Iquitos Legends:

 ccording to the local legends of Iquitos, the Tunchi is a lost soul of someone who died in the rainforest and is doomed to wander relentlessly in the depths of the rainforest in the darkness of the night. The Tunchi is said to retrace the same path in the rainforest that he followed during his life. Typically there is an eerie silence when the Tunchi is closeby, and the Tunchi announces his presence with a faint sound and then comes close to you. The sound makes you shiver. It is a shrill, hissing sound that sends a shiver up your spine.  Later when the Tunchi leaves you, the sound becomes lost in the night in the deepness of the jungle.

According to this Iquitos legend, the Tunchi is a guardian of the rainforest and will not harm those who respect the flora and fauna living there.  However, those who harm the rainforest by cutting down its trees or killing its animals will face the wrath of the Tunchi as he will relentlessly haunt and terrorize the offender.