The Legend of La Llorona

According to Mexican folklore, there is a legend of a ghostly woman with flowing long black hair dressed in white that roams the nearby river's edge.

Those that claim to have seen her from a distance, will say that she is a mystifying spirit. But those that have dared wandered closer and caught even a fleeting glimpse of her face will claim that she is a terrifying spirit.

But it is her screams that will chill you to your core.

On a still night near the nearby river, when the wind is calm, you can hear her unearthly wails of despair.

She is known as La Llorona.

The Weeping Woman

The legend of La Llorona is by far one of the most well known urban legends in Mexican and Latin American culture.

Translated to "the weeping woman", La Llorona's wails cry out for help for the two sons she'd lost. A loss that was her own doing.

Where are my sons?

¿Dónde están mis hijos?

La Llorona is a vengeful spirit forever cursed to suffer the consequences of the horrible actions she'd made in life.

Legend claims that La Llorona was a young, beautiful Mexican woman named Maria who murdered her own young sons, drowning them in the nearby river in a rage of anger that she regretted instantly. While no less tragic, why she murdered her sons will vary from what version of the legend you're told. Some will say that she drowned them out of fear while one variation claims that the drowning was no more than an unfortunate accident as she became distracted with a lover, her negligence to her sons costing them their life.

However, the most well known variation of the legend is this:

A Mexican woman named Maria caught her husband having an affair with another woman. Completely devastated and full of rage, she took the two young sons she'd had with him to the river and drowned them.

She regretted what she had done instantly but it was too late. Full of deep regret and despair, she drowned herself only to be caught between the living and the afterlife as she could not pass on to the other side without her sons.

Now she roams the river where she had drowned her sons in an eternal search to find their souls so that they can be reunited.

The legend of La Llorna also serves as a cautionary tale to children to prevent them from wandering off or staying out long after dark. It is said that La Llorona will appear to children who wander off and snatch them away to replace them with the two sons she'd lost and will never get back.

Misbehaving children who wander off are not the only ones that need to fear La Llorona.

It is said men who find themselves alone are also to fear hearing the wails of La Llorona. Her mystifying spirit will attempt to seduce a man luring him to the river's edge before drowning him out of vengeance as she remembers the adultery her husband committed.

Just as chilling as her wails themselves, it is said that to lure her victims, her wails sound deceptively distant the closer she approaches.

However, anyone who has the misfortune of hearing her chilling cries for her sons is said to soon experience the worst of luck and misfortune such as the death of a loved one or a horrible accident.

Many cultures around the world have their tale of "the lady in white" and La Llorona, "the weeping woman" is Mexico's version.

On a still night near the river's edge, perhaps you can hear her ghostly wails of despair.

¿Dónde están mis hijos?

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