IN ENGLISH BELOW THE LINE
Fotografia feta amb la Hasselblad 500C/M, fabricada el 1979; objectiu Carl Zeiss Planar f2.8/80mm; pel·licula infrarroja Kodak Aerochrome @320 ISO, caducada com a mínim el 2011, amb filtre groc; revelada amb el kit C41 d'Adox. El vermell del infrarroig dona una inquietant visió del tràgic paisatge de La Pobla de Ferran.
La Pobla de Ferran es un petit i quasi despoblat poblet d’un sol carrer, proper a Passanant, el cap del municipi. Només una casa sembla habitada sempre, però la resta es troben en bon estat ja que son segones residencies, i el poble es veu força arreglat. No té església però si les restes d’una ermita romànica. Es troba al extrem nord de la Conca de Barberà però dins de la Baixa Segarra, pel que té molts més lligams amb Tàrrega i Cervera. El paisatge és clàrament segarrenc, molt sec bona part de l’any peró preciosament verd al abril i maig, per exemple en aquest 2025 joiosament plujós.
També sembla que era excepcionalment verd el maig de 1928, en que havia plogut molt i s’esperava una molt bona collita. Aleshores el conreu del cereal era el nucli vital de la vida de tothom a La Pobla de Ferran. Tothom eren menys de 50 persones. D’aquestes, 9 eren nens i nenes. Un dels adults era Josep Marimon Carles, de 26 anys. Feia uns 5 anys que, durant el servei militar, va contraure tuberculosi vertebral o Mal de Pott, una malaltia que provocava malformacions, molt dolor, i impedia treballar. Per això es pasava moltes hores estirat a l’entrada de casa prenent el sol, que li mitigava el dolor. Però potser alguns veins ho confonien amb peresa, i així li feien saber. Probablement tot això va fer anant alienant soterradament a Marimon, que va dir més d’una vegada que “quan jo m’aixequí d’aqui, no s’hi posarà mai més ningú”.
La tarda del dissabte 21 de maig de 1928 quasi tot el poble era treballant als camps, netejant-los de males herbes. Només quedaven unes poques dones grans, els nens petits (els grans eren encara a escola), i el Marimon. Aleshores començà. Cap a les 4, va convencer a dues nenes i un nen de 3 i 4 anys (Carme Rabadà, Teresa Roca i Miquel Torres) que l’acompanyessin a una pallissa de la casa més al nord del poble, per veure com caçava colomins. Un cop allà sols, Marimon mata amb una destral a les tres víctimes i les tapà amb palla. Hi ha testimonis que en aquest punt arribà un esquilador al poble i el Marimon dissimulà durant uns 40 minuts, però no està clar. En tot cas, un cop va tenir camp lliure, armat amb una destral i una escopeta, va anar resseguint el carrer únic tot matant. A Can Corona va trobar Rosa Aloi de 45 anys, cosint. Amb ella hi havia una nena de 4 anys, Ramona Rabadà. Atacà la dona amb la destral, ferint-la greument al cap i, veient que la nena fugia cap al cobert del davant del carrer, la perseguí i matà allà. Rosa Aloi va morir pocs dies després. Marimon segui carrer amunt i matà d’un tret a Francesca Canela, de 70 anys, que donava menjar a les gallines de casa seva. No estic segur de quina casa era.
En aquest punt, Antonia Marimon (no eren familia) i Marina Roca, tornaren al poble i començaren a preocupar-se en no veure les criatures, i les començaren a buscar. Mentrestant, l’assassí havia vist que els nens més grans tornaven d’escola a Passanant (a uns 2 km), i les va enganyar amb la mateixa excusa dels colomins, portant-los a un paller que hi ha sota el castell i una mica apartat de les cases. Allà en matà tres més (Ramon Canela, Josep Rabadà i Salvador Torres, de 5, 6 i 11 anys). En aquell moment, en Josep Torres, de 8 anys, ho va veure i començà a fugir, però en Marimon li disparà per la esquena i el va matar.
En Marimon tornà a casa seva, on ja havia preparat la fugida. Agafà roba, menjar, beguda i recarregà la escopeta. En aquells moments Antonia Marimon i Marina Roca ja havien descobert els cadavers dels infants i pujaven pel carrer en estat de panic buscant ajuda. L’assassí els hi disparà diversos trets des de la finestra de casa seva, deixant-les greument ferides al mig del carrer, i després fugí en direcció sud. Encara va tenir temps de veure una avia amb la darrera criatura viva de tot el poble, que fugien, i els hi va disparar. Però estaven més lluny i afortunadament va fallar el tret.
Tots els habitants que treballaven dispersos pels camps havien sentit alguns trets, però era usual que Marimon cacés colomins, pel que inicialment no en deurien fer cas. Però en començar a sentir els crits desesperats de les dones, així com més trets, tornaren alarmats cap al poble, però no era rapid, sobretot perque La Pobla de Ferran està al cim d’una serra. Arribaren a una escena de horror absolut, amb tots els menors del poble morts excepte un, una dona gran morta i tres més de greument ferides. I amb l’assassí desaparegut.
Aviat les campanes de Passanant i de tots els pobles del entorn tocaren a sometent, i s’organitzà una batuda per caçar el criminal, al que tothom qualificava de boig. El primer dia ja eren 300 homes, i ràpidament foren quasi 2000, incloent decenes de guardies civils espanyols. En els propers dies es feu l’enterrament de les 9 victimes directes d’aquell 21 de maig, i pocs dies després, el de Rosa Aloi, que mori de les greus ferides al cap. Dos matrimonis perderen tres fills cadascun d’ells. I l’assassí encara estava sense localitzar. Diversos rumors el situaren a Montblanc, Tàrrega o Cervera, i part de la cerca es desvià cap allà. Molts pensaven que havia fugit cap a Barcelona o fins i tot França. Però altres pensaven que un noi sol, coix no havia pogut anar pas tant lluny, i intensificaren la busqueda per l’entorn més inmediat. I així fou com vuit dies després, de bon matí, el somatent el va trobar prop d’una cabana situada a menys de dos quilometres de La Pobla de Ferran, en direcció sud. El jutge i la guardia civil el volien agafar viu, però el somatent, lligat al territori i els seus habitants, volia venjança. Per tant, tal i com el van veure, li varen fotre un tret al cap. Així acabà aquesta tragedia. O casi, perquè pel que sembla, tot i que he vist versions contradictories, tant la Antonia Marimon com la Marina Roca, les altres dues ferides, acabaren morint per culpa dels trets que els hi disparà en Josep Marimon, pel que possiblement el balanç final fou de 12 assassinats.
Avui en dia La Pobla de Ferran és un llogaret que, tot i que poc habitat entre setmana, en gran part continua intacte en segona residencia. Aixó sí, encara hi manca un memorial per a les victimes de Josep Marimon aquell 21 de maig de 1928.
www.3cat.cat/3cat/la-pobla-de-ferran-cap-1-la-mort-dels-c...
www.guimera.info/noticies/dues-croniques-sobre-el-crim-de...
Sense cap mena de dubte, la emulsió més cotitzada avui en dia, i això que parlem de pel·licula caducada com a mínim des del 2011 o abans, és la Kodak Aerochrome. Molt probablement ja haureu sentit parlar d'ella si feu fotografia analògica. Es tracta d'una emulsió infrarroja en color, teoricament per a revelar com a diapositiva, però que sovint és més conveninent revelar-la com a negatiu amb el procés C41, ja que és menys exigent a una correcta exposició (i ho és molt), especialment ara que està caducada. Tot i que té un ISO de 400 per a diapositiva, millor exposar per a ISO 320 com a negatiu.
www.fotochismes.com/2020/11/30/la-sorprendente-historia-d...
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Picture taken with a Hasselblad 500C/M, Carl Zeiss Planar f2.8/80mm lens, made in 1979; Kodak Aerochrome infrarred film @320 ISO, expired at least from 2011, with yellow filter; developed with the C41 kit by Adox. The infrared emulsion gives a disturbing vision of that damned village, soaked in blood of the innocent.
La Pobla de Ferran is a small and almost deserted village with only one street, near Passanant, the head of the municipality. Only one house seems to be always inhabited these days, but the rest are in good condition since they are second residences, and the village looks quite tidy. It has no church but the remains of a Romanesque chapel. The landscape is very dry for much of the year but beautifully green in April and May, for example in this joyfully rainy 2025.
It also seems that it was exceptionally green in May 1928, when it had rained a lot and a very good harvest was expected. At that time, cereal cultivation was the vital nucleus of everyone's life in La Pobla de Ferran. There were less than 50 people in all. Of these, 9 were boys and girls. One of the adults was Josep Marimon Carles, aged 26. About 5 years ago, during his military service, he contracted spinal tuberculosis or Pott’s Disease, that caused malformations, a lot of pain, and prevented him from working. That is why he spent many hours lying in the entrance to his house taking sunbaths, which alleviated his pain. But perhaps some neighbors confused this with laziness, and that is how they let him know. Probably all this rejecting and pain slowly alienated Marimon, who said more than once that "when I get up from here, no one will ever sit here again".
On the afternoon of Saturday, May 21, 1928, almost the entire village was working in the fields, clearing them of weeds. Only a few old women remained, the small children (the older ones were still at school), and Marimon. Then it began. At around 4 o'clock, he convinced two girls and a boy aged 3 and 4 (Carme Rabadà, Teresa Roca and Miquel Torres) to accompany him to a hay room at the house further north of the village, to see how he hunted pigeons, something he usually did. Once there alone, Marimon killed the three little innocent victims with an axe and covered them with straw. There are witnesses that at this point a shearer arrived in the village and Marimon coldly helped him for about 40 minutes, but it is not clear. In any case, once he had a free field, armed with an axe and a shotgun, he went around the only street killing everyone he found. In Can Corona house he found Rosa Aloi, aged 45, sewing. With her was a 4-year-old girl, Ramona Rabadà. He attacked the woman with the axe, seriously wounding her in the head, and, seeing the girl flee towards the shed across the street, he chased and killed her there. Rosa Aloi died a few days later. Marimon continued up the street and shot and killed Francesca Canela, 70, who was feeding the chickens in her house. I am not sure which house it was, maybe the one further south with a large barn door.
At this point, Antonia Marimon (they were not family) and Marina Roca, returned to the village and began to worry when they did not see the children, and began to look for them. Meanwhile, the murderer had seen the older children returning from school in Passanant (about 2 km away), and deceived them with the same excuse of the pigeons, taking them to a haystack under the castle and a little away from the houses. There he killed three more (Ramon Canela, Josep Rabadà and Salvador Torres, aged 5, 6 and 11). At that moment, Josep Torres, aged 8, saw him and started to run away, but Marimon shot him in the back and killed him.
Marimon returned to his house, where he had already prepared his escape. He took clothes, food, drink and reloaded his shotgun. At that moment, Antonia Marimon and Marina Roca had already discovered the bodies of the children and were running up the street in a state of panic looking for help. The murderer fired several shots at them from the window of his house, leaving them seriously injured in the middle of the street, and then fled south. He still had time to see an grandmother with the last living child in the whole village, who were fleeing, and he shot them. But they were further away and fortunately the shot missed. All the inhabitants who were working scattered in the fields had heard some shots, but it was usual for Marimon to hunt pigeons, so initially they should not have paid attention. But when they began to hear the desperate cries of the women, as well as more shots, they returned in alarm to the village, but it was not fast, especially because La Pobla de Ferran is on the top of a hill. They arrived at a scene of absolute horror, with all the children in the village dead except one, an elderly woman dead and three more seriously injured. And with the murderer missing.
Soon the bells of Passanant and all the surrounding towns rang out calling for the “somatent” (militia), and a raid was organized to hunt down the criminal, whom everyone described as crazy. On the first day there were already 300 men, and quickly they were almost 2000, including dozens of Spanish police. In the following days the burial of the 9 direct victims of that May 21st took place, and a few days later, that of Rosa Aloi, who died of serious head injuries. Two couples lost three children each. And the murderer was still unaccounted for. Various rumors placed him in Montblanc, Tàrrega or Cervera, and part of the search was diverted there. Many thought he had fled to Barcelona or even France. But others thought that a lonely, lame boy could not have gone that far, and they intensified the search in the immediate area. And so it was that eight days later, early in the morning, a group of “somatent” found him near a cabin located less than two kilometers from La Pobla de Ferran, heading south.
The judge and the police wanted to take him alive, but the “somatent”, tied to the territory and its inhabitants, wanted revenge. Therefore, as they saw him, they shot him in the head. That's how this tragedy ended. Or almost, because apparently, although I have seen contradictory versions, both Antonia Marimon and Marina Roca, the other two wounded, ended up dying because of the shots that Josep Marimon fired at them, so possibly the final tally was 12 murdered.
Today La Pobla de Ferran is a village that, although sparsely inhabited during the week, remains largely intact as a second residence. However, there is still a lack of a memorial for the victims of Josep Marimon on that May 21, 1928.
Here the news in The Times of 1928:
www.guimera.info/noticies/wp-content/uploads/1928/05/1-Th...
Without a doubt, the most desired and valued emulsion today (and we're talking about expired film since at least 2011 or earlier) is the Kodak Aerochrome. You've probably heard of it by now if you do analog photography. It is a color infrared emulsion, theoretically to be developed as a slide, but it is often more convenient to develop it as a negative with the C41 process, since it is less demanding on a correct exposure (and it is a lot) , especially now that it's expired. Although it rated at ISO 400 for slides, better to expose for ISO 320 as a negative.
emulsive.org/reviews/film-reviews/kodak-film-reviews/koda...
