By Samuel Lopez
From Springdale, Arkansas
I’ve lived in Springdale for 13 years. My family comes from Mexico, to be specific, from the state of Mexico in a town called Bejucos that’s in between these large mountain ranges.
The folklore I want to tell you about is La Llorona, which translates to “the crier”. In Mexico there is a woman that stands by any tributary or body of water and cries at night. She’s crying because her children drowned in the water. We grow up telling the children this story to scare them from going too close to the water and drowning. If you hear any type of crying near water, you’ll know where she’s at.
If you’ve ever been to Tilly Willy, it’s in South Fayetteville. It’s off these back roads where you’ll find this little bridge. It’s beautiful! The thing about Tilly Willy, is that it’s where La Llorona became real. My friend Eduardo saw the back windshield of his car fog up and saw little handprints form on the window. We felt La Llorona at Tilly Willy. Go there at night and see if you can hear the crier.