This hub runs from Mexico south through Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. La Llorona is the legend that links most of these countries. Two of the better-known items here are documented in part. The Charlie Charlie game is a dated event: for about ten days in May 2015, teenagers balanced pencils on a paper cross, and the article traces where the game came from. The Island of the Dolls in Xochimilco is described there as the decades-long project of one man who lived on it alone. Coiba in Panama was a penal colony for nearly a century and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The creatures are a different case. The Cadejo, La Siguanaba, La Segua, the Carreta Nagua, El Sombrerón, the Xtabai and La Tulevieja each get a page that sets out what is said about them and keeps that apart from anything that can be checked.
Articles
- La Llorona: The True Story Behind Mexico’s Weeping Woman: How one moving legend, told along riverbanks and lakes, has traveled across Mexico, the American Southwest and Latin America. (Label: Documented.)
- La Mano Peluda: Mexico’s Hairy Hand Legend Explained: A severed, hair-covered hand that crawls toward a bed; Mexico's best-known bedroom monster. (Label: Partially documented.)
- Charlie Charlie Challenge: The True Origin Story: The May 2015 internet game of two balanced pencils, and where it came from. (Label: Unverified.)
- Island of the Dolls: The True Story Behind Mexico’s Most Unsettling Attraction: The doll-covered island in the Xochimilco canals, which the article describes as one man's decades-long project. (Label: Documented.)
- El Cadejo: The Ghost Dog That Either Walks You Home or Doesn’t: A large spirit dog said to decide on sight what you deserve on a rural Honduran road after midnight. (Label: Documented.)
- La Siguanaba: El Salvador’s Horse-Faced Seductress: El Salvador's most famous legend, still invoked as a warning on dark roads and riverbanks. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- La Segua: The Beautiful Stranger Who Waits for Unfaithful Men on Costa Rica’s Back Roads: Costa Rica's horse-faced woman, a stock figure in how families talk about men who wander at night. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- La Carreta Nagua: The Death Cart That Haunts Nicaragua’s Back Roads: The death cart, heard as a wooden wheel grinding over stone on moonless nights in rural Nicaragua. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- El Sombrerón: Guatemala’s Hat-Wearing Phantom: Guatemala's hat-wearing figure, whose visits are proven by hair braided into tight knots overnight. (Label: Documented.)
- Xtabai: The Maya Legend Behind Belize’s Deadliest Ghost: The woman under the ceiba tree, a warning almost every Belizean child hears. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- La Tulevieja: Panama’s River Ghost Who Searches for Her Child: The thin, searching crying heard along the rivers of Chiriquí after dark. (Label: Oral tradition.)
- The Haunted History of Coiba Island Prison: A former penal colony in Panama that is now a UNESCO World Heritage rainforest and diving site. (Label: Unverified.)