Tales of Terror from the State of Hidalgo

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome to Mexico Unexplained, where we will explore the magic,
the mysteries and the miracles of Mexico. This series presents
information based partly on theory and conjecture. The podcaster's purpose
is to suggest some possible explanation, but not necessarily the
only ones to the subjects we will examine. Here is
your host, Robert Twitto.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Welcome and movie bian beneathos to episode number three hundred
and forty five of Mexico Unexplained, where we examine the magic,
the mysteries, and the miracles of Mexico. I'm your host,
Robert Pido, named after Father Miguel Idalgo Icostilla, the driving
force behind Mexico's war of independence from Spain. The state

(01:18):
of Idalgo is located in east central Mexico. It borders
San Luis, Potosi and Veracruz to the north, Tlascala and
Mexico to the south, Puebla to the east, and Queretro
to the west. Dalgo is home to over three million
people and many legends. Here are five. Number one the

(01:42):
ancient orb Witch. There are some variations of this story
found throughout Mexico. In the rural areas of Idalgo. Many
people believe that there are witches who take the form
of luminous balls of light and then hunt children to
suck their blood. Nobody knows how old this legend actually is.

(02:04):
This belief comes from pre Hispanic times, and they date
back thousands of years. A modern retelling of this story
is set in the small town of singuil Wukan, which
in indigenous times was called sing Kilokan. The area has
been inhabited for millennia and once supplied obsidian knives for

(02:26):
the ancient city of Teotiwokan. In the old legend, inside
a small adobe house in t Singkilokan there lived a
farmer and his wife. The wife had been rumored to
be a witch. The farmer tried to ignore this gossip,
but when his compadres told him that the woman cooked

(02:46):
her food with the blood of newborns, he began to worry.
One night, he came home pretending to be very tired,
so he told his wife that he was going to
sleep early. I'll come to bed as soon as I
finished prepare carrying your food for tomorrow, she told him curiously.
She always cooked fritangas for him, which our tripe dipped

(03:08):
in tomato sauce and which are normally cooked with blood.
Pretending to be asleep, the man spied on her through
an opening in the bed sheet, watching in horror as
she plucked a long strand of her black hair and
tied it around one of her legs. It came off
cleanly from her body and fell to the ground. Then

(03:31):
the woman transformed herself into a turkey that flew out
the window. In flight, the turkey turned into a ball
of dim light that floated over the small town. With
the woman gone at a safe distance, the farmer quickly
took the wife's leg and hid it. When the witch returned,
she was unable to find her leg, so she could

(03:54):
not return to her human form. The farmer trapped her
as a turkey and put her in a cage. In
the morning, she was burned at the stake by the
horrified residence of the town Number two. The mysterious young
Boy of the Rio Charcon, between the states of Idalgo

(04:15):
and Kerretro, a river known as El Charcon runs close
to a road that is not advisable to drive on
at night. The people who have done it said that
the ghost of a child who died there many years
ago appears. The story goes something like this. A merchant
from Techosautla was trying to cross the stream, sitting in

(04:38):
a cart pulled by an old mule. It had already
gotten dark, and with the moon a mere sliver in
the sky, the darkness was total. Distressed by not seeing anything,
the man rushed his animal and it jumped in fear,
letting go of the cart and tossing it to pass
over an obstacle on the path. The merchant fell and

(05:01):
hid his head, knocking him unconscious. When he woke up,
he realized that there was a body lying a short
distance from him. He then recognized it as a dead child,
about seven or eight years old. The boy had been
run over by the cart and a trickle of blood
was flowing from his skull. Frightened, the merchant took the

(05:22):
young boy in his arms and decided to bury him
on the side of the road before continuing on his
way back to town. Since that time, it is claimed
that boy appears before motorists, staring into space and covered
in blood. It is not good to pick him up,
nor to look in the rear view mirror once you

(05:44):
pass by him. If you do, you could die of
terror to discover him sitting in the backseat of your car.
Number three, the Lady of the Big House. In seventeen
sixty six, there lived a man known as the Case
out of Regla. His name was Pedro Romero de Terreros,

(06:04):
and his family had noble lineage stretching back generations in
Spain and France. The count owned a great fortune and
numerous pieces of real estate throughout central Mexico, including a
huge and beautiful hacienda and Real del Monte with its
own orchard and a vast, splendid garden. Despite the beauty

(06:26):
of the hacienda, the people who worked there were very
scared because all the time they heard strange noises like
chains dragging. One night, two laborers were returning from work
when they heard bizarre sounds coming from the hacienda's main house.
When approaching to look for the origin of the sounds,

(06:48):
they got a great scare because they found two skeletons.
One of them belonged to Donia Marina Catarina, an old
lady of that place, and the other to her son,
who had been chained with an anvil that prevented him
from escaping. After they were discovered, both were buried and
the place blessed by a priest. The wealthy count was

(07:12):
never to be seen again, and since then the supernatural
noises ceased. Number four, the murders at La Pasata. This
legend dates back to the nineteen twenties and takes place
within the El Arbolito neighborhood of Hidalgo's capital city of Pachuca.
This neighborhood has numerous alleys, one of which was nicknamed

(07:35):
La Pasata. At the end of this small passageway, an
elderly couple lived in a very modest little room in
front of which they had set up a small neighborhood store.
From there, they sold brandy and other spirits to the
miners who came daily to shop thereafter work. Although they
sold a lot, the elderly couple was known for living

(07:59):
with great hostel charity. They always wore the same patched
clothes and ate very little. They never went out or
spent any money on entertainment. Even when they went to mass,
they took turns since someone always had to stay to
take care of the store. Despite their appearance, the neighbors

(08:19):
said that they were very rich and that they had
probably hid in their fortune under the floor or behind
the walls of their room. A couple of thieves heard
these rumors and decided that one night they would rob
the elderly couple. It was an abominable crime. The old

(08:39):
people tried to defend themselves, and the thieves ended up
murdering them, putting the old man's body in a trunk
in the corner. Since the old woman couldn't fit in
the trunk, they left her lying on the ground in
the middle of a pool of blood. After murdering the couple,
the thieves started ransacked this little home. They were happy

(09:02):
to find a huge pot buried in the floor and
full of gold coins. The thieves filled their pockets, but
the pots still seemed to overflow with gold. They decided
to carry the pot out of the house and get
out of there before dawn, but when they left through
the back door, the container fell and spilled all over

(09:23):
the alley. Nervous, they took what they could and fled.
On the way. The gold coins fell from their hands
and pockets, leaving a trail that attracted people's attention and
led the police to their whereabouts. Only when they were
found empty handed and with blood stains on their clothes

(09:43):
did they confess their crime. The bodies of the elderly
couple received a Christian burial and the thieves were executed.
Their bodies were impelled at the entrance to La Pasadita
to serve as a warning to punish other possible murders
and criminals. Number five, The mysterious woman in black on

(10:06):
the road that goes from Pachuca to Real del Monte,
a chilling apparition has been cited that, according to the
legend that stretches back many ears, has already scared dozens
of drivers at night. It all began in the nineteen fifties,
when the presence of a strange woman dressed in black

(10:27):
began to be reported, whose face was hidden behind a
thick veil. One of those nights, a taxi driver named
Juan Torres left the city of Pachuca and was driving
back down that road when he noticed a woman signaling
for him to stop. He pulled over and allowed her
to get into his taxi. Where are you going, ma'am,

(10:49):
he asked the mysterious female stranger, take me to the
English Cemetery in Real del Monte. She replied from the
back seat, there's someone waiting for me there. Surprised because
it was already too late in the day to go
to the cemetery, Juan returned to the road. During the
short trip, the taxi driver tried to make conversation with

(11:13):
the black dressed woman because he couldn't stop having the
feeling that something was very wrong. However, she did not
answer him. Upon reaching his destination, Juan breathed a sigh
of relief because he really wanted that woman out of
his cab. We're here, ma'am, he said. It's going to

(11:33):
be one hundred pasils for the trip, ma'am. Hauan looked
back and was shocked to see that the woman was
not there. It was impossible. He had never heard her
open the car door. Nervous, he looked towards the graveyard,
which had its gates closed for the evening. In the distance,

(11:53):
he could see the lady in black walking in the
middle of the cemetery. In an instant, she vanished. Terrified,
the taxi driver fled at full speed from there. He
never picked up anyone on the highway at night ever. Again,
thank you, once again for listening to another episode of
Mexican Explained. Remember to like and subscribe to us on

(12:17):
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(12:37):
the Miracles of Mexico. We appreciate your kind attention. Once again,
until next time, Thank you, len gracias.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
Thank you, but listening to another episode of Mexico Unexplained
with host Robert Bitto. For show summary, relevant links, and commentary.
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