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Spooky Haunts
and Tales of the Paranormal in Costa Rica - 20081103
The Old Tuberculosis Hospital
in Cartago Has Been the Site of Many Spiritual Encounters.
Every country has certain stories designed
to send goose bumps down your spine. Like most folklore, the
story lines often resemble stories from your own home country,
and have been adapted to include localized names, artifacts
and cultural points. Costa Rica is no exception, with its
legends and scary stories designed in part to frighten people
into following moral norms as well as simply scare the bejesus
out of you!
Haunted Sites in Costa Rica
If you ask anyone to name one haunted building
in Costa Rica, the old Tuberculosis Hospital, Prusia, is an
almost automatic response. The large complex set near the
Irazu Volcano in Cartago served several purposes during its
functional life: as a hospital for tuberculosis and leprosy
patients, an insane asylum (under the name Sanatorio Carlos
Duran) as well as an orphanage for children. The complex is
currently abandoned with guards patroling the grounds during
the day, though they say few dare to go there at night.
A cloud of rumors hangs over the building,
from ghost sightings to hearing voices and even people seeing
old coins being thrown out of the patients’ rooms. It
is said that the tuberculosis patients underwent inhumane
tests and were often left to fend for themselves in jail-like
conditions. One reoccurring ghost sighting has been that of
an old nun. Once a journalist from the University of Costa
Rica went to inspect the site and held an interview with someone
on the premises. When she went on to describe her interviewee,
she was told that the old nun was no longer of this world,
though she had been spotted several times before by others
visiting the area.
Almost anyone who has visited claims to have
experienced the paranormal presence from cold chills to moving
shadows and the appearance of unexplained ‘clouds’
in the photos taken there. A local rock group also chose the
old hospital as the site for a music video, which helped to
make the general population aware of its scary appearance
and apparitions.
The old island prison of San Lucas, now a
limited tourist destination, is another area of Costa Rica
that may be haunted by spirits once interned in the maximum
security prison, never to leave again. The prison can be visited
on tours organized by the Costa Rica Tourism Institute, where
one can experience the tiny cells that held from 60 to 80
prisoners at a time. Graffiti on the walls tells the tale
of misery and frustration, and some of it was rumored to have
been written in blood.
Another property that is said to be haunted
in San Jose is the home of the ‘7 ahorcados’, or
the seven hanged people. Stories detail the group murder of
a family living in the towering home located in Barrio California,
San Jose. However, as this is a private property that still
belongs to a Costa Rican family, no one has been able to actually
visit the property and neighbors claim that the story is a
farce.
Finally, the beach at Playa Grande on the
Nicoya Peninsula is also rumored to receive frequent visitors
of the cloudy white variety. The beach, located just 30 minutes
from Montezuma, is said to have been the site of an ancient
burial ground with roaming spirits that don’t welcome
night visitors. Camping overnight there is prohibited, but
night hikes can be arranged during your visit to the region.
Costa Rican Legends
Two particular characters from Costa Rican
lore target men who have had too much to drink on their way
home at night. One, El Cadejos, was originally a young boy
with a penchant for partying. His father turned the boy into
a black dog destined to roam the streets at night in search
of unlucky fellows with the same vice. The other, La Segua,
is a beautiful woman who was left heart broken by a Spanish
officer. She now spends her nights roaming the streets tempting
men to come after her. Those that do will see La Segua turn
into a fierce beast with bloodshot eyes.
Should women feel that they are safe from
the ghosts of Costa Rican legends, think again! La Llorona
(the crier) is a common figure in Latin American folklore,
who can be heard crying at night for different reasons. In
Costa Rica, La Llorona is said to be the ghost of a young
married woman named Maria who gave birth to her lover’s
child. Not knowing how to deal with the grief, she threw the
baby into a river. She now roams the country in search of
her dead baby and giving a warning cry to any woman who would
consider infidelity.
Another tale, likely created by men, tells
of a deadly bug called La Machaca. Once bitten by La Machaca,
a young girl must have sex with a man within 24 hours to avoid
death.
One last popular legend that is very much
Costa Rican is that of the Ox Cart without a driver. It is
said that the legend comes from the 1800s when the filibuster
William Walker was attempting to invade Costa Rica from Nicaragua
in the north. As the Costa Rican soldiers returned to the
urban populations, they brought with them a cholera epidemic.
As the disease spread more and more, the victims of the plague
had to be carried off in oxcarts. The sound of oxcarts began
to haunt the locals at night. People stopped going out after
dark for fear of running into the ghost oxcarts. Finally,
one man who had to travel overnight to get medicine for his
child heard the sound. To protect himself, he drove a cross
into the ground, which made the image of the ox cart without
a driver appear, floating just above the ground.
To avoid a run-in with Costa Rican spirits,
it seems that fidelity and staying in at night are key! On
that note, check out our Halloween Events article to see where
the party is at this weekend, and a Happy Halloween to all
of you visiting or living in Costa Rica during this frightful
holiday:
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