Chaneque

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Chaneques or Ohuican Chaneque, as they were called by the Aztecs, are legendary creatures in Mexican folklore. They are small beings, guardians of nature.

These elf-like beings would attack intruders, frightening them so that their soul would abandon their body, which the chaneques enclosed in the depth of the land. If the victim did not recover their soul through a specific ritual, he or she would become ill and die soon after.

In some present legends, chaneques are described as children with the face of old men or women, that make people stray during three or seven days, after which the victims cannot recall anything that happened... although it is thought that they are taken by the chaneques to their home in the underworld, of which the entrance is a dry kapok tree. they're know in Latin America with different names but many similarities, chaneques aluxes and duendes are common names to describe these beings.