La Taconuda (The ghost of the woman with high heels)

     The municipality of El Crucero in Managua is not only known for its favorable climate, its ceramics, and for being one of the most important coffee-producing areas in Nicaragua. It is also known for the stories that arise from the narrations and experiences of its inhabitants. In addition to its "ceguas" (mythical creatures), witches, and mysterious haunted houses, this area is famous because it harbors one of the most famous and feared apparitions of the place: La Taconuda.

    According to Ninoska Chacón (El Nuevo Diario), this evil spirit, who could well be the protagonist of any horror book, is a "bony, stinking, and chilling mockery of a woman who was said to have tragically died at the hands of a family member 150 years ago, and has since then terrorized coffee pickers." On the other hand, Eduardo Manfut tells us that La Taconuda "is a woman 7 feet tall, young, with long hair reaching to her calves, slender, wearing high and curved heels, with a dry face, deep eyes, pronounced painted lips, and smiling, black shawl, perky busts, white dress with a silver sash and a large square buckle, and a golden headband... when she passed by, she left a strong aroma of perfume and that's how they identified her, but she didn't take every man with her."

    This dreadful apparition with a woman's body appears among the Nicaraguan coffee fields, taking advantage of the shadows of the cool nights in this region. It is not known exactly what she looks like; the only thing accurately commented on is the terror she causes to those unlucky enough to be chosen by her. After hearing her macabre laughter among the coffee fields, some man or foreman from a farm mysteriously disappears, and the next morning he wakes up dazed, completely mute, naked, or worse still, dead with a look of terror fixed in his lost gaze.