Don't send up the Bat-signal for this nightmare!

 

I was astonished to see this mask, representing an ancient, evil bat-deity named Camazotz.  The resemblance between it and the comic-book figure Batman is uncanny.

Collective Spark reports:

Camazotz, (meaning ‘death bat’ in the Kʼiche’ Mayan language of Guatemala) originated deep in Mesoamerican mythology as a dangerous cave-dwelling bat creature. A cult following for the creature began amongst the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico and the figure was later adopted into the pantheon of the Maya Quiche tribe and the legends of the bat god were later recorded in Maya literature.

. . .

In the Maya culture, the bat god Camazotz is linked to death. Camazotz is also the name of a monstrous creature which inhabited a cave called “the house of bats” in the Popol Vuh. Most scholars believe that Camazotz was inspired by the common vampire bat, but others have suggested that it was based on a giant vampire bat that (probably) went extinct sometime during the Pleistocene or Holocene periods.

In the Popol Vuh, an ancient Mayan mythological text, Zotzilaha was the name of a cave inhabited by the Camazotz, a monster with a roughly humanoid body, the head of a bat, and a nose that resembled a flint knife. The monster was said to attack victims by the neck and decapitate them. In the Popol Vuh, it is recorded that this creature decapitated the Maya hero Hunahpu. Camazotz is also one of the four animal demons responsible for wiping out mankind during the age of the first sun.

There's more at the link, and very interesting reading it is, too.

One has to wonder whether artist Bob Kane, who developed the image of the cartoon Batman, ever saw that mask, or any other images of Camazotz or related beings in South American mythology.  The resemblance is so strong as to convince me he must have had a previous memory in mind when he first drew Batman.  What say you, readers?  Does anyone know for sure?

Peter