La Llorona Myth

"On many a dark night people would see her walking along the riverbank and crying for her children." - La Llorona myth

The ancient Hispanic tale of La Llorona, literally the Weeping Woman, is said by some to be nothing more than a story parents tell to their children when they misbehave, yet others swear the legend is true. Although there have been many versions of the story, the general theme is universal. Long ago, a woman of unimaginable beauty married a handsome, wealthy man. The two of them were madly in love, and in time, the beauty gave birth to two healthy boys. But, as the boys grew, the husband slowly began to detest the beauty. Eventually he would leave, unannounced, for months on end, only to return to spend time with his boys. He threatened to marry a woman of his own wealthy class and disappeared yet again. When the beauty next saw her husband, he was indeed with another woman. This time, the husband fully ignored the beauty and would only talk to his boys. The beauty fell into a rage and took her children to the river and drowned them. When she realized what she had done, it was too late. The beauty then went insane and ran through the streets weeping and crying for her children to return. She refused to eat or drink and slowly withered away. After her death, the townspeople would report sightings of her spirit wandering along the riverbanks crying out for her children. When told, the legend is often complemented with the warning that if children misbehave, La Llorona will come looking for them. In, the writers intentionally kept as close to the original myth as possible with hopes of respecting the integrity of such an age-old tale.