The Whistler (Colombia and Venezuela)

My name is John Kowalski Jr., and I am a Polish American living in Idaho. I have always had a crazy attraction to Latin America, but I never had a good reason to travel there because it seems dangerous.

However, in 2015, Narcos came to Netflix and motivated me to finally leave my comfort zone and travel to Colombia and Venezuela during the summer of June 2017.

I arrived in Bogota and was impressed by their women, music, and many other things. Their people were amazing. One day, I was drinking some beers in a bar when I overheard a man speaking about an interesting region called Los Llanos. I approached him and asked him more questions about this place. I think it was a great idea to go there because I could travel to Venezuela later. I would kill two birds with one stone.

In the following days, I rented a jeep and started my adventure. I traveled alone to Los Llanos. The place seemed like a crazy jungle. It was a very harsh terrain, and many times, I barely had what to eat. The locals were nice and often gave me some fruit or water. I cannot say that I was at the top of the smartest place on Earth.

To be honest, I regret this trip because one night, I was sleeping in a small cabin when I heard a hideous whistle. I was scared as hell because I had never heard anything like that in my life. As a youngster, I made the mistake of leaving my cabin. Not so far from my cabin, a deadly spectrum whistled very loudly while carrying a big bag full of something. He came to my cabin, opened it, and started to count some bones. He did not notice I was next to him. After he had finished, he left my cabin and vanished in the middle of nowhere.

I didn’t know what this spectrum was. First of all, I had never seen one in my life! I could not believe I had met something so scary like this.

The next morning, I returned to Bogota as soon as I could. I left the car and visited a pastor that I had met before. I shared my experience with him, and he was shocked. He told me that I had met the Whistler (figure 1).

Figure 1. The Whistler.

The pastor said that I was lucky because I had stayed quiet while he counted. Most men are dumb and start running, and one of his relatives dies days later. Furthermore, he shared with me the Whistlers’ tragic story which is as follows.

“Long ago, in the middle of the 19^th century, in a region called Los Llanos between Colombia and Venezuela, a lost soul appeared from nowhere. People called him the Whistler (El Silbón in Spanish) because his hideous whistle became synonymous with death and misfortune.

Everything started on an afternoon when a man returned home after a long day at work. He found his father abusing his beautiful young wife. He became enraged and began to argue with his father about his misconduct. His father only said his wife deserved it. This provoked him to hit his father and start a bloody fight.

After several minutes, the man managed to knock his father down to the ground. He grabbed a stick and pressed it against his neck. He did not stop until he realized his father had stopped breathing and passed away.

Suddenly, the man’s house door opened, and his grandfather discovered his son was dead. His grandfather did not allow him to speak and tied him to a tree. He started to whip his back without any compassion. After several minutes, his grandfather untied him and released an angry dog that chased him until he had vanished from everyone’s sight. No one saw him alive after that.

Several years later, primarily during the summers, people started to see apparitions of an odd spectrum every night. He carries a bag and whistles in an uncommon tone. He sits in the trees and gathers dust in his hands. However, it is mainly on rainy or humid days that the spectrum wanders and is hungry for death and eager to punish drunkards, philanderers, or sometimes innocent victims.

People say he sucks the alcohol out of drunkards through their navels when he finds them alone. He tears philanderers into pieces removing their bones and putting them in the sack where he keeps his father’s remains.

Also, some elders say the Whistler can appear by a house on certain nights, drop his sack on the ground, and count the bones one by one. If one hears his whistle, nothing will happen, but if someone doesn’t hear it before dawn, one member of the family will never wake up again.

Beware of the Whistler if you ever travel to Los Llanos during the summer.”

What I can tell you is that after I heard this story, I just thanked the pastor for his wise knowledge. I left his office and went to the closest Avianca agency and bought a ticket to return to America as soon as possible. Nowadays, I recommend everyone who wants to travel to Colombia or Venezuela to be careful if they ever travel to Los Llanos since the Whistler is still roaming around. He is real. Take care of your life for God's sake!