The Legend of Cayo Las Brujas, Cuba

Cayo Las Brujas : « Witches island »

The legend behind the name of this Cayo ...

In a nearby island lived a fisherman named Pepe. This man was often moody and feared by all because of his violent temper. Very jealous with his family, Pepe had a niece who he loved and protected more than anything. The girl was living peacefully until she fell in love with a fisherman from another island.

When the uncle discovered their relationship, he opposed to it with all its strength and banned the man from approaching the island. Fishermen say that Pepe even use violence to take them apart. However, the young lovers had decided to deal with the situation, and worked out a strategy. They began to spread a rumor that a part of a nearby island (today known as Cayo Las Brujas) was haunted by ghosts they had seen and heard.

At first nobody believed it, but people eventually started to avoid passing by this place surrounded by mystery. On more than one occasion, Pepe's niece had been seen when she went there to meet her lover at dusk and soon after an owl flew, frightening everyone with his screeches and its reputation of being a bird of ill omen.

The more superstitious began to believe that the girl possesses supernatural powers and uses magic to turn into a bird. That's when the Pepe’s niece began to be recognized as a witch among area residents.

The lovers were satisfied with their secret meetings until a stormy day when she didn’t show up to their meeting. The young man looked for her everywhere, but in vain, the only "person" that he found on the whole island was a witch who stared at him with tears in her eyes before flying away.

After days of effort to find the girl, not even her remains have been found. She had magically disappeared. Some started to say that Pepe's niece had well and truly become a witch of the night in the form of an owl. The young man assured he could still see her and talk to her, but no one believed him because he had fallen into alcoholism.

The island of their secret meetings became "Cayo Las Brujas" (Witches Island). One of the neighboring islands, the one where the young man lived, became "Cayo Borracho" (Island of the drunk man).