Cherruve the Mapuche fire—comet creature

The "lights" on Lake Nahuel Huapi (posted yesterday) reminded me of a Patagonian entity that I mentioned in the Spanish version of my book's second edition (I added it after writing and publishing the English version of the 2^nd Edition), the Cherruve.

Cherruve is a mythical entitiy of the Mapuche people. It has been described with different features, with sharp contrasts and in different ways depending on the chronicler who depicts it. For some, it was a wild man, like the chilludo (a hairy hominin). But, it had many representations.

Cherruve as a dragon

Lenz, in his Araucanian Studies, also refers to the Cherruve, which appears in various Mapuche folktales adopting different forms. In one case, it is a “sea monster that comes back to life when thrown into the water”; in another, it is a dragon with seven heads.

Lenz believes that the natives fully assimilated tales from “European folk literature” and it seemed to him “beyond doubt that the Cherruve […] is none other than the famous dragon of Indo-Germanic mythology, [sic] that devastates the land until it is vanquished by the hero with supernatural strength whose name and lineage, be it Heracles, Beowulf, Siegfried or Huenchumir, are of little consequence.” and that “the famous volcano monster, the Cherruve: so often was it nothing more than the European giant [sic], dragon or sorcerer in disguise.”

The Cherruv or Cherrufe, according to Guevara, could resemble a dragon that lived near volcanoes. It is also a destructive being: “it almost exterminated [sic], they say, those bread men,” the Kofkeches dwarf people of the Arauco region. However, it also has human traits: a house, a wife, a daughter, a servant, and a flock of sheep. It is a multifaceted being.

As a Fireball - Meteor - Comet

Meteor fireball

In its most primitive aspect, it was a deity associated with comets or meteorites. Father Félix de Augusta mentions it in his dictionary as “cheurfe, cheurfue, cheurpue, a fiery phenomenon known as a ‘fireball’.”

According to Lenz, in its origin, “this monster corresponds to the will-o'-the-wisp. ” The English name comes from "Will with a wisp", where Will is the name of a folk-figure who was a joker, and wisp is a torch or a bundle of straw. Its Spanish name Fuego fatuo" name originated from the Latin words ignis fatuus (“foolish flame”). This is a natural phenomenon in which small, pale flames are produced by the combustion of gases, such as methane, in contact with oxygen in the air. These gases are produced by the decomposition of certain organic materials, particularly in cemeteries and marshy areas. They are seen more clearly at night, and superstition associates them with goblins or other creatures.

Lenz mentions that Febrés and Valdivia related the cherruve to “the comet and the fiery exhalations seen at night.” Havestadt, for his part, defines it as “Cheurvoe: comet.” Possibly alluding to St. Elmo's fire, a natural phenomenon which can take place during thunder storms or volcanic eruptions, when a strong electric charge excites the electrons in the atmosphere close to the tips of branches, masts on vessels or high spots, creating plasma that shines with a pale luminosity.

Finally, Lenz suggests that “it is evidently a personification of the power of fire, like the Pillan; probably lightning, the fire of volcanoes reflected in the clouds.” In the tales he compiled, he appears with a telluric face: he breathes fire from his mouth, causes earthquakes when he sits on the rocks, and his house is on the summit of a volcano.

It could be linked to the mysterious earthquake lights spotted in the Andes in Patagonia, a tellurian, geologic phenomenon, or to lightning balls.

Before continuing with my series on Denisovans, Neanderthals, and the introgressed MUC19 gene, I will add one more post about a strange ball of light photographed by the University of Magallanes last year, close to Punta Arenas, Chile, close to the ground, which tripped one of their remote, movement-activated trail cameras, which may represent a phenomenon that originated the Cherruve myth.

Sources

Augusta F. (1916). Diccionario Araucano - Español y Español - Araucano. Santiago. Impr. Universitaria. p. 21.
Guevara T. (1925). Historia de Chile: Chile prehispano. Santiago: Balcell. Chapter I.
Lenz R. (1895-97). Estudios Araucanos. Santiago, pp. 222, 235, 256, 271, 277, 326.
Havestadt B. (1883). Chilidúgu sive Tractatus linguae chilensis.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall © 

The Chilludo - A Patagonian Yeti

Lon Chaney as the werewolf. Would The Chilludo look like him?

The Chilludo is another Patagonian hominid, which I mentioned briefly in a post (Patagonian Bigfoot?). Today’s entry will deal with this strangely named being.

Origin of the name

Though the word “chilludo” may seem to derive from the Spanish verb “chillar” which means to scream, to yell, to screech, to squeal or to squeak, it actually comes from a local Argentine word: “Chilludo: Said of people who have long straight and bristly hair or the body covered with this type of hair”.

The word is applied to sheep and goats that have long straight wool (Lincoln variety sheep are “chilludos” while Merino sheep are not).

Sightings

The only “old” source that I can find referring to it is in Gregorio Alvarez (1889-1986), who was Patagonia’s first native born to graduate as a Doctor in medicine in 1919. His book El Tronco de Oro compiles his anecdotes and experience during his years as a country doctor who rode about on horseback taking care of the ill children in the Andean region of Neuquén province.

Trivia: a dinosaur discovered in that region in 1991 bears the name Alvarezsaurus.

So, getting back to the Chilludo. Alvarez recorded it in the 1950s:

”The Chilludo” is the name of a giant that appeared for the first time at Colo Michi Co, a rugged place where the stones engraved by the ancient Pehunches can be found, and whose meaning is still a mystery. According to don Julio Della Cha, the first report of the apparition of The Chilludo was around 1950. A youth, upon seing it, lost his mind.
[...]
He is described like “a big man” covered with long hair (chillas), that runs and jumps about the mountain slopes and gullies; a kind of yeti or snowman like those seen in the Himalayas

He adds that in that same place, Colo Michi Co, a Hungarian miner named Bela Beico also went mad (Patagonian Cabin Fever?)

According to another source, this man, Della Cha, owned a ranch in the area, at Cancha Huinganco, close by, so the man existed.

The stones mentioned by Alvarez, engraved by the native Pehuenche Indians, can be seen online at the following site:
Colo Michi Co rock art, they date back to about 500 AD.

Sources

Gregorio Alvarez. (1981) El tronco de oro: folklore del Neuquén. pp. 116.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2012 by Austin Whittall © 

Patagonian Bigfoot?

 

I have been asked if there is a "Bigfoot" in Patagonia.

The correct answer is: no. Bigfoot is a North American creature. But, Patagonia does have its share of strange beings (dwarfs, monsters, the gigantic "Patagons") and these include "wild men" or hominids.

In today's post we will look into the Patagonian "Bigfoot".

The Fuegian Yagans feared several man-like "ogres" that lived in the forests: the Selk'nam's one was Hashi, very similar to the Yagan's "Hannush", also known as "wild men".

Reverend Thomas Bridges described Hannush as:

a sort of demented or wild man of the forests […] similar to man in shape, living alone or in groups, but without wife or children; they were always stalking, trying to come upon men, women or children to kill them.[1][2]

A very credible witness mentions them; English naturalist Charles Darwin (of evolutionary fame) who in 1833 visited Tierra del Fuego aboard Captain Robert FitzRoy’s H.M.S. “Beagle”. Darwin wrote:

What the "bad wild men" were, has always appeared to me most mysterious […] I should have thought that they were thieves who had been driven from their tribes; but other obscure speeches made me doubt this; I have sometimes imagined that the most probable explanation was that they were insane.[3]

FitzRoy also wrote about the “wild men”, pointing out their “black” color: “A great black man is supposed to be always wandering about the woods and mountains […] who cannot be escaped”.[4]

He also reported that among the Chono his pilot Mr. William Low recorded that: “[They] believe in an evil spirit, called Yaccy-ma, who they think is able to do all kinds of mischief, cause bad weather, famine, illness, &c.: he is supposed to be like an immense black man”.[4]

Could these evil dark (i.e. black) men be some kind of fur clad hominid?

“Mwono” the southern abominable snow man.

The Yagan’s neighbors, the Alakaluf, feared Mwono, a “snow man”. Theirs was a land of jagged fjords and islands where the glaciers reach the sea calving icebergs into treacherous waters. Mwono reigned supreme inhabiting “the summits of the mountains and glaciers” where his tracks could be found.[5]

Chilean ethnolinguist Oscar Aguilera believes that this “‘snow man’ is a fabulous and mythical animal that the [Alakaluf] say lives in the glaciers and whose footprints they say that they have seen”.[6] What these prints look like, unfortunately, no one knows.

Potentially dangerous, its reclusive nature made it quite harmless; Mwono was a reclusive and peaceful being that would only hurt those who dared to enter his territory.[7]

Further north, the Mapuche believed in several gigantic beings; one was the Trauko -do not mistake with Chiloé’s Trauco dwarf which we will describe in a future post- which dwelled along the banks of Collón Curá River -stone mask in Mapuche language- in Neuquén (40°00’ S, 70°49’ W). This was a monster, a “terrible giant, man eater” described as hairy and having “a very long beard and his hair that seemed like rush stalks were fire red color”.[8]

Their myths also included the Chilludo, Carcancho and Huitanalhue.

The Chilludo is a very large and hairy creature. A bearded “bogey man”. Ape-like and covered with a long sheep-like fleece, it may be frightening, but is said to be harmless. It can be found in the isolated mountain regions of northern Patagonia in Chile and in western Neuquén province, Argentina.[9]

The Carcancho. These hairy men led a solitary existence in the mountains and meadows feeding on tubers. They could measure up to 2 m (6 ft. 7 in.) tall in the mountains, but were dwarfish (1 m – 3.3 ft.) in the lowlands, where they lived burrowing underground. This may indicate that they were two different kinds of being or that perhaps they were not men but some kind of wild animal.

They walked in the snow and their large foot-prints were the only clues of their existence (exactly like the Mwono but 2.000 km further towards the north - 1,240 mi.).[10]

Huitranalhue is a kind of undead, a zombie, described as a big man, which like a vampire attacked people to drink their blood or eat their flesh.[11] Its name means “alien ghost” (huitran = stranger, alien; alhue = spirit, ghost).

This hermit carried a wooden sword (perhaps a club), and did not speak. It was easily concealed as it kept to the forest and was dressed in dark clothes (perhaps animal furs). Later the Mapuche would “Europeanize” it giving it the appearance of a well groomed Spaniard riding a horse.

I have already mentioned the "Tailed men" of Patagonia, which are another variety of "primitive men".

Wild men, what were they?

We could, as Darwin, believe that these “wild men” were just that, crazy wild men; it is also very plausible that the Hannush and the Hashi were simply “homeless” Yagans living alone in a very harsh environment or even displaced Selk’nam, Alakaluf or Haush who had wandered into their enemies’ territory and tried to remain concealed to avoid attack and if necessary for survival, murdered any potential threats.

Apes and Homo erectus

Another option, not as far-fetched as believing that wild men are enormous bipedal apes that evolved separately in America, involves our distant relative, Homo erectus, which became extinct worldwide when modern humans, Homo sapiens, moved out of Africa about 100,000 years ago.

Erectus moved out of Africa and spread into Asia about 1.2 million years ago. There are no traces of erectus in America, so we do not know if they reached this continent.

However, it may be possible (though this theory is unproven)that H. erectus, our distant ancestor, entered and settled in America, adapting to its particular environment and surviving there for 200,000 years in splendid isolation until the arrival of modern men. An event that would have sealed H. erectus fate as it did all over the world. Unable to compete with man they disappeared.

Club wielding, fur clad H. erectus, with perhaps a limited capability for vocalization could easily explain all of these mythical wild men (Chilludo, Carcancho, Huitranalhue, etc.), and account for the dark "black" wild men reported by FitzRoy and Darwin.

Bibliography.

[1] Bridges, T., (1893). La Tierra del Fuego y sus habitantes. Informe de Thomas Bridges publicado por el Instituto Geográfico Argentino. B. Aires: Instituto Geográfico Argentino. 06-08.1893.
[2] Bridges, T., (1998). Los indios del último confin. Sus escritos para la South American Missionary Society. Ushuaia: Zaguier & Urruty Publications. pp. 152.
[3] Darwin, C., (1987). The Voyage of the Beagle. Ware: Woodsworth Editions. pp. 205.
[4] FitzRoy, R., (1839). Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836…. London: Henry Colburn. v. ii. pp. 180+ and pp. 191.
[5] Emperaire, J., (1963). Los Nómades del Mar. Santiago: Ediciones de la Universidad de Chile. pp. 156.
[6] Aguilera F., Lenguas y culturas de Chile – Kawéscar. Online.
[7] Grebe, M., (1974). La música alacalufe: aculturación y cambio estilístico. Revista musical chilena. Nº 126-127 pp. 80-111.
[8] Koessler-Ilg, B., (2000). Op Cit. pp. 71.
[9] Eberhart, G., (2002). Misterious Creatures: A guide to Cryptozoology. S. Barbara: ABC Clio. pp. 82.
[10] Batic, L., (2005). Seres mitológicos argentinos. Diario 1. Patagonia. B. Aires: Ed. Albatros. pp. 119.



Copyright 2009 by Austin Whittall ©

Patagonian Monsters