The Curse Of The Wailing Woman, also known as The Curse Of La Llorona, is a famous folk tale that is known in many places. Originating in Mexico, La Llorona has been believed to have wandered the earth for more than 500 years. The story goes on to say that in a village there lived a woman called Maria in which she fell in love with a wealthy man and got married. As their marriage went on, she had two boys. In the meantime, her husband was always traveling doing work and would rarely come home. Slowly, Maria started to notice that he was falling out of love with her and when he would come home on rare occasions, he would only see the kids and not her. Until one day, when he left her for another younger woman, Maria was so furious that she took both her kids to a nearby river and drowned them. She realized what she had done and tried to get the bodies of her children back but was unable to. So, in terror and sadness, she took her own life. After she died, it is said that heaven denied her entrance until she recovers her dead children’s souls who are stuck between the living and the dead. She is supposedly doomed on earth and kidnaps children who are alone at night. As years went on stories and myths of La Llorona started to spread saying that at midnight, you could hear women saying “Ay, mis hijos!” which means “oh my children” the story also goes to say that if anyone hears her screams they are marked for death and that when you do hear it you should run the other way so when you hear a woman screaming loud at midnight when your alone maybe think of running the other way.

Citations:

• https://theconversation.com/la-llorona-hispanic-folklore-goes-mainstream-33705
• *PRIMARY SOURCE* Asked family members about their versions of the story