The five most terrifying legends of Mexico

Reality surpasses fiction in Mexico. Known for the way in which the Day of the Dead is celebrated where the deceased return to visit their relatives, the country is full of traditions, legends, and ancestral rites that revere death.

From disillusioned women to mannequins that come to life. There are many legends that haunt Mexico and frighten children and adults alike. With the flashlight lit under the sheet or camping around the fire, here you can find five horror stories that have rattled Mexico.

The Nun of the Conception

In the sixteenth century, the Ávila brothers (María, Gil, and Alfonso) lived in the streets of Argentina and Guatemala in the Historic Center of Mexico City, which enjoyed a good social position and a considerable fortune.

Maria, the youngest, was naive and trusting, and one day she met Arrutia, a mestizo from a humble family who worked for the Ávila and had been bamboozled by her good life. Thus, the boy deceived the sweet Mary, who in less than two weeks would be willing to make any sacrifice for him.

A few months after the wedding, the ambitious and ruinous plan that Arrutia had in a drunken voice in the bars of the capital came to the ears of Alfonso de Avila, who forbade the mestizo to see his sister again and he soon answered: "No You can do nothing if she loves me because your sister's heart has been mine for a long time, you can oppose what you want, but you will not get anything."

Then, Alfonso offered him a large sum of money to get him away and he did. He escaped to Veracruz without saying goodbye to his beloved. Then the unhappy Maria fell ill with depression wandering around the house, moaning and crying. When she saw her in this state, her family entered her in the convent of La Concepción, known as the novices of the daughters of the conquerors.

Mary gave her body and soul to God until one day she learned that Arrutia was still alive and, broken with pain, committed suicide by hanging from a precipice, where she was immobile swinging like a pendulum moved by the wind.

Many are those who have seen the nun hanging in the water. Now, the religious phenomena coexist with the paranormal in the convent because, as they say, things move and get lost without anyone touching them, the night screams do not stop and the feeling that someone is watching them is always there.

La Llorona

It is one of the best-known legends of ancient Mexico. While some claim that it is the Aztec goddess Cihuacoatl, others speak of Malinche, the indigenous woman who helped Cortés in the conquest of Mexico. Now, a group of historians locates La Llorona in the 16th century during the colonial era.

According to tradition, an indigenous woman had an affair with a Spanish gentleman, who later rejected her out of shame and married a lady of Spanish high society. When La Llorona found out, hurt and desperate, she murdered her three children by drowning them in a river. Afterward and unable to bear the guilt, he committed suicide.

Years later a curfew was imposed in Mexico City, a time in which many say they heard a lament near the Plaza de la Patria and, who dare to look out the window, see the pale face of a woman almost rickety and with worn white arapos that disappears in the lake of the Texcoco between screams "Oh, my children!".

The shoddy woman

Vicente Palacio collected all the terrifying stories that are told in the country in his book 'Mexican Traditions and Legends'. In it, he tells how "in 1670, a clergyman not very old with his half-century on his back, lived in Mexico on the street known today as the False Door in the neighborhood of Santo Domingo."

One day, the solitary clergyman decided to look for a woman and live with her as if it were his legitimate wife. Repudiated by the faithful of the city, his friend the blacksmith was the only one to turn his back on him. At night, two black slaves requested the blacksmith's services urgently in the name of the clergyman so that he could place four large horseshoes on a black mule.

When he woke up, the morning arrived, the clergyman observed that his wife, lying in the same bed, was not breathing. As he lowered the sheets, he found the young girl whose shoes had been stuck in her hands and feet. Then they knew that everything was a consequence of Divine Justice and that the slaves were demons from hell.

The Boyfriend of Death

Legend has it that Veronica, a happy and vivacious young woman, had planned to marry Fernando. A week before the wedding, she left the city to hand out the invitations. The same day of the ceremony and under a rainy sky, Veronica had a bad feeling and in a curve, the car in which she traveled was thrown in a ravine, dying at the moment.

Years later, a former classmate from her school traveled alone at 12 o'clock on the same rad where some say that Veronica's shattered face appeared in the back of the car. Then, in the same way, the boy lost control of the car crashing into a rock and dying on the spot.

Be careful if you decide to travel alone on one of the roads around Mexico City because, looking in the rearview mirror, you could see Veronica, always sitting trying to get her victims to suffer just like her.

La Pascualita

This time it is not about a person or an animal. The story goes back to March 25, 1930, on Avenida Melchor Ocampo with Guadalupe Victoria Street, where Pascualita Esparza Perales de Perez, owner of the wedding dress shop 'La Popular', placed a strange mannequin in the window of her commerce that would soon call the attention of all its customers in Chihuahua.

The mannequin, baptized as La Chonita, came from France and was acquired on the same day as the Immaculate Conception. For a while, La Chonita was considered the prettiest girlfriend of Chihuahua until, later, the legends around the almaniquí emerged due to the reality of her facial expressions, her glazed eyes, her natural hair, or the very defined details of the wrinkles on her hands, eyes, and neck.

It is known that Pascualita died the same day of her wedding after being bitten by a scorpion (scorpion) that had hidden in her tiara. Now, many say that it was her own mother who embalmed her and became the mannequin known as La Chonita to have her always near.

Over the years, the story has been magnified and many claim that a French magician sick with love brought her back to life. Since then, many are the ones who every night listen to lovers dance, drink, and celebrate the little time they can be together. Nowadays, the neighbors come to leave prayers and candles because "miracles happen on their feet".