Join us for 2 Terrifying Legends of the Condemned, spirits who are left among the living until they find another human to devour.
We once again journey into the Peruvian Andes, leaving behind the mysterious grave of the vampiress Sarah Ellen.
In Christianity as well as in Peruvian folklore, the souls of the dead are taken to Heaven to be with God. Yet there are dark folktales of Peru that tell of other spirits of the dead who still who walk among us, often victims of violent or tragic deaths.
They are Los Condenados: The Condemned.
They say the only way a Condemned is satisfied is by devouring, yes, literally eating someone else, often someone with whom they have a score to settle. This could be a friend or lover to whom it swore an unfulfilled oath, or a even a family member that grieved too much for their passing. There are others still who simply wander and wander, always hungry and never fulfilled, devouring unsuspecting travelers who stumble upon the places they haunt.
Warning: this episode contains graphic/disturbing descriptions or images. Read at your own risk.
The Legends
A Tale from Arequipa
A middle-aged couple lived in a typical Andean village, much like the one pictured above, somewhere in the mountains of the department of Arequipa. They had 3 children and worked the farm like many others in their village. One day, the father was invited to a cousin’s wedding in the capital city of Lima. He prepared his necessities and was soon on his way.
After a splendid time at the wedding, the man met with a tragic fate on his return journey to his village. He died suddenly and unexpectedly of heart failure.
His wife grieved terribly when they brought her the news. So terribly that she could not eat or sleep for days.
One day, as the sun began to dip behind the mountains, the silhouette of a man approached the widow. He called out to her and her face lit up! It was the voice of her husband, although the dim light made it difficult to see his face. Of course, they had told her he was dead, but she had never seen the body…
Her husband embraced her as night fell. Thinking he must be starving from the journey, she prepared him pudding. He tried to eat but it only fell through him onto his chest.
She realized then that her husband was one of the Condemned.
Terrified, she began to run for her life. The spirit of her husband pursued her relentlessly down the path.
As she ran, the woman came upon a group of fellow villagers returning to their homes from their fields. She begged them to hide her among their animals because a Condemned was pursuing her. As they did, the man came running into view.
“I can smell her there!!” he snarled, “I can smell her!!”
The group of villagers beat back the Condemned with their fists, clubs, and farm tools until he staggered backward. A flame shot out of the top of his head. The man, defeated, shouted to his wife:
“You grieved too much, for that I am condemned, you grieved for me too much..”
With those words, he ran off into the night.
The other villagers graciously offered to walk the widow back to her home after this traumatic event. As they arrived, she was just wondering what she was going to say to her children about all of this.
Then, her mouth dropped in horror; nailed to the walls of her home were the bones of her 3 children. The hungry ghost that was once her husband had devoured them.
A Tale from Ayacucho
A landowner, his wife, and his employee were traveling along high mountain roads to another town to sell some sheep. As the day ended they came upon a cave, which appeared to be the perfect place to rest for the night.
The landowner and his wife arranged themselves to sleep inside the cave. The employee, meanwhile, was ordered to stay outside with the sheep a short distance away. As night fell, the landowner drifted into a deep sleep after a long day of traveling. His wife slept soundly by his side.
Suddenly, in the middle of the night, the landowner’s employee woke him urgently crying that 2 of the sheep had gone missing. The landowner quickly hurried outside of the cave, running ahead to look, but when he turned – the employee had disappeared.
Confused, the landowner ran over to where he had left the employee with the animals and saw his employee sleeping alongside the tethered sheep. Even more puzzled now, the landowner awoke the employee and asked him if everything was okay.
The employee said yes, everything was fine, no animal had escaped. What’s more, the employee denied waking up the landowner just moments ago. The landowner was completely mystified and decided to return to the cave to get some sleep. But when he returned to the cave, his wife was gone! Only a few of her hairs remained on the ground where she had lain.
The landowner and his employee spent the whole next day searching for the landowner’s wife. They had no luck and when the sun began to go down they were beginning to get desperate. Finally, they came upon a ravine, almost hidden from view until you were right up close to it. They entered the ravine only to see the most frightening scene you can possibly imagine.
A hooded figure knelt there, eating the landlord’s wife as if it were a puma devouring a sheep. The landlord, after recovering from his shock, pulled out a revolver and prepared to shoot him. The figure pulled back the hood to reveal a terrible, blood stained face of a soul neither alive nor dead. The landlord knew it was a Condemned.
“If you shoot me, you will share my fate,” growled the Condemned.
In fear, the landlord lowered his weapon and ran away as fast as he could with his employee behind him. After they made their escape, they understood what had occurred. The Condemned had disguised itself as the employee to lure the landlord out of the cave and steal away with his wife. It needed to devour another in order to be liberated from its curse.
Such is the fate of those who are condemned.
The True Story?
I personally found this Peruvian legend to be the most terrifying that we have covered in the series so far. These really are dark and unforgiving stories. Perhaps they are so affecting because they are linked to real tragedy. Also, the idea of a ghost that wants to eat your flesh just because you mourned too much or happened across its path is just so dreadful.
I can’t begin to speculate on the origin but it is clear that many stories contain both Catholic and indigenous elements. The Condemned, according to legend, can be people who have not repented of their sins. Most often, they are people who have died a violent death and are now among us in a walking purgatory. The dark twist is that they must eat another human being to be set free and, presumably, to go to heaven (but not in all versions of the story).
Other versions of stories about the Condemned say that they are created when an oath is left unfulfilled. The only way these phantoms are ever appeased is by devouring the one who made the forgotten promise.
Many thanks to those who are following the series. If you enjoyed, please like, comment, and share on Facebook to let us know if you are dying for more Terrifying Legends of Peru.
Sources and Related Links:
La Leyenda del Condenado (Youtube)
5 leyendas del Condenado (Youtube)
leyendas de terror: Los Condenados (Youtube)
The Condemned Roam the High Mountains of Peru
El Condenado
© Michael Lee Dreckschmidt and Living in Peru, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Michael Lee Dreckschmidt and Living in Peru with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.