TEXT:

Informant- “There are a few like little stories about creatures and ghosts in Guatemala. My favorite one is called La Caballota, or the Horse Lady. My great grandma would tell me the story when I was a little girl. And pretty much just my great grandmama and my great grandpa saw her once. They were at the beach and they saw beautiful women with gorgeous, long hair. And when she was, they were just walking, right? And then she turns around and they see her face. She had a horse face, right? They got really scared and they started running away. But as they were running away, their feet got really heavy and it felt like they had bricks on their feet. So they were slowing down. Thankfully, they made it out. That was not the only time they met her, though, but I just find it really interesting because supposedly, this, like, ghost or creature or whatever, it only appears to men usually driving by themselves at night. So I thought it was really interesting that it appears to both my great grandma and great grandpa in a very different circumstance.”

CONTEXT:

A Guatemalan ghost story about a beautiful woman with long hair and the face of a horse, who traditionally only appears to men driving home at night. This story was told by a person of Guatemalan descent and nationality who currently resides in Chicago.

ANALYSIS:

The informant shares her connection with a ghost story that’s close to home as she has been told it from family members and her great grandparents have stated themselves that it happened to them and shared their account of the tale with her. This has created a stronger belief in the ghost story itself and cemented it, not as just a tale, but rather a legend.