Arizona Paranormal Week: La Llorona

I thought I'd start off my week of all things freaky in Arizona with one of the local legends that has origins in Mexican culture, a strong influence in the Sonoran Southwest.


The legend of La Llorona is from our legend-filled neighbors to the south of the United States. It is a story repeated in some form or another in many cultures around the world. 

There are a lot of explanations for why the La Llorona ghost exists, most having to do with a woman who met a man but he didn't want children, so she drowned her children. She rushed back to tell her lover what she had done and how much she loved him, that she would drown her own children, he was repulsed and rebuked her. She then wandered in search of her children. 

Some say, she was turned down at Heaven and forced to go back to earth and find her children. Her spirit is said to wander in the desert washes crying out for her babies. 

She is the equivalent of the lady in white in the United States. In the UK, the equivalent is the banshee.

There is a different version in every area. Here is one shared by a woman about the Tucson La Llorona.

"The Tucson, Arizona version of La Llarona was a promiscuous lady who didn't like to be bothered with children. Whenever she had a baby, she would take it down to the river and drown it.

When she herself died and tried to get into Heaven, St. Peter told her that she couldn't get in unless she brought all her dead babies with her. So now she wanders along the river, wailing for her lost children. Not surprisingly, they haven't come back to her.

Don't leave your baby alone in the dark or let your little ones wander around at night alone, because La Llarona will take them in hopes of fooling St. Peter. —Maureen