Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-35711173-20180917001637/@comment-35711173-20180918004119

I am considering this creature:

There have been a lot of maulings of domestic animals, especially horses, by felines lately. There have been killings of humans, especially rich people jogging. That's real news.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runa_uturuncu

Runa uturuncu (Quechua: man and Uturunco: male or tiger), 1 also called Runa Uturunco, Uturunco, Hombre-Tigre or Hombre-Puma. The origin of the legend comes from the Quichuas. It is said that it is a lujito that having a puma skin is capable of transforming into a huge puma. It has great strength, ferocity and intelligence. The legend tells that he is only able to convert at night and goes out at night in search of people to devour them, he prefers to bite people who are alone on wooded paths. To differentiate it from a cougar one must see its legs or its tracks, since it has five fingers and not four as is normal for these animals.2 Some sources say that it is biped. To acquire this ability the sorcerer must sell his soul to the Devil.3

It returns to its human form according to some versions when it dawns, it becomes a vampire and kills its prey. To beat him, he must kiss him all over his body.4 He is vulnerable to bullets.

http://www.folkloredelnorte.com.ar/leyendas/uturunco.htm

The Uturunco

He is a man who sold his soul to the Devil to become a "tiger". To become the animal, spread a tiger skin on the floor and turning on Runa-Uturunco he says some magic words. He possesses great strength and ferocity and by his intelligence attacks men without them even noticing. Devour all kinds of animals, usually the biggest and fattest. When it is killed, it recovers its human form. Another way to break the charm or fight it is by burning the leather that gives it power.

http://www.lagazeta.com.ar/uturunco.htm

THE UTURUNCO

(By José Ramón Farias)

Throughout the north of our country, from the boundary marked by the Uruguay River, to the foothills and from there to the Salado River in Santa Fe, the belief in the transformation of man into animal is widespread. These metamorphoses are justified in different ways: From divine curse to pact with the devil and his folk dispersion reaches Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay. Personally I have heard (or have had access to research on the subject) Lobizón (Guaranitic area), Yaguareté Avá (Guaraní area especially Paraguay), Runauturunco ​​(in Peru and Bolivia), Muturunco ​​(in Catamarca) and Uturunco ​​(in Santiago) of the Estero).

I remember my grandmother from Santiago who instilled fear in us to avoid our raids on the mountain, talking about Uturunco. She said that it was a solitary, hermit, who lived nearby, who practiced black magic, who had agreed with the Devil to become a tiger (yaguareté) during the nights or naps and go out to eat goats, foals, or calves according to their appetite.

We learned that by signing the "Treaty" for which this lord had spent some time surrendering his soul, he was given in custody a piece of leather ("cuerito" she said) that rubbed while rolling on the floor when he wished that will operate the transformation. It was very difficult to kill him, because he always avoided the pursuit of dogs. If death occurred, it automatically became human in the presence of the executor. If he burned his ranch with the "little body" inside or someone stole the amulet, it was given to be killed. If they did not want to do it, he would insult a quarrelsome to fight him.

Acting as a teacher at the primary level, when I worked in places with a population mainly descended from Santiago, I heard the Uturunco ​​attribute the death of their goats, calves or foals when they could not identify the lion (puma) as the author of mass killings. It is characteristic in the yaguareté and the puma this action. When it hunts, it first satisfies its hunger, then it continues killing as part of a macabre game.

In the Argentine mountain regions where there are no "tigers" (yaguareté) they call it muturunco ​​and it is affirmed that the transformation is from man to "lion" (puma). In the Quechua and Aymara areas of Bolivia and Peru it is called Runauturnco and finally in the Guaranitic area Yaguareté Avá. The Guarani affirm that only the owners of special powers ceded by Tupá, without "treatment", are transformed. The santiagueños, catamarqueños, salteños, riojanos award the property to lonely characters very common in their isolated regions, who would obtain power through pact with Satan.

Jorgelina Soulet says that the transformation takes place at the moment when the man wallows on a tiger skin pronouncing strange words. The same author affirms that in some places who will become a tiger, not a lion, submerges in a pond, from where it becomes Uturunco.

There is a certain parallel with the Lobizon, which is a transformation into a dog by divine curse. Throughout the American continent and in much of Europe since ancient times, the belief in the transformation of man into animal persists, for causes that vary according to the region where the belief originates.