Sayona, La
The Executioner
ORIGIN:
Venezuela
Gentlemen, are you considering good reasons not to cheat on your wives? Add La Sayona to the list. La Sayona is a wandering ghost who administers fatal justice to errant, cheating husbands. La Sayona wanders highways and streets at night dressed in white. She may flag down a car for a ride or stop someone to request a cigarette. It may look like a random encounter, but it’s not: La Sayona chooses her victims carefully. She only preys on cheating men. If you’re faithful, you have nothing to fear. (Unless she makes a mistake …)
At first glance, especially in dim light, La Sayona seems shapely and beautiful; those who stop for her may have lecherous thoughts. A closer look at her face, however, reveals that there really is no face: just a skull and a mouth full of rotting teeth. Once one has made contact with La Sayona, she’s difficult to shake. Her attacks are deadly.
According to legend, La Sayona was once a beautiful young woman who thought she was happily married. When she learned her husband was cheating on her (some versions say with her mother), she went mad and killed him. It wasn’t sufficient: La Sayona now roams around punishing other women’s husbands (whether the women want them punished or not).
La Sayona is sometimes confused or merged with La Llorona. Like La Llorona, people report actually seeing and encountering La Sayona. She is the subject of modern urban myth, not dusty stories from the days of yore. She and La Llorona superficially resemble each other: their wardrobes often appear to be a cross between a wedding gown and a shroud. Both wail and cry, but their targeted victims are different. Reports of La Llorona pursuing men in South America may actually be La Sayona.
She has an interesting relationship with tobacco. Allegedly, keeping a bit of tobacco in your pocket serves as an amulet against La Sayona. She won’t attack. Yet in other cases, she does ask for cigarettes. Make sure the tobacco in your pocket is loose, more closely resembling the sacred tobacco associated with Native American tradition.
La Sayona’s name derives from a medieval word for an executioner. Her primary stomping grounds are on or near Mount Avila, a national park near Caracas, but she gets around.
SEE ALSO:
Hone-Onna; Kuchisake-Onna; Llorona, La; Maria Lionza; Oiwa; Pelé
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses– Written by :Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.