Scary Studies

El Cucuy.

The legend and story of El Cucuy has been very famous, especially in Hispanic households. Parents usually use this story to scare children.

According to a“Scary Studies” article by “Benjamin Roussey, “El Cucuy originates from European Spanish-speaking countries, but founded in Mexico. Some people call El Cucuy “Coco” which could stand for coconut but also in certain uses stands for “skull” or “head.” Its skin is brown like the shell of coconut & ample hair.” The earliest knowledge of El Cucuy is from the 17th century.

The myth of El Cucuy started in Mexico but some of the stories also come from  Venezuela, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, El Salvador, etc. El Cucuy is known for capturing (taking) and devouring (eating) children. Euronews states, “El Coco, like Baba Yaga, has quite the taste for children. Specifically, misbehaving children.”

As stated by Dartmouth University, “El Cucuy’ is essentially the Latin equivalent of a bogeyman. He is of short stature, hairy, and evil, and supposedly attacks children that are disobeying their elders. A child must go to bed on time, mustn’t steal, and mustn’t horse around or the Cucuy will come and grab them. Cucuy does not visit obedient children who listen to their parents.”  This means that El Cucuy will only take disobedient children, and kids will have to respect their elders so they would not get taken away from El Cucuy.

El Cucuy is said to attack and take kids in their sleep because they are being disrespectful and aren’t respecting their elders. In my opinion I think that in order to not get taken away by El Cucuy all you have to do is start respecting your elders and respect people with kindness. 

A lot of people are also scared of El Cucuy because he is a tall, grungy animal-like creature. El Cucuy is furry, tall, and has rough hair. He wears a cape and has a hat that makes him look mysterious. Scary Studies also states that, “Among the other distinctive physical characteristics, El Cucuy is said to have large bat-like ears, red eyes that glow in the dark, and a set of large, razor-sharp teeth that can remind you of the barracuda fish.”

In conclusion, El Cucuy haunts bad and misbehaving kids