Atlas Obscura and Epic Magazine have teamed up for Monster Mythology, an ongoing series about things that go bump in the night around the world—their origins, their evolution, their modern cultural relevance. Imagine you are on your own, deep in Colombia’s central Andean region. Perhaps you are cutting down lumber in the lush forests, or prospecting for gold and platinum in valley creeks. Making camp at dusk, amidst the cooing of rare birds and the crackle of a fire, you hear a blood-curdling scream—unmistakably human. You set off through the…
