05/26/2026
LA LLORONA, also known as the Weeping Woman and the Wailer, is a vengeful ghost in Hispanic American folklore who drowned her children after her husband betrayed her.
In life, she was a beautiful woman named Maria who married and had two children with a wealthy nobleman. Over time, this nobleman grew bored with Maria and began an affair with another woman. To exact revenge on him, Maria lured their children to a nearby river and drowned them.
Once the rage of her jealousy subsided, Maria, realizing the atrocity she committed, drowned herself. In order to enter Heaven, she must find her lost children, or wander the Earth forever in search of them.
Her apparition appears near bodies of water as a weeping woman in a white gown, crying out, "Ay, mis hijos! (Oh, my children!)" Sightings of her have come from the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.
Those who hear her crying often suffer grave misfortunes. Parents sometimes tell their children she will steal them to replace her own children if they misbehave.
