Curupira
Also known as: Curupí, Caapora
A flame-haired forest guardian with backward feet, who drives hunters insane by making them walk in circles.
1560 (Jesuit missionary accounts)
Brazilian Amazon
3-4 ft tall
Protective of forest, hostile to hunters
Folklore
The Lore
The Curupira is one of Brazil's oldest and most feared forest spirits, described since the earliest Jesuit accounts in the 1500s. It appears as a small, muscular humanoid with bright red or orange hair and feet that face backward, causing anyone who tracks it to follow its prints in the wrong direction. It protects the animals and trees of the Amazon. Hunters who take more than they need hear whistles and cracking branches before losing all sense of direction. Some never find their way out. The Curupira is still invoked in rural Brazil as a serious warning against overhunting.
Notable Witnesses
- Jose de Anchieta (Jesuit, 1560)
- Padre Manuel da Nobrega (1549)
Media Appearances
- Curupira e o Guardiao da Floresta (2020 animated film)
- City of God (novel references)
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