Also known as the Witch-Bird

This is a creature I’ve begun hearing about recently. After some looking I was surprised to discover that it’s a somewhat local beast. It is well known in south Texas and north Mexico.

From what I have gathered it seems to be a cross between a harpy and a banshee.

The Lechuza is said to be a witch in an alternate form. Most often seen as a very large owl with a disfigured human face. This is a collection of what I have found out about it so far:

She whistles after dark and some say if you whistle back she will attack you and claw out your eyes.

If some one was near death, La Chusa would come to take their souls. You would know she was near from the sounds of her huge wings beating on a nearby window of the ill persons’ room or the side of that home.

If La Chusa could be captured and see the sun rise she would evolve into a beautiful young woman.

You can scare it away sometimes by shouting at it with foul language


(Fairly typical account with a bit of disagreement as to the nature of the creature: Are yall talking about the luchusa in robstown? that thing is like nothing ive ever seen before, it aint no witch or woman, its some sort of evil creature, it reminded me of the thing from jeepers creepers but shorter it was like 4 ft tall and huge wings, but i hear a whistling and i notice it was making the sound every time i was take a breathe like it was wezzing or something but it was louder, and i used to look for it all the time but since i saw it i aint ever gonna look for it, i had gotten interested in it when my gpa told me a story abbout it cuz he lives in the outskirts of robstown, and he was drive back home cuz he had just got off at work and it was like 2 in the morning, and he said something had his the back of his truck hard, and he looked in his mirror but didnt see anything then he looked of to the side and he said across the street was lachusa, and it was sorta keeping up with the truck until my grandpa started pushing it, and he got home and he had gotten far enough just to make it inside and lock the door and for the rest of the night he said he heard the huge wings of lachusa flapping around ouside, he also heard footsteps on the roof, and he got his gun, and called the cops but when they arrived lachusa was nowhere to be found and soon after they left it returned, oh yeah and for those who say lachusa doesnt have legs it obviously does cuz of the footsteps, but when i saw it it didnt seem to have any it looked like it was just floating in the air like a ghost or something, and when i fell to my knees cuz i was scared and they just gave out lachusa turned around and i saw the short legs it had, lucky i was behind some brush and i guess it didnt see me)



I came upon this tale because one of my Hispanic friends had been hearing tales of it. While she had never seen one, a few of her family members and friends have. She believes in this creature without question because one of the family members who claims to have seen it is not normally superstitious or given to placing faith in anything supernatural.

In one of the forums I found where this was discussed, a Native American from the Nantichoke tribe said they had a similar creature called a Gu’kus but I’ve had no luck finding anything about that one.

Giant birds are not unknown in this area, either. Rare, but not unknown. About fifteen minutes from here is a tiny town where my parents reside - this little town full of people who consider themselves rational have been known to report UFOs, moving stars, ghost trains and, most recently, a giant pterodactyl looking bird with a horrible shriek. It is seen flying over the town now and then but no one has been able to identify it or figure out where it nests.

Perhaps odd things are making their way north? Giant birds seem to be increasingly common