Tunda

La Tunda is, in the mythology of the Colombian South Pacific and Ecuadorian North Pacific region, especially among the Afro-descendant community, a monster woman with similarities to a vampire who attracts people to the forests and holds them captive there.

Origin of Legend
The Ecuadorian writer Adalberto Ortiz recreates the legend as part of the plot of his story La entundada (1971). The word "Tunda" in Latin America is used to refer to a beating, but this time, it has nothing to do with it. In reality it is the proper name of a dangerous spirit of the forests in the area of ​​the Colombian South Pacific and Ecuadorian North Pacific. His legend is especially widespread among the African-American community. The Tunda is one of the most evil beings that can exist in the jungle, this ugly and monstrous woman has one foot of a pinwheel or tingui-tingui (root of a tree) and the other like that of a baby. She takes disobedient children and those who did not receive baptism, she also lures late-night and unfaithful husbands and young men or women into the woods and holds them captive there. She deceives her victims by taking the form of a loved one, when she has them in her domain, she feeds them with prawns and crabs, to keep them alive in a kind of trance known as entundamiento. The "entundados" learn to love this woman and reject humans. In order to rescue them, it is necessary to form a family commission and a priest. All of them go into the forest playing drums (cununos and bass drums), burning gunpowder, firing shotguns, saying prayers and saying foul words so that she disappears.

Overview

 * This horrendous creature is dedicated to the consumption of human beings, since it has a ferocious appetite, it hunts many victims in the span of a few days. She keeps them tame with her bad smells, and they allow her to suck some blood to satisfy her vampiric urges.
 * Some say that the Tunda is black and that it smells bad, it is a being that experiences human feelings, falls in love, complains and hates, especially children. Despite her human feelings and actions, she has superhuman powers, since it is she who produces the conjugation of sun and rain, and when this happens the people of the Pacific say that: "the Tunda is giving birth".

The communities are very fearful of this vision, as it is called, and in order for them to return the children who were laid, they perform Afro rituals, meet with the godparents and carry the hype with happy songs, that makes the thrashing go away and leave its victims free.
 * Sometimes it takes the form of a loved one, such as resembling the mother of a child, which manages to attract the child to the forest, there it feeds them with prawns that it has developed (peeled shrimp) in order to keep its victims docile in a kind of trance state. This is called grounded and a person is said to be grounded.