The Death of The Sorcerer of La Nahuaterique

Many years ago, when La Nahuaterique (a small village in Honduras) was part of El Salvador, there used to live an old and peculiar sorcerer. This village was well known for its Lenca population.

The sorcerer was grumpy and unfriendly; barely anyone had ever spoken with him over his long time living there. His face was a complete mystery because he always wore a mask in the shape of an owl (figure 1). He used to live in a tiny cave where barely any light entered. From time to time, the people could see a campfire, but no one was sure if it was real.

Figure 1. The Sorcerer. ¹

Some people believe he was a shapeshifter who transformed himself into other animals, mainly owls.

Others had the impression he was one of the few sorcerers who were not fully cursed by the shaman centuries ago. One of those who could revert to his human form at his own will, but to retain his secret identity, he always wore that mask.

While a few people believed he had an odd business of selling ointments all over El Salvador and Honduras. They swore those ointments could cure any pain for a small price. However, the mystery behind them was a total secret.

From time to time, a retail shop owner swore, that the sorcerer came once a month to buy a pound of salt, and that was all. He never bought anything else, just salt. He never understood how he could survive by just eating salt.

For several weeks, the sorcerer vanished. No one saw the campfire anymore. Some people thought maybe he had relocated to a new place. La Nahuaterique was a peaceful and remote place where nothing ever happened. However, everything changed drastically in one night. Everyone went into panic mode because a strange and large bearded owl appeared from nowhere. The countrymen were shocked because it seemed like a kind of vampire. The owl, instead of eating meat, drank mainly chickens’ blood.

The mysterious owl started to come every night, and everyone’s chickens were dying. The citizens had heard of Dracula, but they didn’t believe there was a similar being in Central America. Especially an owl that sucked the blood of all animals in the yards.

For several weeks, the citizens tried everything they could to scare or stop the owl, but nothing they did could stop it!

However, one night after several months of chaos, a man came with a rifle from San Salvador. He waited until the owl came to his yard. When it was midnight, something flew into his yard. He was scared because of its massive size. He was sure it was a massive owl, but without thinking twice, he shot twice in its head.

The owl somehow escaped in the middle of the night. Definitely, it was deadly injured. He only saw a lot of feathers in the sky some fell on his yard.

The next morning, the man went to the location where the owl had been in his yard. He wanted to get some of those gigantic feathers. Perhaps he could make some clothes with them or sell them for considerable prices. However, when he arrived, there was nothing. Not even a single drop of blood or a feather. It was like nothing had ever happened.

A few days later, the owl had vanished from the town. The man thought he had killed it. He felt like a hero.

The following weekend, the man was walking near the sorcerer’s cave when he felt an extremely stinky smell. It seemed like a dead person was lying there. He came back to the village and returned with some policemen and a doctor. To their surprise, the sorcerer was lying dead with two shots precisely on his head.

The men took his body out of the cave and buried it in a common grave. The knowledge of those magical and cheap ointments was gone because he never shared it with anyone. Maybe, there was some connection with the chickens’ blood, but no one would ever know it.

Additionally, the man concluded that the owl that had terrorized them for all those weeks was the same sorcerer. This was the end of the Sorcerer of La Nahuaterique and maybe one of the last shapeshifters in El Salvador.

Credits:
Location: Honduras

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