The Cry of the Urutau
At night in the forests of South America, a long, mournful wail drifts down through the trees. The Guaraní say it is a girl who became a bird.
What was reported
In the forests of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, a slow, mournful, descending cry, like a person sobbing, can be heard on moonlit nights. It has long unsettled travellers, who couldn't see where it came from.
A Guaraní legend says it is the voice of a young woman who climbed a tree and wept for her lost love until she was turned into a bird, the urutau.
Explanations offered
The call belongs to the common potoo, a nocturnal bird whose grey-brown feathers make it look exactly like a broken branch during the day. It sits motionless and is almost impossible to spot, which is why the voice seemed to come from nowhere.
- When
- Told for generations
- Where
- Forests of Paraguay
- Witnesses
- Guaraní tradition and forest travellers
- Status
- Explained
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.