La Llorona - The Weeping Woman by The Paranormal Guide

La Llorona is a legend about a beautiful woman who loses her children and is forever cursed to look for them.

She will take any child that vaguely resembles her own, and then drag them into the water in the hopes she may finally be admitted to what awaits us after death.

A Warning for Children 

Urban legends come in all different shapes and colours, with retellings of the same legend taking on new aspects, and in some cases the end result is quite different from circle to circle. La Llorona (The Weeping Woman) is the same as all others – there is a central core to the story that goes largely unchanged, while certain details have been embellished or just completely added to for better effect.

This particular legend is told in the southern parts of the United States, but mainly hails from Mexico and South America. It is told as a warning to children to be good, not venture far after dark or else they will meet their doom.

Anguish and Terror 

The legend begins with a beautiful woman by the name of Maria. Maria was well known due to her famous beauty, but she had a flaw - her vanity and need to be the focus of all attention. Maria ended up with her love, a rancher who was quite wealthy, and the two were married and had two children.

As time went on and the children began to be the focus of their fathers eye, Maria grew quite jealous. When the rancher began to completely ignore his wife, taking to long stays out in the fields around the house, Maria grew wild.

It was one evening, while walking out with her children that Maria realised what her husband was up to. They were walking along the path by a river when a horse drawn carriage came along side and stopped. There was Maria’s husband in the arms of another woman!

Rage and Despair

The husband turned around and spoke to his children but utterly ignored Maria. After the husband and his new lady had left, Maria flew into a rage and took her children to the rivers edge and drowned them. 

As the children’s struggles gave way to stillness, and their little bodies started to be carried away down stream, Maria instantly regretted what she had done. She dove into the water, but of course it was too late, the children were beyond saving.

Despair

Out of despair Maria took her own life down in that same river, no-one knows how she went about it, except that her drowned body was discovered on the river bank the following morning. Many believe that the husband may have come back to talk to Maria and, seeing what she had done, had killed her. Although accusatory words were quietly discussed, it was not right to point the finger until the bodies were interred into the ground.

The funeral was held and Maria was buried in a long white gown. However it was not even one night after the funeral had taken place when the cries were heard by the river...

"Where are my children? Where are my children?" were heard long into the night, and for many nights since. Those brave enough to search out the source will find Maria walking the river banks, attempting to find her children.

Stay Away From the Water at Night

Stay away from the water at night ... 

Locals say Maria’s spirit has been blocked from progressing to the afterlife until she can find her children… and this is where the danger lies. Children who wander down near water sources at night may run into La Llorona – the Weeping Woman - the name given to Maria. If they do, and they even slightly resemble her children, she will take them into the river in the hopes she will finally be able to move on.

Many missing children around Mexico and South America have been blamed on La Llorona.

As with any legend such as this details change over the years. Other versions have Maria and her love never marrying, yet having two children who are murdered when Maria continually presses for marriage. In this version La Llorona appears in a long, white, blood stained dress.

The legend of La Llorona has appeared in many movies and television series.