By Robert Lopez
Of all the Latin American folktales and legends, none are more prolific and well-known as that of La Llorona. Long before its latest movie incarnation, The Curse of La Llorona was released the haunting tale had reverberated throughout the Latino cultures for generations, along with chilling stories of eyewitness accounts. And while variations of La Llorona or “the weeping woman” can be found in cultures around the world, there is no question that the origins of the Latin American version, lies in the Mexican culture.
Three of the most popular Mexican versions of La Llorona are:
- A woman of origin is so grief-stricken and enraged by her husband’s infidelity, she commits murder/suicide; vengefully killing their offspring by drowning them, and is immediately so grief-stricken, commits suicide alongside her children in the water.
- The grieving woman is the spirit of one or more Aztec Goddesses, like Chihuacoatl, who first appeared weeping perhaps as one of the omens foretelling the arrival of the Spaniards and their subsequent slaughter and continues to weep to this day.
- The grieving woman is actually Doña Marina, better known as La Malinche, Hernan Cortés’ lover and interpreter, considered a traitor to the Mexica (and the origin of the Spanish term ). Speculation suggests that she drowned her children born from Cortes in revenge for his betrayal with a Spanish woman.
Unlike many other legends and myths, La Llorona comes with actual encounters and eyewitness accounts throughout history, right-up to present-day, giving this story a more tangible form then mere folktale.
In seeking the ultimate expert on La Llorona, academic authorities pointed me to the gentleman who has conducted the only in-depth research project on her, that being, preeminent supernatural/paranormal investigator/researcher Christopher Chacon. Chacon’s research and investigatory background spans nearly forty years and thousands of cases, dealing with the most extraordinary supernatural and paranormal incidents from around the world; from possessions to poltergeists, from alien abductions to creature attacks. In addition to being a world-renowned Parapsychologist and Anomalist, Chacon is one of the world’s top authorities on all supernatural and paranormal phenomena, as well as supernatural occult practices, from arcane ancient sorcery and magick to present-day witchcraft in every corner of the world, including all practices and supernatural traditions throughout Mesoamerica.
This would not by any means be the first supernatural legend that Chacon has chased-down to research and investigate, having conducted countless expeditions exploring some of the most well-known legendary beings, places and phenomena in supernatural mythology, so he would be more than familiar with navigating through the morass of baseless stories, hoaxes and unverifiable accounts.
Chacon’s research/investigation into La Llorona entailed two primary phases:
- Investigation/Analysis of Actual Experiences and their Locations/Circumstances
- Wide-Array Historical Research (Historiography Assessment, Anthropological, etc.)
Chacon’s investigation of actual experiences required him to confidentially track-down and sort through thousands of alleged encounters of La Llorona and select only the most credible that also met the criteria for further scientific assessment.
Over 2,500 subjects (eyewitnesses) were selected, from children to the elderly. Once a mutual agreement of confidentially was established, each eyewitness was thoroughly interviewed and then underwent a battery of physiological and psychological tests. Additionally, the location where each experience took place was also analyzed, assessing the environmental conditions and circumstances surrounding each experience.
Chacon determined that some 1,750 of the experiences were explainable and not in anyway paranormal, including those experiences that reportedly involved a terrifying La Llorona, turning out to be nothing of the sort. However, another 750 or so of the experiences were in-fact the result of real phenomena, though 643 of those were determined by Chacon to be an entirely different phenomenon altogether and were being misinterpreted as La Llorona. In the last remaining 107 experiences, Chacon noted some truly curious findings, “While the 107 experiences were consistent with the visual/sensory experience of La Llorona, there were no indications of any malevolence, animosity or malice toward the children at the center of each encounter, but rather only benevolence, warmth, compassion and even at times protective, nurturing characteristics.” This is obviously baffling as these findings are in complete contrast to what has been passed down about the legend/folktale through the ages. To reiterate, the vicious, terrifyingly evil La Llorona that supposedly hunts children, appears to be a fallacy.
Chacon’s wide-array research into the origin of La Llorona first focused on the traditional narrative we are most familiar with, analyzing all existing historical data and information, additionally assessing the veracity, integrity, and credibility of any sources/origins. Chacon emphasized the importance of understanding how legends, folktales, and myths are created and perpetuated in order to put these long-established stories and interpretations into perspective. As with his investigations of eyewitness accounts, Chacon conducted the research of the La Llorona legend with an unbiased, objective approach, taking all possibilities into account before reaching any type of conclusion. He conducted a piece of wide-sweeping information collected from a variety of conventional and unconventional sources (scouring trading company, religious, colonial, business, mining, manufacturing, military/army, artistic/museum, archives, and records, as well as a variety of oral histories from /curandera practicing families, etc.). Others have attempted to explain the origin of La Llorona by speculating that she is the product of beliefs stemming from ancient Aztec and Mayan cultures, like the Aztec goddesses Ciuaciatl and Chalchiuhtlicue, however when Chacon took into consideration numerous past cases/research involving these beings/entities and the findings of his La Llorona research he found no connection, suggesting that historical/cultural conflation is responsible for the fallacy. The information Chacon discovered from multiple sources supports an alternative version of the La Llorona narrative:
“In a malicious act of spite and vengeance, an abusive unscrupulous father, NOT the mother, drowns their children. When the mother realizes this, she first attempts to save the drowned children, then in a grief-stricken state commits suicide alongside them. Conspiring to conceal the event and use it to his benefit, the father fabricated the narrative that the mother committed the horrific multiple-murder/suicide.”
“This newly discovered narrative more closely coincides with the eyewitness experiences documented” Chacon confirms. “It makes clearer sense in contrast to the previous more-popular narrative that had no reliable sources. The distorted erroneous story fabricated by the father was embraced without question in that era and quickly propagated throughout Mexico over generations assisted by and machismo conveys Chacon. Primarily rooted in the Catholicism brought over by the Spanish conquest, is an aspect of the female gender role that inherently expected all females to take-on wholesome, chaste, even virginal characteristics in all aspects of life and can be cause for ostracization and persecution if not complied. “Machismo,” also introduced via the Spanish conquest, often dictates men’s superiority and control over women in every aspect of life, perpetuating a male-dominant culture.
Intriguing as it is to discover these realizations about a legend as enduring as La Llorona, if one does the research, you might be surprised to find out there are countless other folktales and legends, far more substantial, that are misinterpreted and misunderstood, yet continue to thrive. The idea that Christopher Columbus’ voyage was to prove the world wasn’t flat or that he was the one to discover the Americas; that George Washington chopped down his father’s cherry tree; that the Salem witch trials burned people at the stake; or even that Jesus Christ was born on December 25th; all inaccurate in one way or another. Jesus Christ, for example is estimated by scholars and theologians to be born sometime between the spring and fall. Chacon adds to this, the innumerous misconceptions that surround supernatural and paranormal phenomena, “Occurring on a global scale, the misinterpretation and misidentification of phenomena is the most prevalent inaccuracy, next to the misconceptions of the mechanics and workings of phenomena itself. In every culture around the world, there are phenomena believed to be something when in-fact it is not, or reacts and behaves a specific way when it does not. Many of these misconceptions and fallacies are deeply rooted in beliefs, some over many generations, and are extremely difficult to modify or inform otherwise.”
It goes without saying that these thought-provoking and incredible new perspectives on La Llorona redefine her legend in a monumental way. And now that we now know the truth about La Llorona, I’m not sure what I am more taken aback by; the discovery of her real story and intentions, or the shocking fact that this folktale my grandmother use to tell me as a child to get me to go to bed is actually a real phenomenon.
About the Author
Robert Lopez is a former teacher, novice art curator, and amateur cultural anthropologist, chasing down very select stories as a writer/journalist thanks his very understanding family.