La Siguanaba

La Siguanaba, also Sihuanaba, Ciguanaba, la Sucia or la Cegua, is a night apparition of Central American folklore: a woman who lures or frightens men.

The Real Academia Española's dictionary lists ciguanaba as a word from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua for a ghost in a woman's form that appears to men at night to frighten them. Wikipedia, under the spelling Sihuanaba, says it comes from the folklore of Central America, and that related versions exist in parts of Mexico. It says the spirit takes the shape of a beautiful woman with long hair, seen from a distance, and draws men walking alone into lonely or dangerous places before showing its real face, often a bare skull or a horse's head.

In Honduras, Jorge Montenegro wrote in La Prensa that the Ciguanaba appears nearly naked on riverbanks and is known across the country as la Sucia. He says she has driven thousands of men out of their minds over the years, lovers above all. Some people claim they saw her swinging on vines deep in the mountains or running through a milpa. In northern towns such as Omoa, Trujillo, La Ceiba and Puerto Lempira, he says, she is called la Cegua.

In Guatemala, Prensa Libre in 2005 quoted Lara, who reads La Siguanaba as a warning to men to stay faithful at home. The paper added the advice of many grandmothers: one should neither believe nor stop believing.