No one can agree whether it was in Nicoya circa 1830, or Liberia at the turn of the nineteenth century, or even near Papagayo years later. However, they all share the same story. Don Elias, a typical Guanacaste peasant, who worked with his bare hands through the daily, searing 90° heat of the region, and liked to wet his whistle at the local bar after sundown. The beers and spirits would flow until last call, where he’d find himself staggering the two miles home, along a dark, lonely potholed road, shaded by tall trees so thick that the moon’s beams could not even penetrate.

On this particular evening, Don Elias heard heavy steps of a large animal prowling behind him. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever heard before. He was horrified. Then the clanging of chains striking the rocks as they dragged past sent chills through him. He prayed it was just the drinks playing games with his mind.

The sensation of being followed increased…he broke into a panicked run, but barefoot and with blurred vision, he tumbled and fell to the ground. When he regained focus, a huge dog, the size of a bull and as black as night, was starring with glaring, red eyes over him. Don Elias fled in terror…knowing that he had encountered “El Cadejo,” the hellhound that stalks drunkards on their way back home.

That night, Don Elias arrived home unharmed, but he was so shaken that he never drank again.

It is rumored that Jose Joaquin, the lazy and disrespectful third son of a humble couple, was a dedicated drunk and trouble rouser. Night after night, year after year, Jose would stagger into the family home in the wee morning hours, unable to even stand, until one night when his father cursed him to walk on his four limbs for eternity. Thus, El Cadejo was doomed to roam forever after the inebriated late at night.

El Cadejos is a devilish, bull-sized dog with thick, black fur and eyes as red as Hell, weighed down by clanking chains. A common legend in Costa Rica and in Central America as a whole, there are many regional variations of this tale. Specifically in Costa Rica, the legend speaks of a mystical animal who accompanies, but doesn’t directly harm, the drunkards to their destinations. Although…its paranormal characteristics ensure that none dare to stay with the creature and all flee to safety.

Black hellhound stories are told in many countries across the world. Connecticut boasts of a small black dog that haunts the Hanging Hills and locals believe that to see the hound three times is a death omen. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, blends folklore, featuring terrifying supernatural black canine figures, to create one of Sherlock Holmes’ most memorable mysteries. More similar to El Cadejo are the Belgian tales of black dogs known as “Chained Hound” and “Old Red Eyes” that remind us of the most frightening features of the Costa Rican black dog.