The Legend of La Llorona

Title: The Legend of La Llorona

Genere and Sub-Genre:

Verbal Folklore: Horror Story (Urban Legend)

Language: English

Country of Origin: Mexico

Informant Data:

Samantha Collins was originally born in New Jersey, is 22 years old, and currently attends Duke University for graduate school. She moved to Arizona at a young age and has grown up there ever since, expect for when she was away at college.

Contextual Data:

In Arizona, there are an abundance of mountains and canyons, and when camping in one people often hear the wind going through the canyon, which sounds very much like faded wailing or screaming, making the legend of La Llorona fairly popular in Arizona.

Item:

Transcript of Audio File:

“La Llorona is a story typically told around the campfire. When you’re camping with family and friends. La Llorona the story about a woman, who had two children, who wanted to marry a man. But, the man didn’t like kids. He just wanted to be a husband. Therefore, Maria (as she was known back then) drowned her kids. As their bodies floated down the river she realized what she did and ran back to the husband and told him.

But the man did not like that. He did not want a murderer for a wife. So unfortunately, Maria ended up committing suicide. Now, Maria went to heaven to see Saint Peter to see if she could enter heaven. But, Saint Peter would not let her enter heaven without the bones of her children. That is why Maria, or La Llorona, as we know her now, cries and wails as she searches for the bones of her children to bring back to Saint Peter.”

Informant’s Comments: Samantha stated that this was a story that was often told around a campfire.

Collector’s Comments: I have heard multiple variations of this legend, where Maria (La Llorona) wants children’s bones to give to Saint Peter instead of her own children’s to try and trick him in order to get into heaven. There’s also variation between whether or not La Llorona is a banshee or a ghost.

Collector’s Name: Alexandra Collins

One thought on “The Legend of La Llorona

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *