La Patasola in Colombian rural folklore

Record summary

La Patasola is a Colombian female forest apparition, usually represented as one-legged or as a beautiful figure who changes into a frightening being. Folklore accounts connect her with forests, male travelers, sexual danger, infidelity and moral discipline. The lead is valuable for comparing gendered wilderness legends and the transformation of colonial, Indigenous and campesino motifs in print. It should not be treated as one event: published descriptions differ by region, and the chronology of the name, image and narrative form needs verification in Colombian folklore collections from the period.