The Peruvian body fat killings story has detoured into another branch of horror. Initially the news was about a gang nicknamed after the pishtaco, a legendary monster who liked to murder people and suck out their fat (see below for more).
But pish tosh, said the Peruvian government. The police chief who first announced the existence of such a homicidal gang has been suspended:
Initial doubts were compounded when police from the region where the crimes were alleged to have taken place said they knew nothing about a gang of murderers killing people for their fat.
Why make up such a story? To draw attention away from something else, perhaps. The area in question is a popular haunt for drug trafficking. Or maybe the idea is to distract us from death squads. Horror to cover horror.
The pishtaco is a neat story. Check this account, which feels like a mix of vampirism with the Indian Mutiny:
Pishtaco has got white skin and kills the Indigenous to use their body fat. Pishtar is the Quechua equivalent for the verbs “to cut up, to kill”. The belief is still prevalent today, but has origins far back in history, probably reaching back to the conquista by Pizarro and others. The conquistadores used the body fat of dead natives as an antiseptic to treat their own wounds – a natural antiseptic called unta, in Quechua. As the Spanish killed a incredibly high number of natives, Pishtaco lived on. In naval wars with Chile, Pishtaco killed the natives to fuel the ships with their processed fat. When news about the Second World War reached Peru, Pishtaco killed to grease cannons and guns. Later on in history, Pishtaco killed to produce kerosene.
(thanks to my spooky wife; image from here)
Brings to mind this http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/2Shy>X-Files episode.
Posted by: saramin | December 05, 2009 at 23:47
Brings to mind this http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/2Shy>X-Files episode.
Posted by: saramin | December 05, 2009 at 23:50
Excellent, saramin. I can barely remember it, so it's time for re-viewing.
"Life imitates X-Files" is a fine new category.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | December 07, 2009 at 08:13