The Ciguapa
In the Dominican mountains, people say a wild woman with long hair lives in the forest, and her feet point backwards so no one can follow her.
What was reported
The Ciguapa is a creature of Dominican folklore: a small woman with dark or bluish skin, hair long enough to cover her body, and feet turned backwards. Her tracks seem to lead away from where she really went, so hunters who follow them end up lost.
She is said to come out on moonlit nights, to make no sound except a soft whimper, and to enchant men who see her. In some stories she is shy and harmless; in others, nobody who follows her comes back.
Explanations offered
Backward-footed forest spirits appear in folklore across Latin America, including the Curupira of Brazil. Writers have linked the Ciguapa to memories of the Taíno, the island's first people, and she has become a symbol of Dominican identity in modern fiction.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic
- Witnesses
- Dominican folklore
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.