this is possibly the first time that security personnel testimony has substantiated the existence of the horrible demonic presence.According to popular belief it is a spirit that devours humans as it prowls the cane fields. There are several accounts that make reference to its appearance: some of them describe it as a large snake, others as a dog, while many other give it humanoid features.The fact of the matter is that nights ago, a 23-year-old man in the Department of Orán, a native of Embarcación, was frightened during the course of his duties. According to eyewitness testimony, the worker, who watches over one of the machines at one of the numerous stations of a sugar mill in the provincial north, arrived at around 18:00 hours."The fellow is an employee of one of the sugar mill's contractors. The machine he looks after is several kilometers distant from the station where the stillage vats are located. It was after 20:30 hours. I was seated beside the shack door listening to music and singing aloud, because there's no one around at the time. I was really into my own thing," said the security woman, whose identity is confidential.She told local media: "Suddenly this fellow appeared and he couldn't speak, like when you've lost your voice. So he stammered and said, "ma'am...could you phone my mother." The fright he gave me when I saw him standing before me, like that, right out of nowhere. So I stood up and asked him, "what are you doing here?" and he stared at me. The fellow wanted to cry. I asked him to sit down on a chair, but he refused and sat on the floor instead. I gave him water, put some on his head, and asked him to calm down."It was then that the young man confessed something had tried to grab him. "I thought at first they wanted to rob him, but when he managed to calm down a bit he told me he was on top of the machine and felt someone throwing pebbles at the window, and larger rocks at the roof. He was got down from the machine, took a flashlight, and he saw the giant shadow of a man with a hat. The shadow shouted:("You're getting out of here now!"). The guy grabbed his bag and started running non-stop.The distance between the stillage vats and the control station, the woman estimated, is similar to the distance separating [the town of] Hipólito Yrigoyen and Orán - some 16 kilometers. "It's too far for a person to run.""He looked behind him as he ran and could see the shadow chasing him, as if to seize him. At one point he fell down and looked for the cellphone in his pocket, but he tore his pants pockets out of fear. When I asked him to pull his hands out, he had the pockets in his hands. His eyes were on the verge of bulging out, his face was pale."The woman contacted the security company to have it get in touch with the young worker's superiors and make note of the situation. "As I was calming him down, a very heavy iron table (in the shack) was overturned and left with its legs in the air, as if thrown by someone. Security officer Yáñez had arrived by then and saw [the table] like that. That's when we realized that El Familiar had tried to take him and had chased him right to the station. I wasn't frightened because I know the story well, but the fellow started crying and kept repeating he wanted to be with his mother," she explained, later adding: "I didn't know how to behave at that moment. I was afraid (the young man) would have a seizure, because he was so frightened. I finally left when my replacement arrived."After the terrifying ordeal became known in the local, it became the talk of the localities that constitute the departments of Orán and San Martín. Few brave souls are willing to play the role of watchman at this time.According to the legend, El Familiar only eats human flesh and prowls the shanties occupied by sugar mill workers. Only those who have been its victims are aware of it. Neither bladed weapons nor firearms can harm it. However, they say, it is possible to escape alive from its clutches by showing it the Cross formed by a dagger's cross guards.