In ancient Amazon River mythology the Encantado (meaning “enchanted one” in Brazilian Portuguese) were shape-shifting river spirits who lived in an underwater paradise known as, the Encante.  Though the Encante was the ultimate utopia, free of pain and death, the Encantados envied the pleasures and hardships that the human world offered.

The Encantado used their supernatural powers to fulfill their desires to experience the human world.  Their powers included:

* The ability to assume either a human or animal form.
* The ability to hypnotize (enchant) humans and manipulate them into doing their bidding.
* Control over storms.
* They could also cast spells that would cause sickness, insanity, or even death.

Most of the Amazon folklore involves the transformation of the river spirits into dolphins, specifically, Pink River Dolphins, also known as Botos.  (These dolphins are only found in the fresh waters of the Amazon and Orinoco River Basins in South America.) 

During the day they would frolic in the river as dolphins and then, at night, they would change into handsome men.  The men would come on shore and proceed to seduce and impregnate young women and, just before dawn, would return to the river to become dolphins again.  (In many areas of the Amazon, children whose father was unknown were called “a child of the boto.”)

Though they had the ability to transform into a human, the Encantado’s transformation was never complete.  They always had to wear a straw hat to cover the bald spot on the top of their head where their dolphin blowhole remained, intact.

Unlike the darker-skinned Amazon natives, the men’s skin color was very pale and they were extremely graceful in their movements.  If they were not dressed in an immaculate white suit, they would be sporting old-fashioned, brightly colored clothing, and were well known for their superior musical ability, their love of parties, dancing, and sex. 

Once they transformed, they would spend their evenings partying and “enchanting” young women and then, mysteriously disappear before daybreak.  The next morning, the “enchanted” young women would be compelled, by the Encantado’s spell, to go to the river.  They would have to be restrained until a shaman (medicine or holy man) arrived to save them and break the spell. 

The shaman would need to mix a magical powder (a crushed mixture of dried chili peppers and manioc flour) and spread it over the water where the Encantado was believed to have emerged.  The powder was said to be able to drive the Encantado away from the area and free his mistress from her enchantment. 

If the Encantado’s spell was not broken in time, and he had fallen in love with the woman, he would often kidnap her, and the illegitimate children that may have resulted from their encounters.  They would all be taken to the underwater realm of Encante and become Encantados, too.
(There were accounts of women that managed to escape from the Encantados, but they usually returned to their village insane and pregnant.)

Though belief in the Encantado myth has faded over the years, there is still a sizable segment of the South American population that still believes in their existence. They are terrified of going near the river alone because there are still stories of people having encountered the Encantados (dolphins) while on the river in a canoe and, though the creatures did nothing more than follow the boats and nudge them once in awhile, the people supposedly went insane and were never right after the encounter.

It is still believed that it is bad luck to kill a Pink River Dolphin and, that one should never make eye contact with one or you will be plagued with nightmares for the rest of your life.

For more information on the Encantado legend:

www.monstropedia.org

http://monsterguide.blogspot.com/2006/02/encantado-dolphin-man-of-amazon-river.html

Hall, Jamie. “Enchanted Dolphins.” Half Human, Half Animal: Tales of Werewolves and Related Creatures. Bloomington, IN: 1st Books, 2003, 55-88.