Haunted Cuba

HAUNTED CUBA
Paul Dale Roberts, HPI’s Esoteric Detective
Halo Paranormal Investigations
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Email: [email protected]
Sacramento Paranormal Haunted Hotline: 916 203 7503

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Some of the information provided in Haunted Cuba came from my close friend Cab, who was raised in Cuba and my aunt Angel Causing who lived in Cuba for 10 years. Cuba has many ghost sightings, UFO sightings and even USO (Unidentified Submerged Objects). In this article, I will look at the Cuban Chupacabra which is very similar to the Puerto Rican Chupacabra. I will also look at El Silbon, the whistling spirit, La Mala Hora (dark spirit that brings misfortune) and the mysterious disappearances at the San Juan Watch Tower. Let’s start off with the San Juan Watch Tower.

SAN JUAN WATCH TOWER
The San Juan Watch Tower in Cuba has a particularly eerie story associated with it. Some people say the story is very real, while others treat it as local folkloric tale rather than a historically verified supernatural event. I will let you be the judge. The San Juan Watch Tower legend places the tower at approximately 20°09′06″N, 76°53′20″W, in the San Juan area of eastern Cuba. According to the account, something extraordinary happened there in 1860. The legend says that six soldiers disappeared while on duty at the watch tower. Before disappearing, the soldiers reportedly fired several shots. There was apparently no obvious explanation for where they went. According to my friend Cab, locals claim that two USOs came out of the water and that is when all hell broke loose. An officer named Manolo Herez of Manzanillo was sent to investigate. Rather than simply inspecting the tower, Herez and several sergeants established a watch nearby, with another soldier stationed inside the tower. For the first six nights, nothing unusual happened. Then came the seventh night. A presence appeared, a large dark presence. Cab said that the locals described a presence that was similar to the Dark Watchers of Santa Lucia Mountains. The dark figure followed the soldier back into the tower. Then something even stranger occurred. A brilliant light suddenly illuminated the tower. The men watching from outside were able to see the soldier inside. The light came from a UFO according to a local. When the light went out, they discovered that the soldier had vanished. The story emphasizes an especially disturbing detail. The tower supposedly had only one entrance, while its window was too narrow for a person to escape through. Cab says what makes this story so creepy is:

Six soldiers allegedly vanish without explanation.
Gunshots are heard.
Investigators establish surveillance.
Nothing happens for six nights.
A dark, unexplained form appears.
The form seems to follow the sentry.
A powerful mysterious light appears inside the tower.
A possible UFO is seen near the tower.
The witnesses see the soldier inside.
A sudden explosion or bang occurs.
The light disappears.
The soldier is gone.
There supposedly isn’t an obvious physical escape route.

CHUPACABRA
After the Chupacabra became internationally famous in Puerto Rico in 1995, reports of strange animal attacks began appearing elsewhere in the Caribbean and Latin America, including Cuba. Spanish-language references to the phenomenon list Cuba among countries where alleged Chupacabra sightings or livestock attacks have been reported.

The Cuban reports generally follow the familiar pattern:

Farm animals or domestic animals are reportedly found dead under unusual circumstances.
Witnesses sometimes claim the animals have puncture wounds around the neck or body.
Some accounts say there is little obvious evidence that the carcass was eaten.
The supposed predator is sometimes described as a strange, hairless or sparsely haired creature, occasionally walking on two legs.
Other reports describe something more like a large dog or canine.

The Cuban Chupacabra is similar to the Puerto Rican Chupacabra. The creature is described as looking Reptilian, scaly skin, large red eyes, small wings on its back and dorsal plates going up and down its back. This Chupacabra is different from the Texas Chupacabra which is most likely a coyote with mange. There were reports of people seeing a Chupacabra and then later see a UFO, or the other way around. People in Cuba will see a UFO in the sky and then seen a Chupacabra. A few Cryptozoologists believe that Chupacabra’s may have an extraterrestrial origin.

EL SILBON
My aunt Angel Causing says that the locals truly believe in El Silbon. According to the most common version, El Silbón was a cruel, spoiled young man who became enraged when his father returned from hunting without the deer he wanted for dinner. In a fit of violence, he killed his father and removed his entrails. His grandfather then cursed him to wander the forests forever carrying a sack filled with his father’s bones, while supernatural dogs pursue him. One of the supernatural dogs that chases El Silbon looks like the 3-headed dog named Cerberus. His most distinctive feature is his eerie whistle, traditionally described as following the musical notes do–re–mi–fa–sol–la–si. The strangest part of the legend is that the sound supposedly deceives the listener. When the whistle sounds close, El Silbón is actually far away. If the whistle sounds far away, El Silbón is supposedly very close and ready to attack. He is generally portrayed as an extremely tall, thin, ghostly man wearing a large hat and carrying the sack of bones.

LA MALA HORA
La Mala Hora (“the Bad Hour”) is a frightening piece of Latin American folklore, and versions of the story are also told in Cuba. In Cuban folklore, La Mala Hora is described as a malevolent supernatural presence associated with the nighttime, particularly lonely or deserted places. Some modern Cuban accounts describe it as a shadowy apparition or spirit that appears during the darkest hours and is regarded as an omen of misfortune or even death. My aunt Angel Causing knew a woman that encountered the La Mala Hora. Two weeks later her friend’s mother died and her beloved dog died. Angel’s friend was devastated from this family tragedy.

CUBAN CIGUAPA
Interestingly, Ciguapa-like beings actually appear in Cuban folklore under the name Siguapa or Ciguapa. Folklorist Samuel Feijóo’s Mitología Cubana describes the Cuban Siguapa as the female companion or wife of the Güije. One scholarly account describes her as a small, dark, hairy woman, sometimes with unusual feet whose heels point forward and toes backward.

THE GUIJE (FOREST LITTLE PEOPLE)
Traditional descriptions vary, but the Güije is commonly portrayed as a small humanlike creature, sometimes child-sized, with dark skin, shaggy hair, exaggerated eyes and sometimes frightening teeth. Some accounts make him mischievous and playful; others portray him as dangerous. My aunt Angel Causing believes that the Guije are actually the Hawaiian Menehune that somehow came to Cuba. Some locals believe that the Guije are extraterrestrials that were left stranded on Earth and settled in the forests of Cuba.