10 Examples of Horror Legends - encyclopedia

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Examples of horror legends

A legend is a narrative of imaginary or wonderful 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 spices that were changing 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 narrated stories usually happen in a time and in an imprecise but credible and possible place, that is, they are not imaginary worlds but familiar scenarios for the people who would transmit that story.

Legends are usually the reflection of the popular culture of a people since they process their traditions, desires, fears and deepest beliefs.

Horror legends, in particular, are usually told orally and using resources that generate intrigue and mystery.

See also: Legends

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 different names and characteristics such as Pucullén (Chile), Sayona (Venezuela) or Tepesa (Panama). According to oral tradition, the weeping woman would have killed or lost her children, and her banshee wanders the world in her tireless search. It is recognized by the disconsolate and terrifying cry that announces its appearance.
The Silbon. The legend of the Silbón is originally from the plains of Venezuela and is also a case of a wandering soul. It is said that a young man, guided by various motives, murdered his own father and was cursed by his grandfather to drag his father's bones in a sack for all eternity. It is a local variant of the well-known "man in the bag", which is attributed a characteristic hiss (equivalent to do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si). The tradition also explains that if you hear him very close you know for sure, because the Silbón is far away; but if you hear it far away, you will have it very close. The appearance of the Silbón is an omen of an imminent death.
The deer woman. Deer woman or Deer lady (deer woman, in English) is an American legend from the western and northwestern Pacific 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 animal and deer, she appears to lure and kill unwise men. It is also said that sighting 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 the local mythology. A woman murdered and brutally mutilated by her husband turns into a demonic spirit or Yōkai, in order to return to the world to exact revenge. He supposedly appears to lonely men and, after asking them what they think of his beauty, proceeds to take them to the 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 said 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 solitary walkers whom he ambushed and took to his cave to be eaten.
Luzmala. In Argentina and Uruguay it is known as Luzmala at the moment of the night when the world of 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 Malaga, in Andalusia, this legend tells of the annual appearance (on the day of all the dead) of the souls in pain that 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 Arab legend tells the story of a demonic creature that lives under the earth, with a semi-human form but capable of assuming the form of a dog or a hyena. It is supposed to be an evil creature, who dupes the unwary, but is invulnerable to all harm. Many of the diseases and pests of the time were attributed to its evil influence.
The familiars. In colonial America "family members" were known as man-eating spirits that swarmed the sugar mills, especially in northwestern Argentina. There are different versions of them and their origins, but almost all coincide in their greed for human flesh that led them to prowl the barracks at night, disturbing horses and animals that felt their presence. Employers were often accused of dealing with relatives, sacrificing a pawn each year to the appetite of monsters 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. Zombies were the victims of a voodoo sorcery process, capable of taking vital energy from a person until it was killed and then reviving it stripped of its will, ready to do whatever the priest instructed. This legend motivated numerous film and literary versions.