La Patasola

Multiple folkloric variants account for La Patasola's origins rather than a single canonical source: some tellings cast her as a woman transformed for cruelty, infidelity or neglect (including versions of a scorned or wicked woman), others as a mother who killed or abandoned a child; narratives vary and the legend circulates in oral, archival and popular forms. Sources treat these origin types as competing local variants rather than a single mythic biography.

Commonly she first appears as a beautiful, seductive woman—often taking the likeness of a beloved person—to lure men into the woods. Her revealed or true form is described as hideous: a single leg terminating in a cleaved bovine-like hoof, frequently one breast, bulging eyes, a hooked nose, large lips and often catlike/feline fangs. She is also reported in some versions to assume animal guises (large black dog or cow) or otherwise shapeshift.

La Patasola lures men—hunters, loggers, miners, millers and herders—by appearing as a woman or known beloved and sometimes by singing; versions report she either devours flesh or sucks blood using feline-like fangs. She is portrayed as territorial and protective of the forest and its animals: interfering with human activities (disorienting people, blocking paths, disrupting hunting) and punishing men who exploit or harm the wild or who pursue sexual impropriety. The creature is a shapeshifter in many accounts and may sing when pleased (a short poetic song is attributed in some literary citations).