The Legend of El Trauco – A Mysterious Chilean Myth

  Legend has it that many, many years ago, there was a convent in Mata-Bejid  belonging to the Order of St. Basil, which was inhabited by a  religious community of hermits led by their abbot.  This convent, which was named Santa María de Oviedo because it was  located next to the river of the same name, we can still find the remains of its building today, next to the  Mata power station.   A few kilometers from that place was the castle or fortress of Mata  mother and three sons, who were the owners of the castle and the surrounding land.   The wife was a virtuous woman of such extraordinary beauty that those who  saw her could not help but admire and praise her.  One summer afternoon, she went for a walk around the fortress with her  ladies-in-waiting, and as luck would have it, she crossed paths with the abbot of the monastery of  Santa María, who, as soon as he saw her, was captivated by her beauty.  Lege...

 My wife and I left our ranch to visit my uncle, who lived near San Diego. In our wagon, pulled by two mules, we traveled all day. We continued on, even after sunset, looking for a place to camp for the night. We saw a fire in the distance. I told my wife, "I think we're getting close to Laguna del Muerto. I'm glad there are people there now. I feel safer this way than if we were alone." The closer we got to the lagoon, the more the fire flames died down. When we arrived, nothing remained but embers. No one was there... not even footprints on the ground. The fact that the fire was out bothered me somewhat, but I didn't want to say anything to my wife so as not to frighten her. We decided to camp right there under a huge oak tree. It was already too dark to continue. We took what we needed for the night out from the wagon. I threw wood on top of the embers and lit the fire again. Just as the flames were rising, we began to hear a horse galloping in the distance. It...