THE 20 MOST POPULAR VENEZUELAN LEGENDS AND MYTHS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Venezuelan legends and myths are a set of stories and fantastic events, high supernatural and spiritual component. These stories have been passed down from generation to generation, so they are susceptible to change in content and form.

There are variants of the same stories that are adapted to children's language; Furthermore, their characters are often historical of the place or area where they originate. Unlike myth, which deals with deities, legends are based on human characters.

In places in Venezuela like El Llano and Los Andes, legends referring to characters dating from the colonial era are very common. Specifically set at the time when lighting was scarce.

Most of them originate from some tragic event, which ends in a public condemnation or directly in a divine intervention. All carry with them a warning message that warns the listener from refraining from certain acts.

As a component of folklore, the legend integrates a large part of the lyrics of many songs, one of the best known being "Florentino y El Diablo" where the story is told of a copier who was challenged by the devil himself to sing.

His character, lost, continues his song until dawn, at which time the devil cannot continue and is defeated. This story is immortalized in the work “Cantaclaro” by Rómulo Gallegos, and in the musical work by Alberto Arvelo Torrealba, which has also been adapted for film and television.

The best known Venezuelan legends

1- La sayona

Source: Neotours / Public domain

Without a doubt it is the most popular legend in Venezuela. It tells the story of Melisa, a beautiful woman married to a good man who was unable to harm her. They both had a 9-month-old baby.

Melisa used to bathe in the river, discovered by a malicious individual who spied on her very often.

One day Melisa realized that she was being spied on, and asked the individual why she was doing it. The latter, to excuse himself, lied to her saying that he wanted to warn her that her husband was unfaithful to her own mother. Melisa believed him and ran home, and dying of jealousy, set fire to the house with her husband and the baby inside.

Then he went to his mother's house to claim his infidelity, who told him that this was not true. She attacked her to death and before dying the other woman exclaimed: "I never lied to you and you committed the worst sin, for which I condemn you, sayona."

The word Sayona refers to the white dress or batola (saya) worn by women. The stories tell that he usually appears to womanizing men, in the form of a seductive woman, or a common animal.

By seducing them, asking for a cigarette, he changes his appearance to a hideous one with sharp teeth, and his victims die in horror or flee in terror.

2- The silbón

Source: Source: Neotours / Public domain

The silbón is one of the most popular legends of Venezuelan folklore, set in the plains. It has been the subject of many widely spread musical creations in the country. It originates from the story of a young Toñeco (spoiled) who insisted his father to hunt a deer, since he wanted to eat its entrails.

Thus, one day the father went hunting, but when it took too long, the young man went in search of him. Upon finding it, and realizing that it had not hunted anything, it killed and gutted it, taking its guts to the house.

He gave the guts to his mother and she put them to cook. As the hours passed and noticing that they did not soften, she became suspicious. When questioning her son, she confessed to the murder. Her mother cursed her, her brother whipped her and threw spice on her wounds.

Remembering and narrating their suffering is said to rid the listener of their appearance. This wandering spirit appears in the dark nights of May to the walkers who go to party in the plain with torn clothes and whistling some musical notes which.

By appearing, he beats up his victims and terrifies them, sometimes to death. One of the most popular versions is that of Juan Hilario, which can be counted as one more legend of folklore.

3- Juan Hilario

"Don't go to the party they told you, Juan Hilario." Thus begins the popular couplet that tells the story of this character who used to go to parties to woo women and drink until dawn.

Juan Hilario was heading to the nearby town one dark night, when he met a friend who warned him of the danger of the night due to the appearance of lightning and rain and who reminded him of the possible appearance of the «whistle».

But Juan Hilario made fun of his friend and left. Along the way he began to hear the famous whistle: "Compadre, go home, I'm going to the party, it won't scare me."

And suddenly he began to be beaten. To defend himself, he hit the air hard, and exhausted he fell to the ground and unconscious when his friends, hearing him, came and helped him.

This is how Juan Hilario described the ghostly individual who had attacked him, and when his friend warned him, the phrase remaining in the legend: "I told you Juan Hilario, these are not games…"

4- Maria Lionza

Source: pacop / Public domain

Legend has it that Yara, the daughter of a Cacique, was born with beautiful aqua green eyes. The shaman of the tribe predicted that she must be sacrificed to the great anaconda or else she would bring doom to the village.

Her father was unable to do so and hid her in a cave, guarded by guardians, from which she could not get out, much less look at herself reflected in the water.

One day a mysterious force put the guardians to sleep and the girl came out. She approached the lake and saw her reflection being delighted. The water god Anaconda came out and fell in love with the maiden, taking her for himself.

His father tried to separate them, but the anaconda got angry and caused a great flood that wiped out the village. Since then, she has become the protector of waters, nature and love.

With the arrival of the Spanish, Yara was converted to Catholicism under the name of María de la Onza del Prado de Talavera de Nivar, or María Lionza.

5- The crazy light caraballo

Source: Enmanuellep / Public domain

It is said that a woman from the time of the war of independence lost her two children, who “went after the man on horseback” in clear allusion to Simón Bolívar.

It was immortalized in literature by the poet Andrés Eloy Blanco. Crazed with loss, her soul wanders the wastelands in search of her lost children.

6- Doctor Knoche

Source: Pd-old / Public domain

His name was Gottfried August Knoche, of German origin, who investigated how to preserve corpses from decomposition.

He lived in La Guaira in 1840 and bought a farm in Galipán, on the Avila hill, where he built a farm called Buena Vista.

In this farm he continued his mummification experiments, performing it on his deceased relatives, dead unclaimed soldiers of the federal war, animals etc.

His fame spread throughout the area, and important personalities of the time came to him to carry out the process at the time of his death.

The hacienda thus became a mausoleum full of perfectly preserved mummies. Dr. Knoche's formula allowed this process without the need to remove the entrails from the corpses, just with an injection of a secret formula.

When he died, he left a dose for himself and another for his nurse. After this the hacienda was abandoned and looted and currently only plastic dolls replace the famous mummies.

7- The weeping woman

Source: Percy AC / Public domain

The legend is about a young woman who used to cry out in despair: "My son, my son." It is said that she attacks anyone who meets her.

Two versions are known about its origin. The first relates that it was a young woman, who had love affairs with a soldier, who abandoned her, leaving her pregnant. Desperate for her baby's cries, not knowing what to do, she killed him with her hands. Once this was done, he began to scream loudly, attracting the attention of relatives and neighbors.

When the relatives and neighbors saw the horror, they cursed her and she ran off, lost in the plain, turning into horror, stealing children alone, especially at Easter.

Another version relates that it was a young woman, who killed her children every time they were born.

She confessed her sins to a priest and he told her that the next time she gave birth, before killing her son, she should breastfeed him. But then this act created in her a deep regret and since then she has wandered the plain desperately searching for her children.

8- The mule woman

In this story, an old lady went around 1815 to a Caracas restaurant, where her daughter worked.

The daughter denied her food and threw her out of the place. The lady found an individual, who gave her a coin with the cross of Saint Andrew on the seal. The man told him to go back, pay with the coin and say "Keep the change so you can buy malojo"

The lady did so and immediately afterwards the daughter was transformed from the waist up into a mule. In front of everyone present, she started kicking and ran away. From that day on, the woman appears praying in the church of Las Mercedes, covering herself with a white cloak.

9- The crazy woman from Ejido

At the time of the war of independence, in 1812, there lived in the then Villa de Ejido, in the state of Mérida, a young woman named Marta who was deeply in love with a young man named Lorenzo, who had inherited from her father hacienda and many goods.

He wanted to go to Mérida with his mother and Marta, but she could not because her mother was ill. She insisted on Lorenzo not to travel since she did not want to be left alone. He said he had duties to fulfill.

On March 26, the great earthquake occurred and many buildings collapsed in Mérida. People asked God for mercy and terrified, the survivors gathered in the squares. Marta found out what happened and hurried to Merida.

Upon arrival, he found Lorenzo's mother with a lost, disconsolate gaze, over the ruins under which her son's body was found.

Her reaction was to be petrified at the horror of the loss of her lover. From that day on, every Holy Week she is seen walking the streets of Merida followed by a group of children.

10- The Chained of Michelena

It is the story of José, a young man in love and a womanizer, who had his girlfriend named María Eugenia, but at the same time he met other girls in town.

María Eugenia's father found out and fed up with the gossip that ran throughout the town, he chased the young man and killed him with his sticks.

Shortly after, he ordered the body to be thrown away without burying it. Later, at night, when passing by the place where he had committed his crime, he met a ghostly figure who told him that he would have to pay for what he did. Scared, at home, he fell unconscious, going mad and dying shortly after.

On the days close to the anniversary of José's death, his figure continues to appear dragging chains and wearing a black tunic through the streets of the town.

11- The soul alone

Source: Luis Fernández García / Public domain

In Venezuela the single soul is known as the spirit of a female combatant in the war of independence, who died in battle. She is a wandering soul benefactor but who terrifies those who have done wrong.

12- Juan Machete

Source: Source: Neotours / Public domain

It is the story of Juan Francisco Ortiz, nicknamed "Juan Machete" because he always carried a machete on his belt. Juan had a farm and one night he wanted to make a pact with the devil, asking him for many riches.

From that day on, their pastures became very fertile and their cows gave birth to two calves. One fine day a black male, very large with white hooves, appeared among his cattle and he thought it was an animal that had escaped from another ranch.

But Juan Machete, after getting rich by buying a lot of cattle and multiplying it, everything began to disappear.

Legend has it that Juan Machete also disappeared and that his treasures were buried in the savannah.

It is said that if one appears naked in the right place, and the soul of Juan Machete appears, one can trade with him a great treasure. However, many who have tried flee in terror when they see the anima spewing fire.

13- The priest's well

The priest's well, Vargas State. Source: Source: María Cañas / Public domain

Located in the Vargas state, it is a very deep tourist well. It is said that it owes its name to the fact that a priest from the region used to bathe in its waters, in the company of women.

One day alone, he was swallowed by the waters and his body was never found. Since then, his spirit appears on the surface asking for help.

14- The cart

It dates back to colonial times, during the Black Death, which devastated towns and cities and where the corpses were piled up in carts to take them to mass graves.

Many of these individuals were still alive and disoriented and emerged from the wandering graves not knowing what to do.

The phantom wagon was that chariot but lit on fire and piloted by the devil, who took away everyone who lived in sin. It is also said that seeing the carriage was a harbinger of calamities.

15- The fireball

It is a ball of fire that moves around like a wheel. When detailing it, you see a spectral figure similar to a skeleton.

Its origin is said to have been the soul of a bishop who committed sin, or of two mothers who mutually cursed each other; a woman who was a bad daughter or wandering souls.

In any case, it is said that if one prays, it comes closer until it burns, that it must be insulted to move away.

16- La Guaira's girlfriend

In the 1950s, when the Caracas La Guaira highway did not yet exist, a young woman named María José Cárdenas was very much in love with her boyfriend.

Dressed as a bride and ready to go to the altar, she went to take a taxi to take her to Caracas for the wedding. The taxi broke down and Maria decided to ask a traveler to help her.

Someone stopped and offered to take her, but being drunk, they had an accident on a curve and both died.

Since then, the drivers have said that at night she appears on the road asking for a ride. If you take her, when passing by the scene of the accident, she says: "Here I killed myself", disappearing.

Drunk drivers lose control and get into accidents. It is also said that if the driver is sober, he leaves some flowers where he was sitting.

On the other hand, if he is refused to take her, he appears later asking “Why don't you take me? ”, Producing in most cases serious accidents.

17- The dwarf of the cathedral

In the colonial city of Caracas, an individual was walking on the way to his girlfriend's house late at night.

Because of the cold and to calm the nerves of the solitude of that place, he was drinking rum. Suddenly he felt someone following him but it was a ragged dog before which he mocked his presence.

As he passed the cathedral, he spotted a very small dwarf sitting, dressed in colonial style. He greeted him and asked for the favor of lighting a cigarette.

In order not to be impolite, he agreed and remembered his grandparents' warning: "Don't light the dwarf's cigar." The dwarf grinned with sharp fangs and began to grow larger than the cathedral.

Terrified and paralyzed, he watched as that being told him from above. "Thanks for the fire, friend. Do you want to go to a place where there is real fire? "

18- The pitchfork

El horcón is a tragic story of love and jealousy, in which a young man who gets a job on a farm, meets and falls in love with the foreman's daughter, later marrying her and having a beautiful son.

However, suspecting the infidelity of his beloved, he says goodbye to her, making her believe that she has left to actually hide inside the hacienda.

Upon discovering it with another, the protagonist murders the couple and buries them in the vicinity of a nearby tree.

19- The Lost Ax

More than a hundred years ago, in the forests of Barinas, an axman went on Good Friday to cut wood for his own coffin.

God punished him by glaring at him the instant he raised his ax, turning him into a wandering banshee of the savannah, with the appearance of a bald man, bright eyes, chest covered with wool and hands ironed like a frog. In general, he always carries his ax high to attack anyone who hunts out of ambition.

Its presence is manifested especially in Lent, on silent nights with a strong breeze that moved the vegetation.

20- The cart of death

Unlike the rest of the legends, this one does not refer to any particular character or any spirit.

It is about the Caracas appearance of a cart that without horses or rider to guide it, tumbles in the streets, leaving dark moans along the way, carrying a lot of human remains.

Themes of interest

Legends of Peru.

Mexican legends.

Legends of Guatemala.

Colombian legends.

Argentine legends.

Ecuadorian legends.

References

1. Annex: Legends of Michelena. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
2. Venezuelan Horror Stories. Recovered from: rosasyespadas.wordpress.com.
3. The legend of the Sayona. Recovered from: halloween.com.es.
4. The Legend of Juan Hilario. Recovered from: entertainment.elpensante.com.
5. The legend of Dr Knoche and his family mausoleum. Recovered from: desdelaplaza.com.
6. The Legend of Juan Machete. Recovered from: banrepcultural.org.
7. La Llorona. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
8. Venezuelan legends that will leave you with goosebumps. Recovered from: Correodelorinoco.gob.ve.
9. Venezuelan Legends. Recovered from teresaysusteresadas.bligoo.com.
10. Maria Lionza. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
11. Pozo del Cura, a river full of mysteries. Recovered from: viajandoconsol.blogspot.com.
12. Rodríguez, A. (2008). The hidden face of Venezuela, the myths that still make us tremble. Recovered from: loquedeberiaser.blogspot.com.