An eyewitness account: My family and the gnomes

The story of an eyewitness:

"I grew up in southern California and my grandmother was Mexican. In childhood I often listened to her stories about the Devil (El Diablo) and Fantasma (ghosts). I especially remember the story about La Lirone — a female Ghost who lost her children and she goes at night and is constantly looking for them. And if she finds any child, grab him and carry in your world.

This story was used by my family as a deterrent, so we walked until dark. Grandma also told me a lot about duende or dwarfs not only so, the stories I heard from other adults. The grandmother said that duende especially love to make fun of a man in the woods, and when she was a little girl, she saw one of duende.

Every year we have arranged large family gatherings to which were invited even distant relatives. It was uncles, aunts, cousins and so on. When I was 15 years old, was another large family gathering and during it I noticed in the corner a girl about 12 years old. I didn't know her name, but she just let it be Jackie. Jackie with some very melancholy sight was watching how much fun playing with my younger cousins who were 6 to 12 years, but she did not play.

When I approached her and asked what happened, she just shook her head. So I left her alone for a while, but then she came up to me and whispered that he would tell me a story, just like I still do not believe in it. I told her that I would try to believe her and then she told me that recently in her room got duende. When she saw them, sneaking in through the window, then immediately called her younger sister and told her. And duende, which were four, climbed up on the dresser and took something from it, then went back through the window.

My first thought was that Jackie made it up, but then I thought that she need not lie to me. In addition Jackie seemed scared when she talked about this.

When I turned 18, I heard another story about gnomes — duende, this time from a friend of my mother, who grew up in Bolivia. When she was a little girl, duende brought her into a kind of trance, and began to lure in the jungle to play with her.

She remembers how going farther and farther into the thicket and that duende was the name of her to play with her. Fortunately, she saw her sister and grabbed her hand, then the TRANS is gone and the girl woke up. It was just before the thicket of the forest. My mother's friend was 50 years old when she told about it, so I don't think it was fiction.

The recent story about the duende I told someone I consider a very good and honest man. More accurate to say this is my girlfriend. It happened somewhere in the Philippines about 10 years ago when my girlfriend went back to her aunt. When she arrived, her aunt shared with her worries for her cousin, because she would often play outside with duende. My sister was 7 years old then and she played with duende near thick bushes. The game that was almost one-sided. Duende persuasion and intimidation forced the girl to play with them, and when she wanted to go home, I was very angry.

Sometimes, when aunt called her home to eat or sleep, they are very hard trying to persuade my sister to stay with them. She aunt said at the time that also saw these duende and even tried to find a way to protect his daughter from the society, but it seems to no avail. And when my girlfriend recently reminded of this aunt, she said that her daughter probably will not remember anything of what happened to her in childhood".

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»