The Casa Matusita is a building located at the intersection of Garcilaso de la Vega and España avenues in the center of Lima,

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. It is known for the popular belief of being a place where

paranormal activity Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

exists.

History

An exact date on when the house was built does not exist. In 1862, the Lima Penitentiary was inaugurated in front of the house. The prison and its surroundings are claimed to have served in those times as interrogation centers for common and military criminals, especially in the days of the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...

. Its name comes from ''Matusita S.A.'', a hardware company that rented the first floor of the building as a warehouse from the 1950s until 2005. In 2016, the second floor was demolished due to the declaration of a dilapidated state issued by the

Municipality of Lima The Metropolitan Municipality of Lima () is the local government entity of the Lima Province and Lima District. It is the only provincial municipality of special regime with faculties of regional government. It is established according to the 20 ...

. The building's owner, Ladislao Thierry Tiry, reached an agreement with the bank that rented the first level to remodel this floor, and rebuild the second with lightweight material.

Urban legends

The legends associated with the building are varied, from its origin to paranormal events that supposedly occurred. One such legend is one of Parvaneh Dervaspa, a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

woman who is claimed to have arrived to the port of

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists ...

on August 25, 1573, and settled in the house in the mid 18th century, being accused of

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

by the Holy Inquisition and

burned at the stake Death by burning is an list of execution methods, execution, murder, or suicide method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a puni ...

on October 23 of the next year after her confession under duress. Another legend mentions a mass poisoning incident, where a family that lived in the building accidentally consumed a

hallucinogenic Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, moo ...

substance that resulted in the deaths of all participants, being characterized by their screaming. Similar stories feature claims of

familicide A familicide is a type of murder or murder-suicide in which an individual kills multiple close family members in quick succession, most often children, spouses, siblings, or parents. In half the cases, the killer lastly kills themselves in a ...

s in the building. At the end of the 1970s, the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

Humberto Vílchez Vera, host of the television program ''Los fantasmas se divierten'', made a bet that he was capable of staying seven days on the second floor of the building. Vílchez allegedly left the place after two hours and had to be admitted to a

mental hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with ...

for a year, after which he disappeared. Years later, in his book ''El cazador de fantasmas'', the TV host denied the urban legend, saying that such events never happened, and the only thing he wanted was to increase his ratings.

Conspiracy theories

There is a

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

that indicates that the origin of the urban legends of ghosts in the building were created and disseminated by the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

to prevent the building's use for

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

, due to the fact that the U.S. embassy in Lima was located across the street from its construction in the late 1940s to the early 1990s, after which it was replaced by a hospìtal.

References

{{Landmarks in Lima Buildings and structures in Lima Conspiracy theories in South America Reportedly haunted buildings Reportedly haunted locations in South America Lima District

History

Urban legends

Conspiracy theories

See also

References