La Lechuza
It was a cool winter night, and a young man was celebrating with his brother and his family. There was a lot of joy and drinks to celebrate the brother’s accomplishments at work, making the house loud with laughter and music. The sound of a baby cried out from the bedroom, and the young man rose to help out the wearied parents. He entered the room, illuminated by the moon streaming in between the curtain, and he realized that while there were sounds of a child crying out, his youngest niece was soundly sleeping in her crib.
He called for his sister in-law, hoping there could be an explanation, but she was just as confused as he was. She almost made it to the front door when her husband stopped her. “La bruja is just trying to lure you out there,” he said with a serious expression.
“But there could be a baby in trouble.” She said, still unsure.
The brother shook his head, more earnest this time. “You should not go out there, and you,” he said, now looking at his brother. “Should stay the night here; it isn’t safe for you to walk home alone now.”
The young man understood now; a story he had heard from his mother when he and his brother were boys. La Lechuza, the shapeshifting witch who took the form of an owl. He had never paid mind to his mother’s superstitions like his brother had, though, and remained unconvinced. In order to ease his brother’s concerns, he left the crying sound alone, and eventually it died down.
Some time passed, and the young man decided it was time for him to journey home. “You should stay, who knows what is out there tonight,” his brother pleaded, but the man was set on going home, and braced himself against the chill that had fallen in the night.
On his way home, he was hunched in on himself, arms wrapped around his body to keep warm. With eyes focused on the road, he didn’t notice the owl that followed him. A shrill shrieking sound rang out in the open, making the young man jump, but even as he looked around he could not see where the sound was coming from, and he wondered if he’d had too much to drink.
It wasn’t until the lights from his brother’s house faded away that his mind wandered back to la lechuza. He remembered his mother telling him the story the first time, a solemn look on her face as she recounted her own story with la lechuza.
“She had the body of an owl, and the face of an old woman. She came to me in my dreams and predicted my mother’s death.” She had told her children. “The very next morning, I rushed to tell my mother about my dream, but she was nowhere to be found.
“My mother had always struggled with sleep; we could often find her taking walks in the night to tire herself. The rest of my family believed that she had simply left us in the night, but I know better.” He remembered his mother saying, her voice barely containing her sorrow.
It was then that he heard another shriek, and looked up in time to see a large owl taking flight from one tree to the next, which startled him out of his memories. He knew he had to get home, and do it quickly. His house was still a ways off yet, and so he started running. He was breathing quickly, but he could still hear the shrieking behind him, hearing it get closer and closer.
The next morning, his brother called his house, wanting to make sure his brother made it home, but the phone only rang and rang. No one was home to answer.
I didn’t learn about la lechuza until I was a young teen, one summer night. We were at my grandparent’s farm, and my grandpa, sister, and one of our cousins and I were standing away from the bustle of one of our family parties to gaze up at the stars. I remember my sister excitedly pointing out a large barn owl that flew from my grandpa’s casita to the giant tree at the driveway’s entrance, and then we all heard a distinct screech from that direction. My grandpa grew very serious at that, warning us that we ought to return to the festivities and avoid la bruja. I had heard the word bruja before, but never applied to an owl or any other animal, and I asked my grandpa about it. He told us that some brujas had the ability to shapeshift, and la lechuza was an evil witch who would take the body of an owl to capture and kill people in the night.
Many people describe la lechuza as a large owl with the face of a woman, who would lure her victims by either crying out like a baby, or screaming to draw out the curious. Ever since I’ve heard the story, I still feel uneasy when I see owls at night, wondering if la lechuza is going to get me.
