Scary Stories
Over the years there have been great tales of spooky nights and ghosts. Of spirits that would not rest or of shadows that would not disappear. There were tales of dark magic and creatures that would not let humans rest. There were also stories of lost and cursed money that lingered on the side of distant roads. Gathered around the living room with our hairs standing up, my siblings and I would devour each of our parents words. Sitting around them and listening as they lingered on certain words was exhilarating. It didn’t matter how many times they had already told the story. To be able to hear the scary tales they had heard from their parents was what intrigued me the most.
There is history in the tales they told. Each story had at one point been told to my aunts and uncles and even beyond them. Each tale was at sometime told to other children sitting around a room with big wide eyes and scared looks. It was in a different time but the tradition remained the same. For us it was a time to be with family and at the same time be taught a lesson, or learn from an experience. Of course we would mainly just get scared from the stories but at the same time we had fun. We enjoyed the things or parents had to say about their lives and growing up. The tales were mainly used to spook us but in them we learned of hardships, struggles, and past lives. The stories my parents had were also filled with poverty, sadness, and despair.
I recall my mother’s stories in where she spoke of bewitching and demons, yet she would detail the poverty in which her grandmother lived in. I remember her description of the mud house that she lived in and of the dirt rooms she slept in. My father would tell of black dogs that would not stop howling even after their body was no longer visible, and of the lack of food his mother had at home. In each story there was a bigger tale of hardship. In each story I imagined the struggles that my family had to overcome. The tales did a great job of scaring me but they also provided me with my family’s history. The history of there settlement in Mexico, of their beliefs, and of their hard work.
I am an avid lover of this month due to the spookiness that comes with it. I truly enjoy tales of hunts and creatures unknown. I had not thought about those tales my parents had told me when I was younger, until recently. My youngest sister spent the night and as a way to celebrate the 1st of October we decided to take scary stories. This of course reminded me of all those nights being with my parents and having those same stories passed down to me.
