La Santa Muerte

I’m 37 now and have really enjoyed reading paranormal stories, etc. since I was in elementary school. I’ve not personally experienced anything myself (thank God) but I love hearing a good tale.

About a month ago (January 2014) my husband, kids and I went out of town to visit his dad’s side of the family. This is where I heard this creepy story from the wife of my husband’s cousin. First of all, most of the family is born again Christians (as am I) and the father of said cousin is a pastor of a small Pentecostal church. On this particular night we gathered around the living room and began talking about God, singing songs, etc when somehow the topic turned to demons, possessions & exorcisms and personal testimonies of such activities. By this point I’m getting super creeped out and my kids are getting really into this conversation (I don’t really let them watch scary films, or read such tales much less get involved in such conversations). But I digress, so I began to talk one on one with"Maria" and she tells me a story that was told to her by her mother.

Maria is originally from the Texas/Mexico border and the majority of the area is Catholic with a heavy mix of superstitious beliefs and even brujeria (witchcraft). Maria’s mother,"Rosa" is not a Christian, in fact, she was a heavy follower of La Santa Muerte (you can google more info). La Santa Muerte is revered a lot by poorer families and especially drug smugglers.

One day Maria’s mother goes and visits her friend,"Linda" and after stepping into her home, Linda sees all the jewelry associated to this saint and proceeds to tell Rosa that she needs to take all that ungodly stuff off before she can come into her home. So Rosa complies and spends a while visiting Linda. After Rosa leaves, Linda begins to feel uneasy and nauseous, very sick and she doesn’t know why so she decides to retire early.

Linda lives with her daughter"Norma" and every morning they have coffee and conversation, basically they have a great relationship. The next morning after Rosa’s visit, Linda wakes up and pours herself coffee and sees her daughter Norma walk into the room rather grumpy and moody, so unlike her. She asks Norma what’s wrong and she’s very short with her, barely acknowledging her mother and rude with her responses. Linda’s a little concerned because her daughter has never acted this way before,so she asks Norma what’s wrong. Norma turns to look at her and tells her"If you love me give me a hug", but in an odd tone. Linda asks her why and all Norma does is repeat the phrase. Linda begins to feel uneasy and begins to stand up and this is where Norma comes toward her and begins to practically chase her mother around the table asking her to give her a hug. Linda, understandably, is freaking out and eventually runs away to her bedroom with her daughter chasing right behind her screaming at her. Linda manages to shut and lock the door, but Norma is POUNDING and screaming at her to open the door. Poor Linda begins to pray over and over and eventually the pounding and screaming stop. Linda is petrified and stays in her room ALL day and night too scared to come out. During this time the only thing Linda can think that could have caused this was the visit from her friend the day before, Maria’s mom, Rosa.

The next morning she quietly comes out of the room and sees her daughter sitting and waiting at the kitchen table for her acting as if nothing was wrong. When Linda asks her daughter why she acted that way, Norma begins to cry because she had NO recollection of it happening.

They cry and pray together still unable to comprehend what happened. Well, after Linda relays the story back to Rosa about what happened after her visit, Rosa decides that moment to stop worshiping La Santa Muerte and throws out anything associated with it. I wish I could say Rosa became a Christian after that, but she didn’t, and that’s fine; Maria’s just happy that her mom is done with that"saint".