El Coco
For centuries, Spanish and Portuguese children have been sung to sleep with a warning: go to sleep, or the Coco will come.
What was reported
El Coco, or Coca, is the bogeyman of Spain and Portugal. Nobody agrees on what he looks like: a shapeless shadow, a hairy creature, a ghost, a dragon. What matters is that he comes for children who misbehave or won't go to sleep, and hides on the roof or under the bed.
A lullaby known across the Spanish-speaking world goes: 'Sleep, child, sleep now, or the Coco will come and eat you.' The figure travelled with sailors and settlers to Latin America, where he is still known.
Explanations offered
The word coco once meant a skull or a head, and probably gave its name to the coconut: Portuguese sailors thought the nut, with its three dark spots, looked like a grinning face. The Coco is a warning tale, not a sighting.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- As told across Spain and Portugal
- Witnesses
- Spanish and Portuguese 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.
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