In the oral traditions of Chile’s coastal regions, particularly among Mapuche communities, there exists a long-whispered legend of ghostly beings that walk the shores before and during catastrophes. These entities had no formal name for centuries - only described in fragments and murmurs passed from survivor to survivor.
It wasn’t until the 27F Earthquake in 2010 that a term gained traction: “Muru”, a word meaning complaint or warning in Mapudungun. Survivors, particularly in Talcahuano, Dichato, and Curanilahue, began using this term to refer to the strange, faceless entities seen walking in the waves before the tsunami struck.
27F sightings[]
For decades, vague stories of headless beings appearing near the ocean before great catastrophes had circulated in small fishing communities. But it was only after 27F that these beings gained a name, a face (or rather, a lack of one), and widespread recognition.
Survivors from towns like Talcahuano, Dichato, Constitución, and Curanilahue reported an unsettlingly consistent image: tall, headless humanoids - black or white, glowing faintly under the moonlight - walking in the flooded streets, emerging from the waves, or even wandering far from the coast.
Testimonies Across All Backgrounds[]
One of the most chilling aspects of the 27F Muru sightings is the range of witnesses:
- A nurse at Hospital Higueras in Talcahuano claimed she saw “something pale and human-shaped” moving along the hospital’s back lot - far from the sea, and hours after the initial tsunami.
- Multiple emergency service calls, some now found on YouTube, captured real-time panic: one by a man sobbing, describing “a person with no face” trying to enter his home; another from a woman screaming about “someone in the waves"
- In the days and weeks following the quake, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, and forum threads exploded with unfiltered accounts. Some were dismissed as mass hysteria, others as hoaxes - but survivors who had seen the Murús insisted it was too specific, too real, and too many to be coincidence, even the famous person Juan Andres Salfate said he saw one.
- People often reported that the creature had "no clothes", "no head" and even that it wasnt interesed on stealing anything when entering homes.
The Hospital Higueras Sighting[]
One of the most unusual reports comes from Hospital Las Higueras in Talcahuano, where a Muru was allegedly seen away from the sea, in the hilly outskirts of the city. A staff member on the night shift said she saw a tall dark figure, seemingly gliding near the emergency entrance hours after the waves receded.
A Turning Point in the Legend[]
27F was when the Muru stopped being a whispered myth and became something documented - on social media, in emergency logs, and in the minds of thousands of survivors. The consistency of descriptions, the emotional weight of the witnesses, and the strange mix of ancient dread and modern chaos turned the Muru into a unique symbol of Chile’s relationship with the sea, death, and survival, now even multiple videos on Tiktok are found relating the legend and testimonies.
Some now refer to the Murús as Chile’s modern angels of disaster - not divine, not malevolent, but always present when the ocean rises.
Muru Sightings in Japan[]
1960 – After the Valdivia Earthquake and Tsunami[]
On May 22, 1960, Chile was rocked by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded: the Valdivia Earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale. The quake triggered a massive tsunami that traveled across the Pacific Ocean, devastating areas as far as Hilo, Hawaii, and the Sanriku Coast of Japan - especially towns like Kushiro, Hachinohe and Ofunato; the creature sightings are very similar to the Japanese yokai umibosu.