Beware witch hunts off the Bailadero and historical facts...

It is too true that witch hunts are usually associated with agressiveness towards witches or as a term in a far broader, more dangerous sense. However, there were different kinds of hunts by bad women in Tenerife of the Canary Islands.

Tenerife and Canary Island witches:

Domingo García Barbusano gives you many facts of old Canary Island beliefs concerning the witches of the Bailadero.

He even says that they were having their witches' coven in a valley high up between San Andres and an Anaga mountain ridge.

Wicked womenfolk off Bailadero hunts men:

He warns you about the hunts they undertook not far from the village San Andres. The mischievous women and girls were rumoured to silently comb the slopes below the Bailadero for lone men whom they would encircle and then harm.

Witches favorite clothes:

Barbusano also tells you that the witches of the Bailandero near Taganana liked black coats and capes while not wearing anything for their ritual bathes at the nearby beaches. The closest seashore was certainly one of popular Tenerife Beaches Playa las Teresitas beside the village San Andres.

Horatio Nelson men in the Bufadero gorge:

Witch hunts and negative repercussions for intruding onto Guanche sacred ground was certainly not something which crossed the minds of the brave marines of Horatio Nelson in 1797 in that July night.

History tells us that Horatio Nelson had sent marines up onto the slopes of the gorge Barranco Bufadero. It is possible that they could sense witches approaching from above. The men are said to have felt the spookiness and the danger of the place.

Sacred Guanche grounds and caves:

The fact that they may have trodded at night on sacred grounds near fountains of former Guanches certainly didn't help. Archeologists found several traces of Guanche rituals in caves of the area.

Even the famous San Andres Guanche mummy comes from there.

Do witch hunts belong to the past?

Nobody may be sure about the witch hunts having stopped. Sometimes they are like being dormant, some say.

Princess Guacimara of Anaga in 1496:

On the other hand, the men of the Tenerife conqueror Adelantado de Lugo talked about the occasional Tenerife amazons. For many it is difficult to draw a line between witch and amazon.

The beautiful princess Guacimara of Anaga was seen as an amazon as well as a witch by some.

However, there was nothing creepy about her.

Surviving Guanche blood around San Andres:

The Anaga or Daute area is one of few places where Guanche family names are still around. The name of Ibaute of Don Diego Ibaute is known thre. However, no witch hunts have been associated with that family, ever.

Haunted house in San Christobal de la Laguna:

There is a haunted house called Casa Lercaro in La Laguna, not far from San Andres and the Barranco Bufadero. A lady ghost is rumoured to make its rounds. Strange noises and other occurrences have been taped on video at that site. Videos about it are filed in Youtube.

From witch hunts back to Horatio Nelson, whose expedition might have been marked by the witches of the Bailadero highland by San Andres.

Credit must be given to Las Brujas del Bailadero de Anago which is an article by Wikiedia.org. Some part of the content of the Spanish webpage has been reused here to share it with English speakers..

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