Case file · Folklore / legend
The Ewaipanoma, headless men of the Caura
In The Discovery of Guiana (1596) Raleigh reported a people near the Caura river with eyes in their shoulders and mouths in their chests, the Ewaipanoma.
1596 CE · 7.60, -64.90 · status: legend
The account
Raleigh did not see them but believed the reports, noting that every child in the region affirmed them. The image echoes the Blemmyes of classical and medieval geography.
The sceptical view
The tale probably mixed a classical European motif with misunderstood descriptions, perhaps of people with high shoulders or ornaments.