COUNTRY FILE · CENTRAL AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN
Cryptids of Guatemala
What cryptids are in Guatemala? The best-known are La Llorona, El Cadejo and Sisimite.
Guatemala has 3 cryptids on file so far. Explore each one below, and check back as new reports come in.
Cryptids reported in Guatemala
SPECTRAL · 16th century
La Llorona
Canals of Xochimilco, Mexico City
A weeping ghost in white who wanders rivers and canals at night crying for the children she lost – Mexico’s most famous and most widely told legend.
FOLKLORE
DOGMAN & CANINE · Pre-colonial roots; recorded 19th century
El Cadejo
Night roads of Guatemala and El Salvador
A spectral dog with burning eyes that follows night travelers in Central America – the white one protects them, the black one leads them to ruin.
FOLKLORE HOMINID · Pre-colonialSisimite
Mountain forests of Honduras, Belize and the Yucatán
Central America’s hairy wild man of the mountain caves, said to walk on backward feet, fear water and dogs, and carry off people who stray into the forest.
FOLKLORESightings timeline
- 2011Carlos Loarca’s “La Línea” El Cadejo
The Guatemalan painter Carlos Loarca, who has painted the cadejo since the 1970s, made the creature the subject of this acrylic canvas.
- 2019Two new films La Llorona
Warner Bros. released the horror film The Curse of La Llorona, while Jayro Bustamante’s Guatemalan La Llorona premiered internationally and used the legend to address the country’s civil-war atrocities.
Latest from Guatemala
No recent cryptid headlines from Guatemala. See all the latest cryptid news.
Videos
ARCHIVE.ORG3:04
La Llorona
Pikes Peak Library DistrictA short 2010 storytelling segment from a Colorado public library’s community TV channel – a good example of how the legend is told in the US Southwest.
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The Legend of La Llorona
Monstrum | PBS StoriedFolklorist Emily Zarka explains the legend’s Nahua and colonial roots and its many regional versions.
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El cadejo (2006)
Audiovisuales UCAA short Salvadoran film from the Universidad Centroamericana retelling the legend.