The Legend of La Llorona
This week The Mythologist travels to Mexico to uncover one of the most famous ghost stories in the world
The waters are placid in the night time light. The wind hurry’s through the trees and the branches bow and crack, woven together into a tapestry of near silent sounds. A thin mist hangs over the lake penetrated by the thin sliver of moonlight cast through the grey clouds and reflecting back off of the black water. It is in amongst this maelstrom of calm that the weeping of a woman echoes.
The Legend of La Llorona is one of the worlds most infamous ghost stories having lived to be passed across centuries. It has been a feature of popular culture for decades having been adapted in to various films and TV shows. It is a story mothers told their children to ensure they didn’t stay out late at nigh and scare them away from strangers.
The legend tells of a poor young woman named Maria who was renowned for her beauty in her village. One day she caught the eye of a rich man passing through town and the pair fell in love and were married despite the protests of the mans father. Shortly after building a home together they welcomed two children into their family. The man soon became distracted, however, and began travelling for long periods of time, showing affection for only his children and paying Maria little mind.
One day he left his family and never returned. A distraught Maria continued to care for her children and attempted to move on. Years had passed when she was walking by a river with her children when she saw her husband with another, younger, woman. Incensed, Maria picked up her children and threw them into the river, drowning them. It was only when she saw their bodies that she realised what she had done and leapt into the water in an attempt to drown herself. Maria was never seen again.
It is said that her ghost haunts the banks of lakes and rivers across the country, weeping for her fallen children, desperate to recover their lost souls and return them to heaven. Many have reported hearing the cries of a woman late into the night, saying that her weeping may bring death to those that don’t run.
In some modern versions of the legend, La Llorona murders wandering children to replace her own and many believe that those who have heard her cries are marked for death. The folktale has spread across South America with its origin still unknown to this day. Many countries have their own variations on the legend with the Guatemalan La Llorona tale warning that if her cries sound near then she is far away but if her cries sound far, she is very near. Though the truth of La Llorona may never be uncovered it remains advisable that should you ever hear the her cries you must run away.
