65 million years ago a meteorite struck
the Yucatan Peninsula. This meteorite was roughly 10 kilometers in diameter
and weighed millions of pounds; it left an impact crater over 150 kilometers
in diameter, struck the Earth with a force of nearly 200 gigatons of dynamite
(4.3x10
23 joules of energy), and produced magnitude-10 earthquakes.
The material ejected from the crater, known as the Chicxulub (“tail of the
devil” in Mayan) crater, covered North America and much of South America.
The impact of the meteorite was so powerful that it is held to be largely
responsible for the KT Boundary, the period of time in which the dinosaurs,
among many other families of creatures, were wiped out.
One obvious side effect of the Chicxulub meteorite was to heavily irradiate
Mexico and prepare the soil for the rise of extraordinary creatures.
In
1,000,000 B.C.E. the bumbling do-gooders
Viruta and
Capulina arrive from the distant future of 1962 to
gather a rare element.
[4] Although this incident was widely reported
in the scientific journals, there is reason to believe that Viruta and Capulina
traveled in space rather than in time.
[C]
In pre-history, circa
10,000 B.C.E.,
the fire-worshiping Cro-Magnon
Triki-Tran is put to sleep by a magic
potion.
[5]
Before the fall of the Mixtec (Aztec) Empire, circa
1400 C.E.,
Popoca, a Mixtec warrior,
is buried alive for loving
Xochitl, a maiden forbidden to him; he is
further cursed to always protect Xochitl’s remains and the bracelet and breastplate
buried with her, both of which reveal the location, in the “Great Pyramid
of the Yucatan,” of a huge cache of gold.
[6]
In
1539, only two years before his death,
the alchemist
Paracelsus discovers a formula for immortality, due to
its high cost. He does not destroy the formula, however, something which Mexicans
later regret.
[7]
In
1566 the “prophet”
Nostradamus
reportedly dies. At some point after his death his son or grandson–it is unclear
which–is turned into a vampire.
[8]
In
1570 Count Dracula sent one
of his soul clones
[9] to Spanish-ruled Mexico. This soul-clone terrorized
the Spanish and the conquered remnants of the Mixtec and Mayan peoples, creating
a tribe of
Vampire Women from a group of Mixtec and transforming a
British explorer and spy,
Rex Rufus, into a werewolf.
In
1572 the wizard
Cristaldi
kills the soul clone of
Dracula, though not the
Vampire Women.
[10]
As is seen in the 20th century, the soul clone killed in 1572 was not the
only soul clone which Dracula sent to Mexico.
[11]
In
1585 the English sailor and adventurer
Amyas Leigh traveled across Mexico in search of his friend, Rose Salterne,
who Leigh believes has been kidnaped.
[12]
In
1591 the respected nobleman
Count
Frankenhausen, who has been preying on the villagers around the “Lagoon
of Death” on the coast of Mexico, is revealed to be a vampire by the local
vampire-hunter
Doctor Alvaran. Alvaran kills Frankenhausen, only to
have all of Frankenhausen’s victims rise from the grave and attack Alvaran.
[13]
Around the year
1600 a poet named Ramon
takes on the identity of a masked adventurer, “
Zorro,” and encounters
the heroic and possibly immortal strongman
Maciste. Ramon weds a Spanish
noblewoman and becomes the Count of Seville.
[14] Although it is not
acknowledged in the fictionalization of this encounter, Ramon’s patronym is
“de la Torre.”
In
1603 Santo, a Spanish Don
in Mexico, wins the love of Isabel de Arango, a beautiful noblewoman. Santo’s
rival, embittered, sells his soul to a supernatural being calling itself “
the
Devil.” The rival, now become the supernaturally-empowered
Black Hood,
threatens Isabel de Arango with sacrifice to “the Devil,” but Santo, with
the help of a friendly monk, undergoes a transformation of his own and is
given a supernaturally-empowered costume which uses to defeat the Black Hood.
The Hood escapes final justice, but Santo, now calling himself “El Santo,”
swears eternal vigilance against the Black Hood and vows that in every generation,
one of the family of Santo will put on the costume of “El Santo” and fight
evil.
[15] The monk says that he has heard of another man who made
a similar vow, a clear reference to
Kit Walker.
[16]
Around the year
1620 the
Count of
Seville, the son of the first
Zorro, travels to France to rescue
Isabella, the cousin of the King of Spain. While in France he poses as Zorro
and adventures with
Athos,
Porthos, and
Aramis.
[17]
In
1625 Aramis,
Porthos,
Athos, and
D’Artagnan begin adventuring together as the
Four
Musketeers.
[18]
In
1644 a Mixtec woman has her infant
taken from her by a Catholic priest. This drives her mad and leads to her
suicide, but after her death her spirit becomes the phantom “
La Llorona.”
[19]
In
1661 the
Vampire Women attack
the Spanish Baron Brachial and transform him into a vampire,
Barón
Brákola, who becomes their leader.
[20] Perhaps in response
to this, the Inquisition in Mexico go in search of wrongdoers. The Inquisition
captures the vampire
Baron Vitelius and burns him alive for witchcraft
and necromancy. As he burns he swears vengeance against those who killed him.
[21]
In
1676 the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico
burns at the stake four members of a cult of devil-worshipers. Their leader,
the high-priestess
Damiana, calls on Satan for help, and is answered
with the appearance of the demonic
Caballero Azul. The "
Caballero
Enmascarado de Plata," as the current
El Santo is known, defeats
Damiana and the Caballero Azul, though not before losing his lover Aurora.
[22]
The luchadores
Mil Mascaras,
Tinieblas, and
Fantasma Blanco
travel back in time to the year
1680,
to help the Inquisition defeat the crazed mestiza witch
Luisa, who
is murdering Spanish Dons to avenge the death of her mother at the hands of
the Inquisition. Luisa’s mother returns from the dead, and she helps Luisa,
along with an army of zombie Mixtec warriors,
El Monje Loco,
[D]
and
La Llorona.
[23]
In
1765 the current
El Santo
fights
Barón Brákola, killing several of his minions
but failing to kill the Baron himself.
[24]
In
1766 members of the
Pietra Santa
family use a “Druid Sword” to kill
Eloim, the leader of a band of
Panther
Women.
[25]
In
1785 Count Dracula kills the
wife of
Count Cagliostro and turns her into a vampire in revenge for
the death of a servant.
[26] This act adds to the Cagliostros’ hatred
for vampires and their descendants take pleasure in killing the undead.
[27]
Introduction.
Prehistory-1785.
1801-1899.
1901-1950.
1951-1966.
1967-1972.
1973-2005.
Endnotes.
Bibliography.
Some Unknown Members of
the Wold Newton Family Tree.