Latin American Folklore: La Patasola

By Rafael Yockteng (http://leyenco.iespana.es/quindio.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

La Patasola

In Latin American folklore La Patasola, or one-foot,  is a predatory supernatural woman preying on those males who tend to live or work on the edge of civilization close to the wild such as hunters and forest workers.  La Patasola has only one foot or leg and appears to her victims as a beautiful woman often taking on the likeness of a victim’s loved one.  She will choose a victim and try and separate him from his companions and enticing him further and further into the jungle.  Once she has led him to a remote place she will change into a terrifying, one legged vampire-like creature that lusts after the blood and flesh of humans.   She will suck the blood from her victims until they are dry and then eat their raw flesh.

La Patasola haunts the remote mountains and dense untamed forests and other thickly wooded places with lush verdant vegetation.   She is seen as a guardian of the wild animals and the jungle and the enemy of those who kill animals or destroy the jungle environment that she lives in.

She mostly strikes at night tending to lurk on the fringe of semi-civilized places looking for male victims such as loggers, miners, hunters, shepherds and herders who tend to spend a lot of time around the edges of the wild places.  She will often disrupt their activities if they are interfering with her territory by blocking paths and shortcuts through the jungle and disrupt hunting dogs making them lose the scent trail.

La Patasola is found in different regions many South American countries and is known by different names with different attributes in different places.   A similar creature is found in the Colombian Pacific Coast region called La Tunda

A Shapeshifter

La Patasola is so named because she has only one leg which has an hoof for a foot.  Despite these apparent disadvantages she can move very swiftly around the jungle and wilderness.  She is said to only have one breast, a large hooked nose, bulbous eyes, thick lips and sharp teeth with elongated canines which she uses to puncture the skin of her victims and suck their blood.  Her head is a mass of long, wild, matted hair.  La Patasola is a shapeshifter who can change her body into different forms such as a loved one of an intended victim, or a huge black dog or cow.

It is said that when she is happy she will climb to the top of a tree or mountain and sing the following song,

“I’m more than the siren ,

I live alone in the world

and no one can resist me

because I am the Patasola.

On the road, at home,

on the mountain and the river,

in the air and in the clouds

all that exists is mine.” (1)

The Origin of La Patasola

There are many different stories that tell how La Patasola originated.  In most cases she has been a woman of bad character displaying lecherous or lewd behaviour.  Some versions say she murdered her own son and was punished by being mutilated and banished to the jungle.  Another version says that she was evil and cruel to men and women.   She was punished by having her leg chopped off with an axe which was then burnt in front of her as she died,  Now she haunts the jungles, mountains and wild places on the edge of civilization.   Another account tells that she had an affair with her husband’s employer and when he found out he murdered her and his boss and although she died her soul now dwells in a one legged body.

Variations of La Patasola

There are similar entities to La Patasola found in many parts of Latin and South America. For example there is the Sayona in Venezuela, though they are more common in Columbia which tells of a vampiric female called La Tunda that is a shapeshifter with a wooden leg.  However what ever shape she assumes will also have a wooden leg which she carefully conceals from intended victims.

A Warning!

Gruesome entities such as La Patasola tend to serve as warning or morality tale in Latin American folklore.   Often, they reinforce the accepted roles of gender and sexual and moral behaviour in society especially for the lower classes.  It is believed that such legends and folktales help reinforce the family values especially the traditional nuclear families with a dominant male at their head.  Although La Patasola is used to warn against the sexual and moral behaviour in females it is the men who are her victims and also must moderate their behaviour.  Secret liaisons in the woods with females can bring a risk of horrific consequences.

© 16/08/2017 zteve t evans

References, Attributions and Further Reading

Copyright August 16th, 2017 zteve t evans

• Patasola – Wikipedia
• 1) López, Javier Ocampo (2006). Mitos, Leyendas Y Relatos Colombianos. Colombia: Plaza & Janes Editores. ISBN 9789581403714.
• Hellman, Roxanne; Derek Hall (2012). Vampire Legends and Myths. New York: Rosen Group. pp. 24–25. ISBN 9781448859863.
• Sloan, Kathryn A. (2008). Runaway Daughters: Seduction, Elopement, and Honor in Nineteenth-Century Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. p. 80. ISBN 9780826344779.
• Sloan, Kathryn (2008). Runaway Daughters: Seduction, Elopement, and Honor in Nineteenth-Century Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. p. 80. ISBN 9780826344779.
• Image By Rafael Yockteng (http://leyenco.iespana.es/quindio.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons