Monster Project El Cadejo

Have you ever been afraid of monsters like El Cadejo or another monster from

your culture? Well, have you been interested in found out of why do they exist? As part

of our english class we are studying exposition and the research process. Around

Halloween our English teacher, Mr. Bailey introduced us to the monster project. The

monster project ask us to research a monster of our culture. We are allowed to make

some questions about our monster, and investigate about it. We can write a short story

about our monster that someone have told us before. We also can research on internet

and make an interview. We can find out stories about behind our monster. The project

can help me to learn more about my culture. What monsters exist in my culture and

What function do they serve?.

I decided to choose El Cadejo because my grandparents told me stories about

that monster. The story that they told me was that: A long time ago there was a family

formed by the parents and two children. One of the child was Kevin and the other one

was named David. One time the two Brothers were playing very far from their house

with their friends, the time past really fast and it was already night . To go to their house

they have to pass through a dark forest . It was very late and their parents were worried

about them. Kevin and David were very scared because it was very dark. A few minutes

later Kevin and David had a feeling that someone was following them. Then, the

brothers hear a shrill whistle. Kevin and David got even more scared ,but they continued
walking. Half the way David noticed that a black dog was following them at the other

side of the road, he told Kevin about the mysterious animal. Kevin noticed something

different from that dog to the others, he figure out that the animal had red eyes like

coals, and it smells like burned horn. they felt really scare and they didnt know what to

do. After they get into their house the mysterious animal disappear. They told their

parents what have happened to them. Their parents told them that it was El Cadejo.

The kids didnt know what is el cadejo. their mother told them that el cadejo was a

mysterious animal that protects people that walks in the streets during night when there

is no one in the road. The kids were very scare. Since that day the kids learn a big

lesson to never play in a place far from home until night. My grandparents used to tell

this story every time my brother and i were playing in the streets. I already knew that el

cadejo is like a big dog with red eyes, and it smells terrible. I also knew that there are

two types of cadejos, the

white cadejo and the black cadejo. I didnt know much about this mysterious monster. I

will like to learn more about this monster.

I made a list of questions about my monster that I want to know. Some questions

that I am interested in are: Since when have this monster existed? Is there people who

doesnt or does believes in this monster, why or why not? What are some cultures that

has this monster on it? Does el cadejo protects or kill people? I am interest in if there

are more different types of cadejos? Based on my questions about this monster, I was
able to form my research question: What monsters exist in my culture and What

function do they serve? Later, I was able to form an answer with all the facts that I
found .

The Story of My Search

My research took some time, because while I was answering my questions I was

getting more curious and doing more questions about information that i found in my

research. There are many different types of monsters in my culture like: La Siguanaba,

El Cipitillo, La Carreta Bruja, El Cadejo, etc. As results of my research I found out that

people are creating monsters because of their fear to something that they are afraid of
to

happen to someone. Thats why they invent monster, but in act there are some

monsters that does exist like El Cadejo. I began my research by doing some

background reading in a website. The website I was reading from was: Haunted

America Tours. This website provided me most of the answers for my questions. This

site provided me how many types of cadejos are there in my culture, also what are

some other countries that obtains this monster as part of their culture. The website

provided me what does El Cadejo do to people. what is their job. how they look like, etc.

In this website I found many facts about this mysterious creature.

I did also read a book of stories about my culture. The title of the book was
Cuentos para recordar: Cuentos de mi pueblo, El Salvador, ( Stories to remember:

Stories of my people, El Salvador). In this book I found a short story about El Cadejo.

This short story provided me some information about the white and the black cadejo.

In this book I found out another different meaning for the word Cadejo . Cadejo-

Animal de tamao menor que un perro, segn la tradicin posee poderes

sobrenaturales y existen dos clases de cadejos. Uno blanco que cuida a las mujeres y

nios y el otro cadejo negro que protege a los hombres. ( Cadejo - Animal smaller than

a dog, according to tradition possesses supernatural powers and there are two kinds of

cadejos. One white cadejo that protects women and children and the other black

cadejo that protects men.). The story in this book helped me with some questions that i

was interested in. The story have gave me a different description of El Cadejo.

During the fourth week of my research, I made two interviews. My first interview I

made was to Rigoberto Mejia. My interview took place on November 23, 2013.

Rigoberto was a helpful source for my search process. He provided me some helpful

information about El Cadejo. Rigoberto told me a story about his uncle and how did his

uncle experience El Cadejo. For my second interview I decided to interview my

grandmother. My grandmothers name is Marina Lemus. My second interview took

place on November 21,2013. She was another helpful source for my search. She told

me a story where she had experienced El Cadejo , but she experienced that because of
her friend before he died. This two interviews have helped me because both of them

have different information about El Cadejo. Both interviews have a different and

interesting questions.

By the end of the fifth week, I felt I had plenty of information. My original search

question remains the same: What monsters exist in my culture and What function do

they serve?. I ended up by narrowing my topic to three areas I had to deal with in order

to answer my search question: Fear, Curiosity, and Mythologies.

The Search Results

According to the information in the website I was reading from says that: There is

a good, white cadejo and an evil, black cadejo. Both are spirits that appear at night to

[Link] white to protect them from harm during their journey, the black

(sometimes an incarnation of the devil), to kill them. They usually appear in the form of

a large (up to the size of a cow), shaggy dog with burning red eyes and a goat's hooves,

although in some areas they have more bull-like characteristics. According to the

stories, many have tried to kill the black cadejo but have failed and perished. Also it is

said that if a cadejo is killed, it will smell terrible for several days, and then its body will

disappear. Some countries that has El Cadejo as part of their culture are: Salvadoran,

Guatemalan, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Costa Rican, and Southern Mexican Folklore.

wounded dog with hoofed feet that are bound with red-hot chains. It is said that not

even the white cadejo is able to completely stop him. Unlike the regular black cadejo it

is not likely to pursue and attack a passing human, as it is a scout - the eyes of evil. The

second type of cadejo is the regular cadejo, the mysterious evil dog. It kills and

savagely tears through its victim. First it demoralizes him with a series of sounds and

other signs that it is [Link], after the victim is scared, it leaps forward, and will kill

him if the white cadejo is not near. The third, and least powerful type of black cadejo is

the offspring of a normal dog and the 'regular' cadejo. It is a mortal hybrid and can (with

difficulty) be killed by a strong man (bearing in mind that most men in those regions only

carry a machete for protection). Once dead, it will completely rot in a matter of seconds,

leaving behind a stain of evil, on which grass and moss will never grow again. This

cadejo will never bite its victim. Instead, he kicks and pecks them with his snout. (

Ferryman, website. )

I found some important facts about El Cadejo in the interviews I made. El Cadejo

is an animal like a dog about three feet high, his eyes are like fire ( red and orange ). El

Cadejo apparently appears during night time or after midnight. El Cadejo will never

show up during daylight. ( Mejia, Interview.). El cadejo es un tipo de animal que protege

a las personas siempre que estn en peligro.(The Cadejo is a type of animal that
protects people whenever they are in danger.). El cadejo blanco protege a las mujeres

y a los nios. ( The white cadejo protects women's and children's). El cadejo negro

protege a los hombres. ( The black cadejo protects the man.) El cadejo aparece cada

vez que unapersona est en peligro de muerte y los protege del peligro en su camino a

su hogar. ( The cadejo appears every time that a person is in danger to die and the

cadejo protects people in their way to home. ). El cadejo puede atacar a la amenaza de

su de la persona que l est protegiendo. ( The cadejo can attack the threat of person

that he is protecting.) ( Lemus, Interview.).

Both interviews gave me an interesting story about experiences. I had an uncle

back in the days when I was born I was like three years old. My uncle was drunker

person and one time it was about 1 oclock in the morning and he was very drunk

walking in the street and he fell asleep in the sidewalk then when he noticed the black

dog called El Cadejo was laying down next to him, while he was there and before the

sunrise the cadejo disappear. Thanks to that mysterious animal nothing happened to

my uncle that night. Since then my uncle never sleep in the street again. ( Mejia,

Interview story). Hace mucho tiempo, yo tenia un amigo que estaba muy enfermo. El

tena una propiedad muy valiosa y l no tena a nadie a quien heredar. Muchas

personas estaban interesadas en su propiedad. Ha mi amigo lo trataban de matar para

poder quedarse con su propiedad. Un dia yo lo fui a visitar el estaba muy enfermo y ya
era muy noche. Cuando yo entr donde l estaba vi que al lado de l estaba un perro

muy grande color negro con ojos rojos y despues me record que era el cadejo por que

tenia todas las cualidades. El cadejo lo estaba protegiendo de las personas que lo

queran matar. Yo estuve mucho tiempo con l y cada vez se hacia mas noche.

Despus de unas tres horas mi amigo fallecio y el cadejo inmediatamente desaparecio.

( Long time ago, I had a friend, he was very sick. He had a property that was very

valuable. My friend didnt have someone to inherit and because of that many people

tried to kill him. One day i went to visit him he was even more sick and it was very late

at night. When I went into his bedroom, I saw that beside him was a big black dog with

red eyes, then I remember that it was the cadejo because it has all the qualities like el

cadejo. The cadejo was protecting him from harm and from people who still wanted to

kill him. I was a long time with him but it was getting more late and dark. After three

hours my friend died, and the cadejo immediately disappear.) ( Lemus, Interview story).

Both interviews has an curiosity about El Cadejo. I wondering how does El Cadejo

came to this world?. ( Mejia Interview). A mi me interesa saber de que se alimenta El

Cadejo. ( I am wondering about what does El Cadejo eats?. ( Lemus, Interview).

According to the book I read the word Cadejo means: Animal smaller than a

dog, according to the tradition possesses supernatural powers and there are two kinds

of cadejos: The white cadejo that protects the women and children and the black
cadejo that protects men. ( Cuentos para Recordar, Book). The book has a story about

El Cadejo. The story says that a long time ago there was a beautiful young lady in an

old town . The young lady was named Adela, but everyone called her Adelita , Adelita

was still single. All the men from the town was in love with Adelita. There were a couple

of men that have follow her everywhere she goes, but they didnt realize that at the

other side of the road was el cadejo protecting Adelita but no one could see it because

it was hiding from all the people. At the same town there was a young man at the age of

Adelita named Bonifacio. During the time was passing Adelita and Bonifacio began to

fall in love with each other. The time pass and an admirer of Adelita was tired of just

see her pass by her road and not being able to kiss her. One time that man follow her

all her way, his mind was ill. He follow her and he found out that Adelita had a

boyfriend, he found out that it was Bonifacio. He was so mad and jealous that he

decided to kill Bonifacio. With his bowie knife he decided to kill Bonifacio. He began to

beat and cut Bonifacios skin. Bonifacio couldnt stand anymore and he die. Adela was

scare and she start to feeldizzy, the man was decided to kill Adela, but from no where El

cadejo jump and protect Adela. The white Cadejo jump into the criminal and it start to

attack him. He tried to defend himself but el cadejo was more faster. The white Cadejo

end up by killing him. After the white cadejo killed the criminal he disappear really fast.

Two days later a group of people found the body of the criminal. The doctor of the town

make the criminal an autopsy, but the only conclusion that they got was that a brave
dog have killed him. Some people says that Adela become a nun. ( Cuentos para

Recordar , Book).

Mythology of El Salvador.

The legend said that God saw all bad things that were falling over the people ,

create a figure that will inspired fear but had the purpose of to protect : The White

Cadejo. However, Satan saw what God create and he feel jealous against God than he

created the Black Cadejo to combat the white cadejo and frustrates Gods plans. In the

conventional version the white cadejo protects who ever find on its way. While the

black cadejo attack who ever find on its way and when both faced each other they

conduct a furious combat ( white cadejo vs. black cadejo ).

My Growth As A Researcher

I actually learned a lot about doing research as a result of this project. Doing this

project took me a lot of time than what I thought it would be. I learned to plan my time

more efficiently. I learned more about how to make an outline and how to organize my

thoughts before I begin to write. Also, I learned the four types of questions that are

involved in an interview that are: Ice Breaker, Fact Base, Probing Questions, and

Follow Up Questions. Also, I learned how to Cite Works. My writing skills improved

more. I learned how to evaluate information from other websites. I learn a lot by doing
this project.

Works Cited

Ferryman, Leslie Danielle. Black Dogs- Devil Dogs: The True Evil Hounds of Hell.

Haunted America Tours. 2009.

[Link]

Mejia, Rigoberto. ..Personal Interview. 23 Nov. 2013.

Lemus, Marina. . Personal Interview. 21 Nov. 2013.

Sanchez, Americo Ayala. Cuentos Para Recordar: Cuentos de mi Pueblo, El

El Salvador, San Salvador, C. A. March, 2007.