La Llorona — The Weeping Woman
La Llorona is the vengeful ghost of a woman who drowned her children in a river after discovering her husband's infidelity, then drowned herself in grief. She now wanders along rivers and lakes across Mexico and the US Southwest, dressed in white with long black hair, weeping and wailing '¡Ay, mis hijos!' Those who hear her mournful cries are said to suffer misfortune or death. The legend 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