WOMAN IN WHITE

Episode(s): 1x01 - Pilot

Location Sighted:  Jericho, CA

On The Show:  The Woman in White is the spirit of a woman called Constance Welch (Sarah Shahi).  The Winchesters follow their father's trail and discover that Constance is responsible for the disappearances of a string of men over the span of more than 20 years.  Constance was a mother of two who drowned her children in the bathtub after learning that her husband had been unfaithful.  She is defeated when Sam forces her to return to the home where she killed her children and the spirits of her children take her away.

The Myth Behind the Show:  According to folklore, La Llorona, sometimes called the Woman in White or the Weeping Woman is the ghost of a woman crying for her dead children, whose appearances are sometimes held to presage death. There is much variation in tales of La Llorona, which are popular in Mexico, the United States (especially in the US' large Mexican-American communities), and to an extent the rest of the Americas.

Many versions of La Llorona's origin exist. Some describe a beautiful young woman in Mexico or New Mexico, who married or was seduced by a local man, by whom she had several children. The woman is sometimes given a Christian name; Sofia, Linda, Laura, and María are sometimes used. The man leaves her, sometimes for another woman, sometimes for reasons of employment, and sometimes just to be away from La Llorona and her several children. At any rate, La Llorona chooses to murder her children, almost always by drowning, either to spare them a life of poverty, to free herself to seek another man, or for revenge against their absent or stray father.

The tales vary mostly in the several motives they give to the mother and father for the murder. The version popular in Las Cruces, New Mexico says that "La Llorona" drowned her children in the Rio Grande when she could no longer support them. On nights with a full moon, says the story, La Llorona can be heard crying near the river.

In south Texas, however, the story of La Llorona is that of a beautiful girl who attracts the attentions of a wealthy man's son though she is herself very poor. The lovers secretly marry and set up a household; they have several children. Unfortunately, a day comes when the young man's father announces that he has arranged a marriage for his son to a young woman within their social class (in many tellings, La Llorona is an Indian peasant girl and her man leaves her for a Spanish lady). The young man tells his secret wife that he must leave her and that he will never see her again. She is driven mad by anger and a broken heart, and takes their children to a river where she drowns them to spite her husband. When her husband finds out he and several townspeople go to find her, but she kills herself before they can apprehend her. She goes to Heaven and faces the judgement of God. God asks her, "Where are your children?" to which she replies, "I do not know." God asks her three times and she replies with the same answer. God then damns her to walk the earth to search for her children. According to this tale, it is wise to avoid La Llorona, as she is known for drowning passersby in an attempt to replace her dead children.

Alternatively, right after she drowns her children, La Llorona realizes what she has done and, overwhelmed by grief and by guilt, she runs alongside the river trying to find her children, but never does, and she dies or disappears in her search for them.

In yet another Texas version of the story, La Llorona had several children from her first marriage. Her husband died and she was left lonely. Soon she met a suitor who sweeped her off her feet. He promised her a wonderful life together, but only if she agreed to get rid of her children. After much soul searching the woman decides to follow the man in a new life together and drowns her children in the Rio Grande river. After a few months the suitor grows tired of La Llorona and leaves her for another woman. Realizing that her selfish actions brought about the end of those who truly loved her, she dies in grief with her soul eternally looking for her long lost children.

In another variant, La Llorona is a naive but innocent woman forced into a shotgun wedding with the father of her child; in this case, it is La Llorona's father or her husband who kills the children. La Llorona attempts to stop the murders, and dies in the attempt.

Another version of the story of La Llorona is told in Mexico. According to this version, she lived in Tequila, Jalisco. She went to get her fortune told, and was told that she was going to die, and so were her children. That same night, while they were sleeping, a big storm hit their village, causing the river to overflow its banks. The house was swept away by the flood, and all of her children died. La Llorona went on a journey to find her children, following the river, but died without ever seeing them again.

In southern Mexico specificaly the state of Guerrero, La Llorona was a prostitute. After having sex with the men she slept with, she would abort the children and throw them in the nearby river of Tecpan. After having done this for many years, she died and legend has it that God told her she would never enter Heaven until she brought him all the children she had killed. So God ordered his angels dress her in a white dress and and send her to find her children. So she wanders the rivers of the Earth looking for her drowned children.

Generally, La Llorona becomes a sort of banshee. Her restless spirit walks abroad at night, crying "¡O hijos mios!" or "¡Ay mis hijos!" (O my children!). Those unlucky enough to see or hear her are marked for death themselves. Sometimes she is dressed all in white; other times, in black. She is weeping, and in some tellings her eyes are empty sockets and/or her mouth has a large, unsettling grin like that of a horse. The New Mexican La Llorona hunts after children; some say that she drowns them in the river.

The story also may change based on the location of the tellers. For example, the story told in a seaside town with no river may have the children drowning in the surf. In urban Southern California the rivers have often been lined in concrete and turned into flood control channels, and in local barrios La Llorona may be described as wandering the floor of the channels or the street and highway overpasses above them.

The Weeping Woman has also been said to roam around rivers in Honduras, a country located in Central America. Witnesses say she was last seen in the city of San Pedro Sula, were she drowned small children from a public school.

Typically, the legend serves as a cautionary tale on several levels. Hispanic parents will warn their children that both bad behavior and being outside after dark will be rewarded with a visit from the spirit. The tale also warned teenage girls not to be enticed by status, wealth, or material goods. Some also believe that those who hear the screams of La Llorona are marked for death.