Calls In The Dark
(Originally published in Fringe! Calls In The Dark)
She comes out of the woods, and from the moment you catch her eye, you can’t look away. Dark hair, so long it hangs about her naked body like a cloak. As your eyes are drawn to roam her bronze skin, you notice that her legs are twisted. They point behind her. The spell is broken in that instant, and her smoldering eyes grow wide in anger. You run through the dark as she follows on jerky backward legs. You have drawn the love of La Ciguapa.
La Ciguapa from Latin Folktales
Ciguapa is one of the most recognizable figures in Dominican folklore. It has been the subject of books and movies, and the stories surrounding it are fascinating and diverse. Some describe the Ciguapa as a timid being that runs from humans and communicates through chirps and twitters, mimicking birds. They hide in the deep wood, where they are seldom seen.
However, a more common myth paints a much darker picture.
The creatures are said to lure men with their charming gaze and seductive bodies. They either mesmerize their victims or simply entice them sensually to follow. Once the poor man is in their lair, no night of passion awaits. Instead, Ciguapa kills them if they are lucky or eats them alive.
Depictions here start to differ. Some tales have La Ciguapa transforming into a bird-like creature and rending its victim with powerful claws. Others show a gentler side, one where it simply abducts the men to use as mates. However, that gentleness is short-lived because once the men have served their purpose, they become little more than a snack.
A popular legend tells the story of a man unfortunate enough to draw the monster’s eye. He would wander deep into the woods around his town on nights when he needed to think. One night, he heard it call to him. The beast did not rush him but softly approached. He was struck by her beauty, alien but familiar enough to spark his desire.
The man avoided the pitch-black eyes, having heard that it was all over for you once you looked into them. The creature tugged at his clothes and began to make chirping sounds. As the sounds grew louder and more insistent, he felt a strong urge to follow the creature, to touch it.
Instead, he drew on his love for his wife and child to break the spell over him. He turned and ran back home. It followed him and flew into a rage at the sight of his wife. The creature attacked the woman, and many stories end with the wife dead in her husband’s arms. This myth and its variations warn how jealous the creature can become if it takes a liking to you. An obvious allusion to the dangers of unfaithful men and the deadly passions of scorned lovers.
La Ciguapa isn’t the only being with backward-facing feet that has appeared throughout history. The ancient Greeks told stories of the Blemmyes, a race of malformed creatures. They were depicted as either having the heads of dogs, no heads at all but a large mouth on their bellies, or with feet that pointed behind them.
In Brazil, there is a cryptid known as the Curupira. It is regarded as a miniature mischief maker, also with legs turned the wrong way around. They are considered guardians of nature and target those who destroy the forest it calls home. In this way, the luring and tricking of unwary travelers or loggers, the Curupira, are similar to the Will-o’-wisp of European folklore.
The other traits of La Ciquapa echo the succubus, a female sex demon in Christian mythology. It also shares strong similarities with the Native American myth of the Deer Woman, as well as the Greek and Roman tales of the Siren. Whose legends warned of a beautiful song men might hear as they sailed, hypnotizing them to walk off the boat and drown. Popular media has changed their depiction to something akin to a mermaid. Originally, however, Sirens were described as birdlike, just as some describe Ciquapas.
The Deer Woman is a spirit in Native American mythology; to the Cherokee, she is a member of the Nunnehi, “People Who Live Anywhere.” Her origin story is a bit murky as it varies from tribe to tribe and retelling to retelling, but the Deer Woman is commonly associated with feminine wrath and temptation. The victim of rape or murder by a secret lover, she is visited by a deer in the last moments of her life and transformed into a half-human, half-deer spirit. From there, she preys on amorous men.
Stories of nightmarish things that call from the dark to tempt mankind exist in every culture. It would be easy to write off these legends and myths as just another iteration of how getting too close to the dark, the taboo, can end horribly. A warning to not stray from the safety of the light, to keep societal norms, or be lost forever.
But what if there is more than that?
Over 600,000 people go missing every year in the United States alone. Thousands of those are in remote, rural regions. While many are found alive or are recovered, some disappear without a trace. Could those stories of beguiling monsters have been an attempt by our ancestors to explain a very real threat?
Mankind has long held the crown among apex predators. While we lack many of nature's gifts, we excel at making our own—so much so that we shape and change nature to fit our needs and kill anything that might kill us, as long as we know it is there. Mimicry is an advantage to prey and predator alike.
Octopi and other aquatic species possess chromatophores, special glands that control the pigment on their skin. These sacs allow them to completely change their skin color to match their surroundings. An octopus can also use specialized skin cells to change its texture, allowing it to seem as smooth as still sand or as bumpy as coral.
The margay of the Amazon have learned to mimic the sound of baby tamarin monkeys. These jungle cats hunt by positioning themselves in a hard-to-see place, like the boughs of a tree or in dense brush, then let out the sound of a baby monkey in distress. They wait for a mature tamarin to come and investigate; once close enough, they pounce and drag their bloody prize into the shadows.
Could a currently unknown animal have developed along a similar line? To hide itself so perfectly as to seem nothing more than a tree or a stump. A disguise that allowed it to get close enough to its favorite prey in order to mimic its speech. Cries for help, whispered words to lure you off the path.
Stranger combinations exist already in the animal kingdom. For example, the platypus is mother nature’s wild card. It is an egg-laying, milk-producing, amphibious mammal with an avian bill and venom, a true evolutionary grab bag. While all of its adaptations haven’t saved it from being driven to low numbers, that's not to say another creature couldn’t have developed a winning combination—one that could not only keep it safe in the face of humanity's dominance but also give it a place even higher on the food chain.
Source
[Keith Fagan, Pioneer Woman Museum (The Deer Woman); Courtney Ferrarese, NWF Blog (Aggressive Mimicry: Wild Wizards of Trickery and Illusions); Various anonymous sources]
Calls In The Dark
Stories of nightmarish things that call from the dark to tempt mankind exist in every culture. It would be easy to write off these legends and myths as just another iteration of how getting too close to the dark, the taboo, can end horribly. What if there was more than that?
Voices in the Walls: The Zaragoza Goblin
A voice echoed around a small apartment in Italy, shocking the people gathered there. What would ensue in that small room captivated the world for a time; it caused not only local police but also government investigators to descend on the complex, only to come away with more questions than answers. Was it truly an act of “unconscious ventriloquism,” like officials claim, or something much stranger?
Human Monsters: Charles Freeman, Killing Kids For God
With a quick, downward stab, he drove the knife into his little girl’s side. Her eyes shot open as all the air was driven from her small body. In her last moments of life, poor Edith managed to get out the words, “Oh Papa!”
