#tunda

The Tunda is a myth of the Pacific coastal region of Colombia and Ecuador, and particularly in the Afro-Colombian community of the Chocó department, about a shapeshifting entity, resembling a human woman, that lures people into the forests and keeps them there.

Tunda from Colombian folklore.

La Tunda is described as a very ugly woman who smells horribly. Her clothes are rags and she has an appearance that makes her look dead. When she walks she sounds like she’s grunting and complaining. She has brown bulging eyes. She takes unbaptized children in the night and misbehaving children too. She also takes unfaithful people to the jungle to make them her lovers or companions.

She is capable of changing its shape to appear in the form of a loved one, as in the likeness of a child's mother, to lure its victims into the forest and feed them with shrimps (camarones peneídos) to keep them docile. This is called entundamiento and a person in this state is entundado.

Her shapeshifting abilities are said to be imperfect, as this doppelgänger of sorts would always have a wooden leg in the shape of a molinillo, or wooden kitchen utensil used to stir hot drinks such as chocolate or aguapanela. The monster, however, is very cunning when trying to hide this defect from its would-be victims. In other versions, it appears to male loggers or hunters working deep into the jungle as a beautiful woman that tries to lure a man away, so it can reveal its hideous nature and suck his blood or devour him as a wild animal.

La Tunda is a malevolent entity, sometimes said to be a spirit, in the mythology of Colombia and Ecuador. While La Tunda is most often said to appear as a female woman, it can change its shape. However, it can only do this imperfectly, and all of its forms will have a spoon-shaped wooden leg.

La Tunda is a sort of boogeyman figure, said to lure children into the woods with shrimp. It is also rumoured to appear to loggers as a beautiful woman, drawing them away from other people and then eating them.

Image source.

Monster master list.

Ojalá se intimide ante la más elocuente de las testarudas

y sea usted el que se dedique a la reconquista de las tundas.