In 1973, the military authorities of Chile, under the leadership of General Pinochet, staged a violent coup and seized power over the country. The new military government implemented extensive regression and carried out summary executions of political prisoners.
In 1977, the National Information Center was created to gather information pertaining to any possible political dissension. It established detention centers where prisoners were taken for interrogation and its methods were so secret that the locations of these centers were not known. Thousands of prisoners were tortured on account of their alleged political activities. The victims came from a broad spectrum of Chilean society and included teachers, lawyers, students, peasants, doctors and shantytown dwellers. The tortures meted out were particularly vicious. The detainees were subject to beatings, electric shocks, rape, sleep deprivation, and burns on their genitals. A large proportion of the victims “disappeared.”
In the 1980s, one of the detention centers was identified. It was an ancient mansion house located on Pedro de Valdivia, close to the University of Vina del Mar. It had been given the nickname Casa de la Risa (House of Laughter) on account of the music that blared out from its interior both day and night. Prisoners were taken here and locked into small dark cells measuring no more than five square feet before the regime of torture began. The loud music drowned out their screams and many never left.
Construction workers recently arrived to dismantle the condemned building, and as demolition operations commenced, they began to see and hear strange things. The workers slept in separate rooms on their first night in the house, but heard such disturbing sounds that they shared a room on subsequent nights. They were awakened by the sound of pounding on the windows, strange voices, snatches of loud music, and the occasional sound of a child crying. One workman admitted to having been grabbed from behind by an invisible force.
As work progressed the hidden secrets of the house were gradually revealed. A series of tunnels and strange passageways came to light, there were false doors which led nowhere and the workmen were witness to the unearthing of the torture dungeon. The anguished voices continued to shout and many workers left the job unable to shake off the cloak of horror that had wrapped itself around them.
The “House of Laughter” was eventually razed to the ground, its secrets buried under a pile of rubble. The fact that extensive torturing was carried out under Pinochet's rule has now been acknowledged, but the souls of the “disappeared” have yet to exact their revenge.
