Interviewer: Thank you for taking the time out of your day to help me with my project. I asked you if you knew any ghost stories and you said, “Of course every Mexican should at least know one.” Could you tell me what you mean by that?

Informant: Well the reason I said that is because as a Mexican when I was growing up there was always this one story that my parents would tell me. This story is called La Llorona or in English the Weeping Woman.

Interviewer: And the reason that you said Mexican should know this story?

Informant: This story is probably the most told and widely known story in Mexico. I don’t know anyone in Mexico that doesn’t know this story.  So, the story goes that there was an indigenous woman that had 2 children. One day she finds her husband with another girl. In a fit of rage, she grabs her children and brings them to a nearby river, and drowns them. She is instantly filled with regret. She is so filled with grief and regret and roamed the river bank hoping to find her children. She eventually dies there but her spirit still roams around searching for her children.

Interviewer: That is a pretty good story and it reminds me of another story, but before I insert my own thoughts I would like to ask you what this story means to you.

Informant: This story currently doesn’t mean that much to me now but when I was younger when my parents were telling me this story, it was used to scare me from going out at night and also doing bad stuff. It was almost like a scare tactic to keep me from trouble.

Interviewer: That is exactly what I was getting from this story. It feels like a story similar to the boogeyman in its purpose is to scare people.