Folklore Creek....

In my hometown “San Antonio” there are many things that will keep you interested in it. From the history of the Alamo, the #1 NBA team, to the festive mood of fiesta, and so on. San Antonio is really a great place to live. Because of the amount of history and how far the city dates back, you will find a lot of tales about the paranormal. It is no secret that San Antonio is one of the most haunted cities in the United States. Take the cities history and add folklore from Mexico brought in from the immigrants and you have the recipe for eerie stories / experiences. It was here that I decided that my paper was going to be about one of these urban legends. To choose an urban legend was not going to be easy. With so many tales and so many accounts, it was going to be difficult to find a general topic to discuss. This was the case until I noticed a certain creek with a certain name that would change everything.

Interstate 10 connects San Antonio to Seguin. Between these cities is a creek named “Woman Hollering Creek”. This creek is named after an urban legend called “La Llorona”. The legend itself is sort of a cautionary tale that parents told their kids when they were misbehaving. If you don’t act right La Llorona will get you! For all of you, who still don’t have a clue, let me explain. Well the first thing is that La Llorona is Spanish for the crying woman. In the Mexican American communities this story is told and kept alive. The origins seem to come from Mexico, but it’s hard to tell where. Each area in the United States with a strong Mexican American presence seems to have a story and eyewitness accounts. From Southern California to South Texas there always seems to accounts of people having or seeing La Llorona. This also includes Mexico where it originated from and some of the countries in South America. Everywhere you go where La Llorona exists you will hear a different story of her. This begs the question, which one is correct?
Even though there are about a million versions of the story itself, it seems to have a basic setup. A woman is in love with a man that for some reason won’t love her back. So the woman decides that drowning her kids will please the man making him desire her. The woman goes through with the deed only to have the opposite happen. The man is disgusted of what she has done and never wants to see her again. The woman now crazed with guilt and grief realizes what she has done and drowns herself in the same river. The legend says that the woman haunts the river, crying and searching for her children. The legend also says that is she sees you she will drown you in order to replace her dead children. I have heard stories from my mom and dad’s side of the family that deal with La Llorona. There was even one from my step dad where he heard a woman crying at some lake, although I think he was trying to scare me. Either way the legend has roots here in the city. I decided that the only way to dig deeper in this legend was to start interviewing and take a visit to Woman Hollering Creek.

My dad is 62 and lives in San Antonio all his life except when he was in the army.
Me: So when was the first time you heard about La Llorona?
Dad: My mom told me about her when I was a kid. I would probably say around 4 or 5. We would have family gatherings and my uncles would talk about her or that they saw her. They were just trying to scare me and your uncles and aunts.
Me: Did you yourself have an encounter or know anybody that did?
Dad: I worked off of 10 at Texas Truck and Trailer (a truck stop) and I never heard anything. Some of the mechanics that lived around the area say that on some nights they have heard a wailing cry, but that can be from anything. I mean there are wild animals all over that area of town.
Me: So I take it you don’t believe in it.
Dad: It’s just a story son, that’s all it is.

My dad eats at a Flying J at the 587 and I 10, it’s practically right across from Woman Hollering Creek. It was here that my dad introduced me to Nora Roberts; she works the counter at the Flying J and lives around the area. She would be my next interview.
Me: So when was the first time you heard about La Llorona?
Nora: I and my husband moved into the area about 20 years ago and our neighbors told us the stories. They told us another version of the creek got its name.
Me: Really what was that?
Nora: That a woman who could yell like no one’s business lived around the creek with her family. One day a group of Indians came and killed her children. They she began yelling for help, that people in Seguin say that they could hear her, but I don’t know what happened to her after that.
Me: Have you heard anything or experienced anything or know anybody who has?
Nora: People have stories, but to tell you the truth I personally don’t believe in it.

Finally I had to take a visit to the creek itself. I parked my car in front of the creek and wand walked back to it. It’s relatively clean and I walked the banks for 15 minutes and then hung out for another 5. I should remind you that I did this during the day and not during the night. Other than flowing traffic and practical streams I didn’t hear or see anything. So in conclusion San Antonio is a city of stories, folklores, and myths. They may not be true, but they give the city a personality of its own. An identity that can’t be rivaled San Antonio is its own story. La Llorona is a story that traveled from Mexico to South Texas with the help of migrating Mexicans. Real or not it’s found its way into our families and into our lives.