GHOSTS IN THE PLAYROOM This is something that took place right across the street from where I live, and happened to me about 2 years ago. Here is my story... My sister Erica, moved into a house just across the street from where my Dad and I live. It's been there for as long as we can remember. Erica has three children, two of them are girls, and the other is a little boy. The house, as I could recall, was absolutely disgusting and was infested with bugs because the landlord never took care of it or cleaned it. After Erica moved in, she asked my other sister, Michelle, to take care of the children in the day while she worked (she had a day shift). So my sister Michelle decided to live there with her, since Erica would go to work at 6, and wouldn't come home until 7. And also, my Dad, Michelle and I, only lived across the street from her. After Michelle got settled in, that's when really weird things began to happen, and that's where our story begins. It was late one night, and Erica came home. Michelle was feeding the kids, so Erica decided to take a shower. After she was done, she heard music coming from the playroom and called to Michelle, "Hey, I like that song." So when Erica came into the playroom, she was shocked to see that the radio that was playing was the same radio that didn't even work. So Erica asked Michelle how she got the radio to work, and Michelle, wide eyed said,"I didn't turn it on." So that's when we all started to suspect that there were ghosts in that house, but most of the paranormal activity always happened to be in the playroom. A week later, Erica asked me to take care of the kids for her late one night because she and Michelle were going to go out for the night. Of course I have heard about ghosts but had never had a ghostly encounter, I accepted. I remember putting the kids to sleep in the playroom, and decided to watch some T.V. until my sisters came home. It was about midnight, and I began to hear little voices and the rattling of toys as if the kids were up and playing. So I got up to go and investigate, and if they were up, put them back to sleep. As I approached the playroom, I could hear laughter but when I opened the door all three kids were sound asleep. So then I began to think that my mind was playing tricks on me, and thought that maybe I was hearing things. I went back to the living room and began to doze off when I heard it again. Little whispers now and the same rattling of toys. I got up and opened the door very quietly...and found nothing. They were all still asleep. I then decided to sleep in the playroom and see who was making all those noises. I made a bed of blankets on the floor, turned out the lights, and began to doze off into a sound sleep. I woke up a while later to hear the whispers and laughter, I turned to look at the kids and still they were asleep and then that's when I felt little children's hands shaking me, as if trying to get me to wake up. I was awake, and threw a pillow at a shadow that was right beside me and it went away. I went into the hall to see what time it was, it was 3 am. I couldn't sleep so I went back into the livingroom. Then I started hearing weird scratching noises behind the couch, but there was nothing. The house was so disgusting, I thought maybe it could possibly be a mouse, but it wasn't. I started to hear the laughter of kids, and by now I was so terrified. I couldn't go into the playroom because I was afraid of what I would come face to face with. So I just stood in the hallway which separates the livingroom from the playroom. All of a sudden...I heard a deep hoarse voice go "hey!" It scared me out of my wits! I ran outside, and stayed there until my sisters came home about a half hour later. I was so terrified I ran home across the street and didn't tell them about it until the next day. My two sisters and mother came over, and we began to talk. I told them about all that happened to me, and my sisters were all shocked with my story, because they told me that the same thing had happened to them. Except that Michelle was the only one that experienced the man that said "hey" in that hoarse voice. A couple of months later, my sister moved out, and nobody has been living there since. But the funny thing is that not one of my sisters had experienced the little voices and kids playing in the playroom. But she guesses that explains why she's heard her kids talking to her about their "imaginary friends." Thanks for reading my story. Contact me here: NYyankeesChik@aol.com La Llorona(The Weeping Woman) The story featured on this site was not the same story I heard about La Llorona, and i've had mexican ancestors who have even lived for centuries..so this is how my mother, father, and relatives told the story, and how they've been saying it for hundreds of years trying to scare children into obeying their parents. La Llorona (The weeping woman) This is a story that the old ones have been telling to children for hundreds of years. It is a sad tale, but it lives strong in the memories of the people, and there are many who swear that it is true. Long years ago in a humble little village there lived a fine looking girl named Maria. Some say she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and because she was so beautiful, Maria thought she was better than everyone else. As Maria grew older, her beauty increased, and her pride in her beauty grew too. When she was a young woman, she would not even look at the young men from her village. They weren't good enough for her! "When I marry," Maria would say, "I will marry the most handsome man in the world." And then one day, into Maria's village rode a man who seemed to be just the one she had been talking about. He was a dashing young ranchero, the son of a wealthy rancher from the southern plains. He could ride like a Comanche! In fact, if he owned a horse, and it grew tame, he would give it away and go rope a wild horse from the plains. He thought it wasn't manly to ride a horse if it wasn't half wild. He was handsome! And he could play the guitar and sing beautifully. Maria made up her mind-that was, the man for her! She knew just the tricks to win his attention. If the ranchero spoke when they met on the pathway, she would turn her head away. When he came to her house in the evening to play his guitar and serenade her, she wouldn't even come to the window. She refused all his costly gifts. The young man fell for her tricks. "That haughty girl, Maria, Maria! " he said to himself. "I know I can win her heart. I swear I'll marry that girl." And so everything turned out as Maria planned. Before long, she and the ranchero became engaged and soon they were married. At first, things were fine. They had two children and they seemed to be a happy family together. But after a few years, the ranchero went back to the wild life of the prairies. He would leave town and be gone for months at a time. And when he returned home, it was only to visit his children. He seemed to care nothing for the beautiful Maria. He even talked of setting Maria aside and marrying a woman of his own wealthy class. As proud as Maria was, of course she became very angry with the ranchero. She also began to feel anger toward her children, because he paid attention to them, but just ignored her. One evening, as Maria was strolling with her two children on the shady pathway near the river, the ranchero came by in a carriage. An elegant lady sat on the seat beside him, and he stopped and spoke to his children, but he didn't even look at Maria. He whipped the horses on up the street. When she saw that, a terrible rage filled Maria, and it all turned against her children. Although it is sad to tell, the story says that in her anger Maria seized her two children and threw them into the river. But as they disappeared down the stream, she realized what she had done, so she ran down the bank of the river, reaching out her arms to them. But they were long gone. The next morning, a traveler brought word to the villagers that a beautiful woman lay dead on the bank of the river. That is where they found Maria, and they laid her to rest where she had fallen. But the first night Maria was in the grave, the villagers heard the sound of crying down by the river. It was not the wind, it was La Llorona crying. "Where are my children?" And they saw a woman walking up and down the bank of the river, dressed in a long white robe, the way they had dressed Maria for burial. On many a dark night they saw her walk the river bank and cry for her children. And so they no longer spoke of her as Maria. They called her La Llorona, the weeping woman. And by that name she is known to this day. Children are warned not to go out in the dark, for, La Llorona might snatch them and never return them.It is said that La Llorona feels such remorse for murdering her children, that she may even mistake another for her own. Many people who would camp out in the woods can hear her crying "Mis hijos, mis hijos, donde estan mis hijos" meaning "My children, My children, where are my children" and weep out their names: "Benicio, Antonio..donde estan mis hijos?" Many say she wanders along the bank of the Rio Grande which also runs in the U.S and through Mexico. Thankyou for reading Submitted From: Crystal, TX, USA