La Llorona, the Weeping Woman
Across Latin America, a woman in white is heard weeping by rivers at night, crying for the children she lost.
What was reported
La Llorona, 'the weeping woman', is one of the most widespread legends in Latin America and the American Southwest. In the most common version, a woman drowned her children in a river in a moment of despair, then, overcome with grief, died herself, and now wanders beside water at night crying, 'Ay, mis hijos!', 'Oh, my children!'.
Some versions link her to La Malinche, Hernán Cortés's interpreter, or to an omen recorded before the Spanish conquest, when a woman was heard weeping in the night over Tenochtitlan.
Explanations offered
Folklorists see the legend as a blend of Indigenous and Spanish traditions, and a cautionary tale told to keep children away from rivers at night. It's still told everywhere, and each year a performance of the legend is staged on the canals of Xochimilco.
- When
- Told since colonial times
- Where
- Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico
- Witnesses
- Generations across Latin America
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.