The most common tale tells of a beautiful woman named María who, betrayed by her husband for a younger woman, drowned her own children in a river in rage. Refused entry to heaven until she finds their souls, she wanders the waters forever, weeping.
The tale predates the Spanish conquest, with scholars linking her to the Aztec goddess Cihuacōātl, who was said to appear weeping at night before the fall of Tenochtitlán.
A tall woman in a flowing white dress, hair covering her face. When the hair parts, her face is either a beautiful grieving woman or a fleshless skull. Always wet, always weeping.
According to the source excerpt, La Llorona is vengeful and is said to roam near bodies of water mourning the children she drowned. Folklore as cited attributes to her crying the consequence that whoever hears it will suffer misfortune, death, or become extremely unsuccessful in life. The source does not describe other supernatural abilities (for example, shape‑changing, possession, or speech beyond crying) or detail mechanisms by which her cries bring harm.
Weaknesses
- ritualPrayer for her soul and for the souls of her children — forces her to pause
Wards
- symbolCrucifix and holy water at the doors of homes with children
- conditionDo not go near rivers alone at night in regions she haunts
Alicanto
A nocturnal, flightless bird-like being from Chilean Atacama desert folklore whose glowing wings indicate the presence of underground ores; it can guide a stealthy prospector to a mother lode or, if offended or detected, extinguish its light and mislead or endanger the seeker.
Aloja
Aloja is listed in available sources as a named figure in Catalan legend; beyond a brief disambiguation listing, traditional folkloric details are absent in the consulted material. A contemporary commercial design note reinterprets Aloja as a Mediterranean/sea goddess with energetic yet tender character, but this is explicitly a modern creative description rather than documented folk belief.
Ascalapha odorata (Hawaiian)
A nocturnal moth associated with death or misfortune in Hawaiian tradition, possibly tied to Central and South American folklore. (Note: - Summary should note that Ascalapha odorata's association with death/misfortune is found in Central and South American folklore, not explicitly mentioned in Hawaiian tradition. - Power tier: Primordi)
Ayizan
Ayizan is a racine (root loa) in Haitian Vodou and related West African-derived Vodoun traditions, functioning as the archetypal mambo (priestess) and a guardian of ritual order, initiation (kanzo), and the transmission of sacerdotal implements such as the asson. She is also associated with the marketplace and commerce and is syncretized with the Catholic Saint Clare.
Badalona giants
The Badalona giants (Catalan: gegants de Badalona) are eight large, anthropomorphic effigies used in the civic festival life of Badalona, Catalonia. Constructed of wood, plaster and carton, they represent locally prominent historical or mythological figures and are carried and made to 'dance' in processions during the city's spring festival (May), its principal festival around 15 August, and other municipal occasions.
Basilisco chilote
A Chilote household parasite: a rooster-crested, serpentine creature hatched from a chicken's egg that lives beneath houses and feeds on inhabitants' phlegm and saliva, causing dehydration and death. Preventive measures call for burning the egg and killing the laying hen; once hatched the documented remedy is to burn the afflicted house.
Birongo
Birongo (also bilongo) is an Afro‑Venezuelan magico‑religious tradition and folk‑healing repertoire derived from Kongo‑area concepts and syncretized with Catholic saint veneration and local Venezuelan ritual forms. It functions as a lived system of diagnosis, healing, mediumship, and communal ritual practice rather than as an individual supernatural being.
Bizango
Bizango refers to secret societies in Haiti associated with Vodou practice and rural social governance. Sources portray them as local arbiters with contested reputations, variously remembered as community enforcers, makers of ritual objects, and — in folklore and some ethnographic accounts — practitioners of coercive or secretive magical acts.
Boitatá
Boitatá is a supernatural guardian creature from Brazilian folklore, originating in Tupi–Guarani tradition and preserved in wider Brazilian popular tradition. Commonly rendered as a fiery serpent that protects forests and fields by punishing people who burn, cut, or otherwise destroy nature, the legend also appears in brief variants that liken it to a will-o'-the-wisp or (less commonly) a bull-like creature.
Bolas
Bolas are a physical throwing weapon consisting of weights connected by cords, used historically and traditionally to entangle the legs of animals (and occasionally humans) at a distance. They appear in multiple regional traditions—notably in southern South America among Tehuelche and gauchos, in Mapuche and Inca military contexts, and in Inuit bird-hunting practice—under a variety of local names and constructions.
Bonadona i Altemir
Bonadona i Altemir are a pair of processional giants (gegants) associated with the town of Premià de Dalt in Catalonia. They function as civic effigies carried in public processions and local festivals, part of the municipality's intangible cultural traditions.
Bubota
Bubota is attested in a small, heterogeneous set of Catalan-language and English-language sources as a feminine ghost or spectral figure invoked in contemporary artistic works and occasional popular references. Available materials classify it as a female-associated spirit and use the term both as a folkloric label and as a cultural/metaphorical signifier; however, primary folkloric narratives, standardized iconography, and ritual practice are not documented in the provided sources.
La Llorona sites along Panama's rivers and the Canal Zone (generalized)
Aggregation of references to the La Llorona legend as it might be associated with riverbanks and waterways in Panama and the historic Canal Zone. Provided sources do not supply site-level documentation, eyewitness reports, coordinates, or Panama-specific ethnography; the entry notes the association as folkloric and unverified for Panama in these materials.
Panama (no site-level sources found)
La Llorona Bridge (Puente de La Llorona) — Cartago (unverified site-specific association)
La Llorona is a widespread Hispanic-American folktale about a weeping woman who haunts bodies of water; some Costa Rican locales associate bridges and rivers with her legend. The supplied sources describe the figure and her attributes generally but do not verify a specific, documented Puente de La Llorona in Cartago.
Costa Rica
La Llorona Bridge (unverified attribution to Granada)
A purported site named 'La Llorona Bridge' is sometimes mentioned in relation to La Llorona folklore. The supplied sources do not verify the existence or location of a specific bridge in the Granada, Nicaragua area; the association remains unconfirmed and based on general La Llorona folkloric descriptions.
uncertain
La Llorona Bridge (Poptún / Guatemala River locales) — unverified folkloric toponym
A folkloric toponym applied to bridges or watersides where the figure of La Llorona is said to appear; sources supplied document the general La Llorona legend (mourning woman who roams waters) but do not verify a specific bridge, coordinates, or documented site at Poptún or along the Guatemala River.
unspecified / Central America (Guatemala sometimes claimed in oral tradition)
La Llorona sites along the Rio Grande valley (New Mexico)
Folkloric locations along the Rio Grande in New Mexico associated with the Hispanic American figure La Llorona, a weeping female ghost traditionally said to roam riverbanks mourning drowned children. The entry documents cultural and folkloric associations rather than a single, discrete haunted site.
United States
Community Record
- [1]La Llorona: Weeping Ghosts of the Americas. Leddy, Betty. 1948. La Llorona in Southern Arizona. Western Folklore 7(3).academic
- [2]Chicano Folklore. West, John O. 1988. Mexican-American Folklore. August House.folk
- [3]La Llorona. Wikipedia, entry 'La Llorona'wiki