Sunday, August 09, 2015

Forteana: A Witch in Mexico's Bosque de Heno?



Forteana: A Witch in Mexico's Bosque de Heno?

Prof. Ana Luisa Cid has posted a video interview with Daniela Flores, a tour guide who takes visitors on nocturnal excursions of the forest known as Bosque de Heno in Huasca de Ocampo, state of Hidalgo. During one of these jaunts, she saw a fireball on one of the treetops and managed to photograph it. These lights are known as "brujas" (witches) and are commonly seen in forests and hilltops. The anthropologist Oscar Lewis - in his landmark study of urban poverty in Mexico, Los Hijos de Sánchez - mentions the effect that these "brujas" had on pilgrims to the holy site at Chalco, as the objects bobbed from one hilltop to the next.

"The photo was taken in Bosque de Heno and is approximately 15 days old," Ms. Flores tells Cid. "I stayed behind with the group, and then we saw that a fireball was over the trees. Then I took a photo, and that thing came out." She adds: "I was rather skeptical, until I got to see certain things. One of them was the fireball." She goes on to recommend a visit to the forest to undertake "la caminata de los duendes" (the Goblin Walk) for possible sightings of fairy folk. Prof. Cid inserts a blurry photo into her video showing what appears to be a traditional gnome sitting cross-legged.

Video: https://youtu.be/a-ihDOzPots