The Lechuza has been known to appear outside of houses during domestic quarrels, waiting for one of the people involved to storm out of the house to then be snatched and carried to the Lechuza’s lair. Not only is the Lechuza said to take humans as prey, it also preys upon the negative emotions of humans, acting as a psychic vampire, drawing power from emotions surrounding human conflict and distress. Other stories say the bird is a minion of Satan himself.
In some of the legends, La Lechuza is not a shape-shifting person at all, but a witch’s familiar, much like a black cat, and does the bidding of the witch, attacking people and destroying property on her command. In a variation of this, the child was killed by a drunk and so now the Lechuza exacts revenge by hanging around bars, waiting until closing time to attack bar patrons who stumble out into the street after hours not knowing the danger from the sky about to rain down on them. Some say that the Lechuza snatches kids because her own child was killed by angry villagers for a crime he did not commit. Some say the Lechuza is a woman by day and turns into a huge owl by night. One of the main themes running through stories regarding the Lechuza is that the creature was once a woman who was wronged and who is seeking revenge. I will explore a few of the main legends here. One town may have made sense of their sighting one way, while another town a thousand miles away may have made sense in another, without ever communicating with each other about it. What could the large variety of explanations mean? The fact that there are so many different legends may indicate that sightings have occurred over a large geographical area over the years among people who were isolated from one another. There are many different legends surrounding the sighting of this creature. It has been reported only in the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas and on the American side of the Rio Grande in Texas. In all cases the Lechuza flies and is seen at night. Some accounts say that the Lechuza’s face is that of an old woman, or of something more otherworldly with large, dark, almond-shaped eyes. In other cases it is more like a huge raven. In most cases it has been said to resemble an owl. It is sometimes described as black in color and sometimes as white as snow. Depending on which telling you hear, the massive bird can range in stature from the size of a small human to 7 feet tall and can have a wingspan of 15 feet. There are many descriptions and stories about the Lechuza and we will first describe the creature and relate the stories. Is this creature real, or is it part of folklore and myth or maybe something else?
The massive bird has been called La Lechuza for its resemblance to an owl. Some social media users condemned the incident as superstition gone wrong, leading to animal cruelty.What’s that huge creature in the skies of Chihuahua? In this episode we will investigate the gigantic bird sightings happening all over northern Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for centuries. The villagers said the owl was really a lechuza and its screams as it was being burned were the witch screaming. In August 2014, a video of Mexican villagers interrogating and burning an owl alive went viral. Giant birds have been reported in the area, and legends from Native American tribes north of Texas also incorporate giant birds (e.g., thunderbirds).įearers of the lechuza have taken action against actual owls. The exact origin of the lechuza legend is unknown, though it is possible that an actual giant owl was the inspiration for the story. Stories of the lechuza are thought to have been around since the Spanish colonized Mexico. Various methods are claimed to protect against the lechuza: tying seven knots in a rope and hanging it by the front door, throwing salt and chili powder into the bird’s face, shooting the bird, or reciting the Magnificat, a Christian prayer to the Virgin Mary. She lures her targets, often children or drunk people, out of houses by crying like a baby or by swooping down on cars late at night. Sometimes the owl is variously depicted as black or white and sometimes with the head of the old woman.Įxactly what the lechuza does to exact revenge varies widely across tellings of the story, though most reference the lechuza carrying away unsuspecting prey to her lair. As the story goes, an old woman shape-shifts into a giant owl, La Lechuza, to take revenge on people who wronged her during her life. Lechuza-a Spanish word for a type of owl, especially the barn owl-is a myth popular throughout northern Mexico and Texas.
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