This evening I will be talking about Texas's own local legends, La Llorona and the "Donkey Lady".
On our recent trip to San Antonio, Aaron pointed out "Hollering Woman Creek" as we passed over the bridge. This bridge is named after La Llorona, a legend prevalent in South America, Mexico, and the south-west United States about a woman who, after taking a new lover, drowned her children in order to please him. He spurns her (probably because she just DROWNED HER KIDS), and her ghost wanders around wailing and weeping and haunting local creeks in search for her dead children. There are a lot of variations of La Llorona, including that she was married/ young, the man wasn't ready for children/ran away with another woman because she had children. It really depends on where you hear/ who's telling the story. She also likes to drown people, so don't go looking for her.
 |
| That creek actually doesn't look like you could drown anyone in it. |
The tale of the "Donkey Lady" of San Antonio is similar, as it also involves a woman dying and haunting people because she can. Most stories about her agree: there was a woman around the 50's who was asleep in her house when it caught fire (accounts vary on how exactly the fire started) and was horribly disfigured. Her face was melted and healed to become baggy and grey, her jaw left hanging open, the ends of her extremities fused and burned to become hoof-like. Donkey head, human body.
 |
| I drew this! I thought she deserved a pretty dress. |
Variations of the story include that she was a Chinese woman in a time where that was not common, that she had two children that also perished in the fire, that her husband was the arsonist, or that the town razed the home. She also has a bridge.
 |
| This bridge doesn't look so bad eith- oh jeeze! |
Don't go there at night! If not for the weeping, murderous ghosts, remember that the mosquitoes and heat are pretty bad too.
 |
| Nightmares compliment of Weird U.S. |
