Abchanchu

Won't you be a dear and help an elderly person out? It could be the last thing you do! In this episode, Ayden takes a bite out of Bolivian folklore and tells a story about a vampiric entity that feeds off of your kindness!

• ICE Out of Spotify!
• Pishtaco
• El Tío
• Vampiress of Pisco, Peru
• Tlahuelpuchi
• A brief on the Language, History, Culture and Religion of the Aymara people

Want to hear your story on Susto? Fill out the Letters From the Beyond form or visit SustoPodcast.com to be shared on the show!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Big cool friends. It's me Adrian or Aiden. Either way,
I am still your host and you are still listening
to Sousto, the Podcast of Paranormal Folks or from Latin
American cultures. Welcome back, back, back again. Thank you so
much for being here. And if this is your first time,
welcome to the circle. We welcome you with open arms

(00:44):
and tentacles and antennas and whatever creepy Crawley appendages everybody
in our coven may have. The spooky season rush is over.
As you all know. It kicked my ass, but I
made it through. I'm okay, I'm fine, a little tired,
a little, but hey, we are approaching the end of
the year. So with that being said, we have one

(01:06):
more event coming up that I know of. Unless somebody
wants to surprise me and get me in for another
event before the years over, please let me know, or hey,
we've got a plan for Q one, two, three, and
four already. Let's start booking next year. But to end
this year, I think my last event will be the
Strange and Extraordinary Fest, which is happening on November twenty
second here in Austin. You can get your tickets by
visiting Strange and Extraordinaryfest dot com And there's also a

(01:29):
link in my link tree that's linktr dot ee slash susto.
And again, this is the event that I will be
tabling and paneling at and am seeing. So if you
want to see me come back to full please make
your way out and don't forget there is a virtual
option for this event as well. I think that gives
you access to of course, not the vendor market because

(01:49):
that's in person to buy your goodies in person, but
for the panels and the speakers and stuff, that is
what the virtuals option is for. So once again visit
Strange and Extraordinaryfest dot com to get your tickets there.
As I mentioned, December is coming up. Listen. I'm I
cannot believe next week is already mid November, which is
I don't know what it is about the burn months.

(02:10):
They are my favorite months out of the year, and
they are they just go the fastest, maybe because that's
what I'm having the most fun and it just all
goes by in a blur. But you know what, justice
for the burn months they need to be longer. Maybe
it's the time change, I don't know whatever it is.
But with that being said, December is next month, which
means it is time for Sousto's annual Swapathon, which is

(02:31):
one of my favorite things, not only because I finally
get some time off, even though I'm working in the
background on things, but because that is the time that
I bring shows or creators to you all that you
may not have heard of for whatever reason. Most times
it's people that I have worked with, and then we decide, hey,
let's go ahead and do this. Either way, I'm excited

(02:53):
to bring you all some shows, some creators that maybe
will be your first introduction to, or that you'll get
a revisit for, and I hope that you enjoy that.
With that being said, I think we have all four
slots filled up for this year. I hope I do already.
I need to double check that, but even for next year,
if you want to make those connections, say hey, Aiden,
meet so and so, so and so meet Aiden. You
do this cool thing every year. Get them on the

(03:15):
list for next year. Let's get the roster going already.
It's never too early to prepare as a Virgo rising,
It's really it's never too early to prepare. Even though
I wish I was more prepared more times. But anyway,
just want to let you know that that will be happening.
I am taking the month of December off if you
were not here for last year or the year before.
It's something that I am doing every year now. It's
like my vacation. It's kind of like when the season

(03:36):
is over, but not really. I don't ever, I've never
really called the seasons on Sustal seasons. I don't say
this is season once two or three. Maybe I will
go back and retroactively fix the way that that's listed online,
but that's just the kind of the way that it works.
I go with the seasons of the earth. I let
mother tell me what to do. So again, just wanted
to give you a warning. It doesn't Susto was not done.

(03:57):
It's not going anywhere. That's just kind of my rest
and reset for the year. In the meantime, though, please
use that time you are going to be with your families.
These next few months is when it's usually still when
families get together, and winter holidays as well. While you're
with your families, ask them their stories. Say hey, have
you heard of this podcast called Sustal. This really strange

(04:20):
person hosts it. And loves to hear people scary stories.
So this is the perfect time to collect those stories
from your loved ones and then you can send them
to me by visiting my website susalpodcast dot com, or
it's on the link tree as well and hit that
submit a Story, tell Me a Story button and I
will read it on a letters from the Beyond episode.
I'm just saying I'm priming you to get ready to

(04:41):
bring that conversation up because if I know us, I
know it's gonna happen and throughout the holiday season and
all year long. Really, you can follow along on social
media for any end all updates on the show. That
is at susital podcast on every single platform. Okay, with
those updates out of the way, we're gonna go through
some Spotify comments quickly. The first one is from Onie
on the Lost Edge Tattoo episode, So that is where

(05:02):
I got my tattoo on camera, I interviewed my artist
and the other artists in the shop, and that was
also a publicly available video, so you can go to
YouTube dot com slash at Sustal podcast and the video
is up there for everybody to view. Normally, I save
video versions of episodes like this one for Best Cool
Friends on Patreon Patreon dot com slash Sustal podcast, but
that one is available for everybody to watch. So an

(05:25):
Ai says, I love the Spanish. You are very well.
Thank you so much. I was very nervous about putting
the episode out because of my Spanish, but I said,
fuck it, We're gonna do it. People will know exactly
how bucho I am. So I tried my best and
I hopefully all enjoyed it. Thank you on ai Ana,
He continues, just a question, when you meant that his
parents supported him or endured him? Okay, I already know

(05:46):
where this is going because you said soon, which I've
been told means like tolerate slash endure. Yes, you're right,
a boyad means support. Just wanted to ask, I'm a
bit confused love the podcast. I did, in fact, like
I said, I'm so, I did in fact confuse those
two words. And even in the moment I was like,
I know this is not the word, but I want
to say. Gabriel gave me some sort of like affirmation

(06:09):
like yeah, yeah, sure you're saying it right. Ah, So
I think he knew what I meant. But you know,
for the sake of the podcast, you all don't maybe
might not know what I was aiming to say, but
I did in fact being apoyad. And the thing is,
I know that word. I've used it before, so I
don't know what happened in my brain. Again, It's like
I say that I form the thoughts in my head
in Spanish, and then when I try to get them out,

(06:31):
it all leaves my body, it leaves my brain, and
it doesn't it does not compute. But yes, you are
exactly right. Thank you for that, and thank you for
your thank you for so protariing my my episode and
my terrible Spanish. But not really, I'm going to give
myselself a little pat on the back for at least
trying it and doing the best I could. The next
comment we have is a shorter one, and this is
on the Anthumia episode, and Christie said, Wow, using teachings

(06:56):
of the past to move us forward, that was beautiful
the sparkling heart. Thank you, Christy. There are definitely lessons
and so many of these stories, if not all of them,
and even if it's not what the intended lesson was
supposed to be, for some of them, because as you know,
many of them are about just getting kids to stay
in line and behave there are other lessons to be

(07:17):
learned when you start to peel back the layers, So
thank you for that. Those are all the comments on Spotify.
And speaking of Spotify, I want to go ahead and
talk about something that is happening on there. So Spotify
is running ads recruiting agents for ICE and these ads
target vulnerable populations. They promise signing bonuses and normalize fear
and intimidation. Spotify claims that these ads comply with their policy,

(07:41):
but the truth is streaming hate is not neutral. It's
a choice that is from a website or a group
called indivisible. I made a post on social media maybe
sometime last week, and I tagged them where I could,
so you can go and see more about what is
happening on their website and what the call to action is.
People are being asked to counsel their Spotify members as
I aiden from SUSTO. I have canceled my Spotify membership

(08:04):
because that is just one hundred percent unacceptable, and people
are being asked to do that until Spotify terminates all
ICE and DHS advertising contracts. I want to make it
very clear that while Susto is published on Spotify, it
is one of the many platforms that it gets pushed
out to. Susto is hosted the actual like the data

(08:24):
for the show, it lives on a different website. It
lives on Speaker and you can actually listen to podcasts
on there. There are so many options for listening to podcasts.
It doesn't have to be just on Spotify. It feels
counterintuitive to tell you all to step away from Spotify,
but if you are looking for options, there are plenty
of other platforms to listen to music, to podcasts, to

(08:46):
audio books. You could even just again cancel your membership
so that they are not getting our money. You may
hear those ads that ads may run, but at least
they are not getting your dollars. And if you would
like to, please feel free to Spotify in a post
that that website that I mentioned, and I will link
it in the description for this show. They have a
social media toolkit where you can download graphics and post them.

(09:08):
I went ahead and posted on Susto and I tagged Spotify.
There are many artists and creators who are speaking out
against this, as we should because we have a platform,
because Spotify is one of the pillars of that platform,
we need to let them know that this is completely unacceptable,
that it is not okay to push racist propaganda, and
that we won't stand for it, and we will not
send them our money for that reason until and maybe

(09:30):
even after, because I know that there are plenty of
other issues with Spotify that people have had, but supporting
inadvertently supporting an agency that is abducting people because that
is what they are doing. They're abducting people and ripping
families apart and harming communities. Again, it's unacceptable. We do
not stand for it as always. As I have said
for as long as I can remember, abolish ice. Fuck Ice.

(09:53):
If you work with them, for them, if you align
yourself with them, you're a loser. And I don't want
you listening to this, plain and simple. I think I'm
probably preaching to the choir. Many of you who already
listen to sustal feel the same. So it's like screaming
into an echo chamber. But hey, whatever. Hopefully that will
inform the decisions that you make, or maybe you will.

(10:14):
With that link in the description below, you'll have a
resource to share with people to let others know what's
going on, because again, we don't do that here. Let
me finish my thought from earlier is yes, Sustal is published.
It's one of the many platforms on Spotify, but it
is not hosted on Spotify. And as far as I know,
as far as I have tried to do, I do
not run governmental ads on Sustal for this reason because

(10:36):
I don't want certain things to be promoted on Sustal
with Susto's name attached to it. So a really quick
insight just the way that it works is because Susto
is whatever platform a podcast is hosted on, Susto is
on speaker. There are different categories of advertisements that you
can choose to allow or not allow to run. Governmental
advertisements have never been allowed on Sustal. So if for

(10:59):
some reason you have heard one in the past or
you hear one, please let me know, because that means
that they are finding a way to slip through. They
are maybe miscategorizing the type of advertisement it is, and
if there is anything to be done about it, I
will try and find a way, because that's not how
that works. They're breaking the rules there, and that's if
they're miscategorizing it. It needs to be brought up to

(11:20):
somebody's attention because, like I said, I've never allowed those ads,
regardless of who they were coming from, to be run
on susto. So again with that being said, do what
you will with that information. But as always, fuck Ice,
We're gonna put that down. Take a deep breath, and
we're gonna get into today's episode, which is about the Abchanchu.

(11:59):
Rolando had to be on the road since dawn. The
world around him was a cathedral of stone and sky,
with the high Andes mountains stretching forever serrated peaks like
broken teeth, biding into the clouds. The sun hadn't yet
burned through the morning mist, and the air shimmered thin

(12:21):
and sharp, a cold that lived in the bones. His
small pickup truck crawled along a dirt road carved into
the mountain side, with one lane clinging to cliffs that
dropped away into nothingness below. Valleys folded and refolded into
a gray green sea of slopes where llamas grazed like

(12:45):
ghosts in the distance. The road wound upward through switchbacks
and blind corners, its edges dusted with frost. It was beautiful,
heartbreakingly so, the kind of beauty that hump made you small.
But it was also a place that could swallow a

(13:05):
person whole without a sound. He had told himself this
trip would be good for him. It was a chance
to clear his head, deliver supplies to a mining camp
two days up the range, and feel a little less stuck.
He liked being alone. The mountains didn't ask questions, they

(13:26):
didn't judge, They simply watched. But the warnings still echoed
in the back of his mind. Don't travel alone through
the settros at night, keep your doors locked, and if
you see an old man walking by the road, don't stop.
People in the village had said it with half smiles,

(13:46):
half serious, as if teasing him for being a city boy.
He'd laughed it off, saying the only things to fear
out there were bandits and bad weather. Still, he brought
his pistol. By mid morning, the fog had lifted, the
road somehow narrowed even more, barely hugging the side of

(14:08):
the mountain. One wrong turn could mean a plummet into
a bottomless mountain side. Rolando tightened his grip on the
wheel and slowed down. He hadn't seen another vehicle in hours.
No one lived up here except shepherds and the occasional miner.
Then he saw something ahead. A man stood by the roadside,

(14:33):
leaning on a stick. He looked impossibly small against the
rock face. He was hunched, wrapped in a torn poncho
that fluttered in the wind. His face was nearly hidden
by a wide, dust stained hat. Rolando hesitated. The man
didn't wave, didn't call for help, just stood there watching. Finally,

(14:57):
Rolando rolled down the window, Stabiana, Wallow, you need help.
The old man turned his head slowly, as if the
air itself resisted him. His eyes were shadowed, but Rolando
could see the tremor in his hands. The man spoke,
his voice rasping like dry leaves.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
My home up the mountain, too far to walk.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
His words were slow, broken, as if each one took
effort to lift from his chest. Rolando glanced at the road.
It wound up the slope like a serpent, sharp switchbacks,
disappearing into cloud. He sighed and opened the passenger door.
Stabiana Willow, get in, I'll take you. They climbed for

(15:48):
what felt like hours. The truck jolted over rocks and
washed out gullies rattling every bolt. Rolando tried to make
small talk. So, so, how long you lived up here?
The old man's voice came low and dry.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Long time.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
You got any family.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Gone?

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Rolando chuckled awkwardly. You don't talk much, huh, no need.
Something about his voice made Rolando's skin prickle. It was
too calm, too patient, almost like the man was saving
his breath for something important. He risked a glance at

(16:35):
his passenger. The old man's eyes were fixed ahead, unblinking.
His hands were folded in his lap, but the fingers
twitched now and then, like they had a mind of
their own. The road narrowed again, and Rolando focused on driving.
By late afternoon, clouds rolled in fast. A storm was building,

(16:59):
looking like dark curtains sliding across the peaks. Rolando checked
the dashboard clock. They should have seen a village by now,
a few houses, a fence, something, But there was nothing ahead, only.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Rock and fog.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Ah. Well on, he said, forcing a smile. You said
your home was up here, right, how much further? The
old man slowly turned his head.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
We are close.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Something in the way he said. It made the hair
rise on the back of Rolando's neck still, he drove on.
Minutes later, the road ended in a flat clearing of
stone and dust. No houses, no fences, just a black
mouth of a cave cut into the mountain. Rolando frowned.

(17:55):
This this is your home.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yeah, come in, I thank you, I make food.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
The old man was already opening his door. His movements
were deliberate, almost mechanical. Rolando hesitated. The air here felt heavier, colder,
as if it came from inside the cave itself. Uh,
maybe next time, abuilo, I.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
Still have to please.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
The single word was like a weight. Rolando felt foolish
for being nervous. He'd given the man a ride. Maybe
a few minutes wouldn't hurt. He reached behind the seat
and took his pistol just in case, and followed the
old man. The air inside the cave was colder and

(18:48):
felt still dead. Rolando's breath came out in clouds that
hung too long before fading. He could still smell the
truck's engine oil on his jacket, the dust of the
road clinging to him like memory. The old man shuffled away,
his back bent, voice rasping.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Low this way, ewo, this way.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
Again, Rolando hesitated. His flashlight beam trembled across the stone,
catching what looked like bones, small ones, animal maybe maybe.
The old man turned his shadow, stretching impossibly tall against
the cave wall. Rolando opened his mouth to speak, but

(19:35):
the words froze. The man was smiling, a slow, cracking
smile that showed teeth too sharp, too long. Then the
skin on his face began to ripple, veins rising like
roots beneath the flesh. The old man lunged. Rolando stumbled back,

(19:57):
firing instinctively. The shot hit creatures square in the chest.
It staggered, but didn't fall. For a moment, Rolando's heart
soared with hope, maybe he'd stopped it. But then the
Abchanchu looked down at the smoking hole in its chest
and smiled wider. He fired again, and again. The echoes

(20:22):
bounced off the stone until it sounded like the mountain
itself was laughing at him. The Abchanchu didn't flinch. It
took a step forward, then another. Each footfall was soft,
as deliberate as a hunter closing distance. Not out of
haste but hunger. Rolando turned and ran. He could see

(20:44):
the faint glow of daylight ahead from the mouth of
the cave. He was going to make.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
It run eho.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
He looked back just long enough to see it not walking,
but gliding, almost floating. Its body unfurled into something massive, horned,
wings of shadow brushing the walls. Rolando burst out into
the light, stumbling into the gravel and dust. He turned
and raised the pistol again, hands shaking, tried to aim,

(21:18):
but he was out of bullets. The Abchanchu emerged in
front of him, framed by the cave's darkness, with red
eyes gleaming like coals. It was smiling again. It let
him crawl away a few feet before stepping closer. Its
voice came soft, mocking, like a lullaby. Ast then in

(21:45):
a blur, it was on him. Rolando kicked, clawd struck
with his fists, but the creature pinned him easily, its
strength inhuman absolute. The Ubchanchu leaned close, the stench of
rot and blood thick in its breath, and whispered.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
You should have count driving.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Then the bite a deep tearing, and Rolando's world went dark.
The last thing he saw was the creature's face shifting.
The old man's features returned as if nothing had changed.
It licked the blood from its lips and smiled down
at him. Fool, it said softly, as Rolando's body went still.

(22:36):
Hours later, the mountain road lay quiet again. The truck
had gone missing from outside the cave, leaving an empty mountaintop,
and inside the cave nothing stirred. Sometimes travelers say, when
the wind cuts just right through those peaks, you can
hear a voice carried down from the heights, a slow,

(22:58):
broken voice calling out for help.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Up the mountain.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
And if you stop to listen, or even if you
stop to help, you'll see an old man standing by
the road, hat pulled low against the wind, and when
he looks up, you'll see that his mouth is stained red.

(23:39):
Welcome back, well friends, Thank you so much for listening
to that story, and a big thank you to Jeffrey
for helping me write this one. Once again, we're gonna
go ahead and jump into some Upchanchu myths. So the
first one, this is from a Urban Legends mysteryand myth
dot com. This is an entry simply called the up
Chanchu Blivia Ancient Andyan Vampire Legend. So again, as it

(24:02):
says here, this story comes to us from Bolivia, and
this says, The night in the Andes is colder than
you expect. Mist curls along the lonely mountain road, and
your lantern's flame struggles against the darkness. Ahead, you notice
a figure hunched on the ground, a frail old man
wrapped in tattered clothes. He groans as if in pain,
one arm stretched toward you. Instinct tells you to help,

(24:26):
But in Bolivian legend, this is exactly what upchance you want,
because the moment you lean down to offer a hand,
the old man's eyes glow red, his teeth sharpened, and
you realize too late that pity has led you straight
into the arms of a vampire. So obviously this is
a vampire story, or a version of a vampire story, right,

(24:47):
because as we know, there are so many and we're
going to go through a few of them later that
they talk about here. But the first ones there were,
the first creatures that came to mind are the first
Suso episodes that came to mind, of course, were the Beestacle,
which I know is something Simil, the vampiress of Bisco Peru,
of course, and the Theo. I think the Theo is
this entity that the miners in Bolivia pray to in

(25:10):
tandem with their Catholic beliefs. So just some interesting things
to think about, and I will put those in the
description notes belos that you all can check those out
if you want to. Oh and of course I almost
forgot the Tapucci, which is one of my favorite life
stories to tell, so I don't know how I almost
forgot that. But those four they will be in the
description notes. You can if you haven't heard them, you
can go back and listen to them, or if you

(25:31):
feel like doing a Soustole Vampire tour, then you can
listen to those groups of episodes after this one. So
this continues. Who or what is ab Chanchu? The aba
Chanchu is a vampire like figure from Bolivian folklore. Unlike
the suave, seductive vampires of European legend, aba Chanchu does
not lure victims with charm or beauty. Instead, it prays

(25:53):
on compassion. So again this idea of seeing this elderly
person on the side of the road, and I will
say I didn't see anything about the typical assigned genders
to this creature. I've seen like elderly man when we
looked up pictures and stuff, a lot of the depictions
were like this, this really small older man. I didn't
see anything about the Abu Chanshu being only one gender,

(26:16):
so who knows. Again, this is one of the things
that could be prescribed to any sort of representation, but
for the sake of this episode, we will probably be
referring to Ubchanshu as he, and so this continues, often
described as a frail elderly traveler. Again, they're not using
a specific gender here. The ab Chanshu disguises itself as
helpless to trick passers by into approaching. When it's victims

(26:37):
lean close, the vampire strikes, draining blood until the traveler
is left lifeless on the road. It is feared not
only as a monster, but also as a warning that
evil often wears the mask of weakness and kindness can
be twisted into a fatal mistake. Which it's so interesting
because I feel like I try to help people when
I see people in need. Right, I will say I've

(26:57):
never picked up a hitchhiker. I don't think of every
real seeing a hitchhiker, but I think maybe because the
story is like this, you know, we see other like
horror movies or thrillers or we hear the stories where
we're basically told not to do that. So you know,
even if you consider yourself an empathetic person or somebody
who wants to help people in need, there's still that
fear in the back of your mind. You know what,
I lied. I did give this man a ride one

(27:20):
time in my hometown from the walmart to I forgot where,
like somewhere in the town. And I remember telling him
because I agreed to give him a ride, and we're
walking to my car and then I stopped and I
looked at him dead in the eye and I said,
do you have a knife or I was like, you
don't have a weapon or something, do you? I was like,
cause I don't feel like fighting today, and he was like, no, no, no, no, man,
I swear to guy's I just need to ride. And

(27:41):
I was like, all right, get in the car. But also,
for all he knows, I could have been the weirdo
who was going to hurt him. So you know, sometimes
you just got to trust in people that I think
that is the only time that I've given a stranger
a ride like that and it worked out. So who Okay,
he was not a not a enough Chanchu, I was safe.
But this continues the origin of the story, and it's
verys the Ubchanchu is deeply rooted in the Andean oral

(28:03):
tradition of Bolivia, though variations of the story appear across
South America. So this talks about it's kind of two
different routes. So there's the Andean roots. Some folklorists suggest
that the Upchanchu may have pre Columbian origins tied to
earlier myths of demons or hungry spirits that lurked along
the trade roads through the mountains, and we're going to
talk about that idea a little bit later here. But

(28:24):
then there's also, of course, as always good old colonial
Spanish influence, and this says when European vampire tells spread
through South America, they blended with indigenous lore, shaping the
Upchanchu into a more familiar blood drinking figure. So it
seems like this kind of vampuric aspect to the ab
Chanchu due to Spanish influence, and that's not what like

(28:45):
the og story is. But this also says that while
most stories focus on the frail old man disguise, some
variations claim the Upchanchu can take animal forms or vanish
into the mist after an attack. And again we're going
to bring that up a little bit later. I'm just
planning all the up Chanchu seeds right now. This says
the legend endured because of the dangers of travel through

(29:05):
Bolivia's remote mountain passes. Bandits illness and exposure often claim lives,
and stories of a vampire lying in wait offered a
supernatural explanation for why some never came home. So again
there's this idea that I think we've seen before where
people and again I mentioned the Flower Bouci earlier, that
people use sometimes these creatures or these stories to explain

(29:31):
their or process their own grief for their own trauma.
So with the flowerd Bucci, it was the infanticide that
happened overnight in that community. And with this, you know,
it seems like people are, for whatever reason, they're traversing
these mountain sides or this mountainous region, and then their
loved ones pass away when they're doing that, when they're traveling,

(29:52):
and so they're like, what it was they were taken
by the Abchanchu or the Abchanchu got ahold of them, right,
And this page continues it talks about modern siding or encounters,
and that's kind of a continuation of that topic. It says,
while the Upchanchu is firmly rooted in folklore, occasional encounters
are still whispered. Travelers found pale and collapsed on lonely
roads are sometimes attributed to the up Chanchu, especially if

(30:14):
no illness or robbery explains death. Some modern stories speak
of roadside beggars in Bolivia who seem to appear and disappear, strangely,
vanishing into myst when ignored, and researches of vampire folklore
point to Upchanchu as proof that the idea of blood
drinking predators exists across cultures, not just in Europe, because

(30:34):
of course I think many of the depictions or the
stories of vampires are come from European influence. But it
would make sense then that Spanish influence on this story, right,
So this is what I was really interested in. On
this page, they talk about similar vampires and blood drinking
creatures around the world, and there's a list of them
here this one. I'm going to go through these, and
this first one is the Citygoi from Romania. That sounds

(30:57):
like I said that right right, I don't know steity
Goy city. I feel like I've heard that kind of
accent that remania I mean, of course, with like many
vampire movies, right, But this says these restless spirits are
said to rise from the grave to torment their families,
spreading diseases and drinking blood. Unlike the elegant vampires of fiction,
stidigoy are grotesque, revenance, corpse like, and hungry. They are

(31:19):
considered to the direct ancestors of Bramstoker's Dracula and are
feared in rural Romania, where villagers sometimes exhum suspected corpses
to prevent a studiguoy outbreak. So there's an actual influence
on communities to stop these things from coming out because
of their belief in them. This next one is the
Pontianac which is from Laysia slash Indonesia, and it says

(31:41):
a terrifying ghost of a woman who died in childbirth,
which reminds me of the I think it was the
Titsi mime, which is a story of people who passed
away during childbirth that their souls became these kind of
like warrior like deities in the sky. They were the stars.
I think that's the one. Correct me if I'm wrong,
And this continues. At first, she appears as a stunningly

(32:01):
beautiful woman drawing in men with her long black hair
and pale skin, but once lured close, she reveals a
ghastly corpse like face and long nails that tear flesh.
The Pontia Nak drains blood and even devours internal organs,
making her one of the most feared vampiric beings in
Southeast Asia. Oh supercowl. It continues the Asanbosam, which is

(32:23):
from West Africa and the Ashanti people, lurking in the
forest of Ghana and surrounding regions. The Assambosam is described
as a monstrous vampire with iron teeth and hook like feet.
It perches in treetops, dropping down to snatch and wary
hunters or travelers. Its method mirrors the Upchunscha's ambush on
lonely roads, attacking when victims least expect it. That is terrifying.

(32:46):
Imagine just walking through forests, jungle, whatever it is, and
this thing just comes down and snatches you to eat you.
This continues, and these are some ideas that I might
circle back to for future episodes. But this is from Colombiaan.
This is La bata Sola, it says another South American
vampire legend. La Batasola begins as a vision of beauty,

(33:07):
often appearing to lone men in the jungle. Once she
has her victim's attention, she transforms into a hideous, one
legged monster with sharp fangs. She then drinks the victim's blood,
sometimes consuming their flesh. Her legend, like Abchanchu's, is a
warning about deception and misplaced trust. Also, I'm going to
say this now, if at any point I have said

(33:27):
ab chuncha instead of Abchanchu, please pretend that I did not,
because I feel like I maybe just said it wrong
right now, and I swear to God I cannot go
back and record everything. I don't have the dime. So
I'm just gonna say that now. If you heard it, no,
you did it. The next one here is the Sauquoyant
from Trinidad, Guayana and Venezuela. It says a witch like

(33:47):
vampire who lives as an old woman by day, but
at night sheds her skin and transforms into a fiery
ball of light. In this form, she slips through cracks
and keyholes to suck the blood of sleeping victims. If
she drinks too much, the victim dies. To defeat her,
folklore says you must find her discarded skin and destroy
it with salt or fire, trapping her in her fiery

(34:09):
form forever. This one sounds really cool. I would love
to do a story on this one. This has so
many elements from other things. Right, so there's this which,
first of all, a witch who can transform into anything. Right,
you think of loud Pouci, litusa just general witches that
can transform into like I said here, a ball of
fire or a ball of light. And then you have
again those general in Mexico they say witches can turn

(34:30):
into balls of fire, that loud bouci can turn into
mist or a ball of light and travel that way.
But this, I really really like this detail. I think
it's so interesting that to defeat her you need to
find the skin that she shed when she transformed and
destroy the skin so that she cannot return to the
human form. And I'm assuming that it's not sustainable for

(34:51):
her to survive as this ball of light, right, this
fiery ball of light. So it's very very interesting there
the second to last one here is the chon Chon
for from Chile and Argentina. It says, one of the
strangest vampire figures of South America, the Tonchon is said
to be a sorcerer who transforms into a flying human head,
its large ears flap like wings, carrying it through the

(35:12):
night as it seeks victims. The Chonchon drinks blood and
spreads terror with its screeching cries. In some regions, hearing
the sound of the Chonchon is said to be a
death omen, so very much like hearing the cries of
Alachusa of Leona, hearing the whistle.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
Of El Silbon.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
Again with this idea of sound, and these monsters are
these creatures or spirits that if you hear them, it's
a bad omen. Just hearing it is bad luck enough.
And the last one here is the pistaco from Peru
and Bolivia. It says, though not a vampire in the
traditional sense, that pistaco is a frightening Andean legend about
a creature or sometimes a man, that drains both fat

(35:52):
and blood from its victims. Again, like I mentioned earlier,
that pistaco rooted in colonial fears and exploitation by Spaniards
that pistaco endures as a cultural warning about outsiders praying
on local communities. Its link to blood drinking, and its
Bolivian setting make it a close cousin to the Abchanchu.
So again, thank you Urban Legends, Mystery and myth dot

(36:13):
com for the entry on the ab Chanchu and this
amazing comprehensive list of all these other similar creatures from
around the world. Okay, the next entry that we have
here is a quick Wikipedia entry. This is really really short.
It's literally one sentence. It says, Aubchanchu is a legendary
Bolivian vampire who shape shifts into the form of a
helpless elderly traveler. When a passerby offers to help him,

(36:34):
Abchanchu victimizes them and drinks their blood. The victim dies
of blood loss or disease. Very simple. That is the
elevator pitch the tell us a little bit about yourself
for the Abuchanchu. The one after that is a This
is a academic link. This is from a book, and
this one's also very very short. This is from Gail E. Books,

(36:56):
I believe, and this is from a book titled The
Encyclopedia of Vampires and Werewolves, second Edition by A. Rosemary
Ellen Gilly, I believe, and it's on the first page.
It starts with literally, it's like an Encyclopedia entry. It's
a really quick entry and similar to the Wikipedia entry.
This says ab Chanchu Bolivian vampire. The Abchanchu pretends to

(37:18):
be a kindly old man who loses his way. His
well meaning helpful victims are either stricken with a fatal
disease or are stuck to dry of their blood while
they are asleep. And I wasn't able to find any
other mention of the Abchanchu from what was available online
about this text, so I think it was literally just
it was listening through these are all the different kinds

(37:39):
of vampires and werewolves around the world, which I should
find this book because I would love to go through that.
The next one is from cryptidindex dot Com. It's titled
ab Chanchu the Vampire of Bolivian Folklore, and it says
among the myriad of cryptids and legends scattered across the globe,
the Abchanchu stands out as a sinister figure from Blivian folklore,

(38:01):
often described as a shape shifting vampire. This malevolent entity
praise on the vulnerable, luring unsuspecting travelers into its deadly grasp.
Known for its cunning and ruthlessness, the Ebuchanchu's dark reputation
has cemented its place in South American mythology as both
a cautionary tale and as a symbol of humanity's fears.
And this one it breaks down all of the ubchanchhoo again.

(38:23):
So there may be some repeats here, but as always,
we want to get as many different perspectives right. So
this one talks about its physical description. Then it says
the Ubchanshu's true form is rarely, if ever described in
concrete detail, and we've already been seeing that through these
resources that we're going to. It says legends suggests that
it has the ability to shape shift, often appearing as
an old and frail individual to deceive its victims. This

(38:45):
disguise is effective in eliciting sympathy, as travelers feel compelled
to aid the seemingly helpless figure. However, once its prey
is close enough, the Abchantu reveals its predatory nature, striking
with precision and leaving no chance for escape. So again
it's preying on and counting on that sympathy and that
kindness from its victims, which I think, compared to other

(39:08):
creatures and cryptids and what have you that have been
featured on SUSTO, is an interesting take because most of
them is they rely on like trickery, which I mean,
this is trickery, right, it's decepting people and using their
kindness against them, But it like tricking people in other ways,
like with the sound thing, right, usually like with Elsi
Luan's whistle les cries. So I think, let's se Janaba

(39:30):
with the backward facing feet, things are opposite of what
they seem. So if you hear something farther away, that
means it's closer. Then if you hear it closer, that
means it's farther away. And with the footprints, if you
see them, because the footprints are backwards, if you see
them walking away, then it's actually walking towards you, and
vice versa. So or just straight up hunting right versus this,
the Abchanchu doesn't really it's hunting is very chill. I

(39:53):
don't know how to say that in a more elegant way,
but it just kind of it just sits and waits,
you know, and it lets its victim do the work.
This continues on this site. It says origins and legends.
The origins of the Ubchanchu are deeply rooted in Bolivian folklore,
particularly in the Andean regions, where the harsh landscapes and
isolated roads create an ideal setting for tales of terror.

(40:15):
Stories of the Ubchanchu were likely passed down orally, serving
as warnings to travelers to remain cautious and wary of strangers.
Seaterpretations suggest that the Upchanchu represents more than just a
mythical predator. It is thought to symbolize the dangers of
isolation and the vulnerability of individuals in remote areas. Others
argue that it serves as a metaphor for treachery, a

(40:37):
reminder that not everything is as it seems, and danger
often hides behind a facade of innocence. I'm gonna skip
down this page to a portion of it that says
scientific explanations and theories, and this says Skeptics often seek
to rationalize tales of the Ubchanchu by attributing them to
psychological and cultural factors. The cryptids guise as an old

(40:58):
and frail individual may reflect it deeply, ingrained fear of
vulnerability and to deception. Again, we keep getting this idea
over and over again. Others suggest that sidings of the
Upchanchu could be explained by encounters with individuals suffering from
severe illnesses or conditions that give them a ghastly appearance,
thus fueling this legend. This continues. Another theory posits that
the Ubchanchu legend served as a practical warning to travelers

(41:22):
by instilling fear of strangers and the unknown. The story
may have discouraged risky behaviors and encouraged vigilance, which would
have been crucial for survival in remote and perilous environments.
I think also it could serve yes to travelers, but
to specifically travelers who are from that area. They brought
the Beistoko earlier, and we know that there is Spanish

(41:43):
influence on the origins of this story itself, and so
it's that kind of warning of outsiders or strangers, not
only just people you may not know from your own community,
but strangers to the community and more specifically in this instance,
colonizers right, okay, and heavily in care. This is isn't
necessarily a source. We could have used it as one.
But this is a comic. It's called the Anchanchu and

(42:06):
we're going to talk about that pronunciation next. But this
is from I believe their artist. I'm not sure, you know,
like authors have pen names, is it the same thing
for an artist. So either way, this is a comic
and it's it's a comic titled El Enchanchu. And I
think the quote artist name is mean Josh, but it's

(42:27):
I think their actual name. It's here at the bottom,
and it was attributed to them in another page that
I found that this art on is Arman Gastellon which
Arman we have similar last names, Guste Castanos. What is
up primont. But if you're interested in looking this up,
this is it seems like it's maybe a comic site.
It says in English twenty four in twenty four or

(42:50):
main de cuatro and bantiquatro so twenty four e n
twenty four dot blogspot dot com. And if you just
search that with Anchanchu then you should be able to
find this. But yeah, it's a fun comic if you
want to read through that. And I really like the
art style and the way that they depicted the ab
Chanchu or Anchanchu. As we will delve into a bit

(43:10):
deeper here about those different pronunciations. Jeff left it out
for us here and it says pre colonial an Chanchu,
these cave demon myths eventually merged with European vampire myths

(43:35):
to become the modern day ab Chanchu. First, we want
to get an understanding of where specifically this is coming from.
This is a website called Imata dot org and this
was written by Arbasi. Not only will the direct links
for all of these be in the SUSA Google docs
on Patreon, Buti has specifically asked that we link to
imata dot org, so you will find a link to

(43:56):
this page. In the description notes gave us a really
really neat insight into the Aimada people and just to
kind of tell you all a bit about them so
we know a bit more about their perspective. This says
Amada is a language spoken by approximately one point six
million persons around the Titi Kaka Lake. More precisely, according
to the last Senses of both Bolivia and Chile both

(44:19):
in nineteen ninety two and Peru in nineteen ninety three,
there are approximately one point two million Bolivian Amada speakers,
roughly two hundred ninety thousand Peruvian speakers, and roughly forty
eight thousand Chilean ones. All these speakers can form the
Amada people. In the province of tupe Yaoyos, at three
hundred kilometers southeast of Lima City are the last six

(44:40):
hundred speakers of Hakkaruru, which, in accordance to the MJ. Hardman,
is a familiar but separate language from Amada. However, in
accordance to other language classification catalogs, Hakkaudu is only a
dialogical variation from Amata. The existence of Hakkadu is an
indicator that in ancient times Amada language spread in wide
areas of the Press Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina far

(45:03):
away from the Titikaka Plateau. Examples of these areas are
inside the present de Peru at Arequipa Provinces, at Apurima Provinces,
at Cusco Provinces, at Puno Northeast Provinces, and inside present
Bolivia at Potusi, Gochamba and Ururo. So that's more so
about their language about the people themselves. This says that ethnically,

(45:25):
the Aimata people are from the same group who populated
all the America since twelve hundred BC, and who are
mostly known as quote Indians. There are strong and deep
ties between the Titikaka Lake and the Aimada people. Such
ties begin with the name Titikaka, which comes from two
Aimata words, which are titi and here if they say
it's cat and ghaka with ques, which is gray color,

(45:48):
that is Titikaka means the gray cat. The Titikaka Plateau
is over twelve thousand feet above the sea level, therefore
it should have a non living climate, but the waters
of the lake warm all the region, allowing to live
millions of persons. Pedro Siesa de Lyon tells us that
this plateau was the most populated territory of the entire
Inca Empire. Now we have some really good background of

(46:11):
who these people were. Right in this same site, they
talk about the Anchucha in this segment about ancient religiosity
or pre Christian religion in this area so up to
the year fifteen fifty. Before that, though, it says the
distinct Aimada towns of the antiquity have had different local
gods and thus various forms of religiosity. However, these local

(46:32):
varieties were based on the two pillars of the pan
Andean religiosity, as are the agricultural religiosity and the worship
of the ancestors. So we see this in so many cultures.
Is the two strongest or the two main pillars of worship, religiosity, devotion,
however you want to identify, that is usually always agricultural

(46:53):
or earth based and ancestors or those that came before
us who are dead. This continues. The ancient Aimada god Thunupa,
who is the central icon of the stone sculpture of
the Gateway of the Sun inthiouan Naku, personifies various agents
of the nature of the sun, wind, rain, hail that
can influence for well or for worse, the agricultural production.

(47:13):
So again this entity that can influence crops, harvest life. Right.
Another aspect of this agricultural religion is the goddess Bachamama
or the mother ground, the producer of the foods. This
goddess lash mother requires sacrifices, her favorite being the fetus
of Alama. So I think that's where we got that
kind of little detail of the ghost Llamas at the

(47:35):
beginning of this episode, which I think would make a
cute little sticker. Allama, that's a ghost. I don't know why.
In my head that's adorable. This continues. On the other hand,
the worship of the ancestors was manifested in a material
way in the construction of tomb shrines, whose complexity was
an agreement of the importance of the deceased. Okay, now
we're going to talk about a bit the Anchanchu, and

(47:55):
I swear to God, I know that I said it
wrong again earlier, but you didn't hear that right exactly.
So this says the local gods are the hills and
the mountains, regarded as guardians and protectors. This form of
spirituality continues in force until nowadays or modern day, in
which each local hill has a name and is always
invoked like the local guardian. The devils were believed to

(48:16):
be from the underground and were known by either Anchanchu
or Saksra. Other small gods reside in the water fountain.
Another important aspect related to the Aimada spirituality is the
ritual and natural medicine, whose practices is carried out by
the Yatiti or the wise the Yatidis with the greater
prestige and efficacy since ancient times until the present century.

(48:39):
Are from the town Galawaya in the mountain range of
Chatasani in Bolivia. Again, this is saying. The brief mention
here about the Anchanchu is that they were just known
as quote, the devils or these underground ne'er do well spirits.
They're on that side of the spectrum of like good
or bad of spirits, and so they have their good

(48:59):
spirits which are in the hills and the mountains and
their guardians. The opposite of that is the Anchansu. I'm
not exactly sure when or how that shift in the
spelling or the pronunciation of the ab Chanshu or the
Anchansho to the ab Chanshu happened, but it did. The
next one that we have here is from a Bolivia

(49:21):
dot com under their Technology and Astronomy kind of section
of the site, and this is titled Anchanchu the quote
demon most feared by the Amada people, and this says
evil in Amada culture has a name quote an chanchu,
a malevolent entity that prays on lonely people and has
an insatiable thirst for life. So we kind of know

(49:44):
we're getting this confirmation that those are one and the same.
This says quote. In the countryside, it is believed that
people have up to ten souls. Others say that women
have seven and men three. With so many they are
vulnerable to being stolen until the last one is reached,
and then there is death, explained anthropologist Milton Izagida. This continues.
Knowledge of this evil entity has been passed down orally

(50:06):
in the Amata regions and is one of the most
feared because it leads its victims to death. Beliefs say
that this quote paranormal presence appears to its victims personified
as animals or terrifying beasts in order to frighten them.
The wise men say, you should pretend you're not alone quote.
You have to pretend you're with someone because they use
any trick to deceive you and drain your energy. You

(50:28):
shouldn't be afraid of them, even though the moment is tense.
Don't bother me, go away, you have to say to them,
explained the Amata juangadlos baon t Urgente dot Bo. This
wraps up the Amchanchu wants to take away the Achayu.
It's spelled ajayu which I looked up, and there's also
a link here in the Susto Google doc. It's essentially
like the life force or the soul from this random site.

(50:50):
When I searched it up word meaning dot org it
says it is a word in Quechua language which means soul, spirit,
cosmic energy, force or entity that contains the feeling and
the reason the continues. The Nchanchu wants to take away
the ahayu from its victims, and for this reason, the
most important thing is to control emotions in the presence
of symptoms. This is going to sound really familiar. Some

(51:12):
of the symptoms that the amount does associate with the
arrival of the Unchanchu are a common cold with headaches,
general malaise in the body, appearance of pimples on the face,
heaviness in the body, and chills. Any ailment can be
cured first, This says, again sounds familiar. Quote. Any element
can be cured first, you have to change its fortunes.

(51:32):
Consult the guoca leaves to determine the cure and decide
whether to use animals, minerals, or plants. The healing process
and spiritual restoration are then carried out Accordingly, when it's
done in time, it can be cured. When it's too late,
it takes longer and requires more ceremonies. Bayon concluded, that's susto.

(51:52):
That is I think that is. That is literally to me,
that is what susto is. So now we're going down
the rabbit hole here. This is from a PMC dot
NCPI dot, nl M DO NAH dot gov. So it's
the National Library of Medicine, the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
And this is a publication. This is a study and

(52:14):
there's a table here. But this study is titled SUSTO
is a Cultural Conceptualization of distress, Existing research and aspects
to consider for future investigations. This is published in It
says twenty twenty three. Wow. And the names attached to
this that I see here are Fanni Biatris, Martinez Rattle,
Devin Emerson, Hinton, and Ulrich Stanger. But what I found

(52:35):
in this really quick search, there's a table here, Table one.
It says research that summarizes the definitions, perceived, causes, symptoms,
and management associated with SUSTO. So it seems like there
is SOUSTO in Bolivia, and that's what they're that's what
they're talking about without explicitly saying, at least in the
English translation of that site. But so I searched Believia

(52:55):
and the first thing that popped up on the table
that said Bolivia. There is an author field of vestigation,
population of location, definition of susto, the perceived causes of it,
and the symptoms of it. And so the author was
Berman for twenty ten. It was an anthropology study. It
says Imata indigenous people from El Alto in Bolivia. Again
the Amata people as well, and the definition is that

(53:16):
susto is a spiritual disorder in which the person loses
some component of their being in parentheses ahayu. It all
ties together. Okay, So I was right. It is literally
susto is what they were talking about. And the ahayu
is that kind of soul or the essence of the person. Interesting,
there is nothing in this one line when it's talking
about susto and the Aimata people for the causes of it,

(53:40):
but for the symptoms it says fever, pains, skin rashes,
asocial behavior and strange manners, crying and sleep problems in children. Wow,
there are other parts of this that have Bolivia. Another
one was Rodan Chicano at All. In twenty seventeen, Transcultural
Nursing was the study. The location is Bolivian immigrants in Spain.

(54:01):
It says susto is a culture bound syndrome. Participants considered
suso a disease in which the soul of the person
gets lost. Of course, this one, it does have causes.
It says, unexpected frightening events that cause the separation of
the soul from the body. Which is how pretty much
I think I've always described it. Oh wait, I didn't
even say earlier. I missed it earlier. There was here
you go, there was a how to I guess cure. Yeah,

(54:23):
the management of susto from that first entry that talks
specifically about the eyemount of people. It says, calling the
loss being with some food the affected person likes, a
patient's clothes or a woolen thread, and removing strange influences
from the patient's body. Very interesting. Yeah, and there's all
these different rituals. There was another one here again, another
anthropology study from Roasting in nineteen ninety three. The location

(54:44):
was traditional Galawaiya healers of Bolivia, which again we referenced earlier,
and then all similar things. Okay. I was like because
I was reading through that page and I thought, this
is almost textbook of what SUSTO is, and so it
just it made sense to me and Sharon I was
able to All you do is connect the dots. Okay.
This next source is from Mythological Creatures. This one I

(55:07):
thought was interesting because the representation of the Anchanshu is
it specifically describes different ways it can manifest here. So
here it says Anchanshu is a fearsome demon from Aimata mythology,
known for haunting dark, isolated locales and manifesting as both
a red dog and a bald, pudgy older man. So

(55:28):
the red dog is something we haven't heard in these
other sources before. It says he serves as a supernatural
gatekeeper over precious minerals and forcing a strict ritual for access.
His chilling nocturnal appearances in still terror among those who
dare to traverse the Andean wilds after midnight. So a
lot of things in this site, again Mythological Creatures dot Net,

(55:48):
are very similar to everything else. But I want to
talk more about his form or how he is manifested.
So here in this section it says, form and powers
it says. In many depictions on Chanshu's physical presence is
both startling and ambiguous, characterized by a striking red canine
form that glows in the dim of the pre dawn hours.
This fearsome red dog, with its intense, almost supernatural aura,

(56:11):
prowls the lonely landscapes with an air of menace and mystery.
Yet in other portrayals, the demon assumes a bipedal human guise,
described as a pudgy, bald older man who exudes a
deeply unsettling presence. The human aspect of his form features
weathered skin and piercing eyes that seem to reflect the
depths of ancient wisdom and cruelty. His dual appearance blurs

(56:33):
the line between animalistic ferocity and human cunning, inviting both
dread and complex sympathy. Again that line of sympathy, some
accounts detail subtle features, such as a reddened complexion that
hints at the molten energies of the earth beneath him.
The physical contradictions in this portrayal contribute to a rich
mythic ambiguity, challenging observers to decipher which aspect of his

(56:55):
being hold sway in any given encounter. Overall, on Chanchu's
dynamic and variable reinforces his role as a liminal figure
straddling the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural realms.
For some reason, this one, this entry spoke a lot
about this idea again of those minerals, precious minerals, earthly resources.
So this starts to delve into that area that we've

(57:17):
spoken about before, of these things, these spirits or cryptids
or monsters, what have you being protectors of the earth.
And so this says, unlike many mythic entities that are
solely malevolent, on Chanchu also encompasses aspects of protection and
authority over natural resources. His dual nature as both a
fearsome spirit and a custodian of subterranean wealth provides a

(57:38):
complex insight into the Andean worldview. Over time, his multifaceted
character has spread diverse interpretations that reveal the intricate connections
between nature, the supernatural, and human endeavor. And then something
that I thought was really interesting here that sent me
in a bit of a rabbit hole as well, was
this thing about a dance. And so it talks about
again the protection of mineral earthly resources. This part says

(58:03):
there exists also a ceremonial aspect to his myth, most
notably through references to the dance of the Horns, a
ritual that must be successfully negotiated in order to access
hidden minerals. Thus, despite the fragmentary nature of these sources,
they collectively underscore complex tapestry of beliefs that has nurtured
his legend over time. It's kind of like you can

(58:25):
make a deal with him that if you do this dance,
that you perform this dance, you get access to these
minerals or these resources. There's another part of this that continues,
and this is really the part that sent me on
that rabbit hole that will dive a little bit into
is Towards the end of this entry, it says festivals
and cultural performances occasionally incorporate elements of his myth, reimagining

(58:46):
the traditional dance of the Horns in new creative expressions.
As academic interest in indigenous mythologies has grown, an Chanschu's
narrative has been revisited and recontextualized within the framework of
global myth studies. So again, the mention of this dance right,
So I looked it up because I've seen other parades
where there are people dancing in these masks. Some of

(59:07):
them look like handsome devils, some of them just look
like faces. But the ones that are just as devils,
they have like the horse hair hanging off of their
clothing and they look really cool. Maybe put a clip
over that. But of course I had to look into
what this dance was, and so I found this site,
this black Platinumgold dot com. And this entry is called

(59:27):
the Truth behind Bolivia's Dance of the Devils, and this
talks about the origin and all that, So I was
really interested. It says every year, for many centuries, a
battle between evil and good is held over twelve thousand
feet above sea level in the small city of Ururo
in western Bolivia. Dancers donned in technicolor and elaborate horned
masks performed the so called Dance of the Devils, or

(59:47):
the Diablada, as they tried to defeat the archangel Michael,
only to fail in the end. While it might be
the most thematically poignant and visually striking set piece of
the festival, the Dance of the Devils is only among
the many exciting features of the yearly Godanava de Uru.
So this dance of the devils happens in this god Nava,
and people were saying or like it was mentioned earlier,

(01:00:09):
and so when I looked up dance of the horns
in Bolivia, this came up, this dance of the devils.
Because it's kind of it's known as different names, or
it gets translated or recontextualized into different names. So this
continues the origin of the dance of the doubles. Most
scholars have concluded that this unique dance had its origins
in the Amadan ritual of the demon Anchanchu and the

(01:00:31):
Lama Lama dance honoring the way an Uru god. Both
of these dances can be traced back to pre Columbian Bolivia. However,
there are several conflicting theories regarding the true origins of
the dance. Although the dance had already been performed as
early as the fifteen hundreds in the Andean region, its
name started in seventeen eighty nine in Ururo, so it
was happening in fifteen hundreds, but it didn't get an

(01:00:53):
actual name until the seventeen hundreds in Bolivia, where the
performers wore costumes that resembled the devil in the Pariah,
known as the Abladas, so they were also known as that.
It was in nineteen oh four in Bolivia when the
first ever organized the Ablada group with a defined choreography
and music appeared. There are also pieces of evidence pointing
to the origin of the dance among the miners in Potosi, Bolivia. Chile,

(01:01:17):
and Peru's regional dances may have their influences on the
modern version of the dance as well. So again, all
these things kind of like falling in this timeline and
just maybe changing a bit or really the name or
how they're known is what's changing is they're given you names,
Y're given more structure. It's turned out into this Godava right,
and so this says the Godnaval de Au. The festival

(01:01:39):
of God Naval de Ouru has been observed by the
indigenous Uru people since the pre Columbian era, before the
Upper Bdu area's local customs were outlawed by the Spanish
Empire during the seventeenth century. However, instead of disappearing, the
festival learned to adapt as it incorporated religious dimensions and
Christian iconography and became a model of syncretism among cultures.

(01:02:02):
This reminds me of a conversation that I've had before
about modern day like Bruheria, etchiseria grandismo, or just general
i'll say Mexican folk magic, and how the way that
it exists today is basically a testament to its survival
and the ways that it's had to assimilate. It's had
to take on like Catholic iconography or practices in order

(01:02:24):
to survive, because, like it says here, those customs were
being outlawed by the Spanish Empire. And if it wasn't
that it was outlawed, then they were being erased by
many different ways, either by death or by danger or intimidation.
And so again, these practices take on some of its colonizers,
I guess, identity, so that it can keep on going. Okay,

(01:02:46):
this continues As a result of the extensive history of
Bolivia as a crucial mining area, the festival evolved to
become a tribute to the Vitan the Sokavon, which is
the patron saint who protects and watches over miners. UNESCO
recognized the god Nava in two thousand and one as
a part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity and
stated that the deteriorating mining activity in the region is

(01:03:08):
among the different factors that threatens the indigenous communities in
the area. However, the Goadana Vole itself doesn't show any
signs of threat as over ten thousand musicians and twenty
eight thousand dancers participate in the main procession or in
thrada that repeatedly traverses a route of two and a
half miles for twenty hours. The Dancing Devils may have
seen cultural transformation and imperial oppression, but it has endured

(01:03:31):
them all and continues to thrive year after year. Exactly
what I was trying to say earlier, that was said
so perfectly. Wow, welcome back. Well friends, I just want

(01:03:53):
to address really quick, if you are watching the video
version of this, I did have an outfit change. The
lighting was a bit different because I had to stop
mid recording to go to a dentist appointment, so to
speaking to scary things. I know some people are really
scared of the dentist, but I thankfully it's just it
was a filling that got chipped and it's going to
need to be refilled, and that's fine. It's nothing worse

(01:04:14):
than that. I could have been way worse. So I'm
very happy, very fortunate that I could go to the
dentist and take care of that. But just in case
you were watching, you were like, why did he change?
That's why? Okay, So thank you so much for listening.
As always, you can support the show by sharing it
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(01:04:35):
like this one from half Sleeper twenty eighteen, who said, quote,
great podcast. Thank you. I think so too. I'm originally
from Latothero, Texas, so I am all too familiar with
these stories. I have also learned a lot of new ones.
Reminds me of those summers making gadna sadas and telling
scary stories with friends and family growing up. I've said
this before, this is my favorite kind of comment. I'm

(01:04:57):
literally just trying to recreate that moment for us because
I remember those nights. I can literally smell it. I
can see the backyard and see everyone around me, see
the cousins that I'm running around with here all like
the commotion and people yelling and laughing and then eventually
it gets to that point in the night. So that
means so much to me whenever I get comments like that,
So thank you have sleep for twenty eighteen. And if

(01:05:18):
I read this comment before, I'm sorry, please let me know.
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(01:05:39):
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But just letting you all know because I do see
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(01:06:00):
really post much. Once in a while i'll post something
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about Patreon, a major monstrous thank you to this episode's patrons.
You are Liza Rachel, Alejandra Luther, April d Josette, Sam, Mandy, Laurie, Genie, Desiree,
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(01:06:29):
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Byetta