El Silbon (which translated to English means: The Whistler) is a spirit found in Venezuelan legends, He was a former farmer who become a damned soul after he kill his father.
History
Venezuelan Original Legend
Once upon a time, a young man was working in his father's farm in Venezuela, received a notice about his wife who has been called "A Horn" by her own father and killed by him which put him in great rage over him and killed his father-in-law, the farmer's grandfather decided to exact punishment on his grandson by commanding some other farmers to brutally torture his grandson in a long painful revenge, first whipping his grandson's back and put salt to increase the pain and finally, to kill his grandson his put in a loose two monstrous black dogs who bite his ankles, while he scream and pain and fled to the jungle nearby, where his body is never to be found.
Some people said that afterwards, his spirit become a damned soul, Hell-bent into killing mostly drunks people or adulterers who he found in his way, as well as attacking and scaring any person who hear his terrifying whistle.
Other Versions
Colombian Version
The Colombian version has the same sort of backstory as the Venezuelan one, except it has drunkards being the main victims of El Silbon (mainly as a way of deterring one from the craving of alcohol). El Silbon stalks the Llano region in Colombia on rainy nights during May and June, and is often encountered by drunkards going home from the bars. The Whistler is more sympathetic than his other counterparts, as he is more of a harbinger of death than the actual cause, and he likes to attack wrongdoers (drunkards) rather than maliciously attack humanity.
Another version
In this alternative version, El Silbon was merely a spoiled young farmboy who demanded his father make him some venison for dinner. Upon finding out his father had never cooked any meat, El Silbon got infuriated, and killed his father brutally before ripping out his father's entrails, and then cooking them up. He gruesomely took his father's cooked entrails to his mother, and they ate them. But his mother found out the entrails were from her own husband, she got sick and infuriated, and cursed her son to forever have misfortune, which he so rightly deserved after this heinous and disturbing act. He fled into the wilderness and has returned as a malevolent spirit, presumably after dying of exposure.
Abilities
He likes to stop at people's doorways, unload his bag of bones, and count them one by one. If one does not listen to him, their family will die. His whistle can be interpreted as message of death, when one person hear them close is when he is far, but when the whistle is heard far, is when he is close and there is no chances of escape, save if one have a dog and his barking, a whip, and a Aji.
Appearance
The appearance of El Silbon has not really been described, because of the fact that he invariably kills all his unfortunate victims, thus no one has been able to give him a good image. But it is generally believed he is of a tall, emaciated human male, gigantic in stature, somewhere between twenty and forty foot high, dressed in tattered farmer's clothes. He mostly likes lurking in the local swamps and torturing those who pass into insanity with his eerie whistle.
Personality
It's Hard to say what personality, El Silbon may had went he was alive, In some version he is a good hearted man whose wife was expecting a baby and his father killed his wife with his unborn son, it's that reason that he's a restless soul Hell-bent in kill anybody who stand in his way.
In another depiction, he seen as a lonely man, who wants something to talk, and move to the afterlife. Although however, there more versions more obscure of the character who is a spoiled young man who killed his father and eat his organs for lunch.
After he become a spirit, he only kills adulterers, drunk men or innocent victims who stand in his way. He who hears the whistle close is saved, but if someone hears his whistle far he is close and that person lose all the chances to escape.
Videos
Trivia
- El Silbon is easily one (if not "the") most evil and disturbing of all the spirits of the legends found in Venezuela with the huge exception of La Sayona.
- In fact, he is one of the legends most respected and feared spirits, and many people do not like to say his name during the night.
- Most people mistake El Silbon for a mere spectre, this is false, He can be considered the Big Bad from all Venezuelan mythos.
- There is much debate about whether or not, El Silbon is a Complete Monster or not, due to the Fact that he kill his father with any remorse, However since he want to avenge his wife and unborn son, he's still considered a tragic villain.
- Ironically enough, his Colombian depiction, it is truly sympathetic. In this version, he is a man who simply desires a companion to talk with and finally go to the Afterlife.