Chonchón: Chile’s Flying Head Witch and Its Tué-Tué Cry

The chonchón (also spelled chon-chon, and known by its cry as the tué-tué) is a flying human head from Mapuche and Chilean folklore, said to be the night form of a kalku, an evil sorcerer. It is described as a head with large ears for wings, and its call is believed to announce illness or death. English Wikipedia has only a short stub on it, even though the creature is still a familiar name across central and southern Chile and parts of Argentina.

What's Actually Verifiable

No one has ever documented a flying head, and no medical or police record ties a death to a chonchón. What can be checked is the tradition itself. English Wikipedia describes the chonchón as a being from Mapuche religion and folk mythology in Chile and southern Argentina, and says the name comes from Mapudungun, the Mapuche language. Its sources include Tomás Guevara's early study of the Mapuche (1908), anthropologist Ana Mariella Bacigalupo's 2010 book on Mapuche shamans, and a 2000 article by Constantino Contreras on oral narratives.

Spanish Wikipedia adds the alternative names Quilquil, Totué and El mau, and gives Contreras's 2000 article in Estudios Filológicos (issue 35) and a 2009 La Tercera and Icarito collection, Mitos y leyendas de Chile, as references. It also says that after the Spanish arrived, the figure was reinterpreted as a witch or warlock serving the devil, and that it is linked to other birds of ill omen in Chiloé tradition. These are descriptions of belief, not evidence that the creature exists.

Several Spanish-language folklore sites suggest a natural origin for the cry. They connect the three-syllable “tué-tué-tué” with a nocturnal owl of southern Chile and Argentina, the concón (Strix rufipes). That link is a suggestion made by modern writers. It is not a documented historical fact, but it shows how an ordinary night sound could be read as a warning.

What Is the Chonchón?

The chonchón is a human head with enormous ears that serve as wings, and in many accounts it also has feathers and talons. It is said to fly on moonless nights and to cry “tué, tué, tué” as it passes over houses. Many tellings treat that cry as an omen that someone nearby will fall ill or die. Because of the cry, people simply call it the tué-tué.

The creature is not a wild animal and not a ghost. In Mapuche belief it is a shape taken by a living person, a kalku. A kalku is a malevolent sorcerer, the opposite of the machi, the healer-shaman. A kalku is said to work with evil spirits called wekufe. According to the legend, the chonchón is simply one of the forms such a sorcerer can use to travel at night.

How Does a Sorcerer Become a Chonchón?

According to the legend, a kalku or a witch rubs a magical ointment on the throat. The head then separates from the body, grows wings and flies off, leaving the body behind in the house. Some versions say the transformation needs the words “Sin Dios ni Santa María” (without God or Holy Mary), an obviously post-Spanish detail. Others say the head must return before sunrise, or the sorcerer is stuck in the form for good. If the ointment is lost, the flyer is said to fall to the ground.

The Mapuche tradition and the later Chilean, Catholic-influenced tellings differ here. The earlier idea is a kalku transforming with the help of wekufe. The later idea is a witch pledged to the devil. In both, the flight has a purpose: to reach the gatherings that witches are said to hold in caves and underground places.

What Does the Chonchón Do?

The legends give it two jobs. The first is carrying messages and curses for its sorcerer. The second is hunting the weak. In some tellings the chonchón hovers around a sickroom, fights the patient's spirit and, if it wins, sucks the patient's blood. Other tellings keep it as a pure omen, a sound that tells the household what is coming without any attack at all.

The people most at risk in these tellings are the sick and the sleeping, which is why the protections below are aimed at the house and the doorway.

How Do People Protect Themselves From It?

Folklore writers list several protections. They come from separate popular retellings and are not a single official ritual. Reported methods include:

• Placing two open scissors crossed in a doorway or patio.
• Putting a broom upside down behind the main door.
• Burning rosemary, or herbs the Mapuche regard as sacred, such as foye (canelo).
• Throwing salt on the kitchen fire.
• Reciting the Prayer of Saint Cyprian while holding a candle.
• Speaking a set phrase such as “Pass, chonchón, and go on your way.”

One retelling adds a ritual in which the figure of the Seal of Solomon is drawn on the ground with a knife, and the chonchón is said to fall into it and become trapped. Another says the flying head can be driven off by reciting prayers backwards. These are things people said, not tested remedies, and different sources give different lists.

Where Is the Chonchón Told?

The legend is tied to the Mapuche homeland of central and southern Chile and the neighbouring Argentine side, and it appears in the folklore of Chiloé, where it is related to other bird omens. Some sources give its alternative names as chucho, chuncho and chaihue. Modern writers say it is still told in cities such as Concepción and Valdivia and across the border near Bariloche, and that it turns up in Chilean horror film and regional television.

Why Does the Chonchón Still Matter?

The chonchón combines three ideas that are easy to remember: a sorcerer who is secretly your neighbour, a bird call in the dark, and a death that has already been foretold. In a tradition built around suspected sorcerers, it gives a community a way to talk about a feared neighbour through a story rather than an open accusation. It is also one of the clearest examples of a figure that began in Mapuche belief and was reshaped under Spanish rule into a witch story that Catholic households could tell too.

For readers exploring Chile's other night legends, the sea-borne ghost ship of Chiloé is covered in the Caleuche, the ghost ship of Chiloé. Another South American sorcerer who travels by night, in a very different form, appears in the Kanaima sorcerer legend of Guyana. A night-time sound that is read as a spirit's presence also appears in the El Tunche whistling spirit of the Peruvian Amazon.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the chonchón in Chilean folklore?

The chonchón is a flying human head with giant ears for wings, from Mapuche and Chilean folklore. It is said to be the night form of a kalku, an evil sorcerer, who travels this way to witches' gatherings. Its cry, “tué-tué-tué,” is believed to warn of illness or death.

Why is the chonchón called the tué-tué?

It is named after the sound it is said to make as it flies overhead at night. Chilean folklore treats the three-note call as a warning that someone nearby is about to fall ill or die. Some writers link the sound to the concón, a nocturnal owl of southern Chile and Argentina.

How do you protect yourself from a chonchón?

Folklore accounts list crossed open scissors at the door, an upside-down broom, burning rosemary or foye, salt on the fire, and the Prayer of Saint Cyprian said with a candle. These come from popular retellings, not a single authority, and none has been tested.

Is the chonchón a ghost or a witch?

Neither exactly. In Mapuche belief it is a living person, a kalku sorcerer, whose head takes flight at night. Later Chilean tellings recast the same figure as a witch or warlock serving the devil. It is not the spirit of someone who has died.

Where does the chonchón legend come from?

It comes from Mapuche religion and folk mythology in Chile and southern Argentina, and the name comes from Mapudungun. English Wikipedia cites Tomás Guevara (1908), Ana Mariella Bacigalupo (2010) and Constantino Contreras (2000) among its sources. Spanish colonial and Catholic ideas later reshaped it.

Does the chonchón have an English Wikipedia article?

Only a very short one. English Wikipedia has only a short Chonchon page, a few paragraphs long. This article adds the alternative names, protections and regional variants found on Spanish Wikipedia and several Spanish-language folklore sites, and keeps documented facts clearly separate from what is only legend or retelling.