The Ghost of the Village's Past (Mexico)

Grandma was just finishing cooking the rice and beans and took the pot to put it onto the cold rock kitchen counter so that it wouldn't burn it's surface that it was sitting on.

She wiped her hands on her purple apron and told me it would take about trienta minutos, or "30 minutes" to cool down so we could eat it.

She smiled at me as if she was going to tell me something, but then just looked away to proceed with cooking the chicken to go with the rice and beans.

I watched her as she pulled the chicken apart and put it into the other pot on the stove.

"Abuela (grandma)?" I asked.

"¿Sí mi amor (yes my love)?" She said.

"Who's the Ghost of the Village's Past?" I asked her, curiously.

Her face got red and her eyes began to water. She stared at me with shock in her face. I wasn't even sure if she was breathing still or just holding her breath.

"No no no no no" she said, pushing me to go outside of the entrance back into the village that had no door to give her privacy from the outside world.

She brought out her sage and started to explain to me to never say those words in her home again and how it was a curse if you said it out loud, read it, or even listened to it.

I was curious about this story because my friends, back at home told me to ask my grandma about it, but I figured she wouldn't have known anyway, but now she was making me more curious than ever with her very odd response.

She threw the sage after it was done burning onto the nightstand and grabbed my shoulders looking at me in my eyes, fighting tears.

"Don't ever say his name, mi amor." She bent down to put her shoes on and then picked up my black converse and told me to put mine on.

We both left the hut she lives in and walked down to the village church on the dirt road that led to it.

She explained that it was the only place she could tell me the story where the Ghost wouldn't follow them back for forever.

A few moments later, and we arrived at the church, but it was locked up and looked like it hadn't been used in years.

She explained to me that there was a fire here a few years ago but she still came here all the time to pray; and every time her prayers would be answered, without a doubt.

She sat me down on the porch next to a statue of a dove bird who "protected you of evil things".

"Your father tried to see the man when he was your age too, on Halloween one night."

I sat there looking at her, noticing the sun was starting to go down for the evening.

"In 1886 there was a Prince who was about to rule this village, as his dad was unfortunately not doing well," she started "and his mom wasn't well either."

"He was so in love with this beautiful girl, but she wasn't a part of the village..." She stated.

"So his father forbid that he marry her."

My grandma swallowed her saliva before she continued wrapping her arms around herself as chills ran down both hers my back.

"Well, she was poor. That's why he didn't allow it; and she was from our enemy's village. A double no."

She continued; ...

"The prince grew up as a very spoiled boy, but he didn't want the power, he wanted her and he told his dad he would do anything to get her.

His dad shunned him, when he was informed of plan unfortunately. After all, news didn't have to travel far to get around such a small village...And then one night, on Halloween night in 1886, days before his father would forever be gone, he took a horse and escaped the village to go find this girl.

He finally found her but when he did, his dad had already thought 6 steps ahead and sent his guards with swords and protection to get the boy back...

The prince grabbed the hands of the beautiful girl and they ran off into the woods and weren't found for days, until he was found in a river floating with the beautiful girl.

It is said that whoever hears about the story, reads it, and talks about it, will regret it, because 1 year later his mom, the Queen of the village was so distraught from the loss of her son and her husband, that she went out to go search for the son, in complete denial about her son's fate.

She told 3 of the guards to remain at the village castle until she came back and make sure it wouldn't be broken into and she took 1 guard with her.

It was dark at night when she had already been traveling for a few days and requested that she and the guard take a break, as she just wanted a short nap for an hour or so.

The guard said he thought it was a bad idea because they both agreed that they felt the energy of a man somewhere watching them, but she swore it was her son, so she demanded to sleep there.

A few hours past when the Queen woke up in the middle of the night, and it was completely pitch black in the woods, so she couldn't see anything.

She shouted for the guards name but didn't hear anything back.

Then she brushed her hands everywhere on the ground where the guard was supposed to be when she felt something wet and cold touch her hands.

She touched it more to see what it was but then screamed when she touched the face of the dead guard who was watching over her.

Her heart started to pound as she heard footsteps running around her and a boy and a girl laugh. She knew it was her son and the girl, she thought.

She told the boy to come home and how she would allow him to be with the girl.

The laughs became louder and louder when she felt someone behind her push her with both hands and she fell into the river where her son was.

Legend says it was the son and the daughter who wanted to get revenge on their parents for not letting them be together; and unfortunately whoever mentions his name would be doomed and put their fate into his hands."

Moments later my grandma got up and pulled us back to her hut and told me to never bring the story up again, because apparently that's when my dad and his friends lost their lives too, but she said she's sage-d the hut and it should be good now, as long as I forget about the story.

When she said that I noticed a boy walking by with this girl and he smiled at me as she stared at him, in her pretty pink dress.

"Who was that?" I asked my grandmother.

She looked around and asked who I was talking about.

The boy and the girl didn't look like they've been in the village before, but then again everyone was wearing Halloween costumes today on October 31, 2022 in the little village that still celebrated it for the kids for fun.

"That boy and girl," I told her as I pointed in their direction and they were still there.

My grandma looked at me like I had 3 heads and told me that no one was there.

I looked back at the boy and the girl when they smiled at me and vanished into the hut where my grandma lived.

I wasn't sure if what I saw was them, but I can tell you that I definitely didn't sleep that night.