Mexico Unexplained: La Llorona, Mexico's Ditch Witch

She’s one of the most powerful and enduring pieces of Mexican folklore. She haunts the canals, creek beds, rivers, arroyos and acequias of Mexico and the American Southwest. If you are a child growing up in any of these areas the story of La Llorona is more terrifying than any other ghost story and this story is older than anyone can remember.

So, what is the phenomenon called La Llorona?

The story always begins in a small village a long time ago and usually far away. The story is usually set in “Spanish times.” There was a beautiful young girl named Maria who caught the attention of many men from all over the territory. She was married off to an older nobleman when she was just a teenager. Her husband was handsome and wealthy and was away from home a lot. Once while he was away Maria heard a story that her husband was going to leave her for a younger woman from a better family. In a fit of jealousy, Maria took her two kids down to the river to drown them. When she threw them in the rushing water, they cried out to her as they were drowning and she had second thoughts. She tried to reach out to save them, but it was too late. They were swept away by the current never to be seen again. It is said that to this day, Maria still roams the arroyos and riverbeds, as an old hag, looking for her children and crying out for them, and will snatch up children who are alone or careless. The story has minor variations depending on the storyteller, but the basic message is always the same. People have claimed to have actually seen the Llorona which further solidifies the legend.

Some people tie the story of La Llorona to the story of La Malinche, the interpreter and guide who accompanied Cortés to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán. She is remembered as both a traitor or as the mother of a new race of meztizos, as she bore children with Cortez. Some connect the Malinche with La Llorona because according to some accounts, the historical Malinche killed her kids when she found out that Cortez was betrothed to a noblewoman from Spain.
One could argue that the whole reason for the La Llorona story is to keep kids away from potentially dangerous flash-flood situations. As with many legends, the story of La Llorona is a cautionary tale to keep kids in line while parents are not there. In the United States, even the City of Albuquerque used the Llorona story in their “Ditches are deadly, stay away” campaign to warn children away from playing in the arroyos. This occurred in the 1980s and even came with signs featuring the “ditch witch” to scare off the kiddies. La Llorona to this day remains a powerful legend.

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