Mariana Enríquez

“An Invocation of the Big-Eared Runt” (Pablito clavó un clavito: Una evocación del Petiso Orejudo) is an unsettling short story by Mariana Enríquez, published in the collection Las cosas que perdimos en el fuego (2016). The story centers on Pablo, a guide of macabre tours in Buenos Aires, who begins to see the specter of the Petiso Orejudo, an infamous murderer from the early twentieth century. The criminal’s supernatural apparition becomes a disturbing reflection of the protagonist’s personal and familial crisis. Enríquez intertwines historical horror with psychological terror, creating a dense and chilling atmosphere that explores obsession, guilt, and the loss of human connection.