I am a person that believes in all kinds of things without having to have any proof. Im am full of blind faith, why? Fear mostly. My mother is Spanish, her mother a combination of Spanish and French, and Her dad 100% Spanish. They are very very Latino. I grew up with tons of stories that were meant to strike fear in my heart and keep me obedient. As I grew up I slowly realized most of these were variations of some folklore.
A very popular one that I heard frequently was the story of the Vieja Llorona. After a search I did for the original story I found it was originally called La Llorona. When my mother or grandmother decided it was a suitable time to scare the shit out of me, the story went like this:
"Sit down in that share Starsheeni"
"You are supose to be home before the street lights come on, do you know why? The Vieja Llorona!"
"A long time ago there was a woman with 4 children, she was madly in love with a man that disliked kids. She lost her sanity and took all of her children to that river just over there. It was late at night and she coldly drown each of her children 1 by one in the river. When she was done she couldn't believe what she had done, she was terribly sorry and felt she was unworthy of life. She walked into the river and drown herself. When she saw St. Peter at the Pearly Gates she was not allowed into heaven for her terrible sins of drowning her children and herself. She was told that they may let her into heaven if she could find her children and they sent her back to earth. Llarona wanders this area crying out for her children, on calm nights you can hear her weeping. You are not to be out after dark, if she sees you she may mistake you for her own and take you! If you hear her cry close, you are too late!"
My cousins and I would run to the window and strain our ears trying to hear her.
The moral of the story? Obey your parents, come home when told to, not because they will be angry, or beat you, or you will be punished but because the Llorona will take you under the water with her!
To read about the original and where it is traditionally from
Im curious if I should pass these stories along to my son. I must admit it was pretty ingenius to ensure kids properly behaving without the parent having to be the bad guy. I think on a level us kids always knew it was bologna, but we wernt positive, it scared us enough to not want to risk it. No long term damage was done, and these stories fascinated me.
I was about to say it sounds like a "modern" day banshee but then right on your link that's right there at the bottom.
I dunno if the kids knew it was bolonga or not. Most kids at least for a while believe in a literal Santa Claus and there billions of adults who frankly believe in stuff a lot crazier than a ghost who feels bad for killing her kids. It's not like real women don't kill their real kids often enough that it only makes the news if she gets sufficiently creative or racks up a high enough score. The idea, especially when you tack on maybe she just went crazy and she's not a ghost but is still a very real person, that a ghost exists is frankly less crazy than believing various other religious beliefs.