The Midnight Yeller

Many years ago, an Indian man was banished from his tribe and forced to live in the forests and mountains of what is now called Central America.  It was there where a demon took possession of him, and from that fusion, the Midnight Yeller (figure 1), a half-human and half-demon beast, of great size was born.

Figure 1. The Midnight Yeller. ¹

Theoretically, no one can see such a creature, but its eerie yells break the nocturnal silence in the jungles and mountains of those lands. However, one day, one man swore had seen it, his name is Julio, and his story is as follows.

On a Friday in July of 1963, he was returning from a wild party in the streets of Santa Ana. Julio was a very strong man who loved to walk at night. This time, he was walking on a small trail when he passed by the church of El Calvario and heard its bell, he thought it had to be midnight. He got a little scared and stride. Almost, a block near City Hall, for the first time in many years, he noticed that the white Cadejo was not taking care of him. Perhaps, he had flittered with too many girls and didn’t remember it because he was a bit drunk. In the corner next to the City Hall, there were about 12 or more dogs meandering.

“Oh!” he thought, “if my Cadejo would have been with me tonight, all these dogs should run away!” Many midnights, he strolled alone, when a kennel of dogs approached him. However, the presence of his Cadejo had scared them.

Nevertheless, that night everything seemed bizarre to him. Julio was too close to the dogs, and almost instantaneously, they stood still, honking their ears and looking from one side to the other. “They are scared!” Julio thought: “Poor dogs! They know who their Master is!”

Suddenly, it seemed they would attack him. Instinctively, he searched everywhere to pick up a stick or some stones. In his arsenal, he had only two and did not have much confidence that he could hit his target with them. Dogs, as we know, are very brave animals. Even if you hit one or two with good stones, the others won’t stop and attack you. A different story would have been if Julio had had a broom. At least, he could have hit the first one that approaches, then the second or the third one, and the rest would scream in pain and escape.

Julio was sure the dogs didn’t act normally. He felt something in the air that night as a warning of great danger. Instead of barking at him, they ran away, terrified from one side to the other. A few began to howl well as if a demon were attacking them. The howl was like what they do when they say that death, the plague, or the devil are hanging around.

At that moment, Julio’s hair bristled because the dogs ran away in all directions. He was only sure that something was happening, but he didn’t know what or where the danger was coming from. He stopped and looked back (what you should never do). Suddenly, he felt a strong warm air wrapped around him and saw how pigs also ran away, fleeing something that he still didn’t understand.

Immediately, after the gust of warm air, he felt a wave of fresh air that in the branches of the shrubs of the fences violently wove the leaves. After the corner below, where Julio had just passed, there was a tremendous yell. Something like the rumble coming from a cavern.

Exactly, in the street where Julio was walking just a short time ago, a figure of a man materialized walking in his direction. As soon as the figure progressed, it became larger in front of his eyes. With great effort, he tried to move from the middle of the street, but it was useless, his body didn’t react. Julio was paralyzed and had lost the knowledge of reality.

However, when the man arrived exactly where he was, his figure was so gigantic that he couldn’t believe it. Perhaps 2 meters, but it looked more like a shadow, and the man passed over him. He didn’t know how much time he spent in that position. Also, he did not remember how or when he returned home. The next day when he woke up, he was sick with a high fever. He spent three days like the last one of his lives. Those days, he didn’t know where he was or if he was going to live or die.

A couple of days until his grandfather told him.

“He is the Midnight Yeller. You were lucky, my son, if he had been the devil, you would not be telling the story. He would have taken your body and soul to hell.

Some legends say he is a tormented soul that wanders the streets, scaring death to some curious night owls. If you hear his cry loudly it is because he’s very far away, if it’s heard softly is because he is very close.

The Midnight Yeller is a being that inhabits the most remote towns. He is a big hairless lump with no head and gray color. Also, he prevents anyone from moving as he paralyzes everyone on his way. Some brave people tried to adventure on his paths where he appeared. The first they heard was a distant yell that repeated itself closer and closer until the Yeller stood in the middle of the road closing the way, and later they fainted.

Furthermore, some old men believe there is a technique to protect from his really dangerous powers and is: “Make crosses with a knife.” However, when you arrive home, you will be fatigued. Plus, in terrible shape that you won’t be able to move for a couple of days.

In the Trujillo region of Honduras, several countrymen claimed to have heard the heartrending screaming of the Yeller. One of them said: “I know all the animals of these mountains and have never heard anything like this creepy yell.”

Other people say there are many different kinds of Midnight Yellers all over Latin America. They are spirits of wandering men who died on the paths and ravines of those places. At night, they yelled with despair as if they were alive, while other individuals claim to have seen only their shadows. They say he is a tall, thin man who swiftly crosses the roads and then disappears through the bushes. Others imagine or see it, like a tired muleteer, who, sitting on a hill, starts yelling.”

Many years later, Julio discovered that in Venezuela, there is a similar spectrum called, El Silbón.

Inspired by:
Credits:
¹ © Copyright © 2018 Leyendas de El Salvador.
Location: El Salvador

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Guirola Family

Image
Long ago, a tall, white, and good-looking man appeared from nowhere on a cold night, along the cobbled streets of Zacatecoluca. He had a lonely and melancholic air and resided in a tiny cabin. He claimed to be Rafael María Guirola. Mr. Rafael was born in Spain and became a successful businessman in El Salvador, where his first businesses were related to trading. He got married to Gertrudis de la Cotera y González, of Spanish descent, and from their marriage in 1826 was born Ángel Guirola de la Cotera. Ángel was sent by his family to study for his bachelor’s degree in Guatemala City. After his graduation, he worked for a couple of years in one of the largest pharmacies there, owned by Mr. Pío Porta. In 1844, Ángel returned to El Salvador, where he spent his savings and acquired some loans to buy a few lands that he dedicated to the cultivation of indigo. He showed a great ability to export this product and extended his business throughout the Caribbean, Panama, and the United Stat
Read more

The Cuyancua

Image
Long ago, when the Maya people used to live in El Salvador, at the end of a dry season, some Indians discovered an uncommon animal near a river, which was massive and was half-pig and half-snake (figure 1). The Indians tiptoed and tried to approach it, when, suddenly, they heard a dark squawk, and the animal slid on the river and started to rain. After this, a new wet season began, and they named it the Cuyancua or the Cuyancuat. Figure 1. The Cuyancua, the half-pig, and half-snake animal. ¹ Following this first encounter, the Cuyancua became more prevalent in their lives.  It began to  appear to  announce the wet season or to predict rains, tropical storms, hurricanes, La Niña, and floods, among other water phenomena in some unexpected cases. Nowadays, you can see Cuyancua in the north of Izalco. Here, the citizens say when dusk is falling, they listen to a very dark squawk and feel strong turbulence under the earth, which panics all Indian families and the suburbs. All th
Read more

Comizahual “The White Woman”

Image
In the 13th century, a white woman appeared on Honduras’s north coast. The Lenca people were surprised by her appearance since she looked completely atypical to them. They wondered where she came from because she was able to speak their mother tongue as if she was any of them. Plus, she understood all their traditions and rituals. The white woman started traveling through the entire Lenca region between Honduras’s north coast and the southeast part of El Salvador. In all these lands, she was called Cozumel (figure 1), which means “The flying tiger.” Figure 1. Cozumel “The Flying Tiger.” Some people said she was as light as air and flew through their lands, so they nicknamed it that way. Cozumel was a fierce, powerful, and clever woman. Many people acknowledged her as a force to recognize because she was a sorceress who was capable of casting impressive spells that surprised all tribes. She protected the Lenca people from multiple invasions and brought the rain back during
Read more