Horror legends
A legend is a narrative of imaginary or marvelous events that conveys a moral or teaching about the real world, in a generally metaphorical or figurative sense.
Legends, like myths, were transmitted orally from generation to generation within a town. This oral transmission allowed each new speaker who told the story to add new seasonings that varied the story. Over time, these stories were also transmitted in written form but with an anonymous author.
Despite having supernatural facts and characters, there are those who believe in the veracity of the legends. The stories narrated usually happen at a time and in an imprecise but credible and possible place, that is, they are not about imaginary worlds but rather familiar scenarios for the people who would transmit that story.
The legends are usually the reflection of the popular culture of a people since they process their traditions, desires, fears and deepest beliefs.
Horror legends, especially, are usually narrated orally and using resources that generate intrigue and mystery.
Examples of horror legends
- La Llorona. La llorona is a ghostly character whose legend comes from colonial times and has variants in the Hispanic world, acquiring various names and characteristics such as La Pucullén (Chile), La Sayona (Venezuela) or La Tepesa (Panama). According to oral tradition, the weeping woman would have murdered or lost her children, and her soul in pain wanders the world in the tireless search for her. She is recognized by the inconsolable and terrifying cry that announces her appearance.
- The Silbon. The legend of the Silbón originates from the plains of Venezuela and is also a case of a wandering soul. A young man, guided by various motives, is said to have murdered his own father and was cursed by his grandfather to drag his father’s bones in a sack for all eternity. He is a local variant of the well-known “bag man”, who is credited with a characteristic whistle (equivalent to do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si). The tradition also explains that hearing it very close one knows for sure, since the Silbón is far away; but if you hear it far away, you will already have it very close. The appearance of the Silbón is an omen of imminent death.
- the deer woman. Deer Woman either deer lady (deer woman, in English) is an American legend from the West and Pacific Northwest areas, whose protagonist is a woman capable of turning into various wild animals. In the form of an old woman, a seductive young woman or a fawn, sometimes a hybrid between an animal and a deer, she appears to lure and kill incautious men. It is also said that seeing it is a sign of a profound change in the person or a personal transformation.
- Kuchisake-onna. This name in Japanese literally means “the woman with the cut mouth” and belongs to local mythology. A woman murdered and brutally mutilated by her husband turns into a demon spirit, or Yōkai, in order to return to the world to exact revenge. She supposedly appears to lonely men and, after asking them what they think of her beauty, she proceeds to take them to her grave.
- Juancaballo. The legend of Juancaballo is reminiscent of that of the centaurs in Ancient Greece. This story comes from Jaén (Spain), where it is stated that a creature half man and half horse lived in the vicinity of the Sierra Mágina. Endowed with enormous strength, cunning and evil, Juancaballo was especially addicted to human flesh and liked to hunt down solitary walkers whom he ambushed and took to his cave to be devoured.
- bad light. In Argentina and Uruguay it is known as Luzmala at the moment of the night in which the world of the spirits and the world of the living intermingle. This occurs in the solitudes of the Pampa, where a set of meandering lights reveal the opening of the afterlife, which is considered by the locals as an announcement of coming calamities.
- The legend of the bridge of souls. Coming from Málaga, in Andalusia, this legend tells of the annual appearance (on the day of all the dead) of the souls in pain who crossed the town bridge to take refuge in the convent, dragging chains and carrying torches. They are accused of being the spirits of Christian soldiers killed in combat against the Moors during the Reconquest.
- the ifrit. This old Arabian legend tells the story of a demonic creature that lives underground, with a semi-human form but capable of assuming the form of a dog or hyena. It is supposed to be an evil creature, which deceives the unwary, but is invulnerable to all damage. Many of the diseases and plagues of the time were attributed to its malefic influence.
- The familiars. In colonial America, “the relatives” were known as man-eating spirits that swarmed in the sugar mills, especially in northwestern Argentina. There are various versions about them and their origins, but almost all agree on their avidity for human flesh that led them to prowl the barracks at night, disturbing horses and animals that sensed their presence. Employers were often accused of dealing with relatives, sacrificing a pawn each year to the monsters’ appetite in exchange for allowing them to prosper in their business.
- the zombie. Far from the current representations in the cinema, the myth of the zombie comes from Haiti and the African Caribbean, and goes back to the voodoo traditions of the various slave tribes captured by the Spanish. The zombies were the victims of a process of voodoo sorcery, capable of draining a person of life energy until they were killed and then revived, stripped of their will, ready to do whatever the priest instructed. This legend motivated numerous film and literary versions.
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