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Jakoby James

Horse Face and a Backwards Feet Case: Latin American Monsters

By: Jakoby James


Most kids have heard horror stories of what could or will happen to them for misbehaving when they are children, but there doesn’t seem to be enough for when they’re adults. Or is there… Latin America is known for its horror stories for children but most of these 10 monsters are a warning to adults.

An example of this is La Siguanaba, mostly terrorizing the drunk and cheating men of Central America. She has a human body, but a horse head. With this in mind, there are many versions of her backstory. In El Salvador, the story goes that a woman named Sihuehuet, which means beautiful woman in Nahuatl, used magic to marry a prince. Her husband, Yeisun, went to war, and she took this time having multiple affairs and even getting impregnated. The father of her son’s name was Lucero de la Mañana (Lucifer Morningstar). The affair angered Lucero, so to evade punishment she poisoned Yeisun in order to give the throne to Lucero. Things didn’t go according to plan, because instead of dying, Yeisun became a monster and killed everyone at a festival that was taking place as he was poisoned. His father wanted revenge and he went to the God of gods Tlaloc, and Tlaloc already had problems with Lucero, so he took his opportunity and cursed Sihuehuet and her son. This is how she turned into La Siguanaba, which also means ugly woman. If a man looks at her, he will die. If she touches him. they go insane, and she leads them to be lost forever. A way to evade La Siguanaba is by biting their cross or medallion or by pulling her hair which will scare her to run away

To go further south to Colombia and Venezuela there is a tall, red eye, eerie  whistling, bone carrying man, El Silbon also known as the Whistler. He obviously whistles, but it is stated that if he sounds far, he is close, but if he sounds close, he is far. El Silbon was said to be from the colonial period when this region was known as Gran Colombia. The region where the story originated from tells the story of a spoiled young man that killed his father for not providing the groceries he asked for. He ripped and cooked his intestines, and then his mother and him had that for dinner. When his mother realized what she ate she cursed him with bad luck. His grandfather took a more aggressive approach by sending dogs to kill him while also spreading chilly peppers on his wounds. He was cursed to walk this earth forever carrying his father’s bones. The story started to differ, because one version says he kills women, beaters, and drunks. The other says he hunts anybody. It is also believed that he will drop his bones on someone’s house at night, and count them slowly. If nobody hears him, someone in that house will die the next day.Although if someone hears him, everybody will live. The only way to evade him is by having chili peppers or by having dogs.

Down in Brazil  in the Amazonian jungle there is a creature trying to protect nature named Curupira. The creature has, with its feet backwards, fire hair, and green skin and is described as a child that tries to protect the animals in the forest from hunters. He uses confusing noises to try to confuse hunters, woodcutters, and anybody disrupting the Amazonian ecosystem. Its feet are backwards to confuse people on whether he is coming or going. He also has a whistle that can confuse or tire someone, leaving them lost.

The Curupira isn’t alone in trying to protect the Amazon. Except it is a 7’2 tall, smelly, humanoid, with a second mouth on his stomach named Mapinguari. He is said to be a shaman that was punished by the gods for finding the secret to immortality. They cursed him to be a beast that walks around this earth aimlessly for eternity. He hunts hunters if they don’t respect the forest and nature. The only way to evade this monster is by shooting him in the head which seems simple. The problem comes in because anyone that comes near him becomes dizzy or disoriented.


If you would like to know more I have provided the sources I used to research this article


Sources:


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