In the far south of Chile on an island called Chiloé, there lives a very ugly dwarf and his very ugly wife.
His name's Trauco, and he comes in many forms. Sometimes he comes as a rich man. Sometimes as a priest.
Other times, just as his hideous goblin self.
But no matter how he appears, he always leaves young women the same way.
Pregnant.
I think it's safe to assume that we all know the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. It's said that her pregnancy was an immaculate conception,
meaning that her son was conceived without sin.
He had no mortal father and therefore she was completely blameless in getting pregnant outside of wedlock.
Hers followed in a long tradition of virgin religious births around the world, from Nepal to Egypt, to Greece, to Persia.
But for those of us who aren't Christian, the story of Mary seems to be covering for something a little less magical.
Hers was a bold excuse, granted, but undeniably effective.
After all, we're still talking about it to this day. And considering how successful it was for her,
I find it not at all surprising that thousands of women around the world have made similar claims for their own pregnancies.
No matter how it comes about, in many of our societies, getting pregnant without an attachment to a male is considered an incredibly deep taboo.
A taboo that leads to everything from exile to ritual murder.
Honor killing, as it's often referred to by people with no honor.
It's tough being a young woman, so it should come as no surprise that some would invoke supernatural spirits as a way to save themselves from the weight of unequal punishment.
It should also come as no surprise that this isn't an excuse unique to Christianity.
The idea of an incubus, a demon who appears in the night to cause mischief and sometimes pregnancy,
is one of the most prevalent myths across the globe.
Many, if not most societies, considered unplanned pregnancies to be inexcusable,
and therefore coming up with a paranormal reason to explain them makes perfect sense.
Because naturally, if you want your society to thrive,
it isn't wise to go throwing away every young woman who failed to stay chaste.
The smaller and more close-knit the society, the worse the effects casting out a member has.
Friends, family and community are all affected by the loss.
If you look at the effect that losing Megan Phelps Roper has had on the Westboro Baptist Church,
it's clear that the loss of a single young woman can ripple far beyond those tasked with controlling her.
If a conservative society sees a devastatingly large number of young women succumbing to antisocial pregnancy,
they need to come up with an answer that still sustains the stigma, while removing the blame.
Because while on one hand they have to decry it as wrong, on the other they can't really punish everybody.
So they need an answer that plays both sides.
And here in Chiloé, they blamed a goblin.
The island of Chiloé has one of the most unique and interesting cultures I've ever come across.
Despite being the longest lasting stronghold of colonial Spain in Chile,
it never truly lost its indigenous population. In turn, the island's culture has incorporated an indistinguishable blend of Native and European symbology,
neither truly dominating the other in full.
This is a land where the myths of superstitious Spanish sailors met the ancient beliefs of a magic fearing people.
In Chiloé, gender-bending warlocks still lift curses, and mermaids still call fishermen to sea.
Here, ghost ships haunt the coast reviving the dead as their skeleton crew.
Earthquakes remain an expression of an angry land. Its stories are one-of-a-kind and the further you dig into them, the more reasonable they seem.
Among those stories is Trauco. A hideous goblin incubus who hides in the forest and impregnates women against their will.
He carries a walking stick and an axe, and is said to be irresistible to the opposite sex.
From what I'm told he hits the axe against trees to show his sexual prowess,
which I'm going to presume makes more sense to a Chiloéan
than it does to me, because I've never once heard an axe hitting a tree and felt any arousal.
Maybe, it's a woman thing? I don't know.
Whatever it is, it's certainly not something meant for men.
Because when Trauco catches eyes with a man, they die on the spot.
Making certain that he'll never be disproven by the women claiming his seduction. I should also quickly note that he has a succubus wife as
well, who's covered in moss and offers the same irresistibility to my sex,
but she doesn't really have a place in this story and every time Francesco tried to film her, he kept getting seduced.
Trauco and his wife may make for an easy joke, but there's really nothing funny about this story. After you scratch away the surface anyway.
Nobody really knows exactly when this legend started or even whenever it blended with Spanish Christian mythology.
But it's pretty clear why it existed.
It's telling that after the Spaniards came, Trauco takes on the form of rich men and priests.
Because this is a demon that's causing unwanted pregnancies.
It makes sense that the community would use it to cover up the wicked acts of the powerful.
After all, colonizers were rarely known for their kind treatment of native women,
and if a large percentage of society were made pregnant without recourse, something had to explain why in these instances,
it was okay. It wasn't like the community could exile half their girls.
That would collapse everything. But they also couldn't make it appear as though they condoned unwanted pregnancy,
because that went against the social order. It defied their religion.
So Trauco quickly became an excuse for real-life monsters.
Rape, molestation and incest could be covered up with myth. Men in power no longer needed to worry about the effects of their actions.
In turn, women who had experienced these traumas could continue to live in society without the shame and punishment
that had historically been applied to them.
It would be wrong to call it a win-win considering that there was often a young girl forced to silently carry her rapist's child,
but considering the alternative had previously been exile or death,
it was a workaround that both parties could accept.
Even in the modern era you'll find a number of women have used Trauco as an excuse for their pregnancies,
and a number of communities silently nodded along. Even if they didn't truly believe it,
disbelieving it was a far greater fear.
Because then they'd have to dig in to what actually happened.
Myths exist for a reason.
We believe them for a reason, and often that reason is as simple as the fact that when you dig down into human behaviour,
you'll find that the real demons are us.
Mary may not have been visited by an angel, but whether the story is true or not,
millions of people believe that she gave birth to a saviour. The women of Chiloé
may not have been mythically seduced, but in claiming so, they too were saved.
They survived. And, as horrible as that sounds, it was enough.
Because it's hard being a young woman in this world, and if the only options are blame a goblin or die?
I'm blaming the goblin every time.
This is Rare Earth.
I think this is where Trauco stands.
Francesco: Supposedly?
I believe this is his original standing point.