El Silbón

The urban legend of El Silbón depicts him as a harbinger of death and a cannibal. He is portrayed as the worst kind of evil in most Hispanic cultures. His doomed fate is tied to murdering his father. This is not a Disney nor Brother’s Grim tale, though, so be warned.

Before we get into the many versions and legends of this tale, I would like to share some of the attributes that I rather enjoy. This urban legend encompasses good vs. evil. The possibility of something as innocent as a whistle can be a foretelling. Of course, to beware of a monster in human form. All of these things appeal to my grim nature. Also, moral lessons like murder are bad, drunkenness or adultery are punishable, and being aware of your surroundings. These are all lessons I grew up within the Hispanic Christian home of my abuelita. And these same teachings were very similar to my German mother’s warnings about things that go bump in the night. The only problem I have about all these things. Well, they fascinate me and piqued my curiosity as I hope they do yours.

I am also sure we could debate additional “lessons” that are contained in the various legends. This is something else I find fascinating is the adaptability of these stories. Have a kid that is staying out late. The Whistler becomes the point. Beware of drunkenness, and then the missing drunks become the point. Kids are not listening to their parents, then the mom’s curse of eternity as a tormented ghost is the point. These are the urban legends and folklore that can become lost to time. The original version already has a matter of speaking, but the adaptations give this tale a new life.

How Does This Spector Appear?

An image os of a statue from Venezuela El Silbón is depicted there.

This would be the only part all the versions seem to agree on basically, is how El Silbón appears and when. He roams the plains every year from May through June as he follows the rainy season. There are subtle changes each year a bit with weather patterns.

He is a spectator in a wide-brimmed straw hat and is very tall. Most say three meters in U.S. measurements that would be about nine feet. Other descriptions of his height are that he peers down from above the treetops. So far, everyone is following along right. He is super skinny and often depicted as an emaciated skeleton-ish. (I grew up with Hollywood, so my modern description would likely be more similar to a walking zombie.) His flesh is tattered, sometimes showing the bones beneath. El Silbón’s clothes are worn and threadbare, and his once-white jacket is covered in earth stains. His pants are also ragged and tattered just below his knees from all of the dog’s nips that have torn them away.

Since he is reported to be a spirit, I would think this is why the statue of him is blue for his flesh color, and it just seems so unnatural and dead.

The Whistling Man

El Silbón, The Whistler, an original sketch by hubby (aka Grimming Papa) after I shared parts of the tale with him.

“When the boy’s grandfather found out what’d happened, he punished him, like people used to punish. He cursed him to wander without rest for all eternity, and handed him over to the dogs, so they could finish him off.
The story doesn’t end there, the boy revived, and he continues to wander the Savana carring his father’s remains in a bag, burdering womanizing men, always whistling his infernal melody.
When you hear it close by, he’s far away, and when you hear it it is far away . . . It is close. To this day, it continues to happen in the Venezuelan plains.”
Fantasmoria from HBO

For all my interweb searches, I only found one post that says the first published story was “The Whistle Man” by Damaso Delgado. Mr. Delgado is a Venezuelan poet and writer from the state of Portuguesa. And it was recorded in 1967, and broadcast by radio throughout Venezuela. (I don’t know if this is a fact, as far as the story’s first public telling. If any of the Grim Folk find additional sources I can verify, I will be happy to update the post.)

His whistling tune is made up of seven notes that are on a musical scale. The first four notes ascend (A, B, C, D), and the following four notes descend in tone as E, F, G, A. His whistle goes from a thick tone to a higher pitch, then back down again.

Beware of Heavy Rainy Nights

It is said, that on nights with heavy rains, El Silbón leaves the roads and instead visits houses to shelter himself from the rain. He hides under porches or overhangs near doorways where he waits for the rain to stop. He will toss his bag to the ground and squat nearby. Then he will count the bones of his victims, one by one. If anyone in the house hears the bones clicking and clacking while El Silbón is counting, then nothing will happen. But if no one in the house hears the bones rattling, one of the house members will die. One version I read about this part states a family member will die in their sleep that night and never awake the next day.

Urban Legends of El Silbón

Venezuelan Legend of El Silbón

A young man was working on his father’s farm in Venezuela, and he found out his father (some versions say it was her father) had been calling his wife a whore (some versions say his father raped his wife). This enraged the young man so much that he killed his father. The young man’s grandfather was now angry at his grandson. So he asked other farmers to torture his grandson brutally. First, whipping his grandson’s back, they put salt and alcohol on the open wounds. All of this intensifies the young man’s pain. Then the men let two monstrous black dogs loose who bit the young man’s ankles. At the same time, the young man screamed in pain and fled into the jungle nearby. The young man’s body was never found after this attack.

Some people said that afterward, the young man’s spirit became a damned soul. He set out to kill mostly drunks or adulterers he found in his wanderings. He is known for attacking and scaring anyone who hears his terrifying whistle.

Colombian Legend of El Silbón

The Colombian version of El Silbón has much the same backstory as the Venezuelan version. Except drunkards are his primary victims. This legend is used to deter people from drinking too much. In this version, El Silbón stalks the Llano region in Colombia on rainy nights during May and June. Drunkards going home from the bars meet with El Silbón. The Whistler is more sympathetic than his counterparts when he meets with the drunks. El Silbón only attacks the drunks, with fewer killings or disappearances.

Alternate Uban Legend of El Silbón

In this version, El Silbón is a spoiled young farmboy who demands his father make him some venison for dinner. Upon finding out his father had never cooked any meat. El Silbón became angry and killed him brutally before ripping out his father’s entrails and then cooking them up. He then takes his father’s cooked entrails to his mother, and they eat them together. His mother finds out that the entrails are from her husband. She gets sick and angry and curses her son, forever having misfortune. El Silbón flees into the wilderness and returns as an evil spirit.

Send him running if you can

How To Ward Off This Creepy Legend?

Is there anything you can do if you encounter El Silbón? You can ward him off by mentioning what happened to him and sparking his memory. Just in case someone might need it, there are two other options. First, a barking dog nearby will scare him. The second way to ward off this legend is to have chili peppers. Both of these wards terrify El Silbón into running away.

For a Little Fun

Even more, this episode below from Monstrum can be very entertaining too.

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