She climbed into the car without saying anything and sat against the door in silence. He felt that perhaps she was nervous or shy, so he tried to make light conversation about the weather. When she didn’t answer, he became somewhat nervous but still thought that perhaps she was in mourning or just not in a sociable mood. She kept herself tightly wrapped in the shawl, with her face turned away from him. Arriving at the village of La Mesa, he pulled over to see whether that was her destination. Still she said nothing. He began to sweat. Was she insane? Perhaps she couldn’t speak! “Senora, is this where you wish to go?” he asked. Slowly she turned to look at him and dropped the shawl. She had no face at all—only a black void that seemed infinite.

Ricardo leaped out of the car and ran, but there were no lights and no one was about. Finally, he cautiously approached the car again and found it empty. He continued to El Paso without further incident but says he will never again pick up hitchhikers, especially women in black dresses along lonely roads at night.

There are enough stories and firsthand accounts of La Llorona to fill books, and, in fact, entire books have been written about her. However one might interpret the tales of La Llorona, they are, as are all ghost stories, part of a rich tradition. Many see her as a warning or perhaps a symbol of our universal griefs and troubles. An old Mexican ballad goes,

Unfortunate that I am, Llorona,
Llorona, do not cease your weeping.
Let us see, Llorona, whether tears
Can put my heart at rest.

But do not consider her lightly! Is that wailing sound only the wind in the trees or the murmur of the river? Is that shadow by the water or the roadside only a tree trunk or a fence post? Or is it something else? Something not of this world?

“You must believe in La Llorona,” said one old man, “for she will pester you until you do!”

Martha Oehmke Loustaunau, a medical sociologist on the faculty of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, has long been fascinated with the folklore of the border region.