The Legend of La Lechuza

As the clock’s hand hit the midnight mark, Elena whistled into the night. Lucky for Elena, she was inside her home down in the valley of Texas by the Rio Grande, when La Lechuza whistled back.

Elena was a curandera, meaning a shaman or witch doctor of some sort, who’d occasionally practiced white magic. Like those before her, she knew the responsibilities attached. She had grown up listening to the same story as everyone else. Many years ago, La Lechuza or Witch Owl, used to be a curandera, who also practiced white magic. After she was accused as a bruja or witch, she was killed by the angry townspeople. Because she wasn’t bad to begin with, she was allowed to come back as a ghost. Though, she came back as an angry spirit, seeking revenge on those who accused her and killed her. This gave her the body of an owl, yet she was able to keep her human face. It is believed that she still roams the valleys, looking for new prey. If you whistle three times at midnight and hear anything that resembles whistles back, it means La Lechuza is near you.

As Elena grew up she began to hear more versions of the story. In another, she was a bruja who sold her soul to the devil in exchange for powerful abilities and immortality. She is able to control the storms and shape shift into a few animals, though she preferred the owl, since she does most of her work at night. Some also believe that most common owls have been trained by La Lechuza, to carry out anything she may need done.

In almost all of the stories, La Lechuza tries to lure you out with various sounds, whistles, baby cries, screeching, or cracking noises. And if she can’t lure you out, she’ll try to get closer to you, by banging and scratching on your doors and windows.

The most recent stories Elena heard involved ordinary women returning back as vengeful ghosts to haunt those who hurt them or their loved ones. In the first, it is the ghost of a woman who was cheated on by her husband. In the other, it is the ghost of a mother who was killed with her three children by a drunk driver. She is said to fly over cars driven by drunk drivers as a warning, though she never hurts them, they all turn pale for a few hours. Most of them never have a drink again.

“What did I do? Hay, Dios mio, help me please.” Elena wasn’t sure which story she believed, but she was sure something was here. Being a curandera she had driven away evil spirits countless times. But she couldn’t stop thinking about what happened the last time La Lechuza came to her house. Elena was 9 years old when her aunt Milagros decided to summon La Lechuza, when midnight hit, Milagros began her whistles. An hour passed and nothing. See, Milagros was a curandera, she was one of those women who liked to challenge everything, she liked to think for herself. She always needed to know the when, they why, the how. She knew things were never as they seemed. Being a curandera, she had always wanted to hear the story from the Lechuza herself. After two hours had passed, they began to hear a faint scratch on the window. Milagros’s eyes lit up, she ran to the door without thinking, opened it and stepped out. As she did, a white bird the size of her carried her into the midnight sky and all that was left was a big white feather on the ground. Milagros never came back, or so they thought.

Like many ghosts, La Lechuza also hates salt because of its pure state, so many believe you can keep her away and out, by creating an outline of salt along your house or around you. Putting out a burning cigarette in a glass of wine is also believed to drive her away.

Elena wanted answers about her aunt Milagros but she wasn’t prepared to take on La Lechuza yet. So she lit a cigarette and dropped it in a glass of wine, just as she had done many times before. And as she did a white feather the size of Elena’s arm fell on the windowsill.

I’m so sorry, here I am rambling on and I didn’t even introduce myself, my name is Milagros. Oh, you didn’t think there was just one of us did you? Why do you think there are so many different stories about us? They’re all true. Look at the time, it’s almost midnight up north, I got a flight to catch. Goodbye, Elena, see you tomorrow.