As October comes to an end, we’re squeezing in all the spooky and horror tales we can before the season is over. Can you believe November is already next week? Next thing you know, we’ll be talking about Christmas lights and New Year’s resolutions.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Let’s dial it back and continue our Halloween festivities with three classic horror tales that Latinos are still scared of. Although they’re tales as old as time, you know they still bring shivers down your spine.
‘La Llorona’
La Llorona’s story is still one of the most popular Latinx stories. Did you know that Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights has a maze dedicated to it? Personally, it was one of the scariest of this year’s attractions. Why is it so scary among our Latinx families? I’d say that it’s because it involves a mother harming children. As you may know, in our Latinx families, we’re so used to doing everything we can for our families, so when we hear a mother doing the polar opposite (and for “love”), it terrifies us!
‘El Chupacabra’
This horror tale is terrifying because it’s a mystery legend. But why’d it get so famous and related to horror? National Graphic has two theories. One of them is that its popularity was due to a 1995 movie called Species, which coincided with the first alleged sighting of the creature in Puerto Rico. Since then, people started to fear the alleged creature, especially because the film’s creature was similar to the description of the sighting.
Another theory is that the sightings were actually rhesus monkeys, who, at the time, were experimented on in Puerto Rico. Whatever the case is, I would rather stray away from a chupacabra sighting!
‘El Duende’
Among the three, this one terrifies me the most. Gnomes that steal children and take them to forests? No, thanks! To this day, some people believe in this and keep their children safe from these creatures. These creatures are often described as three to four-foot tall, with heavy shoulders, long arms, brown hair, flat yellowish faces, and long hair down the back of the neck and back. ¡Ay, no! No wonder I was scared of furbies.