INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world.
These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.
I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.
It’s nearly the end of January - I hope you enjoyed our double trouble last week, I know I did! Back to normal listening now, and it’s another mythos I’ve not covered, you may have noticed by now I’m trying to cover at least one monster from every mythology this year so that everyone feels heard and represented - so I hope you’re enjoying these not so known ones so far!
DESCRIPTION:
So what is the monster from this week - well it’s the Coco, which is from Portuguese, Spanish and Latin American folklore! Yes technically we’ve covered Latin America before, but never the Spanish or Portuguese so it’s a nice one to cover. I was also asked to cover this by my two lovely pals, Ana and Francisco who are from the Portuguese island of Madeira - so thank you for sending me such a cool monster and I hope this does it justice!
The Coco, or El Coco is a bogeyman-like creature which mostly haunts children who are misbehaved and makes them disappear. This monster is usually described more like a spirit than an actual physical being, and is most likely seen in the shape of a shadow, watching from the rooftops for naughty kids. Once it has found a deserving child, it would sneak in and hide in dark places in children’s bedrooms, such as in closets or under the bed, listening and waiting for its moment to strike from the shadows.
Imagine this though, you’re a child in Spain and your mother has just put you to bed - she warns you not to get out or Coco will steal you away or eat you without leaving a trace. Once she leaves, you get out of bed and start playing up, this is when Coco emerges from the dark with glowing red eyes and snatches you away, never to be seen from again, or just gobbles you up on the spot.
Now, it’s quite tricky because these creatures have no physical description bar that we know they can shapeshift - but it is said that if you were to look upon one, it is the most horrific sight. It’s more a manifestation than an actual monster really, but I think that makes it all the more terrifying. We do know that there are male and female variants of this monster, with the males being called Cucuy and the females Cuca - we do also know that they end up presenting with spooky red eyes when they emerge from the shadows.
So how could you end up with Coco haunting you? Well as I said, it’s mostly for children who are misbehaving before bed, and children in these regions of the world are warned by their parents against being naughty by telling them some rhymes and lullabies.
The oldest one of these is in Spanish and goes like this;
Duermete niño, duermete ya
que viene el cuco y te comerá.
Which translates to;
Sleep my baby,
Sleep, baby, do!
The bogeyman’s coming
And he will eat you.
In Portuguese its;
Vai-te Coca. Vai-te Coca
Para cima do telhado
Deixa o menino dormir
Um soninho descansado
Which translates to ‘Leave Coca. Leave Coca, go to the top of the roof, let the child have a quiet sleep’
I am very sorry if I butchered that, I do not speak Spanish - but you have to give me credit for trying. This would be enough to frighten most children to stay in their bed at the threat of being eaten or taken away to a spirit realm somewhere - so it definitely worked a treat, and still does to this day. There are also loads of different variations of these lullabies in different hispanic languages, indicating the way this monster and their myth has spread across these communities.
Is there a way you can avoid this monster? I mean, yes - you can not be a child - that’s about it. It doesn’t seem to be interested in adults, as it almost acts as an enforcing parent - rather than a normal ghost or spirit we usually see in these types of monsters.
I spoke about different languages talking about these, but are there regional variations - sure! The biggest one is that in Brazil, same name and modus operandi - but a very different looking monster. This Cuca is depicted as a female humanoid alligator, who instead of eating them or taking them away for not sleeping - will instead turn naughty kids into soup or even soap, which I think is pretty funny.
In summary, definitely an evil monster here - there’s nothing neutral about it, however, maybe a necessary evil for parents, and one that I’m sure is appreciated.
ORIGIN:
In terms of etymology, the word Coco is derived from the Portuguese word coco, meaning coconut - which I’ll get more into in a minute, this is actually a cool fact. However, it’s also colloquial for a person’s head in Spanish - meaning literally skull. You might have noticed though that I’ve used other names for it such as Cuca for the Brazilian version and Cucuy for the male version - these are just variants of the name in these regional languages, but all either mean head, or coconut.
Now the coconut thing is funny because if you look at a coconut, you’ll see a sort of face on the top of it - which when the coconut was discovered back in 1498 by Portuguese sailors, it reminded them of the Coco with its spooky eyes - which is how the coconut got its name! How wild is that - and actually if you look at translations for the coconut, it’s usually ‘grinning face’ which is pretty creepy.
As well as this, it’s a tradition in Portugal to carve lanterns on All Saints Day and Pao-por-Deus - which is November 1st, the day after Halloween. Pao-por-Deus is a ritual begging holiday, and children go door to door to ask for bread and cakes with the homeless, and then give them to those who have passed in the evenings - for decorations, they use pumpkins of course, but also coconuts! These are all called Coco or Coca - which I think is very cool.
Really good etymology this week - I love it when they’re rich in history like that one.
From all of that history, they actually have even more. We know that the coconut was discovered in the 1400’s and was named after the monster - so we know it’s been around for a long time beforehand. And it has, but all goes back to a medieval dragon if you can believe it.
Coca is a female dragon that was mentioned in loads of Iberian medieval celebrations, mostly the feast of Corpus Christi festival, where she fights with St George - yes the English Saint George, but if you’ve listened to the Gargoyles episode, you’ll know it wasn’t this dragon that he slayed. These fights are still put on to this day in Moncao in Portugal, and there are traditional jousting shows and the fight is performed. If the dragon wins by scaring the horse, it is said to be a bad year for crops, but if the Saint wins by cutting off the tongue and the ear with an earring - there will be a great harvest that year. All fun!
How does this relate to Coco though? Well from this, the Brazilian alligator-headed Cuca was born - which eventually moved its way back to Portugal and Iberia to become the Coco we know and love today.
The first mention of it within texts at least was in 1274 in a book called Livro 3 de doações de D. Afonso third where it was talked about with a fish that had been washed up;
‘And if by chance any whale or sperm whale or mermaid or coca or dolphin or Musaranha or other large fish that resembles some of these die in Sesimbra or Silves or elsewhere’
It was then picked up in Catalonia in 457 in Cuca fera de Tortosa where it was described as a tortoise with dragon claws, a dragon head and a horned back where the legend said she had to eat three cats and three children every night. So you can see how all of these separate mentions create this monster that we have now fully established today.
Of course, she is regarded as a boogeyman-type monster, which is mostly a western term for things that go bump in the night. This can also be linked to the condition of sleep paralysis - which I talk about more in depth in the Night Hags episode from the first year of the podcast if you’re interested. As this makes you hallucinate monsters, it could certainly be one of these shadow based spirits that you could potentially end up seeing during a sleep paralysis episode - and I’m not down for that at all, no thank you. I’m one of those people who won’t even stick their foot out the covers for monsters getting it - let alone anything that’ll take me away.
CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Now onto modern media, we’ve not got many on Coco specifically - but we have got loads on Bogeymen, so we’re gonna cover that in this little section.
For art, the best one for Coco is Que viene el coco or Here Comes the Bogey-Man from 1799 by Francisco Goya, for a proper look at Coco - but have a look at some independent stuff as always.
In movies, we have; The Nightmare Before Christmas, Rise of the Guardians, Bogeyman series, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Cameron’s Closet, Candyman, Darkness Falls, Don’t be Afraid of the Dark, Don’t Look Under the Bed, The Field Guide to Evil, Halloween, Jeepers Creepers, Little Monsters, A Nightmare on Elm Street & Sinister.
For TV, we have; Frankelda's Book of Spooks, Legend Quest, Grimm, The Outsider, The Outer Limits, Wizards of Waverly Place, The Casagrandes, Invisible City, Bumble, Doctor Who, Lost Tapes, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, Tales from the Darkside, The State, Supernatural, The Twilight Zone, Bump in the Night, Family Guy, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Jimmy Two-Shoes, My Pet Monster, The Powerpuff Girls, The Real Ghostbusters, The Simpsons, Wishfart, Tiny Toon Adventures & Rugrats.
In video games, we have ones such as; Bioshock 2, The Sims 4, AdventureQuest Worlds, Boogeyman series, Darklands, The Lurking Horror, Diablo, Five Nights at Freddy’s 4, Kingdom Hearts, The Park, Left 4 Dead, Nightmare Ned, Pokemon, Scratches, The Secret World & What Remains of Edith Finch.
My book recommendation this week is actually on Coco - and it’s Creepy Creatures and Other Cucuys by Xavier Garza for some fantastic slightly scary stories on this monster, and actually loads on others from across the world - this is a fantastic book, so please do get on that if you like reading and you like monsters.
DO I THINK THEY EXISTED?
Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?
I’m going to say, I don’t know because bogeymen are pretty weird cases, ya know. I couldn’t say that your bogeymen don’t exist, and you can’t say that mine don’t - we all have our own demons.
As well as this, it’s something that has been clearly passed down through generations of families - it’s hard to deny that this monster might exist with so many accounts and so many stories being passed down.
What I do love about this one though is that we have so much history on this monster, that we can trace back the differing beliefs and the different inspirations behind this one - which totally backs up the idea of long term belief in the region it comes from, which I absolutely adore.
What I don’t like are bogeyman creatures - especially the idea of something snatching you when you get out of bed. I’m very thankful that I’m not a Spanish child right now, I'll tell you that. And if you are, I apologise for bringing this monster to your attention. I used to have vivid visions when I was a kid of the witch from Snow White being under my covers in a dungeon and that used to freak me out enough - so I totally get the fear too.
But what do you think? Did El Coco roam the Earth? Let me know on Twitter!
OUTRO:
What an interesting monster - I really enjoyed this one, although I’m not fond of bogeyman monsters myself as a personal thing, as I said - I am vastly afraid of them.
Next week, we’re staying with the Latin American theme and heading over to Peru for the slightly scary Yacumama. Keep your feet out of the rivers for this massive snake next Thursday!
For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.
Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.
But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.