Imbunche

According to legend, the imbunche is a first-born child less than nine days old that was kidnapped by, or sold by their parents to, a Brujo Chilote (a type of warlock of Chiloé).

And, because it has acquired magical knowledge over its lifetime spent guarding the cave, even if the imbunche is not initiated into wizardry, it sometimes acts as the warlock's advisor.

José Donoso's magical realist novel The Obscene Bird of Night reinterprets imbunche folklore as a way to bind a male child in a sack to prevent escape and bodily growth.

British comic book writer Alan Moore wrote a version of the imbunche (here spelled invunche) very similar to Chatwin's description during his run on Swamp Thing, as an antagonist to John Constantine in the first story he appeared in.

[3] In the 2014 urban fantasy television series Constantine (based on the comics Swamp Thing and Hellblazer), the title character says that imbunche are nasty creatures that tore out throats during the time of Noah, but were presumed destroyed in the Great Flood.

In the 2019 novel Nuestra parte de noche (translated to English in 2022 by Megan McDowell) by Mariana Enriquez who is based on Buenos Aires imbunche are mentioned.