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A 1989 rumour in Sorocaba that a Xuxa doll, modelled on the children's television presenter, was possessed and had attacked someone. A crowd gathered at the cathedral, and the parish priest told the press it was a rumour.

The soucouyant is a figure of Caribbean folklore, an old woman who sheds her skin at night and flies as a ball of fire to drink a victim's blood. Belief in her survives to some degree from Trinidad to Guyana.