The ‘pyramid’ or the largest stepped temple in the world is in San Andrés Cholula, in Puebla (Mexico). The Magic Town is also characterized by its large number of Catholic temples and other historical buildings. Of course, legends have emerged from these old buildings, such as the house of the devil.
They say that it was never known who its owner was and the occasional gloomy story, but what is most convincing is that a UNAM researcher published a book in which he concluded that black masses were celebrated there.
Convenient transformation
On the interior façade of the 18th century house, several figures were depicted that together create a mural, the meaning of which reveals a supposed cult of Satan. To change its “macabre image,” the government of the state of Puebla transformed this place into the Amoxcalli Public Library (“the house of books”) for tourists and locals to get closer to literature and local history. Courses and workshops are also offered.
At first glance it looks like a colonial style house, from the popular baroque, but when you cross its interior patio, you will find a second facade decorated with supposed scenes of ritual ceremonies. These figures were made using a technique known as “rejoneada stone” which consists of embedding volcanic stones in the wall.
Some of them, according to information from the Puebla Secretariat of Tourism, represent biblical passages, symbols that identify the Passion of Christ such as the crown of thorns, the scourge, some dice and inscriptions related to the Virgin.
In this mural you can also see some boats and a tlachiquero (the one that extracts the mead from the leaves to produce pulque) among other characters, in addition to the Sun, the Moon and two-headed eagles. These last elements are associated with pre-Columbian cultures.
And what does that have to do with Satan?
Because to all this iconography two figures were added, from which it is deduced are monkeys dressed as priests, with mocking expressions, crow’s feet and an erect penis. In front of these obscene characters there are altars on fire. Many of these symbols, the researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History José Antonio Terán Bonilla supposes, are ritual elements of a black mass.
The house of the devil
Terán was the one who discovered, at the end of the seventies, the house of the devil, of which he wrote the book La Guarida del Diablo, in which he makes a breakdown about the meanings of the mural and all the mysteries that the dwelling protects. No one ever realized the existence of that house due to the high fences that surround it.
In some ceiling beams, inside the house, fragments of phrases written in Latin were rescued that can only be read using a mirror (as long as you know Latin). Those fragments belong to the Magnificat, the song of Mary about the greatness of God that, in the case of the house of the devil, was written in reverse, which is considered blasphemy.
Teran’s theory is that the property was built on purpose, as an antagonistic manifestation of the nearby sanctuary of Santa María Tonantzintla. Thus, the researcher concludes that that house was used to officiate satanic rites.
