Federico Stories

Emeterio Ruano was a very ambitious man (figure 1) who owned the Zapotitan Estate in the 1860s. His businesses were going all right, but he wanted more, and one day, he called the devil to make a deal. Figure 1.  Emeterio Ruano. Emeterio approached a mysterious rock inside a tiny lagoon and invoked the devil. The devil came around midnight and granted his wish, that Emeterio would become extremely wealthy. The rock would be the place where every couple of weeks, Emeterio would receive a new gift until the day the deal had to be paid. The rock was extremely unique and frightened anyone who came closer. It was extremely massive,  10 meters wide by 13 long. Also,  the figure of a snake and a shoe that belonged to  Emeterio  was engraved on the rock.  However, the most curious part was its top. It had several holes, two of them with a perfect circumference, where the gold and silver came out from hell. Over the years, the locals renamed the canton Silver Hil...

In 1995 on October 31 st , I was coming back from a long trip to Panama. My company had sent me to deliver several tons of coal and wood to the canal. It had been one of the most tiring trips in my life. I just wanted to reach my house and sleep in my bed. Around 1am, I reached Izalco and tried to go directly to my home, but suddenly, I saw some curious lights moving in the cemetery. I had never seen any lights in the cemetery at night. I decided to park next to the Ash River (Río Ceniza in Spanish) and entered the cemetery to check what was happening. I started to walk carelessly inside the cemetery when suddenly, a white dog approached me with a kind of stick, but as soon as he left it next to me. I noticed it was not a stick, but a massive bone. The dog fled as soon as it had released the bone next to me. I only crossed myself and kept walking inside the cemetery. I thought nothing important had happened. After a while, I started to hear some strange words from behind, "Kakasb...

On November 3 rd , 1658, there was a massive eruption in the San Salvador Volcano. The residents of the surroundings didn't expect it. The volcano had been inactive for centuries. Even the local Amerindians were shocked by such a catastrophic event. They thought this would be the end of their lives. What nobody knew is that at the top of the volcano, a battle was happening. Saint Jerome and the devil were fighting. The devil wanted to erase every Christian, living in the surroundings and Saint Jerome wanted to protect them. Saint Jerome had been chosen as their protector. After several hours, Saint Jerome stopped the devil, but at a great cost. The large majority of the most Christian town was gone for good. The lava covered the entire town. Saint Jerome from heaven guided the residents of the destroyed town to a new location. They called it, Nejapa which in Nawatl means, "River of Ashes." In this place, they started a new life, and they called this eruption, 'El Play...

In Guaymango, there is a mysterious cave (figure 1), which the locals believe is the Devil’s House, an entry to hell. Figure 1. Devil’s Cave. ¹ Many people assure you that if you walk around the San Martín Canton, you will find a narrow path that is surrounded by deep vegetation and cornfields. After a while, you will find two huge stones that guard the entrance to the cave. If you reach this place on the wrong day, a massive golden snake is going to devour you. Only a few had escaped and said it came from the deepest part of the cave. Some drunk people walked around the cave at midnight, and they walked in circles for hours because they lost their way. This is dangerous and they assure that even during their hangover, they still couldn’t know their path for hours. They are sure anyone, even sober people, can lose their path. People who regularly walk around the cave start listening to some creepy laughs like coming from hell. On one occasion a man tried to see what was happening and t...

The house is located on the 2 nd South Avenue and 13 th West Street next to Narcisa Castillo’s nursing home and is full of mysterious stories (figure 1). Many people believe it was once a school and a bank, but no one is sure about its past since it’s extremely old. Figure 1. The haunted house.   ¹ Recently, several people assured you that the city hall recently closed all its doors with bricks because some uncommon visitors were performing satanic rituals inside bringing evils from hell. Before the satanic arrived, several people had seen uncountable abnormal shadows rooming around the windows on some specific nights. Some crazy people even tried to spend a night inside until they started to hear crazy frightening screaming coming from nowhere! Everyone ran away for their lives. Everyone who has seen or heard strange things in this house does not recommend anyone to pass after 12 o ’ clock at night since it could be terrifying, and you don’t know who you will meet. Avoid it at...

The  2 nd  volume  of 31 of the most memorable legends and fairy tales from El Salvador is ready for all of YOU,  Timeless Stories of El Salvador V2, Epiphany ! It is available in eBook, paperback, and hardcover formats from: Amazon Barnes and Noble Lulu It is time you enjoy the best stories of the Salvadoran nights with your friends, family, and the world 🌎.  Share some small bites of the Thumb of the Americas with everyone you know. Be part of the change that you want to see. The 2 nd  volume includes: Sir Francis Drake, The First Pirate of The Pacific The Death of The Sorcerer of La Nahuaterique The Mulus The Almighty Tlaloc The Mysterious Woman of The Toad River Lake Ilopango The Bewitched Wagon The Dwarf The Bandari Witch The Weeping Woman The Virgin of Izalco The Headless Horseman Tenancin, Cipitio’s girlfriend Prince Atonal The Pirate Treasures of Meanguera Island The Black Horse Tangaloa “The Guardian of The Sea” The Cocoa Lake Coatepeque Snak...

At the end of the last century, the corncob of corn (figure 1) was not burned in El Salvador. Salvadorans believed that the corncob of corn was the skeleton of corn and the elders said that the devil stored corn and sorghum so that our Lord’s children would die. Figure 1. The Corncob. Our Lord was disappointed by the devil’s actions and tried to think of a strategy on how to fight him, but he couldn’t find a good one. After a couple of days, he spoke with a yellow ant and a mouse. He asked them if they had any idea how to handle it. They told him this was easy, they would make a tunnel under the earth and in this way, the yellow ant took out the sorghum and the mouse the corn. After this event, sorghum became the favorite grain of yellow for ants and corn for the mice. In this way, the Salvadoran ancestors discovered corn and sorghum. Inspired by Salvador Hernández’s version collected by Ennis Arely Arevalo Girón, Lissette Amelia Gutierrez Paz, and Karen Liseth Manc...

Long ago, a young man called Serapio used to live next to a borehole in Santa Elena, Honduras. He was the richest man there and possessed uncountable goods that graved everyone’s attention. Everyone said that one day he appeared with a table, the next one with a bed, later with a new mattress, and many more things every day. Who knew what the next thing on his list would be! Serapio was a very peculiar person. Every night he came to the town with his black mule (figure 1), and they did some unusual business with chosen people. Only a few people were aware of what these businesses were, but as soon as they concluded, they vanished, and, suddenly, they were in El Salvador. No one could understand how it was possible to move from Honduras to El Salvador in less than 5 minutes! Figure 1. The young and the black mule.   ¹ Over the years, everyone was more and more concerned; his wealth and goods were unmeasurable! Hence, a couple of them investigated his trick and they d...

The Cukinca cave (figure 1) is where place many paranormal events have happened over the last 200 years in El Salvador. The gossip said by dropping three water drops in a row, in a specific pool, they can hear a sound like “Cu-kin-ka.” And this is where the story begins! Figure 1. The Cukinca Cave One Indian man decided to test this cave and dropped the three water drops using a banana leaf. Suddenly, he noticed a pile of well-ordered stones at the bottom of the pool. He tried to disarm them for a while. He did all that he could and left the pool. However, when he turned around, the stones were piled up again, as if nothing had happened. And this phenomenon has been repeated over the years multiple times. Years later, a man decided to drill and dry the pool for unknown reasons. After he had dug a narrow ditch, he left the pool. After he had dug a narrow ditch and left the pool, he died the same night due to severe fever, and the pool was restored to its original state. Ov...

Many people assure you that between the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, uncountable mysterious beings like the elves danced at night, and the evil spirits enveloped the rock. The rock is nestled on top of the Sorcerer’s Hill. Therefore, no one dares to visit the hill at night, unless you come to summon wicked spirits, demons, or perform witchcraft. The rock has witnessed many demonic covenants. In the past, uncountable Victoria City ’ s inhabitants visited the hill to request the devil, health, money, women, anything! In exchange for their souls. In this way, they sought a better life, which they would pay for all eternity. As you can see, the rock is the bridge to the underworld whose answers are the devil himself. The people who made a deal with the rock practically exchanged their souls for mortal whips. Therefore, the locals knew who had made deals with the bewitched rock. Some people unexpectedly found fortunes in their yards, others discovered jars full of go...

Everything started in 1822 in the church of Panchimalco, which was already built and was headed by a priest named Francisco, a native of Valladolid, Spain. He was a member of the order of Saint Francis of Assisi. Two years later, Mr. Rosendo Renderos came from Valencia with his daughter Maria de la Paz. He had many servants and a lot of money to buy lands in El Salvador. The Valencian was a widower. However, he had Maria de la Paz, his daughter, a young graceful whose unusual beauty impressed the natives, who said that he had “the same eyes and the same face as the virgin of the church of Panchimalco.” The Renderos family lived for a while in the same convent, until Mr. Rosendo found what he was looking forward to not so far from San Salvador more or less 10 km. He bought some land surrounded by hills near the convent of Panchimalco. His intention was to plant orange trees with the Valencian seeds he had brought. The servants and patron set to work preparing the land to sow t...

It was the year 1510 when some of the first Spanish Conquistadors arrived at the lands of Cuzcatlan, which nowadays is known as El Salvador. They arrived with priests and nuns to convert all misbelievers from the region. In those lands, there were two ponds, one was full of odd animals, and the other was cursed (figure 1). Some of the Indians went there to worship a wicked god. He was capable of giving them all they wanted, including cocoa (their gold), power, women, sex, everything! Figure 1. Devil ’ s pond. ¹ However, there was an excessive price to pay. After a couple of days, months, or years, these people, who explored the pond and got their wishes, lost their souls, and some of them just disappeared and were never seen again. Only a couple of them were able to escape from the demon’s powers. These Indians shared that behind the pond, there is a waterfall where there is a secret entrance to the underworld (hell in the Christian world). Also, they showed everyone the ...

Many moons, when I was just a child and a “good” kid and attended my school in El Salvador, I never stopped doing the mandatory inspection among my classmates. As “good” kids, I had a daily hobby with my friends. We approached trembling with emotion to spy “the underground,” the devil’s treasure hidden location. Something that everybody wanted, but no one had got it! And now, it’s time to go deeper into this adventure. Let’s go! In 1752 in Izalco (figure 1), there was a large excavation near the cabildo of a church. In its background, we could see from a distance, the entrance to two masonry tunnels. Some people said they discovered them while they were taking soil to make clay, this was a gigantic work. Another curious person explored the tunnels “without being able to find the end,” and they thought it was the entry to the hell itself! Figure 1. Izalco Volcano. Around the town, there was a lot of gossip about this. Some midwives intervened, and after discussions and suspicio...

The elders of Apaneca always said that many years ago, when the streets were some dirt and other cobblestones, at midnight every year a horseman, who was riding all over El Salvador came to the city. That horseman dressed in black rode a horse of the same color (figure 1), which fired fire from his eyes and blew smoke from his jaws when it snorted. Figure 1. The Black Horse. ¹ This mysterious rider left in the direction of the coffee plants where the oligarchs used to live when  the Black Knight  arrived at their houses, he forced his horse to dance for several minutes. The only noise that you could hear was his hooves when they were hitting stones. The savage neighing that was emitted by the horse from time to time scared the neighborhood. All people were afraid when the Black Knight arrived because all legends say he returned to take a new soul to hell. However, people were more afraid of his horse. They said the horse rode alone in the city without him. I...

In the 1600s, a poor old woman from the Santa Ana Volcano surroundings was expelled from her lands by the Conquistadors. They stole all that she had and laughed about how poor she was and how she looked like a bandari, they said: “You are just a bandari, get out of here and come back to the jungle with your relatives! You cannot even speak Spanish!” While she was walking around the place for days without food or water, she was starving near the lake when she met an elegant white man wearing a black coat, who asked her: “Dear, why are you so lonely? Did anything happen to you?” She was very surprised and thought she was suffering from some hallucinations because she had been in that place for days and never seen anyone and he spoke her language too. She felt some shivers from the presence of that man. However, she answered that she was expelled from her house and lost everything in the hands of some evil Spaniards. The man was thoughtful and for a while gave her a piece of bread fro...

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 Un...

The Amate is a well-known tree in El Salvador. Its tree is unique from others in its physical structure and nature. Its trunk is very thick and badly formed because it has some protuberances, which make the trunk look like a badly made cable roll, its branches also are a little badly formed. If you look at them closely, they have a claw look. In short, a tree is out of the ordinary, besides not giving flowers or fruits. The Salvadorans say this tree has a dark secret about its deformed branches. At midnight, in the crown of it, a beautiful white flower is born, which falls to the ground. The man who manages to grab it will have everything he wants, love, money, health, immortality, anything!  But it is not so easy because the real test is to fight against the devil , who is the owner of this flower (figure 1). Figure 1. The devil and the Amate Flower. ¹ Everyone knows this is a fight to the death. If the devil wins, he takes the soul of that man. However, if the man ...

Long ago, an evil and greedy sorcerer lived in Izalco. He used to be a common Indian man who got tired of the extreme poverty he was born with and decided to reach a unique deal with the Black Knight. After their deal, he was renamed Evil Pedro and pretended to be a farmer daily, while scaring people at night. On one 15 th of May, after Saint Isidore the Laborer’s mass, the local priest organized the wagons’ annual blessing. The priest blessed every farmer in town, so, they could have an abundant year. When Pedro’s time came to get his blessing, the priest almost blessed his wagon, when suddenly, he stopped and said aloud: “This wagon was already blessed by the devil himself! What are you doing here?” Pedro pretended he did not know what he was talking about. After a while, the priest started to spray his holy water over Pedro. For him, this was like acid. The holy water started to destroy his skin, causing several wounds. The priest also sprayed his oxen. They just knelled ...