More Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

The Crying Woman - La Llorona

This is a classic tale told through centuries of a woman who walks around the rivers of Mexico crying for her children.

I was 9 years old when I went to Mexico to visit my Grandmother. The first night that I got there was when she told me.

The story goes like this. Before Mexico was conquered by Hernan Cortez in 1519, there was a inidgionous woman named "la Malinche" she befriended Hernan and told him how he could conquer Mexico, she betrayed her own people to be with this man that she eventually fell in love with and had 3 children with him. After the conquest of Mexico, Hernan left for Spain to marry a Spanish woman - leaving "La Malinche" behind to be the ridicule of all her people. She was hurt and angry that he would do such a thing that she, out of spite, drowned all three of her children in the river, She then killed herself.

Many people who would camp out in the woods can hear her crying "Mis hijos, mis hijos, donde estan mis hijos" meaning "My children, My children, where are my children"

I wasn't told specifically where in Mexico, but it seems to me that she roams all of Mexico (I heard this story told by many people).Again this is a classic ghost story of Mexico. Needless to say, I was never a fan of camping in the woods after that :-)