Pilot Episode- The Story Behind the Woman in White
This episode of Supernatural was not based solely on the Woman in White legend, but in combination with the Vanishing Hitchhiker.
La Llorona (Woman In White)
According to folklore, La Llorona is Spanish for “the crying woman”. She is often called the Woman in White or Weeping Woman, which is the ghost crying for her dead children. There are many variations to this legend on where she was born, who she married, and how she got pregnant. But in every version, it always comes down to her murdering her two sons in a river. She is usually given a Christian name such as Sofia, Linda, Laura, and Maria. She is always said to be walking down rivers and creeks in her white gown wailing into the night, searching for children to victimize. Probably the most well-known version of this legend is the “Weeping Woman of the Southwest”.
This story takes place in New Mexico . La Llorona, christened “Maria”, was born into a peasant family around the time of the Conquistadors. She captured the attention of the men of the village with her mesmerizing beauty. She would spend days with her family, but at night, she was said to go out to the local fandangos wearing her best white gown, entertaining the men of the village who admired her. During this time, she gave birth to two sons, but it is unknown how she got pregnant. She eventually married a wealthy man who spoiled her hand and foot. He gave her all his love and attention. He was everything a woman would want in a husband. However after a couple years of marriage, she began to bore him with her two sons and his character began to change drastically. He became an alcoholic and a womanizer, often leaving Maria and the boys for months at a time.
One evening, as Maria was walking with her children down a shadowy pathway near the river, her husband came by in a carriage with an exquisite woman beside him. He stopped and said hi to the children and took off. Filled with resentment toward her children, Maria went into a terrible rage. She took her children and threw them into the river. As they disappeared down the stream, she realized that what she did was wrong. Filled with guilt, Maria ran storming down the streets wailing into the night.
In the days following that fateful night, she refused to eat and spent the days walking along the river, hoping to find her children. She got thinner and thinner as the days went on. She finally died along the banks of the river.
It is now said that La Llorona's spirit walks along the banks of the Sante Fe River at night, indiscriminately killing men, women, and children. Her wailing became a curse of the night and people became afraid of walking outside after dark. Although La Llorona's spirit kills anyone who comes in her path, she specifically targets those who don't treat their families well, in order to teach them a lesson.
The Vanishing Hitchhiker
Vanishing Hitchhikers are a phenomenon in which people traveling by cars meet up with a hitchhiker and then vanish suddenly without a trace. American folklorists Richard Beardsley and Rosalie Hankey found four specific variations of the legend.
1. Stories where the hitch-hiker gives an address through which the motorist learns he has just given a lift to a ghost
2. Stories where the hitch-hiker is an old woman who prophesies disaster at the end of WWII
3. Stories where a girl is met at some place of entertainment; she leaves some token on her grave by way of corroborating the experience and her identity.
4. Stories where the hitch-hiker is later identified as a local divinity.
The most well-known version is that of a person driving down a quiet road at night who sees a figure in the way of the headlights. The driver offers to give this spirit a ride. As the driver proceeds, he turns around at some point to find the passenger vanished while the car is in motion. A common variation of the legend is that the hitch-hiker usually leaves behind some item that leads the driver to make contact with the spirit.
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