Clippings From Guatemala & Guatemalan Forteana

[SimonBurchell]

There's no thread on Guatemala yet, but it's my favourite destination so I'll get this started; I don't expect it will pick up many posts but I'll try to post any Guatemalan forteana here when I come across it.

To get it started, a couple of stories I was told a few years ago. I have contacts around San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta, in the piedmont zone of the Sierra Madre mountains, surrounded by coffee plantations. I managed to get permission to go onto some of the plantations. Finca La Australia made a particular impression on me, with the old 19th-century plantation mansion completely abandoned - I was allowed to wander around inside it (accompanied by a plantation employee to make sure I behaved myself). It was sad to see it so run down, it was still completely furnished but everything was suffering from a complete lack of care, in a not-very sympathetic climate. The plantation worker told me that sometimes in the evenings, people hear the noise of a party in full swing, with sounds of laughter and clinking glasses etc. but upon investigation the mansion is empty and dark. Brrr. Photo I took at the time:

Another story comes from Finca Las Merceditas, with some Maya petroglyphs in some little caves in a rock outcrop amongst the coffee. The plantation worker who acted as my guide told me that fairy-like spirits flew out of these caves at night - he told me the name of the beings and I have it recorded somewhere, I'll have to go hunting for it. It might be tsitsimite, but I'm not sure - but it was some word with a Nahuatl base (the language of the Aztecs and some related peoples, including the Pipil, who migrated from Mexico to Guatemala in precolumbian times). One of the little caves, and some petroglyphs that seem to date to the time of Spanish contact (I interpret it as a pyramid in the mountains, with a Spanish friar passing):

 

[SimonBurchell]

Another story comes from Finca Las Merceditas, with some Maya petroglyphs in some little caves in a rock outcrop amongst the coffee. The plantation worker who acted as my guide told me that fairy-like spirits flew out of these caves at night - he told me the name of the beings and I have it recorded somewhere, I'll have to go hunting for it. It might be tsitsimite, but I'm not sure - but it was some word with a Nahuatl base (the language of the Aztecs and some related peoples, including the Pipil, who migrated from Mexico to Guatemala in precolumbian times.

I just remembered - it was chichimites, which he described using the Spanish words hada (fairy) and duende (goblin or imp).

 

[SimonBurchell]

Just remembered another one. About 6 years ago IIRC, some friends had moved into a new home in the suburbs of Quetzaltenango, a rapidly expanding city in the Guatemalan Highlands. By new, I mean new for them, it was not a new build. Over dinner one evening, the family told me that the house was haunted; there was a constant feeling of being watched, and when members of the family were home alone, they would often hear someone moving around the house, particularly someone clattering around in the kitchen. I noticed nothing unusual while I was there, unfortunately. They didn't stay there long, and soon found somewhere else to live.

 

[SimonBurchell]

More sinkholes in Guatemala City, two missing, CNN video here:
Two missing after massive sinkholes open up in Guatemala

More details here (in Spanish):
Hundimiento en Villa Nueva (Prensa Libre)

The Prensa Libre article reveals that the two missing are a mother and daughter, Olga Emilia Choz, 38 and Hellen, aged 15.

Another article from Prensa Libre here:
Socavón en Villa Nueva (Prensa Libre)
This gives the street as Calzada Concepción, Zona 6, Villa Nueva, in the outskirts of Guatemala City.

 

[SimonBurchell]

I just stumbled upon this article, by Juan Diego Godoy:

Todos los fantasmas que habitan la Casa No’j (All the ghosts that inhabit N'oj House), about a historic building next to the Central Park in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala's second-largest city (also called Xela, after its indigenous Maya name). I grabbed this off Googe Streetview, I probably have my own photo somewhere, but it would take ages to find:

The article runs through the history of the building, from its construction in the 19th century as a convent, the expulsion of religious orders after the 1871 revolution, and its passing into the hands of Manuel Estrada Cabrera, shortly before he became president of Guatemala, who was responsible for the building as it stands today. After Estrada Cabrera's fall from power, the building went through a number of uses, regional government offices, then a police station, passing to the city government in the late 20th century, and since 2006 a cultural centre.

Now to the good part, the section entitled La dama de blanco y el señor de bigote (The White Lady and the Mustached Man), which I translate in full:

The White Lady and the Mustached Man
But like all places where history has left its mark, ghosts inhabit No'j House. It is said that people have seen, in the corridors, a man, elegantly dressed and with a thick mustache. "Yes, they say that this is Estrada Cabrera. A little while ago, municipal officers stayed to protect the building. They don't stay any more, because even the police got scared. Now they only come to supervise and then they leave", said López and then he indicates the entrance hall of the house. "There you can also see a lady dressed in white. Some say that she is Sister Incarnation". (The sister superior who was thrown out when the religious orders were expelled - SB).

The journalist Eleázar Adolfo Molina, co-founder of Diario de Los Altos (a regional newspaper - SB), describes this and other events in the building. "The agents say that during the night and early morning you can hear strange noises inside the house, as well as footsteps and voices on the second floor (UK 1st floor - SB). Some even mention that they could see the figure of an old man with a bushy mustache, wearing a fine formal suit and they also mention the presence of a woman who walks inside the rooms (...) and on various occasions they have locked the secretaries of the house in the toilets", writes Molina in an article published in the newspaper in which he affirms that the collected statements are based on different oral testimonies from various people who have worked at, or visited, No'j House over various years.

"I myself have been witness to noises and sounds that could not have been the creaking of wood, wind or animals. There are sounds that have no logical explanation in the building", emphasised López, in line with Molina.

In the end, a house that is over one hundred years old, is not just prone to wood that creaks with the perennial cold of Xela but, possibly, also to the sound of the footsteps of spirits that made this place their home and their refuge and to whom History pays homage every time that a new visitor crosses the threshold of that which was a convent, a palace, a police station, a cultural centre, and always, a historical jewel.

 

[SimonBurchell]

Just stumbled upon a chupacabras report on the Facebook page of sensationalist national newspaper Nuestro Diario, in the highland department of Sololá:

Facebook post link

#Insólito ¿EL REGRESO DEL CHUPACABRAS?

Vecinos de Sololá están alarmados luego de que varias vaquitas y ovejitas aparecieran muertas y sin sangre en sus venas.

Return of the Chupacabras?

Locals in Sololá are alarmed after finding various dead cows and sheep, without blood in their veins.

 

[SimonBurchell]

 

[SimonBurchell]

Following on from the previous post, there is an article from the more high-brow Guatemalan national newspaper Prensa Libre (chupacabras doesn't get a mention).

Misteriosa muerte de ovejas: Investigan caso y presentan dos teorías sobre el extraño animal que las habría atacado
By Ana Lucía García and Mynor Toc (in Spanish)

As a note, jaguars (Panthera onca) are often colloquially referred to as “tigers” (tigres) in Guatemala, and pumas (Puma concolor) as “lions” (leones). Both are native to Guatemala, but are rarely encountered, my quick translation follows:

Mysterious death of sheep: Investigators present two theories about the strange animal that has attacked them

Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA) and National Council for Protected Areas (CONAP) gave details about the mysterious death of sheep in Sololá and present a hypothesis about the animal that is attacking them

By Ana Lucía García and Mynor Toc

Published 3 November 2022 at 19:11h

Mysterious death of sheep in Sololá

MAGA and CONAP visited 5 dwellings belonging to the families affected by the mysterious death of sheep in Sololá.

On Wednesday 26 October 2022 local media from Sololá department reported the mysterious death of sheep attacked by a wild animal.

The discovery of dead sheep inside rural dwellings in various communities of Santiago Atitlán, San Lucas Tolimán, San José Chacayá and the hamlet of Los Encuentros frightened the public.

The most recent incident occurred in a stable in Los Encuentros. The owner of a flock of sheep was shocked to see two of his animals dead after being attacked by a strange animal.

Other families reported that their animals were also victims of the mysterious animal, and requested the intervention of staff of the Ministery of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA) and the National Council of Protected Areas (CONAP) to investigate what type of creature attacked the animals.

Specialists Investigate

Due to the reports a team of veterinarians from CONAP and MAGA visited five homes of the affected families.

After the visit and the analysis they indicated that over 15 days the animal killed 24 sheep and left a dozen more injured.

Eliazar Peralta, representative of CONAP in Solalá, explained that the attacks happened in areas located in forested regions of the department and in places close to Chichicastenango, Quiché.

Mysterious death of sheep in Sololá

MAGA and CONAP visit the homes affected by the mysterious death of sheep in Sololá.

“We have interviewed the owners of the sheep and they have indicated that they have found the animals dead at sunrise. The veterinarian has applied medicine and antibiotics to the animals that were injured”, explained Félix López Borón, representative of MAGA.

The locals shared photos and videos of the trail that the strange creature left with the authorities, so the experts can evaluate the evidence to determine the species of animal.

Speculations and Hypothesis

In the communities the rumour spread in the communities that the animal responsible for the attacks could be a feline, such as a tiger or jaguar.

Peralta, faced with the rumours, dismissed the presence of tigers, jaguars or lions in the communities.

The representative of CONAP mentioned that there are two hypotheses for the attacks. The first, that it could be a pack of feral dogs that is in the area. The second, that there could be a Jaguarundi in the region.

Peralta concludes that the second hypothesis could be the correct one, owing to the fact that two months ago the offspring of this animal was found in the forest region of Chichicastenango.

Death of sheep in Sololá

Inhabitants of Los Encuentros, Sololá, report the mysterious death of sheep.

What is a Jaguarundi

It is also known as the Moorish Cat, and is one of the felines that inhabit Guatemala. Its body is long and brown or black coloured, it is of small to medium size, has a long tail and short, rough coat.

The animal is known for being silent and stealthy, so it is very difficult to see it, apart from it being nocturnal.

It is at risk of extinction from destruction of its habitat and poaching.

Additional note: I would have thought sheep would be a bit big for a jaguarundi to take, especially in the numbers described.

 

[Frideswide]

my quick translation follows:

Thank you!

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

Deep in the forest, some 10 kilometres from a small village in La Democracia in the south of Guatemala, stood a colossal stone head.
At least 6 metres tall (it is unknown whether the statue possessed a buried body, like the Moai of Easter Island), the face, with its thin lips and long straight nose, had curiously European features.
In 1987, Dr Oscar Rafael Padilla Lara, a doctor of philosophy, lawyer and notary, was intrigued to receive a photograph of the head taken in the 1950s.
When, however, Dr Padilla travelled to the site, he was devastated to find the statue had been destroyed by rebel groups using it as target practice. Padilla was unable to return to the site, due to ongoing conflicts between rebels and government forces.
Guatemalan archaeologist Hector E Majia studied the photo and declared "I certify that this monument presents no characteristics of Maya, Nahuatl, Olmec or any other pre-Hispanic civilization."
One proffered explanation is that it must have been a comparatively recent memorial, but why someone would go to all the trouble to build such a structure in a remote and long-overgrown location is baffling. The mystery of who created this astonishing edifice may never be solved.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/anc...ne-head-guatemala-history-wants-forget-001104
https://www.instagram.com/p/CroDk8fKVW4/?img_index=1

 

[SimonBurchell]

Deep in the forest, some 10 kilometres from a small village in La Democracia in the south of Guatemala, stood a colossal stone head.
At least 6 metres tall (it is unknown whether the statue possessed a buried body, like the Moai of Easter Island), the face, with its thin lips and long straight nose, had curiously European features.
In 1987, Dr Oscar Rafael Padilla Lara, a doctor of philosophy, lawyer and notary, was intrigued to receive a photograph of the head taken in the 1950s.
When, however, Dr Padilla travelled to the site, he was devastated to find the statue had been destroyed by rebel groups using it as target practice. Padilla was unable to return to the site, due to ongoing conflicts between rebels and government forces.
Guatemalan archaeologist Hector E Majia studied the photo and declared "I certify that this monument presents no characteristics of Maya, Nahuatl, Olmec or any other pre-Hispanic civilization."
One proffered explanation is that it must have been a comparatively recent memorial, but why someone would go to all the trouble to build such a structure in a remote and long-overgrown location is baffling. The mystery of who created this astonishing edifice may never be solved.

View attachment 68052

https://www.ancient-origins.net/anc...ne-head-guatemala-history-wants-forget-001104
https://www.instagram.com/p/CroDk8fKVW4/?img_index=1

I have been to this area and there is indeed a wealth of giant sculpted heads, and full body figures, produced by pre-Columbian cultures, but this does not look like one of them. At a guess, I would say this was a concrete "folly" put up by a plantation owner, and on no evidence whatsoever would hazard the 1920s, just 'cause that's what it brought to mind when I looked at it.

Below are a few of my photos of pre-Columbian sculpture from the Escuintla region, the first two are from La Democracia and were Olmec-influenced Potbelly-style monuments, the second two are from the poorly-understood culture of the Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa area, likely Nahua or Nahua-influenced but with a strong Maya influence too:

 

[SimonBurchell]

I've just been digging around for camioneta fantasma stories and came across this old article (2017) in the Prensa Libre, notable because it is an upmarket newspaper not prone to printing ghost stories other than as folklore. My rough-and-ready translation follows, I've been a bit loose with the Guatemalan slang, just to get the meaning across:

El escalofriante relato del fantasma de una mujer en la estación de bomberos
The terrifying story of the woman's ghost in the Fire Station (at least I've translated it as fire station - the bomberos in Guatemala serve the dual fire/rescue role, which includes transporting the injured to hospital)

A paranormal story intrigues rescuers. William Gonzalez, spokesman of the Voluntary Firemen, relates that this Sunday night, at approximately 10pm, he was visited by the ghost of a woman when he was just beginning to write the institutional bulletin about the death

By Oscar Felipe Q.

Published 1 May 2017 at 14:05

The rescue worker relates on his Facebook page that when he arrived in the office after documenting the death of a woman in Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala City, he started to write the bulletin that he issues every day for the media, but never imagined that he was not alone in his workplace.

“When I returned to the office I took out my equipment and sorted it out. I began to write because I had many departmental notes and one or two from the capital, so I started (to write). Suddenly I observed that the Services General Manager (David Cajas) came towards me, then turned around and went back. “Damn! Who knows what he wanted?” related Gonzalez on his Facebook page.

Then he continued his tale and commented that his boss came back and said “How are you doing lad, I came by to say hello”, to which Gonzalez replied: “Thank you”, but took the opportunity to ask him why he had come over without talking to him a few minutes earlier. At this moment we get to the creepy bit of his story.

“Since you were here with a lady, I didn’t want to interrupt. I thought that she was asking for some help and I said to myself, it’s better he sees to her”, answered David Cajas. Gonzalez said that he thought “oh boy” and said that his head “went to sleep” and he got goosebumps, because he knew that he had been alone at that moment.

“He swore that he had seen a lady with me!” said Gonzalez, adding that for fear he decided to turn off the computer and left for bed. “I didn’t do my daily bulletin until today, because I was afraid!”, he said.

The informant, by telephone with Prensa Libre, explained that during this Sunday’s shift, at approximately 3pm, the enormous steel shutter of the station on 19th Street, in Zone 1, opened and closed on its own. For this job it needs the strength of two men.

Not the first time

Gonzalez said that this is not the first time that paranormal events have happened in the station. He says that a child wanders the place, who laughs when he sees him, and a goblin. The is a “flying” bed (I interpret this as a “hot bed” for general use by whoever is on shift) that none of the rescue workers wants to use because it gives them nightmares.

The spokesman, who has worked 30 years in the institution, remembers that about 20 years ago, while all the rescue workers had lunch, the stretchers began to tremble. Everyone was surprised, but they though there had been a minor earthquake, but no one reported the earthquake; however, 20 minutes later they received an emergency call, to report an accident on the highway in which 20 people died.

“The firemen learn to live with strange things.But yesterday (Sunday 30th April), I felt very afraid, that’s why I decided to turn off my computer and go to bed”, he stated.

 

[SimonBurchell]

Woman vanishes on yoga retreat but other yogis 'Silent and refusing to help'


A woman has mysteriously vanished while on a yoga retreat but fellow participants have disturbingly refused to help and remained silent for weeks, in a chilling mystery.

The FBI is now involved in the case of missing Nancy Ng, whose fellow travellers on her Guatemalan retreat have not provided any information to investigators and may have even returned to the US, leaving her still being missing, it is claimed. Questions are being raised regarding the mysterious circumstances of the disappearance of the 29-year-old yoga practitioner and “healer”, who left her home in California, on October 14, to attend the week-long trip at Lake Atitlan.

Her family stopped hearing from their daughter just five days later, on October 19. Furthermore, the retreat organiser told the family that they couldn't find Nancy, and her fellow retreat attendees failed to give any details about the day she disappeared.

The FBI confirmed that their officials are working closely with the Guatemalan government, which remains the lead agency on the investigation.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/woman-vanishes-yoga-retreat-yogis-31379447

maximus otter

Just cross referencing this Guatemala-related news story from the People Who Just Disappear thread.

 

[SimonBurchell]

I just stumbled upon this article, by Juan Diego Godoy:

Todos los fantasmas que habitan la Casa No’j (All the ghosts that inhabit N'oj House), about a historic building next to the Central Park in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala's second-largest city (also called Xela, after its indigenous Maya name). I grabbed this off Googe Streetview, I probably have my own photo somewhere, but it would take ages to find:

View attachment 59325

The article runs through the history of the building, from its construction in the 19th century as a convent, the expulsion of religious orders after the 1871 revolution, and its passing into the hands of Manuel Estrada Cabrera, shortly before he became president of Guatemala, who was responsible for the building as it stands today. After Estrada Cabrera's fall from power, the building went through a number of uses, regional government offices, then a police station, passing to the city government in the late 20th century, and since 2006 a cultural centre.

Now to the good part, the section entitled La dama de blanco y el señor de bigote (The White Lady and the Mustached Man), which I translate in full:

The White Lady and the Mustached Man
But like all places where history has left its mark, ghosts inhabit No'j House. It is said that people have seen, in the corridors, a man, elegantly dressed and with a thick mustache. "Yes, they say that this is Estrada Cabrera. A little while ago, municipal officers stayed to protect the building. They don't stay any more, because even the police got scared. Now they only come to supervise and then they leave", said López and then he indicates the entrance hall of the house. "There you can also see a lady dressed in white. Some say that she is Sister Incarnation". (The sister superior who was thrown out when the religious orders were expelled - SB).

The journalist Eleázar Adolfo Molina, co-founder of Diario de Los Altos (a regional newspaper - SB), describes this and other events in the building. "The agents say that during the night and early morning you can hear strange noises inside the house, as well as footsteps and voices on the second floor (UK 1st floor - SB). Some even mention that they could see the figure of an old man with a bushy mustache, wearing a fine formal suit and they also mention the presence of a woman who walks inside the rooms (...) and on various occasions they have locked the secretaries of the house in the toilets", writes Molina in an article published in the newspaper in which he affirms that the collected statements are based on different oral testimonies from various people who have worked at, or visited, No'j House over various years.

"I myself have been witness to noises and sounds that could not have been the creaking of wood, wind or animals. There are sounds that have no logical explanation in the building", emphasised López, in line with Molina.

In the end, a house that is over one hundred years old, is not just prone to wood that creaks with the perennial cold of Xela but, possibly, also to the sound of the footsteps of spirits that made this place their home and their refuge and to whom History pays homage every time that a new visitor crosses the threshold of that which was a convent, a palace, a police station, a cultural centre, and always, a historical jewel.

The link in the above post is broken, so here it is from Wayback Machine: todos-los-fantasmas-que-habitan-la-casa-noj

I have just returned from an unplanned visit to Guatemala, and took the opportunity to visit Casa No'j. The city of Quetzaltenango was in the midst of full-on preparations for the annual independence celebrations, which in Quetzaltenango coincide with the celebrations of the founding of the city, so the staff at the cultural centre were very busy and I did not have the opportunity to question them with regard to the ghosts. Nonetheless, here are some photos:

The next photo is the entrance to the haunted ladies toilet, where secretaries are reportedly locked in. I couldn't get any further without causing a scene and possibly getting arrested, my efforts in the pursuit of forteana have limits:

 

[SimonBurchell]

I also remembered some curiosities in the neighbouring museum housed in the Casa de la Cultura just across the road, so I popped across to snap some photos from the medical curiosities cabinet - unfortunately the glass was highly refelective, but here they are.

Conjoined piglets:

Two-headed calf:

Not sure what the next one is, either conjoined goat kids, or possibly something from John Carpenter's The Thing:

 

[Floyd]

A tad thundery there this week I see;

 

[SimonBurchell]

A tad thundery there this week I see;

View attachment 81722

It's rain season - not at all unexpected. I was out there for two weeks and there were thunderstorms most afternoons. This time of year you expect the rain to come in around 1pm every day, but most mornings will be warm and sunny. There were a couple of days where it didn't rain at all, or there was menacing thunder but just the odd shower.