¡Ay Ghost Mio!

Once upon a time, there was a child. They lay sleeping in their room, dreaming of whatever little kids dream of. Without warning, without knowing why. The child suddenly woke up staring at the foot of the bed. There, right there inside their room stood a man. Or, well, not exactly a man. It looked…

Carl Tanzler von Cosel was a German immigrant and x-ray technician who became obsessed with the young Elena Milagros de Hoyos while she was a patient, and he an x-ray technician, at Marine Hospital in Key West FL in 1930. Carl was a self-proclaimed medical expert, and convinced Elena’s desperate family to try a myriad…

On Sunday, June 25, I boarded a plane and flew 3000 miles from Orlando, FL to Los Angeles, CA. After 8 months of participating in Spotify’s SoundUp program, I was finally going to be able to meet my fellow Sounders and advisors face-to-face. And, I was going alone. Alone! Let me tell you, if you…

Have you ever been to a place, maybe a forest or secluded beach, and been overwhelmed by a feeling of otherworldliness? Like the space around you was both of and separate from our world? I have, and it’s a feeling I try to hold on to when it happens. But, what if during these moments…

Thanks to Disney, most people imagine mermaids as beautiful humanoids, with human upper bodies and beautiful fish tails, who rescue humans and sing with all their sea-dwelling friends. But mermaids, called sirenas in Spanish, have historically been much darker. In this episode, we cover several mermaid legends from Latin America: Iara, ipupiara, El Hombre Caiman,…

​Content warning: this episode includes violence, torture, sexual assault, suicide, ableist language, and child murder.  ​Imagine walking home after Mass on Good Friday in the lovely town of Seborucal, near Remedios, Cuba. You and your family are chatting, perhaps planning your Easter dinner. Suddenly, a loud scream cuts through the night. The sound sends adrenaline…

My grandparents took care of me every single day after school and all through the school holidays, until I was in high school and had to ride a bus home. When I’d want to nap, I wander to the back room of their house to lie down. Perched on top of a dresser in the…

My bisabuela, Isabel, used to tell my dad that if he didn’t behave or go to sleep when he was supposed to, that el lobo (a Cuban variation of El Cucuy) would come out of his closet and eat him. To this day, my father refuses to sleep with open closet doors in the bedroom.…

Hello, cafecitos! Santeria Part 2 aired Friday, September 17. We discussed some more specific aspects of Lucumi practice, including initiation, rituals, and sacrifices. We also discussed the padrino-godchild relationship, which is the central relationship within the practice. Researching this episode was so much fun. I learned so much and actually got to interview a very…

Santeria, or Lucumi, as discussed in this episode is really what inspired me to do this podcast. You can read more about that over on the blog. Lucumi is a decentralized Afro-Cuban religion, born of a mixture of traditional Yoruba practices and Catholicism. It has a few central tenants: worship of the orishas, reverence of ancestors, and…