Horror Stories to tell in the dark

Chaper 1: Legend of La Llorna

Have you heard of the tale of La Llorna?

The tale of La Llorna is a Latin American Folktale. It is one of the most famous oral legends.
   Our story begins in early spring, in a rural village there lived a young women named Maria. Maria's family was poor, but known around the village for her beauty. One day, a wealthy nobleman traveled through her village. The nobleman stopped in his tracks once he saw Maria. Maria was charmed by him and he was taken by her beauty, when he proposed to her she immediately accepted.

Eventually, the two married, and Maria gave birth to two sons. Her husband was always traveling and he began to stop spending time with his family. When he came home, he only paid attention to the children and as time passed Maria could tell that her husband was falling out of love with her because she was getting old. One day he returned to the village with a younger woman, and bid his children farewell, ignoring Maria.

   Maria felt mixed feelings, anger and hurt. She told her Children that they were going to go out somewhere. Maria had taken them to a River. In a blind rage, she started to drown her two sons. She realized what she had done, she searched of them but found nothing. The river had already carried them away.

   Days later, she was found dead on river bank. She had committed the two ultimate sins, murder and suicide. She was challenged at the gates of heaven, for the whereabouts of her children. Maria is not permitted to enter the after life until she found her two sons. Stuck between the land of the living and dead, she spends eternity looking for her lost children.

  She is always hear weeping, or crying. Earning her the name, "La Llorna".

   It is said that if you hear her crying, you are to run the opposite way. If you hear her cries, they could bring misfortune or even death. Many parents in Latin America use this story to scare their children from staying out too late. La Llorona kidnaps wandering children at night, mistaking them for her own. She begs the heavens for forgiveness, and drowns the children she kidnaps. People who claim to have seen her say she appears at night or in the late evening by rivers or lakes, wearing a white gown with a veil.

      Some believe those who hear the wails of La Llorona are marked for death or misfortune, similar to the Gaelic banshee legend. She scrapes the bottom of the rivers and lakes, searching for her sons. It is said that when her wails sound near she is actually far and when she sounds distant, she is actually very near...