La Llorona

Short description: Vengeful ghost in Latin American folklore

For other uses, see Unsolved:La Llorona (disambiguation).

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in español.  (May 2025) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

*   * Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing español Wikipedia article at [[:es:Exact name of the español article]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated page|es|Exact name of español article}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

Statue of La Llorona on an island of Xochimilco, Mexico, 2015

La Llorona (es-419; 'the Crying Woman, the Weeping Woman, the Wailer') is a vengeful ghost in Hispanic American folklore who is said to roam near bodies of water mourning her children whom she drowned in a jealous rage after discovering her husband was unfaithful to her. Whoever hears her crying is said to either suffer misfortune, death, or become extremely unsuccessful in life.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Origins
* 2 Regional versions
* 2.1 Mexico
* 3 Chicana Feminism and the Decolonization of La Llorona
* 3.1 Gloria Anzaldúa
* 3.2 Sandra Cisneros
* 3.3 Guatemala
* 3.4 Ecuador
* 3.5 United States
* 3.6 Venezuela
* 3.7 Spain
* 4 Other mythologies
* 5 In popular culture
* 5.1 Film
* 5.2 Theater
* 5.3 Literature
* 5.4 Music
* 5.5 Television
* 5.6 Art
* 5.7 Video games
* 5.8 Distilling
* 6 See also
* 7 Bibliography

## Origins

Known for being Malintzin in her original nomenclature, today, the lore of La Llorona is well known in Mexico and the southwestern United States.[2]

The earliest documentation of La Llorona is traced back to 1550 in Mexico City. But there are theories about her story being connected to specific Aztec mythological creation stories. "The Hungry Woman" includes a wailing woman constantly crying for food, which has been compared to La Llorona's signature nocturnal wailing for her children.[3] The motherly nature of La Llorona's tragedy has been compared to Cihuacoatl, an Aztec goddess deity of motherhood. Her seeking of children to keep for herself is significantly compared to Coatlicue, known as "Our Lady Mother" or Tonantzin (who is also comparable to the Virgen de Guadalupe, another significant mother figure in Mexican culture), also a monster that devours filth or sin.

The legend of La Llorona is traditionally told throughout Mexico, Central America and northern South America.[4] La Llorona is sometimes conflated with La Malinche,[5] the Nahua woman who served as Hernán Cortés's interpreter and also bore his son.[6] La Malinche is considered both the mother of the modern Mexican people and a symbol of national treachery for her role in aiding the Spanish.[7]

Stories of weeping female phantoms are common in the folklore of both Iberian and Amerindian cultures. Scholars have pointed out similarities between La Llorona and the Cihuacōātl of Aztec mythology,[4] as well as Eve and Lilith of Hebrew mythology.[8] Author Ben Radford's investigation into the legend of La Llorona, published in Mysterious New Mexico, found common elements of the story in the German folktale "Die Weiße Frau" dating from 1486.[9] La Llorona also bears a resemblance to the ancient Greek tale of the demigoddess Lamia, in which Hera, Zeus's wife, learned of his affair with Lamia and killed all the children Lamia had with Zeus. Out of jealousy over the loss of her own children, Lamia kills other women's children.[10]

The Florentine Codex is an important text about the Spanish invasion of Mexico in 1519, a quote from which is, "The sixth omen was that many times a woman would be heard going along weeping and shouting. She cried out loudly at night, saying, 'Oh my children, we are about to go forever.' Sometimes she said, 'Oh my children, where am I to take you?'"[11]

While the roots of the La Llorona legend appear to be pre-Hispanic,[5] the earliest published reference to the legend is a 19th-century sonnet by Mexican poet Manuel Carpio.[4] The poem makes no reference to infanticide, rather La Llorona is identified as the ghost of a woman named Rosalia who was murdered by her husband.[12]

## Regional versions

The legend has a wide variety of details and versions. In a typical version of the legend, a beautiful woman named María marries a rich ranchero / conquistador[13] to whom she bears two children. One day, María sees her husband with another woman and in a fit of blind rage, she drowns their children in a river, which she immediately regrets. Unable to save them and consumed by guilt,[14] she drowns herself as well but is unable to enter the afterlife, forced to be in purgatory and roam this earth until she finds her children.[15] In another version of the story, her children are illegitimate, and she drowns them so that their father cannot take them away to be raised by his new wife.[16] Recurring themes in variations on the La Llorona myth include a white, wet dress, nocturnal wailing, and an association with water.[17]

### Mexico

The legend of La Llorona is deeply rooted in Mexican popular culture. Her story is told to children to encourage them not to wander off in the dark and near bodies of water such as rivers and lakes alone. Her spirit is often evoked in artwork,[18] such as that of Alejandro Colunga.[19] La Cihuacoatle, Leyenda de la Llorona is a yearly waterfront theatrical performance of the legend of La Llorona set in the canals of the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City,[20] which was established in 1993 to coincide with the Day of the Dead.[21] In 1930s the reference and representation of La Llorona is seen in the production of films. La Llorona is portrayed as a vengeful and evil monster in many films. The classic film La Venganza de la Llorona (1974) produced by Miguel M. Delgado is one of the many popular renditions of La Llorona.[22] In Chicano culture, the tale of La Llorona acts as a warning particularly for women on what is considered acceptable behavior within the culture. In Mexican culture La Llorona represents a vengeful lover who goes from a resentful wife to a monstrous mother who drowns her children after discovering her husband's infidelity.

## Chicana Feminism and the Decolonization of La Llorona

In the late twentieth century, Chicana feminist writers and poets began retelling the story of La Llorona, portraying her as a symbol of resistance and female identity.[23] Chicana writers and artists redefined La Llorona based on embodied experience and the social and political pressures they faced. The rise of Chicana feminism and the Chicano movement encouraged Chicana writers and artists to reinvent their historical and cultural Mexican presence in the United States. La Llorona was rewritten as a strong woman who had been forced to accommodate to the colonizers ruling and had been punished for challenging traditional female roles. Chicanas related to the agony that La Llorona faced while being stripped of her identity by Spanish colonizers. La Llorona symbolizes the pain and grief and became a metaphorical representation of the challenges and struggles faced by marginalized groups.

Writers Gloria Anzaldúa and Sandra Cisneros present her as a spiritual guide representing colonial oppression and patriarchal hierarchies. Anzaldúa reinterprets La Llorona’s wail as the resistance of Indian, Mexican, and Chicana women against border violence, reproductive injustice, gender discrimination, domestic violence, and other issues associated with colonization and patriarchal control.[24] Cisneros’s depiction of La Llorona reimagines her as a weeping victim to a hollering, independent figure.[25]

### Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Anzaldúa challenges colonialism by repositioning La Llorona within the Aztec and Indigenous family tree. In Anzaldúa’s poem “My Black Angelos,” La Llorona is reimagined as a figure whose roots trace back to the Aztecs, reclaiming spiritual and cultural authority taken by the Spanish. Anzaldúa’s young protagonist, Pretita, encounters La Llorona while lost in the woods searching for an herb to save her mother. Pretita hears La Llorona’s wail, but instead of taking the child, she points Pretita to the herb needed to save her mother.[26] Anzaldúa illustrates how La Llorona functions as a guide for Chicanas navigating trauma, displacement, and border identity.

### Sandra Cisneros

In her short story “Woman Hollering Creek,” Sandra Cisneros offers another reinterpretation of La Llorona. The protagonist, Cleófilas, experiences patriarchal violence and emotional abandonment similar to traditional La Llorona narratives. However, unlike the weeping woman, Cleófilas does not direct her suffering toward her children. Instead, she escapes domestic abuse through the support of other women. In a pivotal scene, a woman named Felice drives Cleófilas towards her freedom. As Felice crosses the bridge over La Gritona, a creek named after the wailing woman, she hollers, signifying freedom. Cisneros transforms La Llorona’s despairing wail into one of joy, power, and liberation.[27]

### Guatemala

According to the local legend, in Guatemala City lived a woman who had an affair with a lover. She became pregnant and gave birth to a child named Juan de la Cruz whom she drowned so her husband would not know. The woman was condemned in the afterlife to search for her murdered son in every place where there is a pool of water. She does that by crying out for him—hence her moniker of the Wailing Woman (La Llorona).[28] It is a popular scary legend that in one iteration or another has been told to generations of children. The terrifying cry of "Oh, my children!!" (¡Ay mis hijos!) is well known due to the story. Additionally, one peculiar detail is that when a person hears the cry from afar means that the ghost is nearby, but if the cry is heard nearby, it means the ghost is afar. Someone unlucky enough to face the specter is "won over" to the afterlife, never to be seen again. The legend is deeply rooted in Antigua Guatemala, the former capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala (current Central America and southern state of Chiapas, Mexico)[29]

### Ecuador

Throughout Latin America, there are various versions of the folktale of La Llorona. The Ecuadorian version often features a woman known as either La Llorona de Los Ríos (The Crying Woman of the Rivers) or La Llorona de Los Andes (The Crying Woman of the Andes) depending on the region. In this story, she lost her lover and, in desperation, drowned her children in a river.[30] She now cries uncontrollably and searches the riverbanks for her missing children. Nonetheless, one of its main focuses is the environment of Ecuadorian rivers and mountains. The Ecuadorian La Llorona is known for her connection to rivers, like the Guayas River, where locals say they can hear her somber cries at night. The tale of La Llorona warns kids about disobedience and the importance of avoiding bodies of water and locations at night, similar to other versions around the world.[31]

### United States

In the Southwestern United States, the story of La Llorona is told to scare children into good behavior,[32] sometimes specifically to deter children from playing near dangerous water.[33] Also told to them is that her cries are heard as she walks around the street or near bodies of water to scare children from wandering around, resembling the stories of El Cucuy. In Chumash mythology indigenous to Southern California, La Llorona is linked to the nunašɨš, a mythological creature with a cry similar to that of a newborn baby.[34] It is a very popular story.

### Venezuela

The tale of La Llorona is set in the Venezuelan Llanos during the colonial period. La Llorona is said to be the spirit of a woman that died of sorrow after her children were killed, either by herself or by her family.[35][36] Families traditionally place wooden crosses above their doors to ward off such spirits.[36]

### Spain

The tales of La Llorona are seen differently in Spain, as detailed in Elvira, La Llorona published by José Maria León y Domínguez, a Jesuit academic from Cadiz. The tale begins with a woman named Elvira who experiences a devastating life which slowly led to her transformation into the spectral figure La Llorona.[37]

## Other mythologies

In Eastern Europe, the modern Rusalka is a type of water spirit in Slavic mythology. They come to be after a woman drowns due to suicide or murder, especially if they had an unwanted pregnancy. Then they must stay in this world for a period of time.[38]

The Greek legend of Jason and Medea also features the motif of a woman who murders her children as an act of revenge against her husband, who has left her.

## In popular culture

### Film

Actress representing La Llorona in The Mexican Dream, 2003

The story of La Llorona first appeared on film in 1933's La Llorona, filmed in Mexico.[39] René Cardona's 1960 film La Llorona was also shot in Mexico,[40] as was the 1963 horror film The Curse of the Crying Woman, directed by Rafael Baledón.[41]

In a pivotal scene in the 2001 film Mulholland Drive, Rebekah Del Rio plays La Llorona de Los Angeles, a mysterious singer who performs Llorando, a Spanish language version of "Crying" by Roy Orbison.[42] In keeping with the legend, the characters who witness this performance suffer severe consequences.

The 2008 Mexican horror film Kilometer 31[43] is inspired by the legend of La Llorona.[44] Additionally the early 2000s saw a spate of low-budget movies based on La Llorona, including:

* The River: The Legend of La Llorona[45]
* Revenge of La Llorona[46]
* The Wailer: La Llorona[47]
* The Curse of La Llorona[48]

La Llorona is the primary antagonist in the 2007 movie J-ok'el.[49] In the 2011 Mexican animated film La Leyenda de la Llorona, she is portrayed as a more sympathetic character, whose children die in an accident rather than at their mother's hands.[50]

In the 2017 Pixar film Coco, "La Llorona", the Mexican folk song popularized by Andres Henestrosa in 1941[51] is sung by Alanna Ubach in her role as Mamá Imelda, joined by Antonio Sol as the singing voice of Ernesto de la Cruz.[52]

In July 2019, James Wan, Gary Dauberman and Emilie Gladstone produced a film titled The Curse of La Llorona for Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was directed by Michael Chaves and stars Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velasquez and Marisol Ramirez as La Llorona.[53] A sequel, The Revenge of La Llorona, was directed by Santiago Menghini and is set to be theatrically released.[54]

Also in 2019, Jayro Bustamante directed the Guatemalan film La Llorona, starring María Mercedes Coroy, which screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.[55]

The Legend of La Llorona was a film released in January 2022 and stars Danny Trejo, Autumn Reeser, and Antonio Cupo.[56]

### Theater

Mexican playwright Josefina López wrote Unconquered Spirits,[57] which uses the myth of La Llorona as a plot device. The play premiered at California State University, Northridge's Little Theatre in 1995.[58]

### Literature

Nancy Farmer's 2002 science fiction novel, The House of the Scorpion includes references to La Llorona.[59]

The legend of La Llorona is discussed in Jaquira Díaz's 2019 memoir, Ordinary Girls:

> The scariest part was not that La Llorona was a monster, or that she came when you called her name three times in the dark, or that she could come into your room at night and take you from your bed like she'd done with her own babies. It was that once she'd been a person, a woman, a mother. And then a moment, an instant, a split second later, she was a monster.[60]

The novel Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, the first part of a young adult trilogy by Tehlor Kay Mejia, is based on the legend of La Llorona.[61]

Rodolfo Anaya's novel Bless Me, Ultima references La Llorona, describing her as a spirit of the river without mentioning her origins.

"Advice from La Llorona" by Deborah A. Miranda is a poem exploring grief and loss.

In Summer of the Mariposas, by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, she serves as a mentor to the Garza Sisters.

The Weeping Woman: Encounters with La Llorona by Edward Garcia Kraul and Judith Beatty, is a valuable resource that brings together of encounters and retellings of La Llorona with diverse perspectives and different regions.[1]

Bess Lomax Hawes, an American folklorist, published his article in 1968, La Llorona in Juvenile Hall containing details of the hauntings in California's juvenile detention facility with sightings of a “weeping woman.”[2]

Gloria Anzaldua's book Borderlands/La Frontera references La Llorona as one of the three mothers of Chicanas.

The Figure of the Monster in Global Theatre: Further Readings on the Aesthetics of Disqualification, is a valuable resource that gives insight on international perspectives on "monster" figures in writing. Makes many references to La Llorona and explores La Llorona within Chicano culture.[22]

### Music

"La Llorona" is a Mexican folk song popularized by Andres Henestrosa in 1941.[51] It has since been covered by various musicians, including Chavela Vargas,[62] Joan Baez,[63] Lila Downs,[64] and Rosalía.[65]

North American singer-songwriter Lhasa de Sela's debut album La Llorona (1997) explored the dark mysteries of Latin folklore. She combined a variety of musical genres including klezmer, gypsy jazz and Mexican folk music, all in the Spanish language.[66] The album was certified Platinum in Canada,[67] and it earned her a Canadian Juno Award for Best Global Artist in 1998.[68]

Manic Hispanic, a rock band from Los Angeles, California, have a song titled "She Turned Into Llorona" on their 2003 album Mijo Goes To Jr. College.[69]

La Llorona is the name of a fictional punk band in the alternative comic book Love and Rockets. They are known for their song "Two Faces Have I", the title of which is generally misheard as "Do Vases Have Eyes(?)".

### Television

La Llorona is an antagonist in the TV series Supernatural, portrayed by Sarah Shahi in the pilot episode and by Shanae Tomasevich in "Moriah" and season 15.[70]

La Llorona is an antagonist in a 2012 second-season episode of the TV series Grimm.[71]

La Llorona appears in the Victor and Valentino episode "The Lonely Haunts 3: La Llorona" voiced by Vanessa Marshall. Contrary to the usual depictions, this version of La Llorona is good and simply lonely and claims to have had twenty kids who had all grown up and left her; implying that she suffers from Empty nest syndrome.

La Llorona appears in the Craig of the Creek episode "The Legend of the Library" voiced by Carla Tassara. Craig and the Stump Kids visit their friend Stacks at the local library to get out of the rain. When the power goes out and their fellow Creek Kids begin disappearing, Stacks believes that La Llorona is to blame. In the end, it is revealed that the "ghost" was actually Lorraine, the substitute librarian who is very serious about her job. She makes the kids promise to take good care of the library along with a warning, showing a ghostly face at the same time. Whether or not Lorraine was in fact La Llorona or the face was imagined is left ambiguous.

La Llorona appears in the Riverdale episode "Chapter 97: Ghost Stories". The characters tell ghost stories about people related to them or the town that had died. La Llorona is one. She haunts Sweetwater River and she also manages to possess Toni and take Betty's unborn child away.

La Llorona is portrayed by drag queen, Mirage, during the 3rd episode of Season 16 of Rupaul's Drag Race. During this episode the queens had to show three different looks in the runway and she portrayed La Llorona in the second theme named "Significant Mother" where they needed to show an outfit based on an iconic mother.

### Art

La Llorona is portrayed as a protective figure in the 2004 mural, La Llorona’s Sacred Waters by Juana Alicia. The mural also includes the Aztec goddess, Chalchiuhtlicue. It is a large, blue mural with red elements that is two stories high and sixty feet long.[72] Juana Alicia painted La Llorona’s Sacred Waters due to warnings of water damage in one of her murals, Las Lechugeras (1983). Both murals depict women's environmental and labor struggles and their roles in environmental justice.[73] Despite the representation of water through the use of blue in La Llorona's Sacred Waters, she used a monochromatic color palette, with the exception of red, in order to not distract the viewers. She uses the palette to draw attention to the seriousness of the subject and to keep a somber tone. She also used blue and red due to their affiliations with gangs in order to unify different groups of people.[74] La Llorona is reimagined in La Llorona's Sacred Waters as a protector of the people, used as a cultural anchor, represents womanhood, and in a multitude of other ways.[72]

### Video games

La Llorona appears as a collectible demon in Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei series of role-playing games, making her first appearance in the 1997 installment, Software:Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers for the Sega Saturn.

### Distilling

Tears of Llorona, an extra añejo tequila named after the ghost, earned the top score in its category at the 2025 World Spirits Championships.[75]

## See also

* Banshee
* Baobhan sith
* Black Lady of Bradley Woods
* Bloody Mary (folklore)
* Bogeyman
* Clíodhna
* Hulder
* Kuchisake-onna
* Leannán sídhe
* Madam Koi Koi
* Manananggal
* Medea
* Pontianak (folklore)
* Rusalka
* Samodiva (mythology)
* Sayona
* The Silbón
* Siren
* Soucouyant
* Succubus
* Tulevieja
* White Lady (ghost)
* El Naddaha

[76]==References==

1. ↑ Delsol, Christine (9 October 2012). "Mexico's legend of La Llorona continues to terrify people | in june 14 2023 she was seen naked walking in the streets on santa teresa at 2:19 am reporters say she has seen with 2 children's". https://www.sfgate.com/mexico/mexicomix/article/Mexico-s-legend-of-La-Llorona-continues-to-3933072.php.
2. ↑ Leddy, Betty (1948). "La LLorona in Southern Arizona". Western Folklore 7 (3): 272–277. doi:10.2307/1497551.
3. ↑ Padilla, Juan Raez (2014). "Crying for Food: The Mexican Myths of 'La Llorona' and 'The Hungry Woman' in Cherríe L. Moraga". Comparative American Studies 12 (3): 205–2017. doi:10.1179/1477570014Z.00000000084.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Werner 1997, p. 753.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Leal, Luis (2005). "The Malinche-Llorona Dichotomy: The Origin of a Myth". Feminism, Nation and Myth: La Malinche. Arte Publico Press. p. 134. OCLC 607766319.
6. ↑ Hanson, Victor Davis (2007) (in en). Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-42518-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=XGr16-CxpH8C.
7. ↑ Cypess, Sandra Messinger (1991). La Malinche in Mexican Literature: From History to Myth. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292751347.
8. ↑ Norget 2006, p. 146.
9. ↑ Radford, Ben (2014). Mysterious New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-8263-5450-1. "While the classic image of La Llorona was likely taken from an Aztec goddess named Cihuacōātl, the narrative of her legend has other origins. As Bacil Kirtley (1960) wrote in Western Folklore, "During the same decade that La Llorona was first mentioned in Mexico, a story, seemingly already quite old, of 'Die Weisse Frau' ('The White Lady')—which reproduces many of the features consistently recurring in the more developed versions of 'La Llorona', was recorded in Germany"; references to Die Weisse Frau date back as early as 1486. The story of the White Lady follows a virtually identical plot to the classical La Llorona story."
10. ↑ Folklore: In All of Us, In All We Do. University of North Texas Press. 2006. p. 110. ISBN 9781574412239. https://archive.org/details/folkloreinallofu0000unse.
11. ↑ "Florentine Codex, Book 12, Ch 01 | Early Nahuatl Library". https://enl.uoregon.edu/fcbk12ch01.
12. ↑ Carpio, Manuel (1879). Poesias del Sr. Dr. Don Manuel Carpio con su biografia escrita por el Sr. Dr. D. José Bernardo Couto.. Mexico: La Enseñanza. p. 299. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011682546.
13. ↑ Fuller, Amy (31 October 2017). "The Wailing Woman". Mexico. https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/wailing-woman.
14. ↑ Delsol, Christine (9 October 2012). "Mexico's legend of La Llorona continues to terrify". https://www.sfgate.com/mexico/mexcomix/article/Mexico-s-legend-of-La-Llorona-continues-to-3933072.php.
15. ↑ Dimuro, Gina (2019-01-22). "The Legend Of La Llorona: The Wailing Woman Who Murdered Her Children" (in en-US). https://allthatsinteresting.com/la-llorona.
16. ↑ Simerka, Barbara (2000). "Women Hollering: Contemporary Chicana Reinscriptions of La Llorona Mythography". Confluencia 16 (1): 49–58. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/35829973/simerka_llorona.pdf?1417735311=&response-content-disposition=inline;+filename=Women_Hollering_Contemporary_Chicana_Rei.pdf&Expires=1602099801&Signature=eRV7qyMzi~7ZSswaXXtRkr3hHtEonM5PZb-maR39uDaMJpPjcJTsJv5-xQsIlb~oJa~LiFScwL01wvlV7QpQDwXEXUECjWwQVUtR01tQRaENvVguMMRmT6RGE6FUPYXkO3ur22cY3Kuz7xzBLpQdAAmW5Qchg~5hvIrV~ntn1nvPii1q0PAGygigP~IRTOza8gCotN6X84Q~HBGh-B5WC8~4zdN3yA-f7Jk4-InIixhl3QMdvUfJOtk0Pew3Cfjsj4wwHrGEXzTU0eQnzOAdYUBFn~~UaM3G3Fq6OZxGNSyMva7qlbORGwsk4IC~x5Jt7LV6dfLx524Ys5tuP~Wd-A__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA.
17. ↑ Carbonell, Ana María (1999). "From Llorona to Gritona: Coatlicue in Feminist Tales by Viramontes and Cisneros". MELUS 24 (2): 53–74. doi:10.2307/467699. http://www.whereareyouquetzalcoatl.com/mesoamerica/coatlicue/Carbonell_1999.pdf.
18. ↑ Ibarra, Enrique Ajuria (2014). "Ghosting the Nation: La Llorona, Popular Culture, and the Spectral Anxiety of Mexican Identity". The Gothic and the Everyday. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 131–151. doi:10.1057/9781137406644_8. ISBN 978-1-349-48800-1. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137406644_8.
19. ↑ Coerver, Don M. (2004). Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576071328. https://books.google.com/books?id=YSred4NyOKoC.
20. ↑ Marquez, RJ (2019). "Mysterious tales behind La Llorona, Island of the Dolls in Mexico City.". https://www.ksat.com/entertainment/2019/10/31/mysterious-tales-behind-la-llorona-island-of-the-dolls-in-mexico-city/.
21. ↑ Lee, Winnie (30 October 2019). "How Mexico's Most Sorrowful Spirit Became a Cultural Phenomenon". https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-weeping-woman-in-mexico.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Chemers, Michael M.; Santana, Analola (2024) (in en). The Figure of the Monster in Global Theatre: Further Readings on the Aesthetics of Disqualification (1st ed.). London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003432524. ISBN 978-1-003-43252-4. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003432524.
23. ↑ Perez, Domino Renee (1998). "Revitalizing the Legend: Manifestations and Cultural Readings of La Llorona in Contemporary Literature and Film". https://go.exlibris.link/6jkBR2Jp.
24. ↑ Martinez, Shantel (2024). Monsters and Saints: LatIndigenous Landscapes and Spectral Storytelling. Horror and Monstrosity Studies Series. Kelly Medina-López (1st ed.). Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 21-37. ISBN 978-1-4968-4874-1.
25. ↑ Carbonell, Ana Marie (1999). "From Llorona to Gritona: Coatlicue in Feminist Tales by Viramontes and Cisneros". MELUS 24 (2): 53-74. https://www.proquest.com/docview/203704484/abstract/6634A7F64CBE4F9EPQ/1.
26. ↑ Blake, Debra J.; Mignolo, Walter D.; Silverblatt, Irene; Saldívar-Hull, Sonia (2009). Chicana Sexuality and Gender: Cultural Refiguring in Literature, Oral History, and Art. Latin America Otherwise. North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-8122-8.
27. ↑ Carbonell, Ana Marie (1999). "From Llorona to Gritona: Coatlicue in Feminist Tales by Viramontes and Cisneros". MELUS 24 (2): 53-74. https://www.proquest.com/docview/203704484/abstract/6634A7F64CBE4F9EPQ/1.
28. ↑ Lara, César (1984) (in es). Por los Viejos Barrios de la Ciudad de Guatemala. Guatemala: Artemis y Edinter. pp. 149, 212.
29. ↑ Cuevas García, Roberto (2010). Llorona. Guatemala: Artemis Edinter.
30. ↑ "Tarpeia | Roman Mythology, Betrayal & Rock | Britannica" (in en). https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tarpeia.
31. ↑ "Tarpeia | Roman Mythology, Betrayal & Rock | Britannica" (in en). https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tarpeia.
32. ↑ Leddy, Betty (1988). "La Llorona in Southern Arizona". Perspectives in Mexican American Studies q: 9–16. https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/624782/pmas_01_9_16.pdf?sequence=1.
33. ↑ Raheem, N.; Archambault, S.; Arellano, E.; Gonzales, M.; Kopp, D.; Rivera, J.; Guldan, S.; Boykin, K. et al. (2015-06-08). "Aframework for assessing ecosystem services in acequia irrigation communities of the Upper Río Grande watershed". Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water (Wiley) 2 (5): 559–575. doi:10.1002/wat2.1091. ISSN 2049-1948. Bibcode: 2015WIRWa...2..559R.
34. ↑ Blackburn, Thomas C. (1975). December's Child: A Book of Chumash Oral Narratives. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520029309. https://books.google.com/books?id=e2lC7XcLrzoC.
35. ↑ Franco, Mercedes (2007) (in es). Diccionario de fantasmas, misterios y leyendas de Venezuela. El Nacional. ISBN 978-980-388-390-4. https://books.google.com/books?id=pK3wlzarBjgC&q=la+llorona+venezuela.
36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Dinneen, Mark (2001) (in en). Culture and Customs of Venezuela. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-30639-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=hdh52tIpY9UC&q=sayona&pg=PA36.
37. ↑ "La Llorona: Roots, Branches, and the Missing Link from Spain | Folklife Today". https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2021/10/la-llorona-roots-branches-and-the-missing-link-from-spain/#:~:text=This certainly falls within the,through the events they described.
38. ↑ Linda J. Ivanits (1989). Russian Folk Belief. M.E. Sharpe. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-7656-3088-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=-s36xYcqG1EC&pg=PA78. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
39. ↑ "The Crying Woman (1933)". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024266/.
40. ↑ "La Llorona (1960)". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051874/.
41. ↑ "The Curse of the Crying Woman (1963)". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055128/.
42. ↑ Frey, Angelica (2022-07-14). "'My voice lends itself to sadness – I carry a lot of grief' : Rebekah Del Rio, David Lynch's musical muse" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/14/rebekah-del-rio-david-lynch-mulholland-drive.
43. ↑ "KM 31". Rotten Tomatoes. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/km_31.
44. ↑ Sánchez Dávila, Carmen (2007-02-15). "'No hay peor miedo que al fracaso', asegura Rigoberto Castañeda director de 'Kilómetro 31'.". http://filmeweb.net/magazine.asp?id=423. February 15, 2007. Filmweb.
45. ↑ "The River: Legend of La Llorona". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804525/.
46. ↑ "Revenge Of La Llorona Director's Cut". Amazon. 26 February 2008. https://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Llorona-Mary-Sanchez/dp/B0014F6QBC.
47. ↑ "The Wailer (2005)". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0823726/.
48. ↑ "The Curse of La Llorona (2007)". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1018705/.
49. ↑ "J-ok'el (2008)". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0874292/.
50. ↑ "La Leyenda de la Llorona". iTunes. 21 October 2011. https://itunes.apple.com/mx/movie/la-leyenda-de-la-llorona/id593805874?l=en.
51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 "Andrés Henestrosa: el hombre que dispersó sus sombras". https://www.jornada.com.mx/2008/01/11/index.php?section=opinion&article=a05a1cul.
52. ↑ "Coco (2017)". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2380307/.
53. ↑ "The Curse of La Llorona (2019)". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4913966/.
54. ↑ Klein, Brennan (October 9, 2025). "The Conjuring Spinoff Sequel Begins Filming With First Casting & Director Revealed". https://screenrant.com/the-revenge-of-la-llorona-filming-begins-cast-director-details/.
55. ↑ "Toronto Adds The Aeronauts, Mosul, Seberg, & More To Festival Slate". Deadline. 13 August 2019. https://deadline.com/2019/08/toronto-film-festival-the-aeronauts-mosul-seberg-kristen-stewart-ore-to-festival-slate-1202667020/.
56. ↑ "The Legend of La Llorona review – holiday horror down Mexico way" (in en). 2022-01-11. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/11/the-legend-of-la-llorona-review-holiday-horror-down-mexico-way.
57. ↑ Lopez, Josephina. "Unconquered Spirits". Dramatic Publishing. https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/media/pdf/excerpts/exUnconqueredSpiritsU22.pdf.
58. ↑ McColluch, T.H. (5 May 1995). "The Tears of Oppression: Josefina Lopez bases her play, 'Unconquered Spirits,' on the 'Crying Woman' legend. But in the end, her characters' fighting spirit prevails.". https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-05-va-62782-story.html.
59. ↑ Farmer, Nancy (February 2002). The House of the Scorpion. New York, New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. https://alaarajilearninghub.weebly.com/uploads/8/8/1/1/88113240/house_of_the_scorpion_-_nancy_farmer_copy.pdf. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
60. ↑ Diaz, Jaquira (2019). Ordinary Girls: A Memoir. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. p. 100. ISBN 9781616209131. OCLC 1090696817.
61. ↑ Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares. https://www.risingshadow.net/library/book/62195-paola-santiago-and-the-forest-of-nightmares.
62. ↑ "Defiant singer was a cultural force in Mexico". Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-aug-06-la-me-chavela-vargas-20120806-story.html.
63. ↑ "Joan Baez – Discography, Gracias a la Vida". http://www.joanbaez.com/Discography/GALV.html.
64. ↑ "Wise Latina". Guernica Magazine. October 2009. http://www.guernicamag.com/interviews/wise_latina/.
65. ↑ "Video: Rosalía encanta a fans al cantar 'Llorona' en Zócalo de CDMX" (in es). https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/tendencias/video-rosalia-encanta-a-fans-al-cantar-llorona-en-zocalo-de-cdmx/.
66. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 10 (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 220. ISBN 0-19-531373-9.
67. ↑ "Gold & Platinum Certification: May 2004". The Canadian Recording Industry Association. http://www.cria.ca/gold/0504_g.php.
68. ↑ Fulmer, Dave. "Lhasa – La Llorona". https://www.allmusic.com/album/la-llorona-mw0000040909.
69. ↑ (in en) Manic Hispanic – Mijo Goes To Jr. College, 6 May 2003, https://www.discogs.com/release/1735743-Manic-Hispanic-Mijo-Goes-To-Jr-College, retrieved 2022-05-13
70. ↑ "Supernatural (2005–2020) Pilot". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0713618/?ref_=ttep_ep1.
71. ↑ "Grimm (2011–2017) La Llorona". IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2427016/.
72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 Miño-Bucheli, Sebastian (2025-10-02). "La Llorona, Legend and Protector, in the Streets of San Francisco | KQED" (in en). https://www.kqed.org/news/11894939/la-llorona-legend-and-protector-in-the-streets-of-san-francisco.
73. ↑ "La Llorona's Sacred Waters (2004) by Juana Alicia Araiza" (in en-US). https://missionbooksf.com/new-gallery-86.
74. ↑ Curiel, Jonathan (2019-01-10). "Know Your Street Art: La Llorona’s Sacred Waters" (in en). https://www.sfweekly.com/art/know-your-street-art-la-llorona-s-sacred-waters/article_9ef0cc49-fcaa-5909-923d-dc289daff51d.html.
75. ↑ Japhe, Brad (June 23, 2025). "The World's Best Tequila—According To The 2025 World Spirits Championships". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradjaphe/2025/06/22/the-worlds-best-tequila-according-to-the-2025-world-spirits-championships/.
76. ↑ khatri, daniyal (23 February 2026). "Who Painted Grandma Telling Legend Of Grandchildren About La Llorona". daniyal. https://celvoo.com/who-painted-grandma-telling-legend-of-grandchildren-about-la-llorona/.

## Bibliography

* de Aragon, Ray John. The Legend of La Llorona, Sunstone Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-86534-505-8.
* Garcia, Belinda Vasquez. The Witch Narratives Reincarnation, Magic Prose Publishing, 2012. ISBN 9781466429796.
* Mathews, Holly F. 1992. "The Directive Force of Morality Tales in a Mexican Community". In Human Motives and Cultural Models, edited by R. G. D'Andrade and C. Strauss, 127–162. New York: Cambridge University Press.
* Norget, Kristin (2006). Days of Death, Days of Life: Ritual in the Popular Culture of Oaxaca. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-13688-9.
* Perez, Domino Renee. (2008). There Was a Woman: La Llorona from Folklore to Popular Culture. Austin: U of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0292718128.
* Werner, Michael S. (1997). Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture. 1. Chicag: Fitzroy Dearborno. ISBN 1-884964-31-1.

* v
* t
* e

American folklore

Folk heroes|

* Br'er Rabbit
* Casey Jones
* Daniel Boone
* Davy Crockett
* Geronimo
* John Henry
* Johnny Appleseed
* Mike Fink
* Molly Pitcher
* Ola Värmlänning
* Paul Bunyan
* Santa Claus

Idiomatic figures|

* Cooter Brown
* Jack Robinson
* Kilroy
* Sam Hide

Fearsome critters|

* Agropelter
* Axehandle hound
* Ball-tailed cat
* Cactus cat
* Fur-bearing trout
* Gillygaloo
* Glawackus
* Goofus bird
* Gumberoo
* Hidebehind
* Hodag
* Hoop snake
* Jackalope
* Jersey Devil
* Joint snake
* Sidehill gouger
* Snallygaster
* Snipe
* Splintercat
* Squonk
* Teakettler
* Wampus cat

Ghosts and witches|

* Bell Witch
* Lincoln's ghost
* White Lady
* Ghosts of the American Civil War

Legends|

* Bloodstopping
* Confederate gold
* Fountain of Youth
* Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine
* Lost Ship of the Desert
* Madstone
* Seven Cities of Gold
* Tailypo

Literary folk heroes|

* Alfred Bulltop Stormalong
* Annie Christmas
* Brother Jonathan
* Casey at the Bat
* Cordwood Pete
* Evangeline
* Feathertop
* Febold Feboldson
* Ichabod Crane
* Joe Magarac
* Johnny Kaw
* Kemp Morgan
* Mose Humphrey
* Ole Pete
* Pecos Bill
* Rip Van Winkle
* Tony Beaver
* Uncle Sam
* Windwagon Smith

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La Llorona. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Unsolved:La_Llorona&oldid=4300406"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template