Tradition / Region: Costa Rica Mythology, Panama Mythology
Alternative names: Tulivieja; Tepesa (Ngäbe-Buglé); Itsö (Bribri tradition)
Category: Bird
The Myth
The Tulevieja is a terrifying spirit from the folklore of Costa Rica and Panama. She appears as a short, heavyset woman wearing an old tule hat, with tangled hair, enormous milk-filled breasts, and the wings of a bird or bat. Instead of human legs, she has the talons of a great bird of prey, leaving backward footprints that make her impossible to track. Ants are said to follow the trail of milk that spills from her breasts. In older Indigenous traditions, she is identified with Itsö, a powerful supernatural being of the mountains, forests, wind, and rain.
According to the most widespread legend, the Tulevieja was once a beautiful young woman who secretly became pregnant. After drowning her newborn child in a river, she was cursed and transformed into a monstrous creature doomed to wander the wilderness. In some versions she also drowned herself, returning as a restless spirit forever haunted by her crime.
The Tulevieja is feared as a hunter of the living. She lures lustful or irresponsible men toward her, only to tear them apart with her eagle-like claws. In some traditions, she has merged with La Llorona, roaming in search of children to nurse or steal. The creature can be driven away by reciting the prayer “Alabado sea el Santísimo”, while older Indigenous legends say that only blessed tule vines given by the god Sibú could bind and restrain her.
Sources
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Tulevieja. In Wikipedia. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulevieja