Case file · Haunting
The Devil's Sentry Box, San Juan
A lonely stone sentry box on the sea wall below Castillo San Cristóbal is said to be where a Spanish soldier vanished from his post one night, leaving only his rifle and uniform.
1924 CE · 18.47, -66.11 · status: legend
The account
In the usual version the missing soldier, Sánchez, had a lover in the town and simply deserted, but his comrades blamed the Devil, and night guards refused the post. The legend was put into print among Puerto Rico's traditional legends in the 1920s; the year shown is that early printed attestation.
The sceptical view
There is no record of a soldier vanishing; the tale fits a common pattern of explaining desertion.