El Mohan

A reader contacted me several years ago. He had just finished my book Water Monsters South of the Border. The book inspired him to share a story with me about "El Mohan"—a creature of Columbian folklore. 

His story reminded me a lot of those great campfire tales and ghost stories so often recounted among friends. I thought I would share it with you, but first, here is a little background on El Mohan:

Although his description does vary from place to place, he is usually a huge creature, covered in hair with long, claw-like nails. He sometimes has red eyes and gold teeth and is fond of mischief. Fisherman say el mohán  capsizes boats and steals bait and hooks. Washerwomen claim he bewitches girls with music and tricks. He is also said to guard ancient treasures in his underground palace and his appearance heralds the arrival of floods, earthquakes and plagues. Click Here for full article from Columbia.co

This is the El Mohan story sent by the reader:

I moved to Colombia 3 years ago and married a lovely Colombian lady. We have a cattle farm close to Cerro del Pacandé. Many years ago, a fisherman was casting his net in the Magdalena River not far from here while his two young daughters played on the bank. Suddenly El Mohan rose from the water and tried to take the fisherman’s net. A struggle ensued and the fisherman told his daughters to run away. Eventually el mohan gave up and returned to the river and it was then that the fisherman noticed he had lost a gold tooth in the fight. Many years later after the fisherman had passed away and his daughters were adults, they were by the river doing their washing when el mohan appeared and tried to entice them into the river. When they refused el mohan got very angry and threw something at them before returning to the depths of the river. When the sisters looked to see what he had thrown at them they were stunned to see it was their fathers gold tooth! This was told to me by one of the sisters and I believe her!

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