Tunda

The Tunda (Spanish: La Tunda) is a myth of the Pacific coastal region of Colombia and Ecuador,¹ and particularly in the Afro-Colombian community of the Chocó department,² about a shapeshifting entity resembling a human woman that lures people into the forests and keeps them there.

The Tunda is described as being capable of changing its shape to appear in the form of a loved one, such as in the likeness of a child's mother, to lure its victims into the forest and feed them with shrimp (camarones peneídos) to keep them docile. This deception is referred to as entundamiento and a person in this state of pacified stupor is called entundado(a).³

Her shapeshifting abilities are said to be imperfect, as this doppelgänger of sorts would always have a wooden leg in the shape of a molinillo, a wooden kitchen utensil used to stir hot drinks such as chocolate or aguapanela. The monster, however, is very cunning when trying to hide this defect from its would-be victims.⁴ In other versions, it appears to male loggers or hunters working deep into the jungle as a beautiful woman that tries to lure a man away, so it can reveal its hideous nature and suck his blood and drink it or devour him as a wild animal like bears.