Case file · Folklore / legend
La Siguanaba and El Cipitío, El Salvador
Salvadoran writer Miguel Ángel Espino's 'Mitología de Cuscatlán' (1919), published in Santa Ana, set down the Siguanaba, a woman seen from behind at rivers at night who turns to show a horse's or skull's face to unfaithful men, and her son Cipitío.
1919 CE · 13.99, -89.56 · status: legend
The account
The figure goes by many names: Siguanaba in Guatemala, La Sucia in Honduras, La Cegua in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Xtabay among the Yucatec Maya. Salvadoran versions say the god Tlaloc cursed a beautiful woman named Sihuehuet for her infidelity and her neglect of her son.