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Vampires and werewolves. Spirits and ghosts. Creatures and monsters. They’re not just men. Welcome to Moonlit Path’s
Ladies of the Night
by
Carlos R Savournin
Just who is the Old Hag? What is La Llorona screaming about? These are just two women in folklore that are practically unrecognized in because they live under the shadows of their male equals like Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman. What separates them from the men, however, is that encounters with these two ladies have been documented, and for the sake of argument, they are by all accounts, real.
Perhaps the best documented research of the Old Hag took place in Newfoundland in 1971. It seemed an entire university reported accounts of the odd figure found in local folklore. According to the accounts, the Old Hag took spirit form and attacked students while they slept. They reported waking up in the middle of the night, unable to move or speak as an overpowering presence approached their bed, then strangled them. These reports, however, were not just reported in Newfoundland. Similar accounts have been experienced by hundreds of thousands of people all around the world.
It’s important to mention here that The Old Hag is a fantastic way of describing sleep paralysis which would give credence to waking up and being unable to move, but what about the overwhelming feeling that someone or something is approaching the bed then smothering you? Perhaps it is the leaking of dream imagery into waking consciousness, but that is no more than a popular theory. What’s more stunning is that people from different religions, different upbringings from all around the world have reported the supernatural phenomenon – in the same order. They wake, lying on their back just before the immaterial being attacks. So we can take the Old Hag phenomenon for exactly what it is; the visitation of a hostile spirit who means harm or at the very least, to frighten the hell out of her victims. The question remains though; What does she want? What is her purpose? Should she visit you, be sure to find out so that light can be shed on this legend.
Unlike the Old Hag, our next subject is more legend than myth. Depending on where you’re from, La Llorona – the weeping woman – is from Mexico or Spain. Different stories are told of how she came to be, but the most popular is covered here.
Many years ago, a beautiful woman named Maria lived in a small village. Her beauty fueled her vanity and many thought she was too good to marry a local. Enter her prince on a horse – the handsome young son of a wealthy rancher. They were married and Maria birthed two children – and that’s when their troubles began.
Her prince began to drift, going off for months at a time only coming back to visit their children. Maria, enraged and
jealous of his love for her children, did something that earned her the worst mother award; she drowned them in a river to regain her husband’s attention. However, the moment her children died, she began to scream and cry for them, realizing the mistake she made. The next day, her body was found beside that river.
Maria was buried the next day by the villagers, but on that same night, they heard a cry in the wind. It was Maria; La Llorna. To this day, the cries for her children can be heard and it is said that she will take whatever child she can get her hands on to replace those who will not return to her.
It is a sad story that has been told for generations, and some dismiss it as a tale parents tell their kids to keep them indoors come night time but, like the Old Hag, countless reports of encounters with La Llorona have been reported and some have even claimed to see the beautiful woman dressed in white.
These are just two of the women in folklore that make up an entire roster of female legends; legends that are overlooked and practically ignored. Women in play a larger part in horror than most people realize – without a woman behind him, Dracula would not be the most famous vampire. Without his bride, Frankenstein would not be complete.
And let’s not forget that without Pandora, none of them would exist.
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© Savournin, 2006