[SPA-ENG] Iniciativa: ¡Leyendas Urbanas en ZDE! | ⏱ El Reloj de Güigüe ⏱

A big greeting to all horror lovers! Today I come to leave you my participation for this May's initiative on Urban Legends, one of the topics I am most passionate about because of its great cultural influence.

Like many others, my childhood was full of legends. Much of my family is from the interior of the country and it is impressive the diversity that exists, as each state has its own collection of myths, those so-called “road tales”.

My maternal grandmother, who was from Puerto Cabello, loved to scare me with the story of “El Carretón Fantasma”, she used to tell me that if I continued to misbehave, the man with the cart would take me with him 😂.

I laughed and was scared at the same time because he expressed it with such a seriousness that I didn't know whether to believe him or not. But in the end, the man with the cart never showed up to take me, so here I am... or maybe he is waiting for the right moment 💀.

Unfortunately, I don't have any personal experience with any legend to tell you, however, among the stories I like the most is one with a paranormal and inexplicable background that I'm going to tell you about in detail at the end of this post.

📙 Book of Tales of Ghosts and Apparitions 📙

This book (which is quite old) is full of Latin American legends and is very interesting. I had another one that told only Venezuelan myths, but I couldn't find it (I hope I didn't lend it to anyone 😓).

Next, I'm going to share with you some screenshots of the book with the story of the “Sombrerón”, a Guatemalan myth that fascinates me. I leave them here for anyone who wants to read it:

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🤠 The Legend of the Sombrerón 🤠

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What are my favorite urban legends? Which ones do I know from my country?

Venezuela has a great variety of legends that are part of the popular folklore, the best known are La Llorona, El Silbón, El Enano de la Catedral, El Reloj de Güigüe, El Dr. Knoche and his mummies, El Chupacabras, La Loca Luz Caraballo and María Lionza.

It is difficult to choose which one is more interesting or which one holds a greater mystery. There are some that can be quite funny because of the level of fantasy that surrounds them.

After all, these myths that are part of our cultural identity are a reflection of the creativity and beliefs of the population. Moreover, these stories are in our collective imagination in order to give a message, either to convey values, warn or teach us something.

Do you think any of these myths could be true?

Legends always have a part of reality and a part of fantasy. These manage to transcend in time, precisely because their origins were based on a real fact, a particular event that people were responsible for spreading for centuries.

Many of them may be full of fiction, but I do believe that there are some that have more reality than expected due to the amount of evidence and testimonies found, as in the case of El Reloj de Güigüe.

This legend left in its wake many enigmas and mysteries unsolved, there is something paranormal in its history that so far has not been explained. That is why it seems to me that, of all the Venezuelan myths, this one can surpass fiction and I will tell you the reason why.

⏱ The Legend of the Güigüe Clock ⏱

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📍 Valencia, Güigüe, Carabobo state

Would you believe me if I told you that in my country there is a legend that was very relevant in its time? It even appeared in the newspapers several times due to the strangeness of what was happening in relation to a “contraption” that, at first sight, had nothing out of the ordinary.

The news transcended internationally, nobody gave credit to what was happening and to this day, it is still a real mystery. Nobody dares to repair or even touch the Güigüe Clock ☠️.

In the 19th century, the then President of Venezuela, Antonio Guzmán Blanco, had a clock built by Spanish craftsmen to measure the time of the day for his workers. The beautiful artifact had four faces, a thermometer, a barometer and a weather vane to indicate the direction of the wind.

After many years, General Juan Vicente Gómez became president, who was delighted with the watch and asked for it to be moved to his hacienda, “El Trompillo”, so that it could fulfill the same function as its previous “owner”.

When the general's health deteriorated and he began to get seriously ill, those close to him assured that he cursed the watch so that no one else would have it. He wished on his deathbed that the time relic would stop working.

And when Gómez died, so did the watch... its hands stopped at exactly the same time the President passed away: 11:45 PM.

People thought it was a chilling coincidence and did not give it much importance, until something very disturbing began to happen with each watchmaker who offered to repair it....

...It turns out that when they made the clock work again, they died a few days later in strange circumstances and the hands stopped at the same time that the clockmakers died ☠️.

Just as one day they stopped with the death of Gómez...

There are people who indicate that beyond a supposed curse, perhaps the clock has some kind of toxic substance with which all those who handled it were contaminated. But then again, the last person who wanted to repair it (in 2013) and find out what was really going on, also died suddenly.

Currently, the relic is still not working and is located in the Avila Square in the town of Güigüe, in a tower next to the church.

What do you guys think, does reality surpass fiction, could it be true that the clock has a curse? 🤔

Here I leave you this video, in which they explain in more detail the history of this clock, the names of the victims it claimed (which totaled 5 😨) and how they died. It should be noted that none of those who repaired the clock believed in curses or ghosts, for them it was a myth what was said in the village.

So... the fact of “not believing” in something, does not save us from danger and does not assure us that something does not exist. This legend proves it quite well.

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That's all for today, always grateful to those who read me and make it to the end of my posts 🤗. I cordially invite @germanandradeg and @felixmarranz to participate !

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_{Cover and divider made in Canva | The book is my property}