This Paranormal Life - #202 The Curse of La Llorona: Latin America's Most Famous Ghost

Episode Date: March 2, 2021

There are countless legends of ghosts around the world, many stories have been passed down the generations for hundreds or even thousands of years. A few are still feared to this day, and La Llorona may be the most terrifying of all.Patreonhttps://patreon.com/ThisParanormalLifeYouTubehttps://youtube.com/thisparanormallifeTwitterhttps://twitter.com/ThisParaLifeInstagramhttps://instagram.com/thisparanormallifeSecret Society Facebook Pagehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/thisparanormallife/Edited by Kami Tomanhttps://tomanedits.comResearch by Amy GrisdaleIntro music: https://www.purple-planet.comEvidence discussed on this case:Video of La Lloronahttps://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1223300/ghost-video-la-llorona-colombia-ghost-proof-evidence-supernaturalInterview with crew from the moviehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKzp5OuMYOI Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is it possible to turn metal into gold? If the earth isn't flat, why does it have four corners? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello and welcome to another episode of This Paranormal Life. This is the weekly comedy podcast where every Tuesday myself, Kit Grimmelvenna, this guy Roy Pars, investigate a different paranormal tale, case, or claim, and this guy, Rory Pars, investigate a different paranormal tale, case, or claim, and get to the bottom of whether it's truly paranormal or not. That's right. How are you doing today, Rory?

I'm doing fantastic. I'm already excited because you mentioned the possibility of turning metals into gold, which I think, I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent here because we like to get straight into the episode, but I have thought if I ever wanted to just quit my job and become an Indiana Jones type artifact hunter, number one on my list, Philosopher's Stone. I think that's what I would go for. What's that? I believe it's a mythological object that people believed

could turn any type of matter into solid gold. And what does this have to do with Harry Potter? No, it has nothing to do with Harry Potter. Right. It's an actual artifact in history. There's a little misleading because I think you just named the title of a Harry Potter movie or something, but... No, it has nothing to do with that. This is an actual artifact. You're kind of wasting my time with some kind of, I don't know, alchemist's

kind of holy grail, but I prefer to talk about the paranormal. This is fact. Smuggles, wizards. No, all of that is bullshit. Forget all about that. It's all about the paranormal this is muggles wizards no all of that is bullshit forget all about that it's all about the philosopher's stone an object that exists in real life which i would which is top of my list second on my list though azkaban a golden snitch uh my whole life i've been working for minimum wage. And then I read on Wikipedia late one night that you can just turn metal into gold. Unbelievable. It's worth risking everything just for that chance.

The day that we miss a Tuesday upload, you know I'll have created the Philosopher's Stone myself. If we stop uploading and all of a sudden I've got a golden ass, you know exactly what happened. Of course I'm going to turn my ass golden if you are walking through trafalgar square and you see a golden statue of rory know that that's not a statue that is rory you should have known that because no one wants to commemorate me anyway we digress we want to dive straight into today's investigation, as always. So thank you so much to Mark A. Zepeda, Quintana Miles, Javier Brambilla, and Chloe Gray for sending this one in to us. Those are some cool names. I've got a sad story for you, Rory. Arguably even sadder than the episode where you got mugged.

We're in Mexico, around the beginning of the 16th century, almost 500 years ago, where there's a beautiful young woman named Maria. All the local men are infatuated with her because most nights when the sun goes down, she goes out to local dances and enchants everyone who watches her dance in a beautiful white dress. One night, she meets a handsome man. I'm assuming you want me to play handsome man? If you could say. i mean i'm not it's all right i get typecast as the handsome i don't have much options do i no it's doing a one-on-one podcast with one guy the casting options are limited okay you're like so i'll be handsome man one and you'll be goblin king he's not even in the story. Goblin King dies before the first scene opens.

Goblin King is a shitty paranormal podcaster with a weird accent. All right, you've said enough. Que tal, señorita? He's a bit of a player. I'm actually somewhat of a player around here. He works hard and parties even harder. Tequila? Dos tequilas, por favor. Me gusta la tequila. He asks her to dance and she says, si, senor. And she falls madly in love.

But of course, Maria is different to those other women. He knows he cannot live without her and so he vows to change his loose and wanton ways he gets down on one knee and in a moment changes both their lives he asks her to marry him that night i don't think so necessarily okay that's some strong tequila moves fast it's muy rápido she thought it was just a dance move he put a he slipped a ring on her finger when she wasn't looking. He picked her up, twirled her around. When she came to, she was at an altar. All of her family and friends surrounding her. You've heard of a shotgun wedding? This was just a shots wedding. You drink so many shots, you get married.

Despite his faults, Maria is overjoyed and she gleefully accepts his proposal. Before long, they're married and even have two children. However, old habits die hard. It doesn't take long until Maria's husband is up to his old tricks. So right after the babies are born, he's out partying all night, chasing other women. Soon he just starts disappearing for months at a time. Alright, a bad father as well as a bad husband. I'm basically picturing Ernesto de la Cruz from Pixar's Coco here. Right.

Remember me every time you hear a sad guitar. Basically a gorgeous and talented asshole. Again, typecast, of course. Guilty as charged, but that's fine you know i'm fine i'm fine with everyone hating me as long as they also think i'm gorgeous and whenever he does come home he doesn't pay his wife any attention he plays with the children but gives maria the cold shoulder and as hard as she tries to fight her feelings she can't help starting to resent her two young sons she loves them dearly but they'd come to represent everything that went wrong in her

life. I can't wait to see how this gets paranormal. A few months later, she's out in the park walking with her children by the river. An elegant carriage pulls up beside them, and who should be inside but her rat husband and his newest side chick. He gets out of the carriage and completely ignores the awkward, horrible situation in front of him. He literally pretends Maria doesn't exist, just blanks her existence and walks straight over to the kids,

playing with them and ruffling their hair. Maria watches in disbelief as he turns to get back in the carriage, rage rising inside of her. Her vision clouds with white anger and hatred, and she lets out a dejected, blood-curdling scream. She picks up her kids and throws them in the river below. Whoa! Immediately, she's hit by dread and remorse.

What has she done? She runs down to the bank to save them. The current is sweeping them away faster than she can sprint and they disappear downstream. She continues her pursuit but by the time she catches up it's too late. Maria is overcome with grief and screams at the top of her lungs. As the days go on she cannot be consoled. She cries around the clock. She won't eat, and she spends every waking second by the riverside, hoping her boys will be returned to her somehow.

Her lovely white dress gets torn and dirty. No longer is she the beautiful woman that once turned the head of every man she met. She's tortured by what she's done to her children. As the weeks go by, the locals stare at this walking skeleton that sobs by the riverside day and night, and before long she succumbs to death herself. Some say she starved to death and that she had just given up living. Others say she drowned herself, committing herself to the same fate that befell her children. We'll never know for sure. The heartless townspe people breathe a sigh of

relief that they won't have to deal with this hysterical woman any longer. But they would come to regret that thought. The legend goes that when Maria passes away, her spirit ascends to heaven, where St. Peter is waiting to greet her. She shouldn't have got that far. I mean, I know she's not in heaven, but I mean, even bringing her to the gates is too far. You know, yeah, whenever she died, even just feeling the slight kind of, you know, jolt the elevator gives whenever you're going up. She's like, wow, really?

Honestly, surprised. Ah, Maria, my child. Welcome home. But wait, where are the children? Maria's eyes fill with tears and she can barely speak without her voice cracking. He knows. He's being very coy.

You dirty bastard. It's that moment where the dog, you know, the person who has the dog is like, who tore up the sofa? Yeah. You tell me, who tore up the sofa? I think he's just having a bit of fun here he's like maria welcome welcome to heaven we have the coffee machine over there ice lattes

we got the massage chairs just you know take a take a seat relax do you want someone to look after uh the kids for you where are the where are the kids maria? The little ones? The little two ones? Which is also not how death works. It's like the kids might still be alive, for all he knows. In fact, she should just lie. She should say exactly that. Oh, they ain't coming right now, St. Peter. I'll make myself at home. They'll be up in a few years.

He's like, well, that's weird, Maria, because six months ago, two kids that looked just like yours ended up here in heaven. Really? Coffee machine's out, though, Pete. Can you help with that? You know why there's no coffee, Maria? Digs off his makeup, reveals his goatee and pitchfork. Because you're a sinner. I've never seen your kids. They're up in the good place. She can barely speak without

her voice cracking. They're dead. I killed them. You are banished from heaven. I curse you to roam the earthly realm alone for eternity. Just a few days

after her death, an ear-splitting wailing fills the streets of Maria's hometown after dark. People are too afraid to leave their homes. Soon, the name Maria is forgotten, and the townspeople started calling her La Llorona, the Weeping Woman. Trapped in the world of the living, La Llorona is said to bring misfortune to anyone who crosses her path. Children are especially vulnerable, and some claim she kidnaps any stray child she encounters. She can be seen walking by the river, or even floating down it with her hair billowing behind her. Her infamous cry of,

Oh, my children, sends chills down the spine of anyone close enough to hear it. Rory, this is the legend of love. You got to nail this. I will. All right. And I resent the accusation that I didn't. Well, you didn't. You stuttered.

You stopped. Maybe I said exactly as much as I wanted to say. I was doing it. The legend of love. It's the legend of love. I was going to finish it and you stepped in okay this is the legend sorry interrupted this is the leg this is the legend hell this is the legend sorry what nothing what is it it's nothing i just i accidentally talked over you i'm gonna throw you in a river if you don't get it together All right, man. Just chill out. Just focus on reading the script. This is the legend of yeah

Okay, this is the legend. I didn't know that time so don't look at me like interrupted You're well, I can feel your gaze on the side of my head and it's really frustrating. So I'm just gonna turn this way All right. This is the legend. You're off mic. No one can hear you if you look the other way. They can hear me. Because I'm going to be booming. Now you're too loud. Let's just, hey.

Just cue the thunder. It's La Llorona. La Llorona. The legend of La Llorona. F***ing. I am this close to putting you in a river. Okay. This would be pretty terrifying to encounter, though, don't you think?

Don't try and now be friends. You just said you wanted to drown me in a river. And now you're like, what do you think about that, buddy? I said I would throw you in a river. I said I would. Well, also, I cut that from the episode. So no one heard the bit where I said I was going to drown you. And it would have passed. Well, now you have to cut this bit as well don't you because you just

mentioned it again so what do you think bud pretty scary stuff huh can you swim bud i hope you can uh wow i mean look when we look at paranormal stories where uh someone is in ghost form haunting the mortal realm it is usually because you know they're they have some unfinished business they have undergone some sort of turmoil here on earth that means that their soul refuses to rest that that kind of ongoing turmoil doesn't get much more dramatic than you threw your children in a river it's it's every parent's worst nightmare yeah that you are the nightmare yeah pretty much were there no kind of repercussions for the husband is he just was

he just out of the picture after that yeah i don't know if he even noticed honestly uh it's a great question uh i don't know it's this is almost like a myth and he's just like he's just the antagonist yeah he's not even really a main character in this story is he i mean it's a pretty it's a pretty sad story look we all do things in fits of rage you know it's like when uh you're walking in your kitchen and you bang your your shoulder or your elbow or something on a cupboard door and you get angry and you like punch the cupboard door and you bang your your shoulder or your elbow or something on a cupboard door and you get angry and you like punch the cupboard door and you're like well i've just hurt myself again because the cupboard door is not real and it can't feel anything yeah this is a very dramatic

equivalent to that which is my husband is a piece of shit i'm so angry i'm going to american football style hail mary my children into a lake i think we can all relate to i mean jesus the other day i i broke a plate and i was so furious i doxed you you did yeah all of my personal information kind of leaked online no i didn't feel the repercussion of that it was just a mean thing to do yeah i sure felt sure felt it. I didn't even feel bad, actually. So I can't really relate to La Llorona in the end. Well, people in Russia got my social security number. So that's like an ongoing thing. I'm actually going to have to drop out of this podcast in a sec

because I have a call with the American embassy because there's a lot of identity theft actually taking place as we're speaking right now. Yeah. But I mean, we can't even be sure that that was due to my actions. I mean, I think they kind of earmarked you as a potential right now. Yeah. But I mean, we can't even be sure that that was due to my actions. I mean, I think they kind of earmarked you as a potential terrorist anyway.

Cool. Someone in Ukraine rented a Mini Cooper in my name. Yeah. So I don't know who that is. I don't know. You're pretty fast and loose with the personal information

on the podcast though. So you might have given away any amount of personal information. My bank details though. My bank details though, bud. My mother's maiden name. I didn't give that stuff away and you did.

Yeah, you did. And you did give that to me in confidence at one time. I think I needed to order your brother something for his birthday. So you gave me your card and details. It was me drunk at a bar being like, listen, brother, I trust you're all right. My first pet's name was Squiggles. No one knows that. Not even PayPal. So this is the most widely accepted origin story of La Llorona, but it is an incredibly famous

legend. So there are a few variations and I feel in the spirit of fairness to Maria and Ernesto, I think I should tell you about a couple. In some versions of the story, Maria kills her children to stop them being taken to be raised by her husband and his new wife. Oh, right, right, right. In other accounts, Maria is a party girl with illegitimate children, so she kills them to be free to start a new life. Okay, okay. In Venezuelan folklore, Maria's husband leaves to fight in a war. After he's killed on the battlefield, she murders her children out of frustration before killing herself. So right away, I feel bad for Ernesto, because in one version, he's a deadbeat alcoholic sexual deviant,

but in another one, he's a war hero. He's Captain America. At least we have the consistency of in every single version of the story, she's a bad mother. Yes. and i don't use that term lightly as someone who will never be a mother and doesn't know what it's like yes i don't know the trials and tribulations yes but i'd like to think drowning your children in a river is bad that classifies bad i think we can all get on that page yeah well it's not good parenting. But hey, all of this points to the fact that we actually don't know every fact of La Llorona's story.

And it doesn't really matter. Clearly enough people believe in her that something is going on. But what is everyone scared of, Rory? What does she do anyway? I thought you said she takes children. Most people believe she wants your children. You're okay. I thought you said she takes children. Most people believe she wants your children. All right. Her angry spirit kidnaps children,

meaning families must hang crosses above their doorways to keep her away, which is kind of shockingly similar to the biblical plague, isn't it? Do you remember when you had to paint a cross or something on your door or whatever it was to stop the plague of Egypt coming? Yeah, I believe it was mark the door plague of egypt coming yeah i believe it was um mark the doorways with blood oh blood jesus yeah blood from a slaughtered lamb or goat i believe and otherwise your firstborn child would be taken away yeah some of those bible stories are pretty gnarly pretty wild i know who was that was that the devil did it i mean it was god who

made the plagues no yeah yeah yeah he would that was that was him yeah jesus i didn't realize he had that i feel like you know if god was a was a rpg kind of mage you know you feel like he he's on the path of light magic why does he know those moves right it's kind of weird he's like he's the healer in your party that just like keeping everyone going giving everyone divine blessing and then it's like oh i also have this move that's the world and i'll just unleash hell on earth y'all be better be killing goats and marking your doors with blood i was like dude chill out that's that's great to know just uh keep that one in the back pocket and if we we ever need it, we'll let you know. Cool, cool, cool.

I'd like to use it, though. I would like to use it. However, a few believers claim that she doesn't attack children, but instead targets cheating husbands as a revenge against her own, which I really appreciate. We don't see enough paranormal vigilante justice. Yeah, it's true. It's sort of fun to think that if you were a ghost and you got to

haunt one type of person what would it be like for me it would be a toss-up between people who litter and estate agents right i see yeah both of them are horrendous yeah politicians that would be good bankers that'd be really fun people who uh walk like five abreast on a pavement and don't leave any room for you to walk past them yeah i would hold them mr wiggins my old english teacher from secondary school that'll be he'd actually maybe be number one what did he do what didn't he do you know how much i'm into my poetry and he didn't believe in it no he didn't believe in it he would literally tell everyone in the class that we had poetry assignments. And then afterwards, no one else would do them except me.

And then he would take the poems out of my bag and read them aloud to the class. Everyone is in hysterics because I poured my heart and soul into these poems. And they're all just laughing, laughing at me. Wow, that's really f***ed up. Yeah, it was really messed up. So, haunt him then? Sorry. Did you just say, do I want to read them? want to read no no no that's not what i said it's weird that you're so open about your poetry after being so bullied well i believed in them i believed in

them even though mr wiggins didn't cool it cool it sorry it's just a sensitive it's a sensitive talk i've never seen that kind of anger in your eyes before. Yeah, well, it comes out in the poems as well. This one's called F*** Wiggins. I dream about slitting your throat, Mr. Wiggins. If you ask my parents or the principal about my poems, they're going to tell you that they were all nasty letters about Mr. Wiggins. They're goddamn liars and rats. Just like Wiggins himself. Dirty coward.

This is you at an open mic poetry evening everyone's in the audience like yeah they don't even rhyme this poem's called Wiggins

I will kill you Mr. Wiggins this one's not so much of a poem as it is a knife. All right, give me the poem. Not really a poem, but I cut the brakes on his car. It's more of a visual performance. I slashed his tires. I love the idea that he never even criticized your poem.

He just said, he gave you like a b minus yeah on a creative writing assignment once and you're like you after class he's just like you know rory i'm i'm genuinely really worried about some of the work you've been presenting in class and you know i just want to spend some one-on-one time getting to know you and talk about the struggles that you've been having at home you mr wiggins what what He's like the nicest teacher in the world. You're a dead man. I'm 11 years old. So at this point, you or our listeners might be thinking

that this whole story is played out already, that we know how this one ends. Granted, we have talked about plenty of ladies in white before. But do not be fooled, Rory, La Llorona is built different. This story is hugely important to Hispanic people over the world because the story itself has ancient origins. In the early 1500s, 10 years or so before Mexico was colonized by Spanish explorers, Emperor Montezuma of the Aztec people had a vision. He saw the future fall of his great nation foretold by eight dark omens.

Whoa. Furthermore, he claimed that all of the things he envisioned would come to pass within the decade. I mean, you know, four or five dark visions, sure. But once you're getting up to eight, you can't argue with that. I would argue that we're already up to seven or eight dark omens here in the UK. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're maxing out here. You know, whenever they took away hash browns from McDonald's, one. That's one.

Wait, did they do that? Stop the pod. Hold on. Whenever they started deep frying pizza in Scotland, that honestly could be Dark Omen 2 through 8. I thought that was a good omen. We're moving in the right direction for that. I want to live in the hell world. Here are the Emperor's predictions that allegedly all came true.

1. A plume of fire appeared in the sky. 2. The temple of the god Huitzilopochtli, burned to the ground. Three, a monastery was struck by lightning and caught fire, despite the weather being otherwise calm. These all sound like the one event. Four. Like the comet hit the temple, which burned to the ground. Well, wait till you hear the next one, and then you're going to think different. Balls of fire streaked across the sky roaring like lions

yeah it is kind of similar it's kind of i'll give you that first one five lake texcoco flooded and caused widespread destruction even though there hadn't been a rainstorm six fishermen caught a strange gray bird in their nets and presented it to the emperor is that a bad omen it's not just a thing maybe they thought it was some kind of hell bird fair play that was a very specific call yeah it's like the others is like yeah sure maybe something will burn down maybe we'll see something in the sky this was like a fisherman at 2 30 on a wednesday yeah we'll catch a bird in a net seven a two-headed man appeared in the streets. The citizens knew the emperor had a human section in his private zoo,

so they overpowered the two-head and took him to the palace. What? Apparently this one is very true. Apparently it's documented that the emperor had people in his zoo. With two heads? I mean, there are conjoined twins out there, right? With two heads? I think so.

Wow. No. Really? Number eight. Okay. The sound of a weeping woman could be heard at night for several consecutive days. People heard her cry out,

My children, it's already too late. Whoa. Is this the woman that we've been hearing about? Was La Llorona the final omen heralding the conquest of Mexico? Wow. So this is pretty cool. You can see why, potentially, it's so deep inin american history and culture is because this was one of the omens that that led to the the fall of mexico to the spaniards what is the uh what's the time frame we're looking at here from when that was uh claimed prediction to the actual events that transpired uh apparently 10 years that's so short yeah Yeah. I thought you were going to be like, these are ancient. Yeah, I think this was part of the deal was that, you know, they had predicted the apocalypse for them. You know, the end of their civilization.

And then, yeah, lo and behold, Cortez and his mates, you know, those guys turn up and decimate South America. Wow. So they kind of called it. And because La Llorona is so deeply felt in Latin American history, a lot of people take it very seriously. So I thought it would be cool to hear a very recent experience. How recent are we talking? The 90s. It's pretty recent. Compared to 1500 it is. La Llorona is wearing Nikes. Nike blazers. This happened yesterday to me. She's in shortage.

She really is. The following story was posted on truehorrorstoriesoftexas.com by user DJUnderdog85. It's a normal evening in the mid-90s. DJ is 11 years old, and he's up late in the living room watching Jay Leno. In a haze he realizes he must have drifted off because it's suddenly pitch black. The oven clock says it's 4am. Just as he's considering crawling into bed, somebody starts screaming outside the house. It was so loud it felt like it was coming

from inside the room. The source couldn't have been further away than a few feet. Animals started going berserk outside. What began as incoherent screeching morphed into comprehensible words. I miss yous. DJ bolts to the light switch, but the screaming continues. He wonders if he's going crazy and just hearing things. His parents are still asleep. Is this all in his head? He decides to wake his parents up. They're not letting you stay up again after this, by the way.

This is genuinely creepy. It's freaking me out. He's lost his late-night Jay Leno privileges as an 11-year-old. He starts waking them up. He reaches their bedside and shakes his mother awake. As she opens her eyes, the screaming fades away to silence. She tells him he was dreaming and promptly falls asleep again. He sits awake in the living room until dawn. The thought that's disturbing him the most was the idea that whatever was screaming

only stopped because he'd woken up his mom. Right, right. So if he'd remained alone, it would have come for him. Maybe whatever was out there could sense these things. Like an evil Santa. He knows when your mom is sleeping. He knows when she's awake. DJ Underdog85 fell asleep and wasn't bothered by La Llorona again that night. Sadly for him, however, it wouldn't be his last experience of her. Fast forward 10 years, he's working his first job in a local supermarket. He's given the early shift, starting at 3am, and he's out back dumping some old milk crates. Being the new guy,

his co-workers decide to give him a little hazing. They lock the doors while he's at the dumpster. He pounds on the door, but nobody lets him back in. They decide to give him some hazing. His co-workers drowned him in a river. As a goof. As a light-hearted prank, they threw him off a bridge. Haha guys, very funny. Well the joke's on you because I'm not even scared. As soon as the sentence escapes his lips, he hears the awful cry of La Llorona once again.

The sound takes him back to being a terrified child. He's got to get back inside, and fast. Let me in! Let me in! There's somebody out here! What the f***? Let me in! He hears his co-workers laughing inside and starts to lose it. He kicks the door with all his might as the sound of the screaming inches closer. Without warning, the door opens and one of his colleagues pops his head around the frame. DJU DJ Underdog85 pushes past him and slams the door as the yelling continues out back. Whoa, wait a minute. I think someone's in trouble out there. There's a lady screaming for help. But DJ bars him from opening the door again.

I don't think that's a lady. He explains the legend and recounts his other stories about La Llorona, which I love because I'm just picturing him go okay guys jesus christ there's this thing called la llorona and she's following me and there actually is a woman outside who's like broken her leg we need to kill this bitch because she's following me his co-workers ask him if she's following him or if he's cursed and he might well be because even that wasn't the last time he encountered the demon wow i mean it's crazy enough that in this instance his co-workers

could also hear it yeah so it's not something that's just isolated to him totally a bit like what was the whistler bro this is so the whistler yeah it's someone who's kind of been haunted by this whistling sound all of their lives and it's someone who's kind of been haunted by this whistling sound all of their lives and it's the same whistling they heard from when they were a kid to five years later to 10 years later the same noise following them around very creepy very similar vibes noise based paranormal things are quite scary yeah it's like uh wasn't that um the ring was like the uh no that was um wait was that the ring was like the... No, that was...

Wait, was that the ring? No, that was the grudge. The grudge. Because it was the broken neck. Ah, yeah, yeah. That horrible noise, yeah. But that's like famous for that noise. Weird.

And of course, the Watcher is most famous of all for its annoying... Iconic voice. Iconic voice that's made people stop listening to the pod in record numbers he says the last time he heard her was 2015 he's working at an elementary school and is jump-starting a colleague's car they hear the ghostly screams once more and just like the first time the animals in the vicinity make a commotion. Did you say he's working at a school? This son of a bitch is working with children? DJ Underdog85?

He's a magnet for a witch who loves kids. Don't let him anywhere near children. He thinks if he gets the place with bait, La Llorona's not going to be too interested in him anymore. Oh, right. I see how it is. The odd thing about this encounter is that before they could both get their vehicles started to drive away, they

saw a Border Patrol jeep race towards the source of the scream. Not wanting to hang around, both men jumped in their cars and got home as fast as possible. Hard to know what was going on there. Could be coincidence. So, Rory, that's just one person's experience. Just think how many more are out there just like that.

Very terrifying. So one of our listeners, who calls himself Soup Boy, actually did us a major solid and interviewed his dad's friend about his own La Llorona experience. Wow. Nice one, Soup Boy. And the last story that I know I heard from someone else La Llorona experience. Wow. Nice one, Soup Boy.

And the last story that I know I heard from someone else. He said that he was walking through the streets of Albuquerque and he saw a really pretty woman from the back. She had really long hair. Going good so far.

You know, find out her name and talk to her. As he started to approach her, he said she turned around and he got a chill. He didn't see her whole face. But he got a chill and then he decided,

I'm not going there and he started to run. As he turned the corner, he heard a woman crying. He ran to a restaurant that was still open at that hour of the night it was about 11 or clock or midnight he um went to the restaurant and he said that everybody in the neighborhood

must have heard the crying because he walked to the restaurant everybody had their back turned to the window and when he walked in the waitress saw him and took him immediately into the kitchen and gave him a glass of sugar water to take care of his zustul or fear to help him calm down and then um she told me just stay here in the kitchen until everything passed Thank you, Soup Boy, for this first class and first person investigation. What do you think of that? So this guy essentially believes he might have encountered the real La Llorona. But not just that, that hearing the crying or the screaming of la llorona everyone in the neighborhood turned away from the windows didn't want to look and were like get

inside yeah this is so it's like a common occurrence for these people they're used to it by now i definitely did see a couple of stories from new mexico um that kind of area i don't know if this is quite prevalent there wow that's terrifying i mean almost kind of karma for this dude just randomly approaching a lady on the street at 11 at night on a dark alley yeah uh you kind of get what's coming to you brother um wow super scary though i like that um it seems like the local residents around this area are kind of so used to it now that they're like get them inside get them some sugar water we know what to do do the routine it's like a like an air raid siren they're just waiting for it rory i know what you're like i know you need physical evidence to believe a story in this paranormal life so

feast your eyes all right kid has handed me an ipad with a video teed up ready to go i have zero idea what's gonna happen when i hit the play button so it's one of those scare videos jesus i am terrified it is a double yes oh my god why didn't you why wouldn't you prep me for this well i'll be prepping you for 50 minutes she's here christ the animals are losing it is that it what the hell are you showing me that's something from a horror film oh my god for those listening at home it's a video of a ghostly ghastly woman on top of a mountaintop was that her screaming she's on top of a tree, weirdly. Dude. He's on top of a tree. That is chilling.

I did not like that. What's the context behind that? So this is in Colombia. So we're in South America, in Colombia. And this just went viral a couple... Oh, last year. This time last year. We're on the express watching this video.

Spine-chilling whale of la llorona caught on camera she's not even being discreet by the way it is broad daylight she's on a mountaintop singing like a disney princess this is uh apparently cordoba colombia um yeah and she was spotted by a bunch of people in this area super creepy stuff pretty terrifying i will say the figure itself quite human in terms of appearance we're not talking transparent we're not talking floating uh in the clouds did just looks like a lady or a figure in some sort of kind of floaty garb i agree yeah really ominous though i didn't like that play a happy video play out load up some adventure time on youtube i do have one more video for you you'll be glad to know this isn't first-hand footage of

la lorona but rather discussing her so la lorona actually came to even more uh renown and prevalence in the last year or so because a major horror movie was made about her. And this is a clip of some of the cast of that movie talking about their experiences making the movie. Thank you. Listen, we're in the middle of shooting a scene and I'm wearing a bracelet for protection. I have all kinds of things.

I have tiger's eye on, I have crystals in my pocket and I'm wearing this bracelet to protect you against negative energy. And I have my hand up to God. I have my hand of things. I have tiger's eye on. I have crystals in my pocket. And I'm wearing this bracelet that protects you against negative energy. And I have my hand up to God. I have my hand on the Bible. And I'm reciting a prayer. And in the middle of the scene, my bracelet just burst off my hand. And I thought it just fell apart. Like, you know, for some reason it just came apart.

I was in the scene as well. And you heard all the beats. And these are very hard stones stones I started picking them up three of them were split in half like you cut them with a knife oh my god and I took one outside and I tried to break it because I was amazed that it was broken from falling on a wood floor I tried to break it on a cement porch I couldn't I couldn't crack it and I still have them I kept them oh my god you cannot explain that that should be in the deleted no well yeah because it's on it's on tape yeah it's on film there you go well congratulations

and good luck again so just an anecdote about the people working on the movie um i'm sure you caught that but he was reciting a prayer of protection when he's using his prayer beads and then the beads exploded everywhere and fell onto a wooden floor and cracked in half there's not a lot that can go wrong when you're just using prayer beads but if the prayer beads explode mid-prayer, vacate the premises. Because the prayer didn't work. The beads exploded. It's time to go home. They're not famous for exploding.

No. People generally own prayer beads for a very long time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a pretty, you know, you don't take your prayer beads doing action sports or anything. So if you're just praying in a room they should be safe yeah that's like you know walking around with a um like a crucifix if the crucifix goes on fire they don't usually do that they're not supposed to do that go home you've obviously wandered into somewhere you're not supposed to be go home roy if that evidence of the people working on the movie doesn't convince you, I do not know what will. Terrifying stuff.

Truly is. Prayer beads exploding. I mean, I know it's quite a mixed bag. We've kind of gone all the way through history to the present day. Looking at La Llorona. What's the sense of this you've got? Do you think this is real? Do you think it's in people's heads?

Do you think there's some truth to this ancient legend? It's nice to have some very current testimonies and video evidence of the case a lot of the time you know when we're looking at these stories of people or ghosts who are haunting one location it very much is born and dies in that time period yes you know you hear these, but they're not really carried forward into, I mean, into movie sets, for God's sakes. Yeah. That's wild. In terms of how original I think the story is, I mean, not that original.

How dare you? I'm sorry to be blunt here, but I feel like, you know, those kind of stories where it's a, whatever, a woman in white or some dude walking around in ghost form. It is, yeah, because someone fell in a river, drowned in a river. Didn't the donkey lady just haunt a bridge because her donkey drowned in the river? Sure. I mean, it's a very similar kind of premise. Donkeys drown, all right. And I would ask you not to make light of the donkeys drowning.

They can't swim so good on account of being half horse, not full horse. Hooves do not work in an aquatic setting. Hooves are basically anchors that make you drop to the bottom of the ocean. So, yeah, I can't promise you that this is necessarily a groundbreaking paranormal case that we're dealing with today. Fair enough. But I mean, maybe you've got a different opinion on this. I mean, you were the one that looked into all these stories and the cases yourselves. Is it something that's really striking a chord with you?

I think perhaps the most surprising aspect of the story of La Llorona is how visceral it seems to be for people alive today. Yes, Soup Boys, dad's friend, who sent us the voice clip. That's a grown man, you know, who is terrified of this woman and an entire restaurant full of people who fully seem to accept that she is a threat, she is real and you know feel this superstition very very deeply i didn't expect that because that actually was pretty unique now i think about it that doesn't happen in a lot of other ghost stories her screaming outside of a mcdonald's at 11 p.m and the mcdonald's employees were like get back here and drink some seven up get this man a mcflurry asap you know we come from northern ireland we learned about the banshee growing up and it's a quite a

similar omen it's a screeching woman a scorned and screeching woman who symbolizes death whenever the banshee is heard someone is going to die um which should be very terrifying and granted some people do believe in the banshee but not many really yeah and the people who do are a little bit older and maybe grew up with that folklore but most young people don't believe it at all i love that uh you know in most of these cases where there's a ghost haunting a specific location like the like the whistler you, there's usually things you can do to protect yourself or ways you can avoid the situation. I love that in this case, everyone's like, just ignore her. Yeah. Just ignore her.

Don't look at her. Don't give her any attention. It's not working because she's still here and she's still pissed and wondering about her kids. I mean, someone should probably address this. Yeah, can we get a priest in here? Someone who's going to do something about this? Yeah. Like maybe if you, I don't know. and wondering about her kids i mean someone should probably we got a priest in here someone's gonna do something about this yeah like maybe if you i don't know i'm not saying you give sacrifice to kids or anything like that but maybe push her into the river see what happens that you know

try something new otherwise they're off yeah but well the alternative is just being stuck with her for the next hundred years as well throw sugar water in her eyes and push her in the river. Maybe that'll do it. What if she likes sugar? What if this is a gizmo situation? She grows twice this size. I will say there is an interesting historical parallel. Going back hundreds and thousands of years,

there's an Aztec goddess of water called Chalchitlíkwe. And she was feared for her reputation of upturning boats and drowning the occupants. Whoa! And ceremonies in her honor involved sacrificing children. Her honor? Sacrificial children were purchased from their parents. And it was thought that the more they cried, the more successful the sacrifice would be. So once a year at Lake Texcoco, they would sacrifice one child

so that Chalchitlique would provide enough water for the upcoming harvest. Now, for a variety of reasons, we obviously don't sacrifice children anymore. Oh no. And do you know what? PC gone mad. Lake Texcoco is a f***ing puddle now. What? Are you serious? Is it climate change or is it the revenge

of the angry water goddess more importantly is la llorona a twist on this ancient legend sacrificing children to guarantee safety in the water this all goes really deep but if we have to come down on a conclusion i think the most fascinating thing about this story is how deep it runs how ancient it is how deeply felt it is by the people but that just makes me think that this thing is more myth more entwined with our dna as people and and particularly the people of latin america that this is part of their cultural heritage and dna this uh meme of the scorned wailing woman just the same way the banshee is in ireland so i think for me if i have to decide whether this is paranormal or not i think it's going to be a no it was a tough one this week because we did

genuinely with a case like this i'd complain about a lack of evidence but we actually had a decent amount of evidence from testimonials from people who have worked on a film about it to the video clip of the creature itself screaming but yeah i don't know what piece of the puzzle we're missing this week uh but for some reason i'm just not i'm not fully convinced um about the origin story and the the evidence that was brought forward today i think it's it. I think it's going to be a no from me as well this week. I think this could be a controversial one. Yeah. You know, we've had a lot of emails about this one,

and I think people do feel pretty strongly about it. Let it be known I'm pretty on the fence. Actually. Maybe next week we sacrifice a couple children. We'll see where it takes us. It's a tough one. It's a really tough one. And I would love to know what people think out there.

Maybe I am. Maybe I'm comparing it too much to our own home legends, the ones that we grew up not believing. Maybe I'm not appreciating the reality of La Llorona. So please let us know what you think. If this is part of your upbringing, if this is a story that's dear to your heart, let us know at thisparanorm is this is part of your upbringing if this is a story that's dear to your heart let us know at this paranormal life podcast at gmail.com it's kind of wild to think that you know people growing up in in the villages where this legend is is widely circulated you know when you're a kid you're told hey don't uh accept candy from strangers don't get

in uh white vans it's kind of weird to think that these kids were being told like there is a lady down by the river who is translucent and is gonna want to throw you underwater keep away from her and if she approaches you throw this throw this can of soda in her eyes her husband was a war hero she was a real bitch he was a war hero slash womanizing rat wow terrifying stuff huge story huge story so thank you so much to everyone who wrote in and suggested that one i had a blast um reading about it learning about it and i'm discussing it here with rory today what do you what do you do if you go down by the river you hear the screams you see the figure approaching what do you do what what what go down by the river, you hear the screams. You see the figure approaching.

What do you do? What's going through your mind in that second? I just walk into the water and get it over with myself rather than suffer at the hands of the white woman. It was just a park ranger. Everything all right here, sir? Hey, the park's closed. You need to get out here.

Oh, the lady! You're putting rocks in your pockets running into the river well hope you guys enjoyed that investigation roundhouse you're gonna run you just you didn't ask me what i would do in that situation roundhouse she's a she's a ghost fallacy yeah well i've dipped my nikes in holy water so it's gonna connect i don't i know what you're thinking what do i do with the follow-up move she takes a sweep at my head duck block the elbow the brown house grab the wrist and twist wrap it around her back like this is all heavily dependent on that roundhouse connecting though isn't it and now you can do whatever you want you can okay force them to the ground i don't

think she feels pain i don't think snap the neck she's already dead and you know i got my you know she's already dead you know i got my prayer beads ready to burst any second so i'll just put that shit well it didn't do the guy a lot of good in the movie set did it i'll put that shit right up against her face and i'm like pop them now you little witch pop i dare you to pop these probably will pop them then oh really you think so because i was kind of bluffing i think it would probably hurt me more than it would hurt her. Yeah, she's dead. Probably.

It blows my arm off. Oh, just stay right there. I'm going to go for another roundhouse. All over. There's dirt in my arm. When you do the roundhouse, your Nike flings off because the laces came undone. Her ghost children come out of the river and beat the shit out of me. Why aren't you on my side?

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is the patreon episode these are friends and these are our colleagues all right so don't blast me in front of them they're not colleagues we're trying to entertain them i thought i'll just don't do it don't do it don't do it at my expense it's okay because i am i'm a glass man i am a glass man and i will shatter your voices break twice in a row? All right, sir, that's enough. I've had about enough of you insulting. Is everything okay? I just, you know, on the public episodes, I like to. You're vibrating like an angry anime character.

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You take a swing at me. Boom. Blocked. Grab the wrist. Twist around your back. And I got my prayer beads ready to burst, baby. Is it the same routine as last time? Yeah.

Because you took quite a long time to describe the routine one routine all right you know how long it takes to learn one and perfect one of these routines it's also a bad idea because if you're going to do this to someone you've just told them the routine they can they'll block the first round house grab your foot dunk you in the river shit i didn't even think about that. Because a lot of my routines start with a perfectly placed roundhouse. They all do. Yeah. Okay. All right. Forget you actually heard any of that.

Leave the review and... It sounds like you're going to try and do the same routine no matter what, by the way. So, you know, you heard it here first. Leave a review or else. Thank you so much to Cammie toman for editing this episode and to amy grisdale for researching it we will be of course back next week with a brand new investigation we look forward to seeing you then until then remember to live fast investigate and die