May 15, 2025 • 43 mins
BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT! In this episode, Ayden details the shocking legend of the Puente de Suspiros (Bridge of Sighs) from Comala, Mexico. A bridge said to be built with the blood of missing children.
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Want to hear your story on Susto? Fill out the Letters From the Beyond form or visit SustoPodcast.com to be shared on the show!
Become a Patron here!
Want to hear your story on Susto? Fill out the Letters From the Beyond form or visit SustoPodcast.com to be shared on the show!
Become a Patron here! Subscribe to Susto's YouTube channel!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Big girlfriends. It's me Adrian or Aiden. Either way, I
am still your host and you are still listening to Sustal,
the podcast of spooky stories centered on paranormal folklore from
Latin American and Hispanic cultures. Right off the bat, a
belated a Happy belated Felicia the Les Maddez, and happy
Mother's Day to all the mothers out there who happened
(00:46):
to listen to Sustal. I hope everybody had a good weekend.
Jeff and I made a quick trip home to go
see our moms. I also went to a mixed lawn
festival in McCallen, Texas, which is this amazing big art
culture in music festival. And I'll probably be sharing some
clips of that. I know. I posted them on my
story on Instagram. That's at Sustal Podcasts on every platform,
(01:07):
but I think I also will post like maybe a
mini vlog or something of that on Patreon. That'spatreon dot
com slash Sustal podcast, where you can also if you
are a best goalfriend, watch today's episode. Say hi to
our little gulfriend pillow back here. We did a name
for our little girlfriend right here, because they're in every
episode now every video episode, and so we need a
(01:28):
name for them. So if you can think of one,
let me know send it in. Some quick updates about
the show, some things that are coming up. I want
to give a big, huge thank you to Alexis and
Eric from City Alchemist for the last episode. As I mentioned,
it was years in the making, literally constantly saying let's
do it, let's do it, let's do it. And they
were so patient and so kind because as I mentioned before,
(01:49):
it was always the ball was in my court. It's
my show, right, so it needs to be up to
me to get it together, get my life together, and
make it happen. So we finally did and they allowed
us their space and it was I think a great episode.
I honestly, when I was editing it, I found myself
kind of just zoning out and listening and not really
(02:10):
kind of paying attention to do I need to edit that?
Because I was so into it. So if you haven't
heard it, if you haven't listened to it, please make
sure you go and do so and follow them online. Also,
huge shout out to one of my dear girlfriends, Dan Saguovieah.
We've worked together before, but thank you Dan. So much
for doing the video for this episode. It looks so beautiful.
(02:31):
You may have seen some of the clips on social media.
I've been posting those and again, the full video episode
is available exclusively on Patreon. Thank you again, Dan so much.
And speaking of City Alchemists, this Friday, May sixteenth, at
eight pm, we are going to be doing a Night
with Susto at City Alchemist. They are having me over
to do a live storytelling and after we are screening
(02:53):
the movie Veronica. So if you haven't listened to that
episode yet, it is the Vayeka's case based on stefaniag
with Yet and then the movie Vernica is based on
that story. So it's gonna be a fun night. There
will be refreshments available. Seating is limited, so you can
RSVP at the link tree that's linktr dot ee slash
(03:13):
Susto and it should be maybe the first link up there.
The tickets are donation based mainly. It's there so you
can reserve a space because again limited seats, so feel
free to give as much as you want, as little
as you want. We will just be excited to have
everybody there for a fun, spooky night. Again. That is
May sixteenth, this Friday, So if you're listening to this
(03:33):
on Patreon in a couple days, if you're listening to
this everywhere else, tomorrow here in Austin at City Alchemist,
you can follow either of our profiles that's at City
Alchemist or at Soustal Podcast. Visit the link in the
link tree to learn more about that. And then on Saturday,
May seventeenth, you can catch me at the fourth annual
Psychic and Spiritfest hosted by The Curious Twins at Victoria's
(03:55):
Black Swan Inn in San Antonio. So a couple details
about that. The gates will open on Saturday at three,
speakers will start at four, and I will be speaking
at five, so make sure to come by and listen
to and watch the incredible lineup. Say hi, say boo
to me. Don't boom me while I'm up there, but
you know, give me a little boo afterwards, I don't know.
And then they also have some really cool stuff, so
(04:16):
it's gonna be a full market along with the speakers
if you haven't been before. I love this event. I
love the events that they do at Victoria's Blackswan In
because there's food, there's drinks, there's it's just always a
really cool time, so make sure you go check that out.
They will also have the Annabelle Doll, yes, the doll
from the Warrens a Cult museum, and other haunted objects
(04:37):
along with her, so make sure that you go check
out the ticket options so you can see what you
can get access to. I know some things are sold out,
you may want to check it out see what's still available.
I think only tickets at the gate will be available,
so you'll want to try and get there early. But
as always, feel free to reach out to Curious Twins.
You can follow them online. That link is also on
my link tree again, that's linktr dot ee slash susto
(04:58):
and it should be the second one right after a
night with susot Cidi Alchemist. So I will see you
this weekend. So much fun to be had, and without
any further ado, let's get into today's story, which is
the story of Elente de Suspios. In the quiet town
(05:31):
of Gomala, nestled in the lush, green valleys of the
Mexican state of Gaulima, there's a bridge that no one
dares cross at night, crossing the San Juan River. The
bridge connected to the Gaye Progresso to the other side
of the bank. It was originally intended for the centennial
celebration of independence. The bridge, however, is marked with fear
(05:56):
and anger. Now known as the Puente de Losuspiros or
the Bridge of SiGe, it stands as a foreboding edifice.
Its ancient stone arches are covered in moss and ivy,
casting eerie shadows over the dark waters below. The bridge
is more than just an old stone structure. It's a
(06:18):
place of whispers, secrets, and restless souls. Legend has it
that on moonless nights, the bridge comes alive with the
size of children, soft sorrowful exhalations that seem to rise
from the very stones themselves. The air around the bridge
(06:40):
grows heavy, and a chilling silence envelops the area, broken
only by the faint, ghostly whispers that scent shivers down
the spine of anyone who dares to listen. The townspeople
of Comala speak of the bridge in hushed tones, sharing
tales of its haunted past and the soul's trapped within
(07:00):
its cold, unforgiving stone. The bridge was built in nineteen
o nine at the height of the Porfiriato when Comala
was growing rapidly and the town needed the bridge to
connect its farthest corners. The workers who arrived to build
the bridge were outsiders, sent from the city by Porfitio
(07:22):
Vis's authoritarian government. They were strangers to the rural town
of Gamala, and their presence immediately stirred tension and mistrust.
The townspeople, wary of the government and its heavy handed tactics,
were suspicious of the workers. They knew that children could
be put to work under such regimes, and the fear
(07:44):
of losing their own children to forced labour loomed over them.
The workers, on the other hand, distrusted the townspeople, viewing
them as simple and untrustworthy. This mutual suspicion created an
atmosphere of disquietude from the very beginning of the construction.
The workers were under immense pressure from the government to
(08:06):
finish the bridge quickly. They often had to work late
into the evening, their faces illuminated by the flickering light
of lanterns. Exhausted and overworked, they became irritable and short tempered.
Their anger sometimes spilled over, and they would snap at
the curious townspeople who ventured too close, further deepening the
(08:28):
divide between the two groups. Miel, however, was blissfully unaware
of the underlying tensions. As a young boy, he was
lucky enough to not understand why the townspeople were uneasy.
He was just excited to see a bridge being built.
The sight of the workers and the construction process fascinated him.
(08:50):
He would watch from a distance, his eyes wide with wonder,
imagining the grand structure that would soon span the river.
His parents, aware of the dangers, told him to stay away.
They warned him that it was dangerous to go near
the site and that kids had gone missing around construction areas.
(09:10):
Despite their warnings, Miguel continued to watch from afar, his
naive and trusting nature making him believe that nothing bad
could happen. Late one afternoon, Mituel's excitement turned to fear
when he saw something that chilled him to the bone.
The workers were mixing blood into the mortar. He couldn't
(09:32):
believe his eyes, but the sight was unmistakable. The red
liquid blended with the cement, creating a gruesome mixture. Horrified,
Miguel ran back to town and told everyone what he
had seen. At first, the townspeople were skeptical, but the
existing attention and mistrust made them more susceptible to believing
(09:55):
Miguel's story. Whispers spread quickly through the town, each retelling
more dramatic than the last. The idea of blood being
mixed into the mortar was horrifying enough, but soon the
story took on a life of its own. Did you
hear they're using blood in the construction? When villager would
(10:16):
say blood, whose blood? Another would ask, eyes wide with fear,
I heard it to the blood of children? Someone would whisper,
their voice trembling children who went missing near the construction site.
The townspeople imaginations ran wild. They remembered the warnings about
children going missing and began to connect the dots in
(10:39):
the most terrifying way possible. The fear of losing their
own children to forced labor turned into a belief that
the workers were using the blood of kidnapped children to
build the bridge. The whispers and rumors fed off each other,
growing more hysterical with each passing day. Soon, strange sounds
(11:02):
began to emanate from the bridge. At first, only a
few townspeople heard the sighs low voices, murmuring words no
one could quite understand. They dismissed it as their imagination
or the wind playing tricks on them. When they asked others,
they were met with confusion and denial. I heard no
(11:23):
such thing, the others would say, shaking their heads. But
as the days passed, more and more people began to
hear the eerie sounds. The whispers grew louder, and the
sighs became more frequent, spreading fear throughout the town. The
whispers and sighs fueled the townspeople's fears, leading them to
(11:46):
believe that children were being used in the construction of
the bridge. The community fell into hysteria, convinced that the
bridge was cursed and that the souls of the lost
children were trapped within its stone and mortar. Miel, despite
his initial horror, began to doubt what he had seen.
Could it really have been blood or was it just
(12:08):
a trick of the light, his imagination running wild. Determined
to find out the truth, he decided to venture to
the bridge alone one evening. Known for his adventurous spirit,
he had heard the rumors, the warnings of children who
had gone missing near the construction site, but he wasn't afraid.
(12:30):
Surely it was just superstition, he thought. As he approached
the bridge, Miel tried to act brave. He told himself
that there was nothing to fear, that the stories were
just tales spun by frightened villagers. His steps were confident
at first, his head held high, but as he drew closer,
(12:52):
the night seemed to grow darker and the air heavier.
The silence around him felt oppressive, and his bravado began
to waver. He stood at the edge of the bridge,
listening the air settled around him. That's when he heard it,
(13:12):
a soft, agonizing sigh that echoed through the night. It
wasn't the wind, not this time. It sounded like a person,
like someone who had been waiting for a long time
to be heard. Neel's heart started to pound. He tried
to convince himself it was nothing, just the wind or
(13:34):
his imagination, but the sound was too real, too close.
His palms grew sweaty, and he felt a chill run
down his spine. He turned to leave, but another sigh
came closer, this time as though the wind was moving
through the stone itself. It was followed by something worse,
(13:57):
A whisper, low and distant, almost like a voice calling
his name. Miyev's heart began to race as he looked around,
but there was no one there, only the cold, dark
emptiness of the night. Then he heard it again. This
time it was clearer, but no less terrifying, A child's voice,
(14:21):
soft and distant, pleading help help me. Miez stood frozen,
every instinct telling him to run, but his feet felt
rooted to the ground. Help. The whispers grew louder, and
the sighs came faster, as if they were closing in
(14:42):
on him. He could hear a multitude of voices, now
all of them overlapping. Some were desperate, others full of sorrow,
but they all seemed to be coming from the bridge itself,
from the stone and mortar, as if the bridge were alive,
breathing with the pain of those it had claimed. A
(15:04):
cold wind swept through, carrying with it the sound of
shuffling footsteps, faint but unmistakable. Miguel's breath caught in his
throat and his hands trembled as he turned to run,
But before he could take a single step, the whispers
rose to a frantic pitch and for a moment, everything
(15:25):
fell silent. It was then that Miguel heard a final
terrible sound, the sharp crack of a twig snapping behind him.
He spun around, but there was no one there, just
the bridge, standing still, as if waiting for him to
come closer. Suddenly, a construction worker emerged from the shadows,
(15:49):
yelling at Miguel. The worker's face was twisted in anger,
his eyes wild and blood shot, his hands covered in
blood from working late and mixing. The mortar glistened ominously
in the moonlight. The blood dripped slowly from his fingers,
staining the ground beneath him. The sight of the blood,
(16:10):
combined with the worker's furious shouts, terrified Miguel. Miguel bolted,
his heart pounding in his chest, but the whispers followed him,
echoing in his ears as he ran back to town.
The townspeople heard Miguel's screams and rushed to the bridge.
They found the worker with blood on his hands and
(16:32):
assumed he was trying to hurt Miguel. In their panic,
they became a crazed mob, their fear turning into anger.
He's trying to hurt Miguel. Someone shouted their voice filled
with terror. Look at his hands, they're covered in blood,
another yelled, pointing at the worker's stained fingers. That's proof
(16:52):
he's guilty. The mob's fear turned into fury. They yelled
and threatened the worker with violence, brandishing sticks and stones.
Get out of our town. When man shouted, his face
contorted with rage. The worker tried to explain, but his
words were drowned out by the angry shouts of the mob.
(17:14):
They advanced on him, their eyes wild with fear and anger.
The worker, realizing he was now in danger, backed away,
his hands raised in a futile attempt to placate them.
He had no choice but to flee. He ran, the mob,
chasing him to the edge of the village, their shouts
(17:34):
echoing in the night. The townspeople, driven by their hysteria
and fear, watched as the worker disappeared into the darkness,
never to return. The construction of the bridge continued, but
the tension remained. The townspeople never knew if the other
construction workers were also using blood, but they all kept
(17:56):
their children far away from the construction site. The bridge
was eventually finished, standing tall and imposing over the river.
Yet the townspeople were always afraid of it, convinced that
they could hear the size of tormented children coming from
its stone arches. To this day, the Buente de Loos
(18:17):
Suspiros is shrouded in fear and mystery. The whispers and
sighs continue to haunt the night, and the townspeople of
Comala speak of the bridge in hushed tones, sharing tales
of its haunted past and the souls trapped within its cold,
unyielding stone. Welcome back, well, friends, Okay, so get right
(19:00):
into it. We have a few sources here, of course,
and this episode was once again written, researched, and co
written by Jeffrey Doyle and myself, So big love Jeffrey Doyle.
There are a few sources here, but jeff also left
a note for us This says interesting background information. They
would actually add animal blood to mortar to make it stronger.
(19:20):
The proteins helped bind the mortar together, and a quick
definition of mortar is it's a workable pace which hardens
to bind building blocks such as stones, bricks, and concrete
masonry units to fill and seal the irregular gaps between them,
spread the weight of them evenly, and sometimes to add
decorative colors to patterns or patterns to masonry walls. So
(19:42):
if you've ever seen a brick house, it is the
gray stuff between the bricks. It's what kind of hold
and binds everything together. But there's a link here as well.
This is from Sage Journals. It's journnals dot Sage pub
dot com. And once again all the direct links to
these sources will be in THESEUS of Google doc on Patreon.
And this is from an article looks like It's titled
Preparation and Characterization of Ancient like masonry Mortars and in
(20:04):
the abstract this says the characterization of mortars prepared according
to ancient methods from the colonial period in Mexico is reported.
The materials were prepared by mixing limestone, sand, water, and
an additive bovine blood, milk or cactus ap so one
of those three, the bovine blood milk or cactus app
and the compression strength, flexual strength, and tensile strength were
(20:28):
measured according to ASTM standards and at different aging stages.
The technology developed allows, on the one hand, counting with
a reliable methodology for restoring ancient buildings similar to the
originally employed and on the other to offer a low
cost technique for construction by using agricultural products. A lot
of discount sounds really technical in sciencey and I read
through it and every time I could find the word blood,
(20:50):
of course I zeroed in on that. But essentially it
just kept saying how it was prepared. So like the
recipes again include bovine blood, milk, cactus ap In this
this particular study, mortars were meant for restoring buildings from
the what is that XVII, what number it is, I
don't know century in the Mexican city of Morelia, State
of Mechuakhn, classified officially by UNESCO in World List of
(21:12):
Cultural Heritage in the early nineteen nineties. Yeah, it's just
saying that these buildings. That was kind of the recipe
to what made this mortar stronger. And towards the end
of this article it says for the case of mortars
with bovine blood, in spite of their relatively mild mechanical behavior,
their activity to the environment was surprisingly good. In any case,
all the additives helped to improve the mechanical properties of
(21:35):
the mortars as compared to a simple limestone order. This
is important because the Mexican Standards for Historical Monuments prohibit
the use of Portland cement for restoration works, leading to
the search of alternative methods for preparing inexpensive mortars. So
I don't believe that this is a practice that is
still in play, but it's interesting. Blood was used to
build certain things. So with this story, we're going to
(21:56):
dive into the origins. You can imagine that people may
have seen blood being used, and then you know, you
know how these stories go. Also, if you are watching
the video, where is she? Margaret has been harassing me
because I'm home alone right now, and so there's no
one to distract her, and she is just I'm trying
to keep her from screaming, and she's let me see
if I can get her up here on camera and watch.
(22:16):
She's gonna be pissed that I'm lifting her up to
the camera. Say hi, she's parking, can you Margaret? She
looks so funny in the camera. All right, you're nasty.
Hopefully she will stay quiet for the deation of this episode.
But if you're watching video and you keep seeing me like,
(22:39):
move my arm down, I'm patting her so she doesn't scream.
Her head off. Okay, let's dive into these next sources.
After that, Margaret cameo. This first source here is from
Mexico Unexplained dot com legends from the state of Kawalima.
And this is, as you guess, it is a list
of legends from the state of Kualima. At number three,
(23:00):
I think in no particular order. This it's called the
Bridge of Moans again at Buende de los Ospidrios, and
this says in the town of Gomala, in the years
nineteen oh nine and nineteen ten, workers built a bridge
over the San Juan River. They called the new road
leading to the bridge Gaya Progresso, in honor of the
one hundredth anniversary of the Mexican War of Independence. So
this bridge is also like a monument, right, it continues.
(23:22):
The construction of the bridge was the most exciting thing
the town had seen in years. Many townsfolk went to
the construction site to observe the bridge being built, and
the workers soon became concerned that a curious child might
suffer an accident. Right, construction place is no place for
a child. Construction site, so the parents in the town
began cautioning their children to stay away when strong warnings
(23:43):
were not enough, some parents began circulating rumors that the
bridge builders were taking children and mixing them in with
the building materials to make the bridge. We're going to
see a different version of how they were mixed in
in another source, but just prefacing that that kept away
most of the little ones, except for one young boy
who've entry to the site and from behind a low wall,
watched some of the workers mixing cement. Again, as you imagine,
(24:06):
this boy is who inspired our main character for this story, Migel.
It was an old local tradition to blend a little
bit of chicken's blood in with the mixture for good luck.
We're gonna talk more about this, the good luck idea
and chicken's blood versus what we know is actually documented
is they would use bovine blood, but because it strengthened
the mortar. But this is an interesting thing I wanted
(24:26):
to look in and bring up, so we'll go into
that next. But so this continues, and when the little
boy watching the cement mixing saw a little bit of
red liquid added to the mixture, he assumed it was
the blood of a child. He ran back to his
neighborhood and told his friends. Soon most of the town
of Guemala believed that some of the local kids who
had gone missing ended up in the bridge as part
of the finished product. There are lines of writing on
(24:48):
the bridge, a few sentences to dedicate it, and people
in town who could not read assumed for many years
that the letters spilled out the children who were sacrificed
to give the town a span across their real Juan.
So strong was the belief in the story of the
Dead Children that the bridge was nicknamed the Bridge of
mons or Pelosuspidrios because pastors by swore they heard the
(25:10):
tormented cries of the kids who were mixed in with
the mortar. Okay, a couple things to go through that
we pointed out in this story, and this is a
really good kind of version of the story that has
like every point that we want to hit, right. The
first thing I think that we said wanted to talk
about was so I'm going to work in reverse here,
So this idea of the dedication and people not being
able to read. So yeah, it was just saying, I'm
(25:31):
assuming it's like a plaque that says on this day
or this bridge was built for, Like why is this
bridge here, right, And we know it's because it's a
dedication to the one hundredth anniversary of Mexican or Independent
so I'm sure it says something about that. But there's
people who were unable to read, and they had already
heard this story by then, so they were thinking, oh
my god, they put the names of the kids who
are in this bridge or who were used to build
(25:52):
this bridge, freaky right, And so that kind of just
perpetuated the story. The thing about the blood that I
was really excited about. I have that a little bit
low in the document here because we're gonna jump around.
This is venturing into an area of the world that
we haven't done before. But I'm I've been very curious
about doing it. I've been asked to do it, but
I'm not sure. So consider this a poll, yes or no.
(26:14):
Tell me what you all think. Leave it in the
comment of the social post for this, send me a message,
an email, leave a comment on Spotify. Especially if you
are of Filipino descent or you are Filipino, Please let
me know what you think. I have been asked about
doing stories from the Philippines, and I've told people before
I've kind of joked about it, like different land, same colonizer.
(26:35):
So I'm wondering if that covers that area of like Hispanic.
I don't know exactly too much, but if I'm encouraged
to do so, I would love to do more research
and to educate myself properly about the culture as well,
because I know that there are amazing stories that come
from there. So I say all that to say because
this next link, it's from the Philippines and it says
(26:57):
go to the attacowboy dot hom dot blah Philippine Life
and Travels. And this entry was published in twenty nineteen.
It's called Folkways, chicken blood and little People. That's exactly
what it's called. I'm not sure what the involvement was
about little people. I didn't read the entire thing, but
it spoke to the chicken blood thing, which I was
really interested in because it was mentioned, of course in
(27:18):
that source earlier, and I've heard things about this, so
I'm just going to read this. It's in quotes. This
says they need two chickens. Who the workers They need
two chickens before they can start the fence. Why they
need to put blood in the first post hole or
the fence will fall. This continues. We had hired a
dozen or so local fellows to clear out our overgrown
(27:39):
pastures and build our perimeter fence. They had made great
progress clearing the tall grass and underbrush while waiting for
the posts and wire. The request for the chickens came
when the first posts arrived. I wasn't really surprised by
the request. I've had a lifelong interest in folkways and
worked for several years as a historian. Many cultures the
world over have a tradition of a sacrifice of some
(28:00):
sort in the foundations or walls of various structures. This
is an aside if you were sensitive to the treatment
of animals, just forewarning, you might want to skip maybe
like fifteen seconds. This says in Old England workers would
sometimes seal a hopefully already dead cat into the walls
of a new building. So request for fresh chicken blood
didn't really surprise me. I drove to a town and
(28:22):
brought a couple of live chickens from a street vendor.
You might want to skip those whole sources if you're
sensitive to this sort of thing. Just the heads up,
but it's not extremely graphically detailed. But still either way,
this continues. One of the workers took them down to
the creek, where he promptly butchered them, draining the blood
into a bowl. Another fellow carried the bowl up to
the fencing crew. They poured the offering into the waiting
(28:43):
post hold without any ceremony that I could discern. Back
at the creek, I noticed that the chickens had been plucked,
cut up, and placed into the cookpot. The divide between
the physical and the spirit world seems thin here in
the rural Philippines. Nearly everyone appears to have had some
type of experience with an otherworldly being. And then this
continues about I think other stories there, but this idea
of the blood being used, so I poked around about that,
(29:05):
and by the blood being used for superstitious or religious practices,
So there's of course, I think many of us know
who or have heard about the idea of like animal sacrifices,
especially with chickens. And the reason I found this so
interesting is because I heard recently, I'm not going to
say who or where, but I heard that there was
a really big event being put on for the public,
(29:28):
and that before they put up like flags or like
posts or stuff like basically essentially like this like something
that's going in the ground that like as an offering
for any deities that may be in control of or
could impact the weather. It was an offering to them
so that they put either I wanted, I can't remember exactly,
I would have to ask, but that they put either
(29:50):
just the blood or like a whole chicken at the
bottom of the post hole before they put the flag
or the fence post whatever. It was as an offering
to like how good weather for this thing to go off? Well,
you know, like you know, just like it was an
offering right for as you could say, I guess good luck,
as was mentioned earlier. So I just thought this was
extremely interesting and it really piqued my interest, and I
(30:13):
had to like dig around a little bit more about
that before I moved on. I'm going to move on
to the other sources, and we're going to reference back
the things that I was kind of thinking about earlier.
The idea of kids being used for manual labor, for
like forced manual labor. That that's not like a fake thing,
it was something that was actually happening. This is another
academic journal. This one was behind like a loggin wall.
(30:35):
I had to log into something. But this is from
Gael Books and the link the first part link says
go dash Gale dash coom dot easy proxy dot lib.
But if you want to look this up, is from
a book called The World of Child Labor, a Historical
and Regional Survey. The article I'm assuming the article in
this that we're going to look over, or that I
looked over, is titled History of Child Labor in Mexico,
(30:56):
and this was published in two thousand and nine, authored
by Marcos ti Aguila and Mariano I tors B. Yes,
if you want to look this up, it's got some
length to it and it's really academic. But I read
the entire thing, and it's talking about the history of
child labor in Mexico and how especially again as was
mentioned in the story in the I have trouble saying
(31:17):
the word but like the Borfriato, but during Portfririo d.
S's regime or his time over in Mexico, in power,
and even before that that in Mexico and especially in
ancient times, that younger people or that children were we
were working. They were part of the working class. Children
as young as like twelve, And it wasn't always as
(31:37):
you imagine like labor going out to work with like
a briefcase or whatever, right, obviously not. It was also
part of the familial structures which I think we still
kind of see now eldest daughters of the family. You
all are really going to hear this one and it's
gonna hit you in the heart. But that was there
was a name for the elder the eldest daughters, and
the family families that would take care of their children,
(31:59):
and that was considered labor because it is it is labor.
And so this whole thing, it's really interesting. It's talking
about the different kinds of labor that children were basically
used for, and it ranged again from household labor to
working in the mind to working as apprentices. But there's
also a breakdown based on like class and cast is
(32:21):
the word that was also used that depending on who
you were and what your background was, you could be
an apprentice, but you could not then become the thing
that you were apprenticing for. You were just an assistant.
And then if you worked in the minds, depending again
on your background, on your indigenity, on your how much
money your family already had how much land you did
(32:41):
or didn't have, that the pay scill was based off
of that, and not on the work that you were doing,
the quality of work, the amount that you produced. It
was based on who you were, which is wild to me,
and let's be real, still applies to women in the world, right.
But this is just a really interesting look. And again
it talks a lot about child labor and that how
(33:03):
eventually it was abolished, and also in some ways how
that kind of continues. There was something really interesting here
Towards the end. This says thus toward the end of
the year two thousand. This is at the very end
of this that I thought was interesting. It says, thus,
toward the end of the year two thousand, the percentage
of working children in households with less than five person
was fourteen point three and in households of seven and
(33:23):
eight members it reached a surprising twenty one point four percent.
The ancient regime appears to have been resuscitated. So this
is saying that this idea or this practice of child labor,
and you have to really expand what your idea of
labor is, because labor happens in the household like stay
at home moms. It's not just a cute name for
someone who takes care of the family or children or
(33:46):
runs the household. It's it's a job. It's a full
time job. Absolutely, it is labor, and that's a whole
can of worms that we can unpack and have hours
long discussions about. But so ultimately, I just I thought
this article is really cool because I think it could
challenge someone to expand what their idea is on what
labor is. And then again it's saying that this kind
of thing is happening again and it's really honestly sad
(34:09):
to see it. Sometimes you think about cases with children,
how they're I think the term is called parentified is
when that happens. It's when they're they are the children,
but then they're forced to either care for siblings or,
depending on the situation, care for their parent for a
variety of reasons. But I don't know. It was just
like I thought it was really important to look at
this also in this idea of child labor and the
(34:31):
history of child labor in Mexico, and how again it
varied across the board from different types of labor and
how they were treated and why they were treated that way.
So I could maybe do something separate about this again
it would it deserves its own episode, or maybe I
can find something really cool another podcast about it. But
if you are interested again this article, it's titled History
(34:51):
of Child Labor in Mexico. The book is the World
of Child Labor and historical and regional survey authors Madocus
ti Aguila and Mariano Eat what is b And also
anytime you all hear me talk about like an academic
source in Sustal on Sustal, you could also if it's
behind some sort of paywall or you need some sort
of like official login for something that you can't get
(35:13):
or you can't afford, or you just don't want to
pay for it. I have heard that a lot of times.
If you just reach out to an author, especially an
academic author, and you say, hey, I heard about this
theme you wrote. I was really interested in it. Unfortunately
can't get behind log in, paywall, whatever it is, Is
there any other way to access it? Sometimes they will
just send you their research for free. They will just
(35:34):
they're like, yeah, here's a link, here's an email, here's
a document, Because you know, I feel like any I'm
going to use the word good. Any good academic would
want to share that that information freely, but because of
how it's published, the publishers then have to put out
whatever I'm just saying. Sometimes you just have to ask
what did we say in the City Alchemist episode? You
just got to ask sometimes. Okay. So the next source
(35:54):
that we have here is from moss Dash Mexico dot
com dot MG, And to be honest, this is just
another retelling of the story. But I want to say,
this is where they talk about the pillars. Okay, Yeah,
So this says, however, since it was dangerous for children
to be in a construction area unattended, the adults devised
a way to scare them away without resorting to scolding
(36:15):
or reprimanding them. They told the children that the bridge
builders often used curious children and stuck them between the columns.
So I believe this source was translated. So what I'm
imagining is they were telling them they're going to put
you like literally, they're going to just put you in
the bridge. So imagine like surrounded in like a pillar
that's holding up part of the bridge, Like they're going
(36:35):
to put you in there if you get too close.
So like a different way that this honestly threat was
made to the kid, which is what a lot of
these stories are. They're threats, right, paranormal threats. And they
were told, if you get too close, they're going to
put you in there. And then now we know the
other versions say they're going to use your blood, They're
going to put you in there. You're going to be
part of the bridge. So whether that is your complete
like physical being, or if they're taking your blood and
(36:57):
using that in the mortar mixture, but I just thought
it was I wanted to bring that part of that
variation of the story. This next source that we have
here is from Barratodo Mexico dot com and this is
legend of the Bridge of Size. Again, this is pretty
much the same short kind of legend the years nineteen
or nine nineteen ten. The bridge was built in Guamala
over the San Juan River, Okay. And this is again
(37:20):
why we wanted to point this one out. This says,
faced with this situation, the parents, wanting to avoid an accident,
decided to warn their children that the workers were taking
children and while still alive, embedding them in walls and columns.
So it was again the threat went different ways they
were they got created with it that they're going to
kill you and put you in there. They're going to
drain your blood and mix it in there in the cement,
(37:42):
or they're gonna basically not bury what's instead of burier,
they're going to seal you alive into the wall and
the columns of this of this thing. This also says
this led to the fact that once the work was
completed and inaugurated, many single women refrained from passing through
there as they claimed to hear the cries and size
(38:02):
of the buried children, mistaking them for their own mothers
who had abandoned them. Adults who lacked the gift of
reading pointed to the inscription located on one of the
columns relating to information. This is also translated so I
don't know, but basically, people who couldn't read, they would
look at the inscription or the dedication on it relating
the information about its inauguration, stating that the names of
(38:25):
the children's buried there were those names there. So again
that's where this comes from. And I believe the last
source that we have here this is from the ario
the Yaki dot MX, and this says, learn about the
legend of the Bridge of Size, one of the most
famous and interesting in Gordima. Again, this is a translated source,
so that's probably gonna be different when you first find
(38:45):
it online. Again talks about what the story is. This
also has the detail of they said the caretakers often
lured curious children between the columns so that they were
built into it. Towards the end of this, it says,
is the legend real? It says it has been reported
that the young man did indeed see blood on the pillars,
but this fluid was from animals, as it is said
that back then blood contributed to the consistency of the mixture,
(39:08):
making it harder or stronger. The legend originated from a
simple misunderstanding, although it was thanks to this that the
Bridge of Size became an iconic place in Kolima. Again,
I want to say another part said that at the
same time that this bridge is being built, that children
were actually like going missing. I think this was also
towards the end of when child labor was being used.
(39:28):
So just that those different things mixed into each other,
like they're taking children, maybe they're using them for child labor.
What is the kind of work that they're being used for.
Maybe the work is like their body or their blood
being used to make these buildings stronger, to make this
bridge stronger. So again, people hear these different stories, they
these different details, then they make up stories, they run
(39:50):
with them, and then before you know it, here we
are talking about bent this ispidos Ye. Welcome back, golfriends.
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Or
(40:12):
if you are a best goalfriend on Patreon, you have
access to the video version to this and many other episodes. Again,
the videos is something I'm trying to keep up. If
you're enjoying it, let me know shout me out on Patreon.
And if you are enjoying the show, if you would
like to support in other ways you already know. The
easiest way to do so is by liking, subscribing, rating, reviewing,
interacting with the show wherever you are listening, encouraging your
(40:35):
girlfriends to listen to the show and to do the same.
You can follow me for any and all updates on
soustal that is, at Sustal podcast on every platform on
social media. You can also visit sustalpodcast dot com and
if you would like to hear your own scary story
on a letter from the Beyond episode. You can do
so by visiting the link in my link tree that's
linktr dot ee slash sustal, or by visiting again my
(40:56):
website and hitting that tell Me a Story button you
can send in also with your story or instead of
a video, a photo, audio recording, any multimedia you may
have that you think I should share on the show
or on social media. Send it to me that way.
And if you would like to support the show with
money dollars, you can do so by visiting patreon dot com,
slash sustal podcast and check out the tears so you
(41:18):
have any of those work for you. As always, I
am grateful for any and all kinds of support and
a special shout out to this episode's patrons. You are Eliza, Sadie, Rachel,
Alejandra Luth, April d Josette, Sam, Mandy, Jules, Lauri, Genie, Monica, Desire,
c Ashes, Ndessa, Rachel, Asusana, Marlen, Chata, Laney, desre A,
(41:38):
Carla archerd Gadado, Vanessa, Mariza, Nieves, Moner, mal Iris, mad
Floor and Selena. Thank you all so so much. Your
support means everything to me. Once more. You can catch
me tomorrow Friday, May sixteenth, at City Alchemist for a
live storytelling and movie screening of Veronica, and then on Saturday,
(41:59):
May seventeen at the Curious Twins' fourth annual Psychic and
Spirit Fest at Victoria's Black Swan Inn. I will see
you all this weekend. Thank you for listening, and until
next time, note Sostas bye,
Big girlfriends. It's me Adrian or Aiden. Either way, I
am still your host and you are still listening to Sustal,
the podcast of spooky stories centered on paranormal folklore from
Latin American and Hispanic cultures. Right off the bat, a
belated a Happy belated Felicia the Les Maddez, and happy
Mother's Day to all the mothers out there who happened
(00:46):
to listen to Sustal. I hope everybody had a good weekend.
Jeff and I made a quick trip home to go
see our moms. I also went to a mixed lawn
festival in McCallen, Texas, which is this amazing big art
culture in music festival. And I'll probably be sharing some
clips of that. I know. I posted them on my
story on Instagram. That's at Sustal Podcasts on every platform,
(01:07):
but I think I also will post like maybe a
mini vlog or something of that on Patreon. That'spatreon dot
com slash Sustal podcast, where you can also if you
are a best goalfriend, watch today's episode. Say hi to
our little gulfriend pillow back here. We did a name
for our little girlfriend right here, because they're in every
episode now every video episode, and so we need a
(01:28):
name for them. So if you can think of one,
let me know send it in. Some quick updates about
the show, some things that are coming up. I want
to give a big, huge thank you to Alexis and
Eric from City Alchemist for the last episode. As I mentioned,
it was years in the making, literally constantly saying let's
do it, let's do it, let's do it. And they
were so patient and so kind because as I mentioned before,
(01:49):
it was always the ball was in my court. It's
my show, right, so it needs to be up to
me to get it together, get my life together, and
make it happen. So we finally did and they allowed
us their space and it was I think a great episode.
I honestly, when I was editing it, I found myself
kind of just zoning out and listening and not really
(02:10):
kind of paying attention to do I need to edit that?
Because I was so into it. So if you haven't
heard it, if you haven't listened to it, please make
sure you go and do so and follow them online. Also,
huge shout out to one of my dear girlfriends, Dan Saguovieah.
We've worked together before, but thank you Dan. So much
for doing the video for this episode. It looks so beautiful.
(02:31):
You may have seen some of the clips on social media.
I've been posting those and again, the full video episode
is available exclusively on Patreon. Thank you again, Dan so much.
And speaking of City Alchemists, this Friday, May sixteenth, at
eight pm, we are going to be doing a Night
with Susto at City Alchemist. They are having me over
to do a live storytelling and after we are screening
(02:53):
the movie Veronica. So if you haven't listened to that
episode yet, it is the Vayeka's case based on stefaniag
with Yet and then the movie Vernica is based on
that story. So it's gonna be a fun night. There
will be refreshments available. Seating is limited, so you can
RSVP at the link tree that's linktr dot ee slash
(03:13):
Susto and it should be maybe the first link up there.
The tickets are donation based mainly. It's there so you
can reserve a space because again limited seats, so feel
free to give as much as you want, as little
as you want. We will just be excited to have
everybody there for a fun, spooky night. Again. That is
May sixteenth, this Friday, So if you're listening to this
(03:33):
on Patreon in a couple days, if you're listening to
this everywhere else, tomorrow here in Austin at City Alchemist,
you can follow either of our profiles that's at City
Alchemist or at Soustal Podcast. Visit the link in the
link tree to learn more about that. And then on Saturday,
May seventeenth, you can catch me at the fourth annual
Psychic and Spiritfest hosted by The Curious Twins at Victoria's
(03:55):
Black Swan Inn in San Antonio. So a couple details
about that. The gates will open on Saturday at three,
speakers will start at four, and I will be speaking
at five, so make sure to come by and listen
to and watch the incredible lineup. Say hi, say boo
to me. Don't boom me while I'm up there, but
you know, give me a little boo afterwards, I don't know.
And then they also have some really cool stuff, so
(04:16):
it's gonna be a full market along with the speakers
if you haven't been before. I love this event. I
love the events that they do at Victoria's Blackswan In
because there's food, there's drinks, there's it's just always a
really cool time, so make sure you go check that out.
They will also have the Annabelle Doll, yes, the doll
from the Warrens a Cult museum, and other haunted objects
(04:37):
along with her, so make sure that you go check
out the ticket options so you can see what you
can get access to. I know some things are sold out,
you may want to check it out see what's still available.
I think only tickets at the gate will be available,
so you'll want to try and get there early. But
as always, feel free to reach out to Curious Twins.
You can follow them online. That link is also on
my link tree again, that's linktr dot ee slash susto
(04:58):
and it should be the second one right after a
night with susot Cidi Alchemist. So I will see you
this weekend. So much fun to be had, and without
any further ado, let's get into today's story, which is
the story of Elente de Suspios. In the quiet town
(05:31):
of Gomala, nestled in the lush, green valleys of the
Mexican state of Gaulima, there's a bridge that no one
dares cross at night, crossing the San Juan River. The
bridge connected to the Gaye Progresso to the other side
of the bank. It was originally intended for the centennial
celebration of independence. The bridge, however, is marked with fear
(05:56):
and anger. Now known as the Puente de Losuspiros or
the Bridge of SiGe, it stands as a foreboding edifice.
Its ancient stone arches are covered in moss and ivy,
casting eerie shadows over the dark waters below. The bridge
is more than just an old stone structure. It's a
(06:18):
place of whispers, secrets, and restless souls. Legend has it
that on moonless nights, the bridge comes alive with the
size of children, soft sorrowful exhalations that seem to rise
from the very stones themselves. The air around the bridge
(06:40):
grows heavy, and a chilling silence envelops the area, broken
only by the faint, ghostly whispers that scent shivers down
the spine of anyone who dares to listen. The townspeople
of Comala speak of the bridge in hushed tones, sharing
tales of its haunted past and the soul's trapped within
(07:00):
its cold, unforgiving stone. The bridge was built in nineteen
o nine at the height of the Porfiriato when Comala
was growing rapidly and the town needed the bridge to
connect its farthest corners. The workers who arrived to build
the bridge were outsiders, sent from the city by Porfitio
(07:22):
Vis's authoritarian government. They were strangers to the rural town
of Gamala, and their presence immediately stirred tension and mistrust.
The townspeople, wary of the government and its heavy handed tactics,
were suspicious of the workers. They knew that children could
be put to work under such regimes, and the fear
(07:44):
of losing their own children to forced labour loomed over them.
The workers, on the other hand, distrusted the townspeople, viewing
them as simple and untrustworthy. This mutual suspicion created an
atmosphere of disquietude from the very beginning of the construction.
The workers were under immense pressure from the government to
(08:06):
finish the bridge quickly. They often had to work late
into the evening, their faces illuminated by the flickering light
of lanterns. Exhausted and overworked, they became irritable and short tempered.
Their anger sometimes spilled over, and they would snap at
the curious townspeople who ventured too close, further deepening the
(08:28):
divide between the two groups. Miel, however, was blissfully unaware
of the underlying tensions. As a young boy, he was
lucky enough to not understand why the townspeople were uneasy.
He was just excited to see a bridge being built.
The sight of the workers and the construction process fascinated him.
(08:50):
He would watch from a distance, his eyes wide with wonder,
imagining the grand structure that would soon span the river.
His parents, aware of the dangers, told him to stay away.
They warned him that it was dangerous to go near
the site and that kids had gone missing around construction areas.
(09:10):
Despite their warnings, Miguel continued to watch from afar, his
naive and trusting nature making him believe that nothing bad
could happen. Late one afternoon, Mituel's excitement turned to fear
when he saw something that chilled him to the bone.
The workers were mixing blood into the mortar. He couldn't
(09:32):
believe his eyes, but the sight was unmistakable. The red
liquid blended with the cement, creating a gruesome mixture. Horrified,
Miguel ran back to town and told everyone what he
had seen. At first, the townspeople were skeptical, but the
existing attention and mistrust made them more susceptible to believing
(09:55):
Miguel's story. Whispers spread quickly through the town, each retelling
more dramatic than the last. The idea of blood being
mixed into the mortar was horrifying enough, but soon the
story took on a life of its own. Did you
hear they're using blood in the construction? When villager would
(10:16):
say blood, whose blood? Another would ask, eyes wide with fear,
I heard it to the blood of children? Someone would whisper,
their voice trembling children who went missing near the construction site.
The townspeople imaginations ran wild. They remembered the warnings about
children going missing and began to connect the dots in
(10:39):
the most terrifying way possible. The fear of losing their
own children to forced labor turned into a belief that
the workers were using the blood of kidnapped children to
build the bridge. The whispers and rumors fed off each other,
growing more hysterical with each passing day. Soon, strange sounds
(11:02):
began to emanate from the bridge. At first, only a
few townspeople heard the sighs low voices, murmuring words no
one could quite understand. They dismissed it as their imagination
or the wind playing tricks on them. When they asked others,
they were met with confusion and denial. I heard no
(11:23):
such thing, the others would say, shaking their heads. But
as the days passed, more and more people began to
hear the eerie sounds. The whispers grew louder, and the
sighs became more frequent, spreading fear throughout the town. The
whispers and sighs fueled the townspeople's fears, leading them to
(11:46):
believe that children were being used in the construction of
the bridge. The community fell into hysteria, convinced that the
bridge was cursed and that the souls of the lost
children were trapped within its stone and mortar. Miel, despite
his initial horror, began to doubt what he had seen.
Could it really have been blood or was it just
(12:08):
a trick of the light, his imagination running wild. Determined
to find out the truth, he decided to venture to
the bridge alone one evening. Known for his adventurous spirit,
he had heard the rumors, the warnings of children who
had gone missing near the construction site, but he wasn't afraid.
(12:30):
Surely it was just superstition, he thought. As he approached
the bridge, Miel tried to act brave. He told himself
that there was nothing to fear, that the stories were
just tales spun by frightened villagers. His steps were confident
at first, his head held high, but as he drew closer,
(12:52):
the night seemed to grow darker and the air heavier.
The silence around him felt oppressive, and his bravado began
to waver. He stood at the edge of the bridge,
listening the air settled around him. That's when he heard it,
(13:12):
a soft, agonizing sigh that echoed through the night. It
wasn't the wind, not this time. It sounded like a person,
like someone who had been waiting for a long time
to be heard. Neel's heart started to pound. He tried
to convince himself it was nothing, just the wind or
(13:34):
his imagination, but the sound was too real, too close.
His palms grew sweaty, and he felt a chill run
down his spine. He turned to leave, but another sigh
came closer, this time as though the wind was moving
through the stone itself. It was followed by something worse,
(13:57):
A whisper, low and distant, almost like a voice calling
his name. Miyev's heart began to race as he looked around,
but there was no one there, only the cold, dark
emptiness of the night. Then he heard it again. This
time it was clearer, but no less terrifying, A child's voice,
(14:21):
soft and distant, pleading help help me. Miez stood frozen,
every instinct telling him to run, but his feet felt
rooted to the ground. Help. The whispers grew louder, and
the sighs came faster, as if they were closing in
(14:42):
on him. He could hear a multitude of voices, now
all of them overlapping. Some were desperate, others full of sorrow,
but they all seemed to be coming from the bridge itself,
from the stone and mortar, as if the bridge were alive,
breathing with the pain of those it had claimed. A
(15:04):
cold wind swept through, carrying with it the sound of
shuffling footsteps, faint but unmistakable. Miguel's breath caught in his
throat and his hands trembled as he turned to run,
But before he could take a single step, the whispers
rose to a frantic pitch and for a moment, everything
(15:25):
fell silent. It was then that Miguel heard a final
terrible sound, the sharp crack of a twig snapping behind him.
He spun around, but there was no one there, just
the bridge, standing still, as if waiting for him to
come closer. Suddenly, a construction worker emerged from the shadows,
(15:49):
yelling at Miguel. The worker's face was twisted in anger,
his eyes wild and blood shot, his hands covered in
blood from working late and mixing. The mortar glistened ominously
in the moonlight. The blood dripped slowly from his fingers,
staining the ground beneath him. The sight of the blood,
(16:10):
combined with the worker's furious shouts, terrified Miguel. Miguel bolted,
his heart pounding in his chest, but the whispers followed him,
echoing in his ears as he ran back to town.
The townspeople heard Miguel's screams and rushed to the bridge.
They found the worker with blood on his hands and
(16:32):
assumed he was trying to hurt Miguel. In their panic,
they became a crazed mob, their fear turning into anger.
He's trying to hurt Miguel. Someone shouted their voice filled
with terror. Look at his hands, they're covered in blood,
another yelled, pointing at the worker's stained fingers. That's proof
(16:52):
he's guilty. The mob's fear turned into fury. They yelled
and threatened the worker with violence, brandishing sticks and stones.
Get out of our town. When man shouted, his face
contorted with rage. The worker tried to explain, but his
words were drowned out by the angry shouts of the mob.
(17:14):
They advanced on him, their eyes wild with fear and anger.
The worker, realizing he was now in danger, backed away,
his hands raised in a futile attempt to placate them.
He had no choice but to flee. He ran, the mob,
chasing him to the edge of the village, their shouts
(17:34):
echoing in the night. The townspeople, driven by their hysteria
and fear, watched as the worker disappeared into the darkness,
never to return. The construction of the bridge continued, but
the tension remained. The townspeople never knew if the other
construction workers were also using blood, but they all kept
(17:56):
their children far away from the construction site. The bridge
was eventually finished, standing tall and imposing over the river.
Yet the townspeople were always afraid of it, convinced that
they could hear the size of tormented children coming from
its stone arches. To this day, the Buente de Loos
(18:17):
Suspiros is shrouded in fear and mystery. The whispers and
sighs continue to haunt the night, and the townspeople of
Comala speak of the bridge in hushed tones, sharing tales
of its haunted past and the souls trapped within its cold,
unyielding stone. Welcome back, well, friends, Okay, so get right
(19:00):
into it. We have a few sources here, of course,
and this episode was once again written, researched, and co
written by Jeffrey Doyle and myself, So big love Jeffrey Doyle.
There are a few sources here, but jeff also left
a note for us This says interesting background information. They
would actually add animal blood to mortar to make it stronger.
(19:20):
The proteins helped bind the mortar together, and a quick
definition of mortar is it's a workable pace which hardens
to bind building blocks such as stones, bricks, and concrete
masonry units to fill and seal the irregular gaps between them,
spread the weight of them evenly, and sometimes to add
decorative colors to patterns or patterns to masonry walls. So
(19:42):
if you've ever seen a brick house, it is the
gray stuff between the bricks. It's what kind of hold
and binds everything together. But there's a link here as well.
This is from Sage Journals. It's journnals dot Sage pub
dot com. And once again all the direct links to
these sources will be in THESEUS of Google doc on Patreon.
And this is from an article looks like It's titled
Preparation and Characterization of Ancient like masonry Mortars and in
(20:04):
the abstract this says the characterization of mortars prepared according
to ancient methods from the colonial period in Mexico is reported.
The materials were prepared by mixing limestone, sand, water, and
an additive bovine blood, milk or cactus ap so one
of those three, the bovine blood milk or cactus app
and the compression strength, flexual strength, and tensile strength were
(20:28):
measured according to ASTM standards and at different aging stages.
The technology developed allows, on the one hand, counting with
a reliable methodology for restoring ancient buildings similar to the
originally employed and on the other to offer a low
cost technique for construction by using agricultural products. A lot
of discount sounds really technical in sciencey and I read
through it and every time I could find the word blood,
(20:50):
of course I zeroed in on that. But essentially it
just kept saying how it was prepared. So like the
recipes again include bovine blood, milk, cactus ap In this
this particular study, mortars were meant for restoring buildings from
the what is that XVII, what number it is, I
don't know century in the Mexican city of Morelia, State
of Mechuakhn, classified officially by UNESCO in World List of
(21:12):
Cultural Heritage in the early nineteen nineties. Yeah, it's just
saying that these buildings. That was kind of the recipe
to what made this mortar stronger. And towards the end
of this article it says for the case of mortars
with bovine blood, in spite of their relatively mild mechanical behavior,
their activity to the environment was surprisingly good. In any case,
all the additives helped to improve the mechanical properties of
(21:35):
the mortars as compared to a simple limestone order. This
is important because the Mexican Standards for Historical Monuments prohibit
the use of Portland cement for restoration works, leading to
the search of alternative methods for preparing inexpensive mortars. So
I don't believe that this is a practice that is
still in play, but it's interesting. Blood was used to
build certain things. So with this story, we're going to
(21:56):
dive into the origins. You can imagine that people may
have seen blood being used, and then you know, you
know how these stories go. Also, if you are watching
the video, where is she? Margaret has been harassing me
because I'm home alone right now, and so there's no
one to distract her, and she is just I'm trying
to keep her from screaming, and she's let me see
if I can get her up here on camera and watch.
(22:16):
She's gonna be pissed that I'm lifting her up to
the camera. Say hi, she's parking, can you Margaret? She
looks so funny in the camera. All right, you're nasty.
Hopefully she will stay quiet for the deation of this episode.
But if you're watching video and you keep seeing me like,
(22:39):
move my arm down, I'm patting her so she doesn't scream.
Her head off. Okay, let's dive into these next sources.
After that, Margaret cameo. This first source here is from
Mexico Unexplained dot com legends from the state of Kawalima.
And this is, as you guess, it is a list
of legends from the state of Kualima. At number three,
(23:00):
I think in no particular order. This it's called the
Bridge of Moans again at Buende de los Ospidrios, and
this says in the town of Gomala, in the years
nineteen oh nine and nineteen ten, workers built a bridge
over the San Juan River. They called the new road
leading to the bridge Gaya Progresso, in honor of the
one hundredth anniversary of the Mexican War of Independence. So
this bridge is also like a monument, right, it continues.
(23:22):
The construction of the bridge was the most exciting thing
the town had seen in years. Many townsfolk went to
the construction site to observe the bridge being built, and
the workers soon became concerned that a curious child might
suffer an accident. Right, construction place is no place for
a child. Construction site, so the parents in the town
began cautioning their children to stay away when strong warnings
(23:43):
were not enough, some parents began circulating rumors that the
bridge builders were taking children and mixing them in with
the building materials to make the bridge. We're going to
see a different version of how they were mixed in
in another source, but just prefacing that that kept away
most of the little ones, except for one young boy
who've entry to the site and from behind a low wall,
watched some of the workers mixing cement. Again, as you imagine,
(24:06):
this boy is who inspired our main character for this story, Migel.
It was an old local tradition to blend a little
bit of chicken's blood in with the mixture for good luck.
We're gonna talk more about this, the good luck idea
and chicken's blood versus what we know is actually documented
is they would use bovine blood, but because it strengthened
the mortar. But this is an interesting thing I wanted
(24:26):
to look in and bring up, so we'll go into
that next. But so this continues, and when the little
boy watching the cement mixing saw a little bit of
red liquid added to the mixture, he assumed it was
the blood of a child. He ran back to his
neighborhood and told his friends. Soon most of the town
of Guemala believed that some of the local kids who
had gone missing ended up in the bridge as part
of the finished product. There are lines of writing on
(24:48):
the bridge, a few sentences to dedicate it, and people
in town who could not read assumed for many years
that the letters spilled out the children who were sacrificed
to give the town a span across their real Juan.
So strong was the belief in the story of the
Dead Children that the bridge was nicknamed the Bridge of
mons or Pelosuspidrios because pastors by swore they heard the
(25:10):
tormented cries of the kids who were mixed in with
the mortar. Okay, a couple things to go through that
we pointed out in this story, and this is a
really good kind of version of the story that has
like every point that we want to hit, right. The
first thing I think that we said wanted to talk
about was so I'm going to work in reverse here,
So this idea of the dedication and people not being
able to read. So yeah, it was just saying, I'm
(25:31):
assuming it's like a plaque that says on this day
or this bridge was built for, Like why is this
bridge here, right, And we know it's because it's a
dedication to the one hundredth anniversary of Mexican or Independent
so I'm sure it says something about that. But there's
people who were unable to read, and they had already
heard this story by then, so they were thinking, oh
my god, they put the names of the kids who
are in this bridge or who were used to build
(25:52):
this bridge, freaky right, And so that kind of just
perpetuated the story. The thing about the blood that I
was really excited about. I have that a little bit
low in the document here because we're gonna jump around.
This is venturing into an area of the world that
we haven't done before. But I'm I've been very curious
about doing it. I've been asked to do it, but
I'm not sure. So consider this a poll, yes or no.
(26:14):
Tell me what you all think. Leave it in the
comment of the social post for this, send me a message,
an email, leave a comment on Spotify. Especially if you
are of Filipino descent or you are Filipino, Please let
me know what you think. I have been asked about
doing stories from the Philippines, and I've told people before
I've kind of joked about it, like different land, same colonizer.
(26:35):
So I'm wondering if that covers that area of like Hispanic.
I don't know exactly too much, but if I'm encouraged
to do so, I would love to do more research
and to educate myself properly about the culture as well,
because I know that there are amazing stories that come
from there. So I say all that to say because
this next link, it's from the Philippines and it says
(26:57):
go to the attacowboy dot hom dot blah Philippine Life
and Travels. And this entry was published in twenty nineteen.
It's called Folkways, chicken blood and little People. That's exactly
what it's called. I'm not sure what the involvement was
about little people. I didn't read the entire thing, but
it spoke to the chicken blood thing, which I was
really interested in because it was mentioned, of course in
(27:18):
that source earlier, and I've heard things about this, so
I'm just going to read this. It's in quotes. This
says they need two chickens. Who the workers They need
two chickens before they can start the fence. Why they
need to put blood in the first post hole or
the fence will fall. This continues. We had hired a
dozen or so local fellows to clear out our overgrown
(27:39):
pastures and build our perimeter fence. They had made great
progress clearing the tall grass and underbrush while waiting for
the posts and wire. The request for the chickens came
when the first posts arrived. I wasn't really surprised by
the request. I've had a lifelong interest in folkways and
worked for several years as a historian. Many cultures the
world over have a tradition of a sacrifice of some
(28:00):
sort in the foundations or walls of various structures. This
is an aside if you were sensitive to the treatment
of animals, just forewarning, you might want to skip maybe
like fifteen seconds. This says in Old England workers would
sometimes seal a hopefully already dead cat into the walls
of a new building. So request for fresh chicken blood
didn't really surprise me. I drove to a town and
(28:22):
brought a couple of live chickens from a street vendor.
You might want to skip those whole sources if you're
sensitive to this sort of thing. Just the heads up,
but it's not extremely graphically detailed. But still either way,
this continues. One of the workers took them down to
the creek, where he promptly butchered them, draining the blood
into a bowl. Another fellow carried the bowl up to
the fencing crew. They poured the offering into the waiting
(28:43):
post hold without any ceremony that I could discern. Back
at the creek, I noticed that the chickens had been plucked,
cut up, and placed into the cookpot. The divide between
the physical and the spirit world seems thin here in
the rural Philippines. Nearly everyone appears to have had some
type of experience with an otherworldly being. And then this
continues about I think other stories there, but this idea
of the blood being used, so I poked around about that,
(29:05):
and by the blood being used for superstitious or religious practices,
So there's of course, I think many of us know
who or have heard about the idea of like animal sacrifices,
especially with chickens. And the reason I found this so
interesting is because I heard recently, I'm not going to
say who or where, but I heard that there was
a really big event being put on for the public,
(29:28):
and that before they put up like flags or like
posts or stuff like basically essentially like this like something
that's going in the ground that like as an offering
for any deities that may be in control of or
could impact the weather. It was an offering to them
so that they put either I wanted, I can't remember exactly,
I would have to ask, but that they put either
(29:50):
just the blood or like a whole chicken at the
bottom of the post hole before they put the flag
or the fence post whatever. It was as an offering
to like how good weather for this thing to go off? Well,
you know, like you know, just like it was an
offering right for as you could say, I guess good luck,
as was mentioned earlier. So I just thought this was
extremely interesting and it really piqued my interest, and I
(30:13):
had to like dig around a little bit more about
that before I moved on. I'm going to move on
to the other sources, and we're going to reference back
the things that I was kind of thinking about earlier.
The idea of kids being used for manual labor, for
like forced manual labor. That that's not like a fake thing,
it was something that was actually happening. This is another
academic journal. This one was behind like a loggin wall.
(30:35):
I had to log into something. But this is from
Gael Books and the link the first part link says
go dash Gale dash coom dot easy proxy dot lib.
But if you want to look this up, is from
a book called The World of Child Labor, a Historical
and Regional Survey. The article I'm assuming the article in
this that we're going to look over, or that I
looked over, is titled History of Child Labor in Mexico,
(30:56):
and this was published in two thousand and nine, authored
by Marcos ti Aguila and Mariano I tors B. Yes,
if you want to look this up, it's got some
length to it and it's really academic. But I read
the entire thing, and it's talking about the history of
child labor in Mexico and how especially again as was
mentioned in the story in the I have trouble saying
(31:17):
the word but like the Borfriato, but during Portfririo d.
S's regime or his time over in Mexico, in power,
and even before that that in Mexico and especially in
ancient times, that younger people or that children were we
were working. They were part of the working class. Children
as young as like twelve, And it wasn't always as
(31:37):
you imagine like labor going out to work with like
a briefcase or whatever, right, obviously not. It was also
part of the familial structures which I think we still
kind of see now eldest daughters of the family. You
all are really going to hear this one and it's
gonna hit you in the heart. But that was there
was a name for the elder the eldest daughters, and
the family families that would take care of their children,
(31:59):
and that was considered labor because it is it is labor.
And so this whole thing, it's really interesting. It's talking
about the different kinds of labor that children were basically
used for, and it ranged again from household labor to
working in the mind to working as apprentices. But there's
also a breakdown based on like class and cast is
(32:21):
the word that was also used that depending on who
you were and what your background was, you could be
an apprentice, but you could not then become the thing
that you were apprenticing for. You were just an assistant.
And then if you worked in the minds, depending again
on your background, on your indigenity, on your how much
money your family already had how much land you did
(32:41):
or didn't have, that the pay scill was based off
of that, and not on the work that you were doing,
the quality of work, the amount that you produced. It
was based on who you were, which is wild to me,
and let's be real, still applies to women in the world, right.
But this is just a really interesting look. And again
it talks a lot about child labor and that how
(33:03):
eventually it was abolished, and also in some ways how
that kind of continues. There was something really interesting here
Towards the end. This says thus toward the end of
the year two thousand. This is at the very end
of this that I thought was interesting. It says, thus,
toward the end of the year two thousand, the percentage
of working children in households with less than five person
was fourteen point three and in households of seven and
(33:23):
eight members it reached a surprising twenty one point four percent.
The ancient regime appears to have been resuscitated. So this
is saying that this idea or this practice of child labor,
and you have to really expand what your idea of
labor is, because labor happens in the household like stay
at home moms. It's not just a cute name for
someone who takes care of the family or children or
(33:46):
runs the household. It's it's a job. It's a full
time job. Absolutely, it is labor, and that's a whole
can of worms that we can unpack and have hours
long discussions about. But so ultimately, I just I thought
this article is really cool because I think it could
challenge someone to expand what their idea is on what
labor is. And then again it's saying that this kind
of thing is happening again and it's really honestly sad
(34:09):
to see it. Sometimes you think about cases with children,
how they're I think the term is called parentified is
when that happens. It's when they're they are the children,
but then they're forced to either care for siblings or,
depending on the situation, care for their parent for a
variety of reasons. But I don't know. It was just
like I thought it was really important to look at
this also in this idea of child labor and the
(34:31):
history of child labor in Mexico, and how again it
varied across the board from different types of labor and
how they were treated and why they were treated that way.
So I could maybe do something separate about this again
it would it deserves its own episode, or maybe I
can find something really cool another podcast about it. But
if you are interested again this article, it's titled History
(34:51):
of Child Labor in Mexico. The book is the World
of Child Labor and historical and regional survey authors Madocus
ti Aguila and Mariano Eat what is b And also
anytime you all hear me talk about like an academic
source in Sustal on Sustal, you could also if it's
behind some sort of paywall or you need some sort
of like official login for something that you can't get
(35:13):
or you can't afford, or you just don't want to
pay for it. I have heard that a lot of times.
If you just reach out to an author, especially an
academic author, and you say, hey, I heard about this
theme you wrote. I was really interested in it. Unfortunately
can't get behind log in, paywall, whatever it is, Is
there any other way to access it? Sometimes they will
just send you their research for free. They will just
(35:34):
they're like, yeah, here's a link, here's an email, here's
a document, Because you know, I feel like any I'm
going to use the word good. Any good academic would
want to share that that information freely, but because of
how it's published, the publishers then have to put out
whatever I'm just saying. Sometimes you just have to ask
what did we say in the City Alchemist episode? You
just got to ask sometimes. Okay. So the next source
(35:54):
that we have here is from moss Dash Mexico dot
com dot MG, And to be honest, this is just
another retelling of the story. But I want to say,
this is where they talk about the pillars. Okay, Yeah,
So this says, however, since it was dangerous for children
to be in a construction area unattended, the adults devised
a way to scare them away without resorting to scolding
(36:15):
or reprimanding them. They told the children that the bridge
builders often used curious children and stuck them between the columns.
So I believe this source was translated. So what I'm
imagining is they were telling them they're going to put
you like literally, they're going to just put you in
the bridge. So imagine like surrounded in like a pillar
that's holding up part of the bridge, Like they're going
(36:35):
to put you in there if you get too close.
So like a different way that this honestly threat was
made to the kid, which is what a lot of
these stories are. They're threats, right, paranormal threats. And they
were told, if you get too close, they're going to
put you in there. And then now we know the
other versions say they're going to use your blood, They're
going to put you in there. You're going to be
part of the bridge. So whether that is your complete
like physical being, or if they're taking your blood and
(36:57):
using that in the mortar mixture, but I just thought
it was I wanted to bring that part of that
variation of the story. This next source that we have
here is from Barratodo Mexico dot com and this is
legend of the Bridge of Size. Again, this is pretty
much the same short kind of legend the years nineteen
or nine nineteen ten. The bridge was built in Guamala
over the San Juan River, Okay. And this is again
(37:20):
why we wanted to point this one out. This says,
faced with this situation, the parents, wanting to avoid an accident,
decided to warn their children that the workers were taking
children and while still alive, embedding them in walls and columns.
So it was again the threat went different ways they
were they got created with it that they're going to
kill you and put you in there. They're going to
drain your blood and mix it in there in the cement,
(37:42):
or they're gonna basically not bury what's instead of burier,
they're going to seal you alive into the wall and
the columns of this of this thing. This also says
this led to the fact that once the work was
completed and inaugurated, many single women refrained from passing through
there as they claimed to hear the cries and size
(38:02):
of the buried children, mistaking them for their own mothers
who had abandoned them. Adults who lacked the gift of
reading pointed to the inscription located on one of the
columns relating to information. This is also translated so I
don't know, but basically, people who couldn't read, they would
look at the inscription or the dedication on it relating
the information about its inauguration, stating that the names of
(38:25):
the children's buried there were those names there. So again
that's where this comes from. And I believe the last
source that we have here this is from the ario
the Yaki dot MX, and this says, learn about the
legend of the Bridge of Size, one of the most
famous and interesting in Gordima. Again, this is a translated source,
so that's probably gonna be different when you first find
(38:45):
it online. Again talks about what the story is. This
also has the detail of they said the caretakers often
lured curious children between the columns so that they were
built into it. Towards the end of this, it says,
is the legend real? It says it has been reported
that the young man did indeed see blood on the pillars,
but this fluid was from animals, as it is said
that back then blood contributed to the consistency of the mixture,
(39:08):
making it harder or stronger. The legend originated from a
simple misunderstanding, although it was thanks to this that the
Bridge of Size became an iconic place in Kolima. Again,
I want to say another part said that at the
same time that this bridge is being built, that children
were actually like going missing. I think this was also
towards the end of when child labor was being used.
(39:28):
So just that those different things mixed into each other,
like they're taking children, maybe they're using them for child labor.
What is the kind of work that they're being used for.
Maybe the work is like their body or their blood
being used to make these buildings stronger, to make this
bridge stronger. So again, people hear these different stories, they
these different details, then they make up stories, they run
(39:50):
with them, and then before you know it, here we
are talking about bent this ispidos Ye. Welcome back, golfriends.
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Or
(40:12):
if you are a best goalfriend on Patreon, you have
access to the video version to this and many other episodes. Again,
the videos is something I'm trying to keep up. If
you're enjoying it, let me know shout me out on Patreon.
And if you are enjoying the show, if you would
like to support in other ways you already know. The
easiest way to do so is by liking, subscribing, rating, reviewing,
interacting with the show wherever you are listening, encouraging your
(40:35):
girlfriends to listen to the show and to do the same.
You can follow me for any and all updates on
soustal that is, at Sustal podcast on every platform on
social media. You can also visit sustalpodcast dot com and
if you would like to hear your own scary story
on a letter from the Beyond episode. You can do
so by visiting the link in my link tree that's
linktr dot ee slash sustal, or by visiting again my
(40:56):
website and hitting that tell Me a Story button you
can send in also with your story or instead of
a video, a photo, audio recording, any multimedia you may
have that you think I should share on the show
or on social media. Send it to me that way.
And if you would like to support the show with
money dollars, you can do so by visiting patreon dot com,
slash sustal podcast and check out the tears so you
(41:18):
have any of those work for you. As always, I
am grateful for any and all kinds of support and
a special shout out to this episode's patrons. You are Eliza, Sadie, Rachel,
Alejandra Luth, April d Josette, Sam, Mandy, Jules, Lauri, Genie, Monica, Desire,
c Ashes, Ndessa, Rachel, Asusana, Marlen, Chata, Laney, desre A,
(41:38):
Carla archerd Gadado, Vanessa, Mariza, Nieves, Moner, mal Iris, mad
Floor and Selena. Thank you all so so much. Your
support means everything to me. Once more. You can catch
me tomorrow Friday, May sixteenth, at City Alchemist for a
live storytelling and movie screening of Veronica, and then on Saturday,
(41:59):
May seventeen at the Curious Twins' fourth annual Psychic and
Spirit Fest at Victoria's Black Swan Inn. I will see
you all this weekend. Thank you for listening, and until
next time, note Sostas bye,
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