Although Halloween is not celebrated by resident Ticos, Costa Rica still has plenty of

ghosts.
Escaz is known as a place where covens of witches call up spirits.
In all, a mystical place. One such phantom is the young lady at left. She is La
Tulevieja, this one carved by master artisan Carlos Jimnez.
There are two stories, none of which adequately account for her wings and chicken
feet. In the first tale, she is an old lady who wore the traditional straw hat, the "tule."
The old womans straw hat blew away in a wind, and she plunged into a local river to
retrieve it, never to be seen again, at least in the flesh.
The second tale says that the deformed old woman was once a teenage girl who had a
child out of wedlock. She refused to breastfeed her child, thus causing the childs
death.
She was transformed into a horrible creature with pendulous breasts, doomed to
wander Costa Rica as an example to other young ladies. We still do not know from
where the chicken feet came.
Escaz means resting place, but theres a restless and often spooky quality to
this suburb southwest of San Jos. In recent years, the area has burgeoned
into a thriving commercial hub that plenty of well-heeled Ticos, Gringos and
foreign ambassadors call home, but ancient burial grounds still lie beneath
their modern abodes. Old Escaz remains steeped in its pre-Columbian
history, and its legends have tended to take on lives of their own.
Bizarre creatures, enchantments and particularly witches are said to roam the
land, andescazuceos seem generally accepting of this. Known informally as
the city of witches, Escaz spawned a soccer teamed dubbed Brujas F.C.,
and witch figurines are displayed prominently on residential chimneys. The
municipal seal also depicts a witch on a broom.
For the community of Escaz, as well as other towns in Costa Rica, oral
history has been the instrument by which the generations have passed on local

and regional stories, said Amalia Len, a spokeswoman for the Escaz
Municipalitys culture program.
Nearly all of Escazs legends are both fascinating and terrifying, but one
legend has stood out from the rest and even been the subject of a dubious
recent development.
The Tulevieja
A ghost with the head of an old woman and the body of a bird, the Tulevieja is
said to have lived up on Pico Blanco in the mountains of Escaz, occasionally
coming down to ambush local farmers with her famous cry, Voy, voy, voy!
before devouring them. Some also say she had gargantuan breasts that
constantly dripped milk, prompting ants to follow her everywhere.
One day, a man named Liborio Constantino de Jess Fernndez, who was
informally referred to as Tuto Yoyo, set out to trap the Tulevieja. Supposedly,
she could only be caught with a special vine of Yaz, which somehow Tuto
Yoyo got his hands on. He then tamed her by inviting her to dance according
to legend, the Tulevieja loves to dance and returned to the town to brag
about his success.
Nobody believed Tuto Yoyo, so he had to go back to Pico Blanco a second time
to ask the Tulevieja if she would mind coming down to Escaz to be paraded
around. She agreed, and the townspeople were flabbergasted and delighted
but only for the moment. After Tuto Yoyo let the Tulevieja go, many peoples
memories of the occasion mysteriously vanished. Only Tuto Yoyos true
friends who had good hearts could remember that he had bested the Tulevieja.
The Tulevieja legend is a longtime favorite, but not long ago it got some
renewed attention. According to a Costa Rica tourism website, a group of
archaeologists were excavating near Pico Blanco when they unearthed a
petrified segment of a vine that some believe is the vine of Yaz.

There is a pretty big problem with this story: The article doesnt mention the
date of the excavation or the names of anyone involved. The Tico Times
submitted numerous inquiries to the Costa Rican Tourism Board and various
Escaz city employees, but nobody had ever heard of any Pico Blanco
excavation.
Helen Dunn Frame, an expat author working on a book that includes Costa
Rican legends, was also stumped over when the excavation might have taken
place. Her book, entitled Doctors, Dogs, and Pura Vida in Intriguing Costa
Rica, will include a full chapter on legends from all over the country.
If you look at the myths, you can learn a lot about people, she said.
While researching the legends of Escaz for her book, the author talked to
many of her Tico friends about their beliefs, and found that many still go to
witches for readings and put curses on each other.
But they dont normally talk about it, she said. When you meet people from
here, they dont tell you they believe these things.
Still, she said, many are convinced they have the powers.
Calling Tim Burton
Its become fairly clear that director and master of spook Tim Burton should
base a film on the legends of Escaz. And in case he needs assistance with plot
lines or characters, were here to help.
One of the oldest Escaz legends is that of the carreta sin bueyes, the oxcart
without oxen. The cart is said to roll slowly up and down the street at night,
creaking very loudly. It is said to be driven by the devil.
A witch named Zrate terrorized Escaz for years and is said to still reside in
the caves of Pico Blanco. At times she takes the shape of the rooster that crows
at midnight. Shes also the fog that comes down the mountain, and strange

voices in the night. Shes the sound of waves lapping against the mountain
even though theres no lake there.
The Cadejos is a black dog that appears out of nowhere and disappears just as
quickly, clanking invisible chains.
A magic monkey dubbed Mico Malo also enjoys appearing suddenly and
screaming at people, particularly on bridges. Mico Malo and La Segua, with an
attractive womans body and the head of a smiling horse, are both said to be
active on and around the bridge over the Ro Tirib, which has long been a
suicide spot that some residents still refuse to cross.
The Llorona is a particularly sad case: on moonlit nights she cries by
riverbanks, mourning the child she cast into the water before having second
thoughts.
Mara Negra (Black Maria) is the most prominent spell-caster of any witch,
and Nicomedes is a benevolent male witch who cured diseases with dried
snakes, owls, bats, scorpions and lizards.
Witch of Escazu
Legend has it that this witch was black and one of the last highly renowned
witches of the village, that lived to the north of the church located in the center
of Escazu.

It is said of her that one morning she was discovered by her grandpa Tal
completely nude, in a ravine that passed beside her house, and in a trance.

Realizing that she was discovered, the sorceress told her grandfather that he
tell no one what he had seen. Paternally he replied: "Oh, Mary, now you are
hurting someone." After some time, the grandfather had disclosed the facts to

a few trusted neighbors and it is said that a few days later he was punished for
disobeying his granddaughter witchs orders; he then began to realize at
midnight that dung droppings began to fall on the roof of his house, nearby
cows began to kick furiously, and it seemed as though they were about to
break the posts that enclosed them and the railings of his home. He went out
to see what was happening and everything appeared in order, nothing
strange, with only the faint odor of dung in the air.

Days later, due to negligence on the part of the grandfather Tali, one of his
young ones was killed due to a seemingly harmless piece of candy that he had
choked on. And to make matters worse, when he had to go to near the witches
home to the Jabmoncillo, close to the site of hatillo, to plant the seeds, upon
passibng by the house of the evil woman a large black sow began to follow
him, with a brood of piglets that began to bite his legs and continued to chase
him at will. Tali defended himself with a knife, but he was unable to kill, no
less injure these supernatural beasts. This lasted for several weeks, until the
witch died; and legend has it that that very same day, the a tremor of sizable
strength shook the ground, and that the home of the fallen witch was
destroyed. From then on, the grandfather Tali reveled in a permanent and
complete tranquil life.

With nearly three-quarters of the Earth covered by water, it's little wonder that,
centuries ago, the oceans were believed to contain many mysterious creatures,
including sea serpents and mermaids. Merfolk (mermaids and mermen) are, of
course, only the marine version of half-human, half-animal legends that have
captured human imagination for ages.
C.J.S. Thompson, a former curator at the Royal College of Surgeons of England,
noted in his book "The Mystery and Lore of Monsters" (Kessinger, 2010), "Traditions
concerning creatures half-human and half-fish in form have existed for thousands
of years, and the Babylonian deity Era or Oannes, the Fish-god, is represented on
seals and in sculpture, as being in this shape over 2,000 years B.C. He is usually

depicted as having a bearded head with a crown and a body like a man, but from
the waist downwards, he has the shape of a fish covered with scales and a tail."
Greek mythology contains stories of the god Triton, the merman messenger of the
sea, and several modern religions, including Hinduism and Candombl (an AfroBrazilian belief), worship mermaid goddesses to this day. In folklore, mermaids
were often associated with bad luck and misfortune. They lured errant sailors off
course and even onto rocky shoals, much like their cousins, the sirens beautiful,
alluring half-bird, half-women who dwelled near rocky cliffs and sung to passing
sailors. The sirens would enchant men to steer their ships toward the singing
and the dangerous rocks that were sure to sink them. Homer's "Odyssey," written
around 800 B.C., tells tales of the brave Ulysses, whose naked ears were tortured by
the sweet sounds of the sirens. In other legends from Scotland and Wales, for
example mermaids befriended, and even married, humans.

'Real' mermaids?
There are many legends about mermaids and even a few dozen historical claims of
supposedly "real" mermaid sightings. Hundreds of years ago, sailors and residents
in coastal towns around the world told of encounters with sea-maidens. One story,
dating back to the 1600s, claimed that a mermaid had entered Holland through a
dike, and was injured in the process. She was taken to a nearby lake and was soon
nursed back to health. She eventually became a productive citizen, learned to speak
Dutch, performed household chores and converted to Catholicism.
Another supposed mermaid encounter is described in Edward Snow's "Incredible
Mysteries and Legends of the Sea" (Dodd Mead, 1967). A sea captain off the coast
of Newfoundland described his 1614 encounter: "Captain John Smith saw a
mermaid 'swimming about with all possible grace.' He pictured her as having large
eyes, a finely shaped nose that was 'somewhat short,' and well-formed ears that
were rather too long. Smith goes on to say that 'her long green hair imparted to her
an original character that was by no means unattractive.'" In fact, Smith was so
taken with this lovely woman that he began "to experience the first effects of love"
(take that as you will) as he gazed at her before his sudden (and surely profoundly
disappointing) realization that she was a fish from the waist down. This dilemma is
reflected in a popular song titled "The Mermaid," by Newfoundland band Great Big
Sea:

"I love the girl with all me heart

But I only like the upper part
I do not like the tail!"
Another story, from 1830 in Scotland, claimed that a young boy killed a mermaid by
throwing rocks at it; the creature looked like a child of about 3 or 4, but had a
salmon's tail instead of legs. The villagers are said to have buried it in a coffin,
though there seems to be no historical evidence of this fishy tale.
By the 1800s, hoaxers churned out faked mermaids by the dozen to satisfy the
public's interest in the creatures. The great showman P.T. Barnum was well aware
of the public's interest in mermaids and, in the 1840s, displayed the "Feejee
Mermaid," which became one of his most popular attractions. People paying 50
cents hoping to see a long-limbed, fish-tailed beauty comb her hair were surely
disappointed; instead, they saw a grotesque fake corpse a few feet long. It had the
torso, head and limbs of a monkey and the bottom part of a fish. To modern eyes, it
was an obvious fake, but it fooled and intrigued many people at the time.

Modern mermaids?
Could there be a scientific basis for any of the mermaid stories? Some researchers
believe that sightings of human-size ocean animals, such asmanatees and dugongs,
might have inspired merfolk legends. These animals have a flat tail and two flippers
that resemble stubby arms traits that may make them resemble merfolk. They
don't look exactly like typical mermaids or mermen, of course. But many sightings
were from quite a distance away, and since they were mostly submerged in water
and waves, only parts of their bodies were visible. A glimpse of a head, arm or tail
just before it dives under the waves might have spawned at least some mermaid
reports.
Modern mermaid reports are very rare, but they do occur; for example, news
reports in 2009 claimed that a mermaid had seen sighted off the coast of Israel in
the town of Kiryat Yam. It (or she) performed a few tricks for onlookers just before
sunset, then disappearing for the night. One of the first people to see the mermaid,
Shlomo Cohen, said, "I was with friends when, suddenly, we saw a woman laying on
the sand in a weird way. At first, I thought she was just another sunbather, but
when we approached, she jumped into the water and disappeared. We were all in
shock because we saw she had a tail."

The town's tourism board was delighted with the town's newfound fame and
offered a $1 million reward for the first person to photograph the creature. Town
spokesman Natti Zilberman thinks the reward money is well spent. "I believe if
there really is a mermaid, then so many people will come to Kiryat Yam; a lot more
money will be made than $1 million," Zilberman said.
Unfortunately, the reports vanished almost as quickly as they surfaced, and no one
ever claimed the reward. It's not clear what people were seeing, though the power
of suggestion and imagination can be strong. Identifying animals in water is
inherently problematic, since eyewitnesses are only seeing a small part of the
creature. When you factor in low light at sunset and the distances involved,
positively identifying even a known creature can be very difficult. Many wondered if
it was just a case of mass suggestion, or even a hoax to drum up tourism. Either
way, the mermaid hasn't been seen since.
In 2012, a TV special called "Mermaids: The Body Found" renewed interest in
mermaids. It presented the story of scientists finding proof of real mermaids in the
oceans. It was fiction but was presented in a fake-documentary format that seemed
realistic. If the program fooled people, it's because it was intended to. As the show's
website noted, the movie "paints a wildly convincing picture of the existence of
mermaids, what they may look like and why they've stayed hidden until now."
The show was so convincing that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, represented in the film, received enough inquiries following the TV
special that the agency issued a statement officially denying the existence of
mermaids. In a June 27 post, NOAA noted, "The belief in mermaids may have arisen
at the very dawn of our species. ... But are mermaids real? No evidence of aquatic
humanoids has ever been found. Why, then, do they occupy the collective
unconscious of nearly all seafaring peoples? That's a question best left to
historians, philosophers and anthropologists."
Legends of mermaids may be ancient, but they are still present in many forms;
their images can be found in films, books, movies and even Starbucks.