“My uncle Carlos (he was one of the oldest) so usually given the job to watch over my aunts and mother. He was watching over my mother one night. But she was one of the youngest. So one night he was watching over my mother and my Aunt Nordi and she is the next youngest after my mother, my grandmother was out with my grand father. And it is always around the witching hour around 12 o’clock, this is why you shouldn’t be out late at night alone. He is watching over them and at one point in the night, my mother gets up but he thinks she is sleep-walking. She moves over to my aunt and they [are] both children at this time. He thinks she is sleep-walking, everyone thinks its funny.

“So she walks over to my aunt’s crib and she picks up my aunt and stands there for like 10 to 15 minutes. I don’t know much about sleep-walking that seems weird. And then she puts her down and stands on top of her own bed. And stands there for another 30 minutes. And my uncle just thinks this is totally weird. She is sleep-walking and he can’t wait to tell my mom this and tell her when she wakes up. And she starts to sing. And he can’t really make out what she is singing. And then she looks at him and she lifts up her finger and sings to him. And I don’t know why, but this is Uncle Carlos and my mother, why does it involve him. So she is pointing and singing at him. So he decides he needs to wake her up. He starts to wake her. She starts to sing louder and he can’t wake her up. He yells at her and she doesn’t wake up.

“So he doesn’t know what to do. He runs out of the house to find the mother and father next door. And my grandmother is nervous was to what is going on. “Gloria is acting crazy!” They go back to the house and they are sound asleep but my mother is not sleeping in her bed. She is sleeping with her head out of the bed and her toes pointing to her pillow. Grandma thinks she was just sleepwalking. Puts her back in a normal position. The next morning my uncle asked my mom what happened and my mother responds: “I remember dancing with a lady. And singing with a lady.” And if you remember back to the other story hat was that woman doing with she was singing before Uncle Carlos first saw her. I feel like this woman was around more often than not. Like I’ve only been to Guatemala once and was too young to understand this stuff.

Who was this woman?

“Someone who has existed before my birth. I am just happy that there is never any connection to me. My mother has told me that when she was pregnant with me that a woman came up to her and told her that her first-born son would die before he would become a man.”

What do you see as the significance of this story to you?

“Maybe there is something attached to my family. My mom thinks it’s a curse. Sometimes yah.”

When was the first time you heard this story?
“This story comes up after the first story. My mom loves horror films, she exaggerates some stuff so I’m not sure if its truth. Maybe to make us be careful or with what we do because bad things do happened. So these stories are from my family not just one person is responsible. There are a whole lot more.”

Analysis:

Once again this story represents the witching hour, which is commonly told to children as the dangerous time at night when children should not go out. Witches are said to be practicing magic at this time of night. However, this story demonstrates that the witch lady from the informant’s other ghost story had the ability to influence the informant’s mother’s actions. I think this story demonstrates the fear that children felt at night. Potentially, this woman also represents someone from the informant’s family history.