In 1919, a young CHamoru woman named Julia Martinez attending the Guam Normal School (for the training of teachers) wrote this about the beliefs of CHamorus at the time about taotaomo’na, or the spirits of their ancestors.

“Taotaomo’na are ghosts who live in thick woods and their food is mushrooms. They say that if you touch anything belonging to the taotaomo’na, it will cause you sickness and no medicine can cure it. They come out from the hill at midnight to go to the sea to take their bath.

When a man is married and jealous, he gets a taotaomo’na companion to tell him what his wife at home is doing. But to get a taotaomo’na companion, this man will have to turn his back on his religion. The man becomes very strong because the ghost is helping him and he can get anything he wants except money. When the man is finished with his taotaomo’na, he must give it to a relative or he will get sick and die.”