Firmat is a city located in the south of

Santa Fe Province The Invincible Province of Santa Fe (, , lit. "Holy Faith") is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 2 ...

of Argentina in the Departamento General López. The main economic activities are agro-industry and agriculture. The city covers an area of about . The population of Firmat was 19,757 at the 2010 national census. The annual temperature of the city usually ranges between 10 and 23 degrees Celsius (50 and 73 °F).

History

Early years

Firmat was founded in 1888, when a railway station by that name was completed at the location along the

Santa Fe Western Railway The Santa Fe Western Railway (SFW, native name: Ferrocarril Oeste Santafesino) was an Argentine railway company which became British-owned in 1900 when it was taken over by the Central Argentine Railway. The company was based in the south of the ...

. The line owed its existence to a

Spanish Argentine Spanish Argentines () are Argentine-born citizens who are predominantly or totally of Spanish descent. The arrival of Spanish emigrants in Argentina took place first in the period before Argentina's independence from Spain, and again in large ...

investor,

Carlos Casado del Alisal Carlos Casado del Alisal (March 16, 1833 – June 29, 1899) was a Spanish Argentine businessman. Life and times Carlos Casado del Alisal was born in Villada, Palencia Province, Spain. He arrived in Santa Fe Province, Argentina in 1857, and in ...

, who is regarded as the town's founder. The commune itself was formally established on November 20, 1894. The Firmat Football Club was founded 13 years later, in 1907, and the Club Atlético Argentino de Firmat, in 1922. The town became an important center of

Argentine agriculture Agriculture is one of the bases of Argentina's economy of Argentina, economy. Argentine agriculture is relatively capital intensive, providing about 7% of all employment as of 2013,Vassalli Fabril Vassalli Fabril S.A. is an Argentina-based company that produces combine harvesters and farm implements, including the brands ''Vassalli'' and ''Don Roque''. It has three manufacturing plants located in Firmat, Santa Fe Province, occupying a to ...

, a firm specializing in

farm equipment Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the farm implements that they tow or operate. M ...

founded in Firmat in 1949, and

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

. Firmat was recognized as a municipality by the Provincial Legislature in 1962. The city's local news daily is ''Diario Firmat''.

"Haunted" swing

In June 2007, a swing in a children's playground was reported to the police after locals had discovered that it would move backwards and forwards non-stop on its own for ten days before stopping dead, while other swings would remain still. Parents and children were convinced that a

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

was to blame. According to a teacher, "One child called it the Blair Witch Playground. We believe it is haunted." Parents decided that the playground must indeed be haunted. For the April 13, 2011, episode of the Syfy Channel show, '' Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files'', the crew went to Firmat to investigate the haunted swing. They were able to recreate the movement of the swing with a monofilament, but determined that it was not a viable hoax. Ultimately, after covering the swing with an inflatable dome and performing simulated wind tests, they determined that wind was the probable culprit coupled with the fact that the haunted swing was slightly larger than the other swings and had more surface area to catch the wind. According to a 2017 article by ''

Ranker Ranker.com is a website that features polls on entertainment, brands, sports, food, and culture. Ranker claims to be one of the largest databases of opinions, with more than 1 billion votes gathered on over millions of subjective voters. Ranke ...

'', the swing "has been swinging by itself for five years - even when people try to stop it from moving". It is claimed that the swing is used by the ghost of a small child, who died nearby before the playground was built.Deeply Unsettling Haunted Playgrounds You Can Visit Right Now
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References

{{Reflist

External links

El Correo newspaperFirmat newspaperFirmat Football Club website
Populated places in Santa Fe Province Populated places established in 1894 Reportedly haunted locations in South America