Legends and stories for the season.

Dear Colleagues:

It is Halloween time in the United States and many other places. Whether a native tradition, or an imported commercial scam, the fact is that Halloween is now a part of many lives.  In past years, I have used this space to talk about the history of Halloween, horror movies, and even monsters and ghouls.  This time I leave to others the task of looking for the links between Halloween and the Day of the Death, and I will not even bother to refute those who are going around saying that the Mexican ceremonies from Michoacán state have their roots in Aztec culture when the Aztecs were not even from that part of the country.  This year I decided to share with you five of my favorite ghost stories and spooky legends from the Spanish speaking world. There are plenty more, including many stories from the rest of the world that I have also made my favorites and I will probably share in the years to come, but for now, please let me tell you the following stories and legends, so go ahead, dim the lights, get under the blanket, and prepare yourselves to be spooked:

Ánimas Mountain (El Monte de las Ánimas. Spain)

The story tells us that a long time ago, during the Arab occupation of Spain, the King of Castile asked the Knights Templar to come to Soria, a village in his kingdom and help him defend the city. Unfortunately, this made the local aristocrats angry as they thought that they were brave and skilled enough to defend the kingdom. The situation got worse because the Knight Templars controlled Ánimas Mountain, a place reach with game and a hunters’ paradise. As a result, the noble Castilians had to find their food somewhere else. They did not succeed and lived a life of austerity while the knights were hunting and enjoying the abundance of the mountain. Soon, both groups met in fierce battle that left Ánimas Mountain full of corpses that were eaten by the wolves. The king intervened and banned them all from going back to the mountain turning it into a desolated sight with a decaying Knights Templar chapel.  It is said that ever since, on the eve of the Day of the Dead, the chapel’s bell can be heard, and the souls of the warriors come back to the mountain wearing their torn battle suits and leaving their grim footprints behind. For many years people were cautioned not to go to the mountain on the Day of the Dead’s eve.

Then, many years later, Alonso, a young aristocrat from Soria, who was in love with Beatriz, a beautiful young woman who was visiting the village, and staying at the Count of Alcudiel’s palace, announced that she was going to leave the village and live in France. Alonso, devastated, confessed his love and told her of his fear of losing her forever. To this confession, Beatriz replied that in her kingdom there was a tradition where the gentleman would give the lady a garment or a personal item to pledge his love. Immediately, Alonso gave her the brooch that held the feather to his cap, and asked her what she was going to give him in return. She told him that she would pledge her blue ribbon. She looked for it, and realized that she had lost in on the mountain earlier that day, so she asked him to go to Ánimas Mountain and retrieve it.  Alonso admitted that he was afraid to go to the mountain that night, but she did not change her mind. Finally full of fear, Alonso got on his horse and off he went in search of the blue ribbon.

As the night got darker, Beatriz heard noises, a bell, and horrible screams coming from the mountain until she finally fell asleep. The following morning she woke up to the screams of nobles and commoners alike. They were yelling that young Alonso had died on the mountain the previous night. She got out of bed to go outside, and that was the moment when she saw a torn bloody blue ribbon on her bed. When the servants reached her chambers to tell her of Alonso’s death, they found Beatriz dead; her face had with a horrible expression: She had been scared to death!

From that day on, the legend tells that on every Day of the Dead’s eve, the skeletons of many warriors can be seen fighting all over the mountain, and if you pay special attention, you can see the figure of a pale barefooted bloody woman yelling and screeching around Alonso’s grave.

The House of Don Juan Manuel (La casa de don Juan Manuel. Mexico)

There was a house in 16^th Century Mexico City, the colonial capital of New Spain. It’s address: 94 Uruguay Street. It was the home of Don Juan Manuel de Solórzano, a wealthy man who was married to a beautiful woman who happened to be much younger than him. Don Juan Manuel was very jealous and he firmly believed that his wife was cheating on him. To find out who was her lover, he invoked the devil and made a deal: Don Juan Manuel gifted his soul to the devil in exchange for the name of his wife’s lover. Once the deal was sealed with Satan, Don Juan Manuel learned that his wife had been loyal to him all along, but it was too late.  The house still exists in Mexico City and it is presently used as an events ballroom. It is said by many that at night you can see a man dressed in 16^th Century fashion who paces in front of the main entrance and approaches those who go by the house and asks them the same question: “What time is it?” and when the answer happens to be: “eleven o’clock”, Don Juan Manuel just answers back: “How fortunate is the man who knows the time of his death”.

La Tunda (Colombia)

Do not confuse the name with the Spanish word for a beating. It has nothing to do with it. It is said that for centuries, a horrific creature has inhabited the forests of Colombia’s Pacific coast. This monster has an insatiable appetite for human flesh and it prefers small children. Hunters and their families can be tricked by this creature at night when it takes the shape of a beautiful woman to trap men, and imitates the voice of a child’s mother to lure them into the forest where it holds them prisoners in a cave until it eats them one by one. The legend says that in order to keep them from running away, the creature feeds them seafood with special powers that paralyze the body leaving the victims totally helpless.  Many say that even now, especially in the Chocó region of Colombia, you can hear this motherly voice calling for its victims at night.

The Legend of Caá-porá (Paraguay)

There is a giant with a huge head who lives in the Guaraní Mountains of Paraguay. This huge being can only be seen in the most inaccessible parts of the mountains, but those who have encountered it, claim that he smokes a macabre pipe made of a human skull. Caá-porá will not harm those who go to the mountains to hunt for their own food, sometimes he even guides their dogs to the prey. However, this giant is ruthless with hunters who go to the mountains for the sole purpose of hurting the animals. Those hunters will face Caá-porá who will devour the animals before the hunters can get to them, spoiling their hunting trip. On other occasions, this big-headed giant can confuse the dogs so they cannot find any game, and kill the hunters to eat them.  It is said that those who have escaped the giant and made it back to civilization, come back under a spell and are never the same. Now you know, so the next time you go to the Guaraní Mountains and run into a hunter who may look bewitched, dozing or sleepy, you will have met a victim who escaped from Caá-porá.

Súpay (Argentina)

Also known as Zúpay, is a devil known since the days of the Incas. Súpay lives in the northern and central regions of Argentina in an underground cave named Salamanca. His home was originally called Supaihuasin (hell in Quichua).  This devil dresses all in black with a broad hat, gold and silver ornaments, spurs, a dagger, and a guitar. On Tuesday and Friday nights, it rides its horse until it finds some unsuspecting travelers. He asks them to dinner, and after hours of food and drinking, and once Súpay has entertained its guests with his guitar, he proposes a deal to his victims: their souls in exchange for temporary fortune and reaches.  Súpay followers visit his underground cave to learn his black magic and other means to hurt people.

I did my part to put you on the Halloween mood, now I ask you to please share with us other chilling legends or stories from your countries.

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