Leilani Delgado

Writing 2

Professor Riordan

19 March 2023

Cannibals

In Gran Dolina, Spain, located in an area surrounded by mountains. The only closest city

is Burgos, Spain, which happens to be kilometers away. A group of experienced cavers came to

Spain after hearing of the many caves in the region. Originally, the group of friends meant to

enjoy their time touring Spain and going specifically to caves in the North. While on their trip,

they stop at the city of Burgos, Spain. Here the group of four meets a man in his late 30s named

José Venezuela. While in discussion, the man tells the four how he is a caver himself. He

mentions the caves in Gran Dolina where the caves go at far depths and how it is a bit of a drive

to get there. He says the group should go into this cave as he has personally enjoyed the many

times he has gone. He convinces the friends and then takes them to Gran Dolina the next

morning. The man shows them where they are to go and that it is a fairly easy cave to venture

into; the group of friends gathers their equipment when they realize the man has disappeared.

Not sure where he had taken off to, they were under the impression he had taken off into the

cave. The friends finally get settled with all their things and enter the cave José showed them.

After a few minutes, they find it easy, as José had said. Minutes later, the group starts to notice a

certain change in the structure of the cave. They get to a narrow passage where they have to

crawl, and the lights on their helmets start to flicker.

After getting through this part of the cave, they begin hearing weird sounds within the

cave. It did make the cavers question what exactly could be in here, but they thought nothing
much of it besides the fact it could be some tiny animal. It is not until they get to a specific point

while caving that they start seeing gnawed-at bones and skulls covering the floor in an open-

spaced area. At this point, the friends become concerned. It is then that they talk of going back

that this creature comes out of nowhere and attacks one of them. Everything occurs so quickly,

the screams of the caver being eaten by a creature that resembles a human. The friend being torn

alive by the creature tells the friends to run, and they do. The friends hide, and it is out of

nowhere their friends screaming stops abruptly. The loudest screech is heard by what is assumed

to be the monster, and then seconds later, the sound of many screeches in sync vibrates

throughout the cave. Now terrified, the cavers want to leave the cave and avoid the monsters. So,

they group in doing so. Right as they go out, they run into a creature, but they soon realize these

creatures cannot see. They do their best to keep quiet, and it leaves them where they are at.

Continuing to find the way out, they enter a small part of the cave, where they run into

two creatures. They attempt to keep quiet when someone's foot slips and are then attacked by the

creatures. Two friends quickly leave and hurry before others find them because of their friend's

screams. There is a ledge that the remaining two get to, and as they are halfway down, they hear

the cricketing sounds of these creatures they look up and see at least ten up in the areas of caves

in the walls. One of the creatures hears them going down and starts eating at one of them, and the

other makes it out. The one caver left escapes and continues to find his way out. He makes

interactions at some points but maintains silence when he does, and they eventually go away. He

then enters another room within the cave filled with skulls and at least 20 of these creatures,

where he sees a hole on the other side of the room skylight. He gets to the other side and crawls

towards the skylight, where he slips. He looks back to see monsters going quickly in his

direction. He hurries out of the small space and meets the light and grass outside the hole he
comes out of. The monsters retreat because it seems they are restricted to remain in the cave. The

last surviving caver goes back into Burgos, Spain, telling of what has happened and of the man

that led him and his friends there. At that moment, he is told by local reinforcements that this

man had been missing for years believed to be dead and at least 80 years old.

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 Leilani Delgado

Writing 2

Professor Riordan

19 March 2023

Reflection

The new translation of my academic article is intended to reach a different audience than

the original. Specifically, it targets those interested in ghost stories and horror, as well as

creatures that resemble humans and feed on people, possibly even their own kind. This audience

is distinct from the original audience of scholars interested in the species Homo, discovered in a

cave deep underground, and its social organization. Anthropologists and archaeologists, among

others, were interested in the possibility of cannibalism among our ancient ancestors. The

academic article attempts to understand the society of the time and the reasons for cannibalism,

whether due to resource scarcity or as a ritual or norm of the society. The discovery raises

questions about our ancestors and the role of cannibalism in the evolution of human society.

In contrast, my new genre of ghost story focuses on the terrifying experiences of a group

of friends coexisting with the human-like creatures found in the cave. It adds horror and gore to

the story, with the potential for further development in the final product.

I thought a lot recently about why I chose this genre, and one main reason is that

Professor Eugene said it would be cool to have someone do it. I decided I would take the

challenge of attempting such a story from an academic article. Other reasons were that, as a

writer, I feel I like creativity and that I am more reliant on my essays that include logic and proof

rather than those done without. I wanted to get out of that comfort zone of logic in my writing

and try to explore my creative slide with this project. My goal is to become a creative thinker and
“harness intuition - to get the imagination to take the reins in its own hands” (Elbow 38). As a

writer, I should be able to write from any stance, and this is me trying to improve this weak

stance in my writing. My last reason is because of how ironic it is for me to do something that

involves horror. As a kid, I could not handle such things, whether a movie or a story. Next thing

you know, I would have a nightmare of it. My family, to this day, makes fun of me because of

how scared I would get as a kid. Now that I’m older, I read less gory and horror but watch tons

of it. Just the difference between how I used to be and now being older, attempting something

that used to scare me is cool in its way.

With my new genre choice integrating it felt easy with the academic article I chose. The

setting in which our ancestors remain was found in the depths of caves in Spain. The cannibalism

and eating of other animals seemed like information to make a scary story, and the fact bones

were found chewed on by this species was another. Now in translating the genre, the first thing I

left out was any scientific information just because of the approach I went for. I also neglected to

say the period in which these creatures are from or that any research was done. What I did keep

is the location of the caves and the description of the Homo species themselves partaking in

cannibalism with a slight twist. I also included the evidence of gnawed bones that researchers

found to prove the cannibalism the species partook in. The reason I removed certain things is that

as a reader reading a ghost story, I would not possibly continue reading if scientific words are

included. As in, I chose to read this genre for the scare/entertainment, not scientific words which

I could find elsewhere. “Depending on the subject matter and the intended audience, it may make

sense to be more or less formal in terms of language” (Bunn 80). So, to do just that and make it

scary/entertaining for readers, I added characters that had been cavers led to explore a cave by a
man. These same explorers are picked off one by one, but one gets to survive in the end to find

out the man who led him and his friends is a ghost who may be a victim of those same creatures.

The challenges I faced with this genre are mainly keeping it going with what to say. As I

mentioned previously, I am not super comfortable with writing things not based on logic and

evidence, so this genre did pose a slight challenge in that aspect. However, I do believe I

overcame it and made a lengthy story based on the fact that I constantly watch things with

horror. I do feel I could go back and add more details for sure just to make the story more

interesting to read. Lastly, the most difficult challenge was adding a ghost, with most of the plot

being about creatures eating these people. I think I figured that out by making the person who led

the cavers in my story a ghost who led them to these caves.

Bunn, Mike. "How to read like a writer." Writing spaces: Readings on writing 2 (2011): 71-86.

Carbonell, Eudald, et al., eds. "Cultural cannibalism as a paleoeconomic system in the European

Lower Pleistocene: The case of level TD6 of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos,

Spain)." Current Anthropology 51.4 (2010): 539-549.

Elbow, Peter. "Teaching thinking by teaching writing." Change: The Magazine of Higher

Learning 15.6 (1983): 37-40.