Tulivieja

Tulivieja is a Bogeyman figure from the myths of Panama. She’s been known to steal misbehaving children out of their beds. One origin says there used to be a form of spirits that coexisted with humans peacefully until one female of these spirits became jealous of human women and created a mortal body for herself. She was very attractive and made men fall for her when she went into a town posing as a traveler. The human women became jealous of her, though they appreciated her quiet nature. She fell in love with a human man and became pregnant, but decided to drown the child immediately after its birth so it wouldn’t be discovered that it was half spirit, thus revealing her identity. She was immediately punished by God by being transformed into an ugly monster with talons, a hunting cat’s body, horse hooves, and a face covered in oozing sores. She was made immortal and cursed to wander the earth searching for the body of her lost child, cursed to search forever and never find it. During the full moon, she becomes a beautiful woman again and can be seen bathing in rivers. Otherwise, she can be sighted searching the river making sounds like squawking like a bird.

Citations:

Maberry, Jonathan. Vampire Universe: The Dark World of Supernatural Beings That Haunt Us, Hunt Us, and Hunger for Us. United States, Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2006.