La Llorona (The Weeping Woman)
ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS Latin American ghosts — La Llorona ('The Weeping Woman') has pre-Columbian roots in the Aztec goddess Cihuacóatl, who appeared before the Spanish conquest weeping for the fate of her people. During the colonial period, the story syncretized with Spanish folklore of white ladies and became associated with La Malinche, Cortés's interpreter who bore his child — cursed by her people for betraying the Aztec Empire, condemned to wander forever weeping for her mestizo children. In the classic colonial version, a beautiful woman named María discovers her husband's infidelity, dr