The Headless Priest (Costa Rica)

Many years ago, during the Spanish colonization, a new priest was assigned to Patarrá in Costa Rica. For a while, the residents considered him an incredible person with unbreakable "values." He seemed to be the most honest and loyal person in town, a true representative of their Lord Jesus Christ.

Several months passed, and a mysterious Spanish man, wearing a  mask, began to visit Escazú (a nearby town to Patarrá). He was a womanizer, greedy and brazen as no one the residents had ever met. He loved gambling in the bars every other night. The poor residents lost thousands of silver coins every time they played against him. He seemed to be unbeatable. And after his wins, he always chose the best woman and enjoyed his deserved "adventures."

The masked man became notoriously wealthy as a few people. He had been earning tons of silver without limits. Everyone began getting suspicious of where he was from and where he was saving his insane fortune. Banks didn't exist in those days. Some tried to follow him, but somehow he always vanished. No one could figure out his whereabouts. The man was extremely careful and never left any hint, not even revealing his real name.

The man realized that he had become incredibly wealthy so he decided to travel to a new town, San Ramón. In this place, he never gambled, spoke, or gathered with the locals. He came to identify a place where he could save his wealth safely. After several trips, he found a unique and frightening tree that seemed to be from the underworld. It seemed like the perfect place to hide his wealth from any intruder. That's why every midnight during the new moon, when the night was darkest, the man came and carefully buried his newly won silver coins, and later, he left without leaving any trace.

Over the years, the priest was sent to Peru and Nicaragua for some religious missions to convert the unbelievers. However, during his last mission, the priest was beheaded by a rebellion against the conquistadors and his priests. The rebellion was so bloody that they buried each of the evil people without their heads.

Several weeks passed, and a rumor reached Patarrá, San Ramón, and Escazú that a famous priest had been beheaded during a rebellion. The people of Patarrá became very sad when they realized that it was its priest who had been beheaded by the rebellion. Its priest had been almost an angel sent from heaven for its residents. However, sooner than expected, the people from Escazú concluded that the beheaded priest was the same Spanish gambler because he had never returned to their town after several months.

Rumors spread like wildfire that the unbeatable gambler from Escazú and the beheaded priest from  Patarrá were the same man  (figure 1). And now, his ghost began to roam and terrorize all Costaricans, chasing the sinners and looking for his head. No one could believe an evil ghost had come from hell to their lands!

Figure 1. The Headless Priest. ¹

Nowadays, the headless priest ghost materializes in two places.

The first place is in San Ramón, where he protects his treasure from any individual who visits his tree. His ghost materializes at the foot of the tree. Here he scares anyone who tries to steal his treasure, and if anyone tries more than once, he chases them until they go mad.

The second place is in Patarrá. The ghost materializes in his old hermitage in "La Calle del Cura del Cabeza" (The Street of the Priest of the Head in English) on some specific days and to some particular people. These days, the ghost materializes, giving a special mass to sinners, passing the entire religious rite from behind, without showing his face, hidden in the shadows. However, during the Eucharist, when someone approaches him, the priest turns around, and the sinner discovers that the priest has no head. Many try running away while the priest chases them, some are lucky to escape, but most never see the light again.

What's more, a second headless priest began to materialize among Costaricans during the late 19th century. In Cartago, a priest and his brother fell in love with the same woman. For the priest, this was a disgrace because he had a vow of chastity that he had to respect. However, the priest could not tolerate his disgrace, and at his brother's wedding, he murdered him during the Eucharist when the priest was raising the host.

The witnesses were shocked and some important men arrested the evil priest before he could escape. Days later, the Costa Rican Court decided to behead the evil priest because he was a bad son of God.

Years passed, and after two successive earthquakes in 1841 and 1910, the old church was severely damaged. After this event, the priest's ghost started to materialize in the ruins every other night. And when anyone tried to reconstruct the church, some unknown forces prevent them to lay any bricks in order to keep the place intact as a reminder of this evil act.

Credits:

¹ GamersGallery.com