Corpo Seco

You may say that this folkloric creature could the love child of a zombie, a vampire and a ghost, but its legend goes far deeper than a mere “inter-creature” love affair.

Corpo Seco, meaning literally “Dry Body” in Brazilian Portuguese, haunts the memories of many still today, having been told this story as children by their grandparents to avoid them of going around at night like the little rascals they where.

But here, let me tell you more about this particular fellow.



The Legend

This legend originates from a little rural town called Ituiutaba, in Minas Gerais. It seems to go as back as 1850, and it varies from source to source, but the structure of the story is as follows:

There was once a horribly evil man (sometimes a boy, sometimes a Portuguese immigrant), that took as a hobby killing, torturing and other chilling things to his slaves, animals and even family members (specially his mother).
He tortured and raped women and children to no end, and burnt men at stakes while his laughter rang through the shouts of his agonizing victims. When he got old, he used to bribe other people into doing the evil he was supposed to be doing, saying that if his wishes weren’t satisfied, he’d burn the person in question, who’d be so terrified of him to actually carry on with the madness.

When the man finally dies, God doesn’t let him get into Heaven and, when shunned to Hell, the Devil himself doesn’t let him get into it for being far too evil.


Trying to bury his body was also another problem – the Earth itself renegated the body, spatting him out right after being buried over and over again. Without being able to find a resting place, his decomposed body now stalks through the rural areas of Brazil, his body a gangling mass of bone and rotten flesh while his laughter rings awfully through the air, ready to take on a prey. Some folk say that when walking alone at night, the traveler who meets this creature will have its blood sucked out unless someone saves him or her from their awful fate.

Others claim that, if you can see him, you’ll be cursed and your death will come soon – in a very, very gruesome way.


Another thing that varies from story to story is how Corpo Seco becomes Corpo Seco: some say that, after spending too much time on the hands of her violent son, his own mother curses him and tells him that he’ll “die dry”, thus being stopped from eating completely and, after dying, turning into the awful creature that laughs and runs after travelers in the still of the night.




What is the truth?

It is more of an Urban Legend of the city than anything else – actually, the legend was recently “tombada” (which is the term used in Brazil to signalize that a certain cultural aspect (wheter it be architectural, textual, etc.) is now under the protection of the government).
The legend is deeply embroidered in folk’s tongues, changing significantly depending on what the “storyteller” wants to express: whether it be a word of advice, a warning to stay home at night or just the wish to scare the crap out of the listener.

But even so, we can’t just claim something to be nonexistent without decent proof, so I guess it’s up to you to wonder if it is indeed real or not.

... Just be careful while walking alone in the woods at night from now own, and if you hear some rustling behind you, keep in mind that it might just be your nice blood-sucking-zombie friend, the Corpo Seco.

Juli Scary Picdump

Enjoy your monthly scary picdump with amazing make-up FX work of the artist Mec BC!

Warning! This work could be shocking and disturbing.
Keep in mind these are effects, and not real.

To see more of her work, check her Deviantart, Youtube channel and Facebook.

Invisible Clowns

A 40 year-old Arizona man was visiting his mom in Wisconsin.
But I don’t think she will ever invite him back, not unless she wants another case of invisible clowns.

The man was on some sort of drug that was making him think that there was invisible clowns in his moms house, so he did the most logical thing, pulled out his shot gun and shot at them.

Police were called to the home of the man’s mother in Roberts, Wisconsin, a small town across the border from the Twin Cities.

When the police got to the house, the man came to the door, still yelling at clowns that weren’t there.
He went back inside and fired more shots in the house and came to the porch with the shotgun and a string of ammunition around his neck.





The police were waiting outside with guns drawn.

The man did not respond to officers’ commands, but when he slipped and fell, deputies were able to take him into custody...or maybe the clowns tripped him.





What is the truth?

On his way to the hospital, the man told medical crews he had taken a hallucinogenic drug and believed people dressed as clowns were attacking his mother’s home, that he had shot and killed several of them, and that his mother had been killed in the attack.

In reality, nobody was injured in the incident, though the man shot at his mother and her boyfriend as they were trying to flee the home in their vehicle.

Makura Gaeshi

Have you ever woke up and realized your pillow is in a very strange place?
You had a peaceful night but still your pillow is in the strangest and weirdest position ever.

Or you wake up, and you find yourself on the other side of the bed, completely disoriented!
Even though you had a good sleep it happens to us all.
But how is this possible?
Is there a reason?


The legend

The Makura Gaeshi will creep up to people who are sleeping and turn their pillows around, or sometimes put it to their feet or even move their sleeping bodies, so they wake up with their heads where their feet were supposed to be.


Another story says that a blind man that was murdered by an inn owner lingered on as a spirit in the room where the deed happened, and turned into a makura-kaeshi.
If he actually turns the entire sleeper around, so that his head is where his feet were, this would not only be very amusing to the Makura Gaeshi, but also very chilling to the sleeper when he finally wakes up.

In a book about Japanese ghosts, in a section regarding funeral customs, the Japanese (traditionally) only sleep facing south.
Consequently, when someone dies, they are laid down with their head facing north.
To wake up in a position normal only for a corpse would be unsettling indeed!
As a Western parallel, it would be like waking up in a coffin.

One story mentions a kappa that got a kick out of doing this.
Then he got caught, repented and even put it down in writing that he'll never pull a trick like that again.
And because he'd been so good, he turned into a zashiki-warashi, and apparently still tends to show up in a certain ryokan in Iwate province, in the town of Ninohe.


Another story is about a jizō statue that moves peoples' pillows--if you sleep next to it with your feet towards it, you'll wake up to find the pillow next to your feet, closer to the statue.


The pillow or makura:

Along with the pillows of court ladies from Heian, the wooden neck stands that they placed their heads on in order not to mess up their hair while sleeping were also called makura.
These wooden makura were often made with tiny little drawers, and the court ladies put their diaries in them, so nobody could read them while they were asleep.

And since they put all of their most secret thoughts into those diaries, it's not difficult to see how that would lead to a belief that a person's soul rests in a pillow/makura while they are asleep.


What is the truth?

It would be a very scary to tell your kids.
They would freak out if they ever see there pillow elsewhere!

It does happen you wake up on the other side of the bed, and is does happen you find your pillow elsewhere.
But is the Makura Gaeshi the reason?

Or something or someone else...