Baká

Region: Caribbean
Location:Dominican Republic (especially rural areas with strong Afro-Dominican traditions)

The Baká is a spirit or entity in Dominican folklore created through a pact — usually involving dark magic, sorcery, or a bargain with supernatural forces. Unlike the Galipote, which is a human shapeshifter, the Baká is typically an external being, summoned or crafted to serve its master. It is said to take the form of an animal — a black dog, a goat, a creature with mismatched limbs, or even a swirling shadow. People who claim to have seen a Baká describe it as unsettling and wrong-proportioned, with movements that don’t match its shape. It guards property, protects its owner, or harms rivals and enemies on command.
  Bakás are deeply rooted in Afro-Caribbean and African spiritual concepts brought to the Dominican Republic through slavery and blended with Catholicism and local superstition. Some say a Baká must be “fed” through ritual offerings or the misfortune of others, and that it punishes neglect by turning against its creator. In rural communities, unexplained accidents, livestock deaths, or sudden streaks of bad luck were sometimes blamed on someone keeping a Baká. These stories suggest that the being acts as both a weapon and a curse — powerful, but always dangerous to maintain.
  Because a Baká is thought to be tied to jealousy, rivalry, and hidden resentment, accusations of someone keeping one were socially charged. They reveal community fears about sabotage, envy, and secret ill-will. Even today, fragments of Baká lore persist in Dominican storytelling, often surfacing when something mysterious or harmful occurs and people whisper about unseen forces at work. Among all Dominican supernatural beings, the Baká remains one of the most ominous — not a random threat, but one deliberately invoked by human hands.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The spark is human. The polish is digital.

 

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