La Llorona

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 55
Occupation: Chef
Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Text:

“As kids, we heard legends of La Llorona. Her story goes like this: La Llorona was a beautiful woman named Maria who lived in a small village in Mexico. She fell in love with a wealthy man and had two children with him. But after some time had passed, her husband left her for a much younger woman. Maria was so heartbroken and upset that she drowned her children in a river to get back to her ex. After realizing what she had done, she was so sad and overwhelmed with guilt, she cried along the river, ‘Ay, mis hijos!’ She then drowned herself. Now it says she wanders near rivers and lakes, searching for her children here. If you hear her crying at night, it’s a bad omen. My mom told me this story so that I could listen and be obedient and never cheat on any of my partners.”

Context: 

The informant grew up in Mexico. His mother told him this legend to be obedient and loyal and to also scare him from rivers and lakes so he wouldn’t wander and accidentally fall in. He lived along a river, and his mother was also afraid of him drowning in the river since many people in that town have died like that. 

Analysis: The legend is a moral ghost story where the supernatural and narratives blend and become a lesson for the living. In this version, La Llorona is a cautionary figure; it’s a sense of warning children to stay away from rivers but also a moral lesson about fidelity and the consequences of betrayal. It adds a layer of local specificity by my informant letting me know that “many people in that town have died like that,” which grounds the legend in real-life experiences. 

The Legend of Popocatepetl & Iztaccíhuatl

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 75
Occupation: Unemployed
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: Spanish

Text: 

“My grandmother told me this legend about the two highest volcanoes in the hemisphere in Mexico City: Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. When the Aztec Empire dominated the valley of Mexico, it was common knowledge that neighboring towns had to be subject to a mandatory tax. The chief of the Tlaxacaltecas, who were the enemies of the Aztecs, decided to fight for his people’s freedom. The chief’s daughter, named Izataccihuatl, fell in love with Popocaetepetl, who was a warrior. Right before the war, Popocatepetl asked the chief for the hand of the princess. The father agreed and told him once he got back from war, they would have a wonderful wedding. But a woman who was in love with Popocatepetl told the princess that he had died in combat. The princess then died of sadness. Popocatepetl came back and found out that she died. Devastated, he ordered a tomb to be built under the sun, creating a huge mountain. He took the princess and laid her on the mountain. He kissed her lips and died with her. From then on, they remained together, facing each other. Over time, snow covered their bodies, creating two volcanoes.”

Context: 

My informant is from Mexico City, and her grandmother used to tell her this love story about the two volcanoes that they could see from their home.

Analysis: 

The story is a legend that explains the origin of two of Mexico’s most famous natural landmarks: the volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. It’s a legend that explains how something of the natural world came to be. It is also a tragic love story that shows how miscommunication and longing lead to death. The mountains facing each other are a symbol of the symbolic permanence of love and grief. 

Suicide Bridge

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text: 

“I grew up in Pasadena, and I’ve always heard stories about the Colorado Street Bridge, which everyone calls ‘Suicide Bridge’. The legend says that during the Great Depression, so many people jumped off the bridge that now it is haunted. Supposedly at night you can hear footsteps behind you when no one is there, or even him standing on the edge.”

Context:

The informant grew up in Pasadena. She heard this story from her parents and friends in middle school. The bridge does have a history with suicides. My informant let me know that she heard this legend mostly during Halloween, or when she was a teenager and her friends would drive over the bridge. 

Analysis:

The Pasadena Suicide Bridge legend is a blend of history and supernatural folklore. It was built in 1913 but became famous in the 1930s during the Great Depression. The legend reflects cultural anxieties about tragedies, mental illness, and death. By turning a site of real-life tragedy into a location for ghost stories, the community creates a way to process trauma. 

El Conejo en la Luna (The Rabbit on the Moon)

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 48
Occupation: Business
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: Spanish/English

Text:

(transcribed from Spanish)

“My mom told me this tale when I was a kid. She told me that a long time ago, the Mexican god Quetzalcoatl explored the world. So he came down and turned himself into a mortal man. He was so amazed by how big and beautiful the Earth was that he got distracted and forgot to eat and hydrate himself. Quetzalcoatl started feeling faint and decided to rest on the road. Then a rabbit appeared to him and asked him if he was okay. Quetzalcoatl told him that he was very hungry. Right away, the rabbit offered to share his food with him, but Quetzalcoatl refused and told the rabbit that he didn’t eat plants. The rabbit thought for a moment and decided to offer himself to Quetzalcoatl and said, “I am an insignificant creature; you must recover and return to your travels. Please eat me.” Quetzalcoatl was moved by the rabbit’s noble gesture, so he returned to his godly form and held the rabbit high to the moon. He then placed him back on the ground and told him, “You will be remembered all around the world, and when everyone looks up to the moon, they will see the print of you on the moon.”

Context: 

The informant was my father. He is from Michoacan, Mexico, on a small ranch. He grew up off the grid, and his mother told him this tale. 

Analysis: 

This is a myth that is deeply rooted in Mesoamerican tradition. It centers on one of the most important deities in Aztec belief systems. The story reflects core mythological themes such as a godly figure interacting with the mortal world. The rabbit is an example of sacrificial heroism. The rabbit has become immortalized, not because of power or money but through compassion and generosity. This shows the cultural values of Indigenous Mexicans. The myth has also been shared across multiple generations, especially in East Asia, yet it might differ from the Mexican version. 

Tale of El Silbón

My subject shared with me a Venezuelan tale of El Silbón. This tale is about a young bratty boy who always want to get things his way. He lives in the shack in the woods with his parents and and a grandfather. One day the boy doesn’t get his way and in a fit of rage and craziness, he kills his parents. When his grandfather finds out, he curses the boy to forever be carrying the bones of his parents with him for what he did. After that. the grandfather whips the boy and puts raw garlic in his wounds and then sends the pack of wild dogs after him. The boy dies and in the afterlife still has to carry the bag of his parents’ bones. This is a tale often used as a cautionary story for the bratty kids to scare them into a good behavior. If they misbehave, the Silbón – the dead bratty boy will come and get you. El Silbón translates to a “whistler” and a legend developed from it. It is said that if you are in a dark and scary place and you hear the whistling, it means that the El Silbón is nearby. However, if a person hears the whistling super close to them, it actually means that El Silbón is far away. And if the whistling sounds distant, it means that El Silbón is nearby and that he will steal and kill you. There are preventative measures however against El Silbón. If you have a dog with you or if you have garlic with you, Silbón will not harm you.

My subject heard this story in their Spanish class in high school in Florida. Being of Latino descent, but not Venezuelan, the subject commented that Latino countries tend to have folklore that is “violent, involves murder and death and people getting ripped apart”.

The Venezuelan tale of El Silbón can be seen as primarily a tale of generations and respect for them. When the boy kills his parents out of rage that they were not able to provide him with what he wanted, he is punished with a worse death and curse from his grandfather – an ancestral figure. This is the explanation of a family dynamic and a warning that committing crimes against the family will not go unpunished. This story further encapsulates the Venezuelan values of family and respect for older generations. The boy being forever burdened to carry the bones of his parents even in the afterlife, enforcing a narrative that a child cannot escape the “sin” of disobeying and murdering his parents, and that it will burden his for the rest of eternity.

However, the cruel violence and punishment that my subject mentioned is present often in the South American folklore points to another interpretation of the tale. El Silbón is about intergenerational trauma and violence that might have been brought on by colonialism. If one is thinking through this prism,the way the boy is cursed to carry the bones of his parents forever can be seen as a metaphor for how people in colonized countries are still carrying the weight of a violent past. It’s not just about personal guilt—it’s about generational trauma and the pain that gets passed down through families and culture, even if the original events happened long ago.The brutal punishments the boy faces reflect the real violence used by colonizers to control and terrorize people. These details feel symbolic of the cruelty that Indigenous and enslaved people endured, and how that trauma became part of the cultural memory.

Even the idea that El Silbón‘s whistle is misleading—sounding far when he’s close and close when he’s far—can reflect how colonial histories mess with our sense of reality. The past can feel distant, but its effects are still very present. And the fact that things like garlic or dogs can protect you ties into how people have held onto traditional knowledge, blending Indigenous, African, and European beliefs to survive and make sense of their world. So while El Silbón works on the surface as a scary story to scare misbehaving kids, it also reflects the lingering pain and complexity of life after colonization. It’s a haunting reminder that the past is never really gone.