In Spanish folklore, the Sacamantecas (Spanish for "Fat Extractor") is a bogeyman-type character, often conflated with the child-targeting sack man, that abducts people to extract their body fat and sell it.
Juan Díaz de Garayo was called The Sacamantecas upon his arrest and conviction, and today is sometimes referred to as "the real" Sacamantecas, but he wasn't the origin of this legendary character, as it predates him, nor did he ever extract the body fat of his victims.

The idea that the murders were the work of a Sacamantecas was actually a popular rumor that began prior to Garayo's arrest, when there was no known culprit.
Garayo himself heard of this rumor, and his disembowelment of the last victim was a deliberate attempt to promote it.
In the legends, the Sacamantecas were wandering traders, always outsiders, while Garayo was a local farmer.
Through this attempt to "confirm" the Sacamantecas rumor, Garayo tried to throw suspicion off himself and the real reason of the murders, his sexual impulses.

Though only Garayo came to be known as "The" Sacamantecas, other serial killers and child murderers in 19th and early 20th century Spain were claimed to be sacamantecas as well, such as Manuel Blanco Romasanta, Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés and the 1910 murderers of the Sierra de Gádor.
In Spanish folklore, the Sacamantecas (Spanish for "Fat Extractor") is a bogeyman-type character, often conflated with the child-targeting sack man, that abducts people to extract their body fat and sell it. Juan Díaz de Garayo was called The Sacamantecas upon his arrest and conviction, and today is sometimes referred to as "the real" Sacamantecas, but he wasn't the origin of this legendary character, as it predates him, nor did he ever extract the body fat of his victims.
The idea that the murders were the work of a Sacamantecas was actually a popular rumor that began prior to Garayo's arrest, when there was no known culprit. Garayo himself heard of this rumor, and his disembowelment of the last victim was a deliberate attempt to promote it. In the legends, the Sacamantecas were wandering traders, always outsiders, while Garayo was a local farmer. Through this attempt to "confirm" the Sacamantecas rumor, Garayo tried to throw suspicion off himself and the real reason of the murders, his sexual impulses.
Though only Garayo came to be known as "The" Sacamantecas, other serial killers and child murderers in 19th and early 20th century Spain were claimed to be sacamantecas as well, such as Manuel Blanco Romasanta, Enriqueta Martí i Ripollés and the 1910 murderers of the Sierra de Gádor.
Juan Díaz de Garayo