In Maya mythology, Ah Puch (Alternatively Ahpuch or Hun ahau) was the God of death and King of Metnal, the underworld.
Ah Puch was depicted as a skeleton or corpse adorned with bells, sometimes the head of an owl; even today, some Mexicans and Central Americans believe that an owl's screeches signify imminent death, as the following saying, in local Spanish, indicates:
- Cuando el tecolote canta... el indio muere (When the great owl sings, the Indian dies)