Haunted Mexico City: Three Tales of Horror
The legend of the Burned Woman, the Black House, and the ghosts of Lecumberri prison. Today, we're talking about the folklore, myths, and legends stemming from Mexico City
TW: Suicide
Subscribe on Patreon for bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to ad-free listening and bonus content. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after show called Footnotes.
Apple subscriptions are now live! Get access to ad-free episodes and bonus episodes when you subscribe on Apple Subscriptions.
Follow on Tik Tok and Instagram for a daily dose of horror.
We have a monthly newsletter now! Be sure to sign up for updates and more.
SOURCES
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1650348/?page=2
Pic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_de_Lecumberri
Pic:https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2010/10/dzn_Lecumberri-by-Rojkind-Architectos7.jpg
Pic: https://mxcity.mx/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/lecumberri.jpg
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/13073/pdf
https://mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx/venues/lecumberri-palace/
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/13073/pdf
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,822983-1,00.html
https://www.britannica.com/place/Mexico/The-Mexican-Revolution-and-its-aftermath-1910-40#ref394436
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pancho-Villa-Mexican-revolutionary
https://www.britannica.com/place/Mexico/The-Mexican-Revolution-and-its-aftermath-1910-40#ref394436
https://www.justiceinitiative.org/voices/victory-truth-about-mexico-s-dirty-war
https://www.theledger.com/story/news/2001/12/02/progress-in-mexico/8101807007/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_de_Lecumberri
https://amyscrypt.com/mexico-haunted-palacio-de-lecumberri/
https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/destinos/esta-es-la-leyenda-de-jacinto-el-fantasma-de-lecumberri/
https://www.maspormas.com/ciudad/leyenda-fantasmas-palacio-lecumberri/
https://reconditosite.wordpress.com/2017/05/17/the-black-palace/
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to heart starts pounding, a podcast of Horrors, Hauntings and mysteries, I’m your host, Kaelyn Moore
Mexico has been one of the most requested locations for me to do an episode on, and I’m really excited to finally share some stories. But if I’m being honest, it was hard to know exactly where to start. In Mexico, folklore is a serious art, and there are still whispers of cryptids, ghosts and witches that lurk in forests and outside your home while you sleep. There’s such a vibrant culture of storytelling there that it’s influence has crept up north to my neighborhood in LA.
A few years ago, I lived in a house with 8 girls from all over the world, I think there were only three of us who were born in the US. One of my roommates was from mexico and one night we were all sitting in the living space, doing homework and watching tv, when she shoots up off the couch.
Oh my god, I forgot I’m getting something from my aunt tonight.
My other roommates and I all looked at eachother. It was 8pm, no one was getting a package tonight.
By that point, my roommate was running around the apartment, lighting a bunch of candles and moving the shoes by the door. We were all so confused. What are you supposed to be getting? I asked.
She was holding one candle stick to another to light it. “My aunt is sending me seven ghosts and I’m supposed to welcome them at the door. I think with the time chance they’re actually supposed to be here now.”
Immediately, all of my other roommates jumped off the couch and started screaming. Melly, no, you are not letting ghosts in this apartment.” This was not the first time Melly’s brujaria had nearly made one of the roommates move out.
No one had time to make a convincing argument, however. Melly was already holding a candle and opening the door, welcoming in the seven spirits. And with that, I heard the sound of 6 doors slam shut as all of my roommates closed themselves in their rooms, not willing to greet our new guests.
I, on the other hand, stayed on the couch. 1 because I wanted to see what would happen, and 2 because I was scared that if I seemed rude to the ghosts they would ruin my life. So I grabbed a candle and helped melly welcome them in with some bienvenidos. And you know what, 2 weeks later the bathroom of some of the girls that ran away flooded. Was it ghosts, or 100 year old plumbing? I wasn’t going to take that risk.
But I could see how real the spirits and legends were to Melly and I became fascinated. Today, I’m going to share with you some of those stories in our classic Heart Starts Pounding Horror, Haunting, and mystery format, and for today, we’re just going to focus on Mexico city because there is way too much going on in Mexico to cover the whole thing in one episode. I want to tell you the legend of the burning lady, about a haunted house in the center of Mexico, and the mystery of who was strangling dozens of elderly women in their homes in the early 2000’s. We’ll be back after a short break, and as always, listener discretion is advised.
In the Benito Juarez burrough of Mexico city lies a quiet side street called La Quemada. It’s a one way street lined with short trees and compact three story apartment buildings. Terra cotta reds and earthy yellow accents add a playful, festive nature to the otherwise clean and modern design.
You’d never guess that this street has hundreds of years of history, and a dark one at that. See, the name, La Quemada, means the Burnt woman, and the name derives from a 17th century legend that still haunts the neighborhood to this day.
Back in the 1600’s, a woman named Dona Beatrice De Espinosa lived on this street. She was the daughter of a rich Spanish merchant and she was as gorgeous as they come. People said looking at her was like looking at the moon, ethereal and captivating. She’d draw in the window of her fathers big, luxurious home and all of the boys in the community would come by just to catch a glimpse of her.
When she turned 20, her father beckoned her into his study. He told her she was finally old enough to take a husband, which shouldn’t be difficult, she clearly would have many options.
Beatrice didn’t love this idea. She knew she was beautiful, she also knew her father was known for his wealth. She didn’t want someone pursuing her just for those things, she wanted to be loved for who she was. Her father insisted that he wouldn’t give someone his blessing until he was sure they loved her for her, and she agreed to meet some prospects.
The following week, nearly every man in town gathered outside of the gates of her home for a chance to sit with her. Sons from prominent families rode horses for many days just to have a few minutes with the girl. Word of her beauty had spread far and wide across mexico
One by one, Dona Beatrice sat with each man and watched how they gazed upon her and sucked up to her father. No one even asked her a single question about herself. One man, the son of another wealthy merchant, talked about himself the entire time, as if she wasn’t even there. Another tried to pry about her fathers financial standing.
By the end of the day, she told her father she hadn't met anyone she’d be willing to marry, and begged him to not force her to choose. He agreed, but he made her promise to keep looking. He was worried for her future, there weren’t many options for young girls like her besides marriage, and he was getting older, he wasn’t going to be around forever to take care of her, though he wished he could.
He told her that that night, one of his colleagues, a man named Don Luis, was throwing a ball at his home. A home that was just down the street on La Quemada. It was going to be the who’s who of Mexico city society, she should go. It would be fun for her to go to a party and dance away the days disappointments, and plus, she never knew who she might meet there.
And so, though skeptical, Beatrice agreed. She put on her best floor length gown, tied her hair around her stockings until she had beautiful ring curls, and laced up her corset until she couldn’t breathe, as was customary at the time. She looked at the painting of Santa Lucia that hung in her room, prayed to her for a miracle, and then went on her way.
The ball itself was incredible. Live music, dancing, chandeliers of drippy wax candles lit the ballroom. Mexico high society was all there in their best dress. And Beatrice was still the most beautiful girl in the room. She was swarmed by men all night, she considered just leaving early.
But that’s when she saw him. An italian man named Don Marin Scipoli standing in the corner sipping champagne. He seemed uninterested and detached from the party, almost brooding. he was the most beautiful young man she had ever seen, and he wasn’t trying to bother her. She knew she had to make an effort because of her fathers request and this seemed like her best option. Beatrice went up to him to ask why she hadn’t seen him around before. He took one look at her, and the rest was history.
What followed was a whirlwind romance. Don Martin was charming and intelligent. He didn’t seem to care about her fathers money, and liked to ask Beatrice deep questions. He seemed perfect and each day she fell deeper and deeper in love with him.
But he was also a jealous man. He would go after men who looked at Beatrice in the street. His brooding nature that originally drew her to him was proving to be darker than she imagined and when she finally introduced Don Martin to her father, he had some concerns.
He’s too jealous, mija. Her father said. He knows what he has, the most beautiful girl in the city from the wealthiest family, and he doesn’t want to lose it. You have to be careful my love.
This critique of Don Martin devastated Beatrice. Sure Don Martin was jealous, but he loved her for her, not for her circumstance or wealth. And she was going to prove it.
That night she sat in front of the painting of Santa Lucia that hung in her room and she prayed for guidance.
Beatrice had a classic painting of Santa Lucia, one where the saintly woman is holding a dish with two eyeballs that match her own. The legend goes that Lucia was being pursued by a relentless suitor. Every day he’d show up to her home and tell her that he couldn’t live without her eyes. He probably meant it figuratively, as a way to woo the girl. But Lucia was so disgusted by the man, and so annoyed by his presence, that one day she took a spoon and gouged out her own eyes. She put them on a platter and the next time the suitor came to her door, she handed him the grisly mess. Here, she said, you said you can’t live without my eyes so take them. And leave me alone.
A miracle occurred though, when, days later, the lord gifted Lucia her eyes back. Her sacrifice was noticed by God, and he gave her two new eyes more beautiful than the last.
Beatrice sat in her room, crying and thinking about the story of Santa Lucia, when all of a sudden, she was struck with idea. She knew how she was going to prove that Don Martin didn’t just love her for her beauty. By removing her beauty from the equation.
She ran out into the living room and gathered hot coals from the fire that had just been put out for the night, putting them into a big dish. She brought them back into her room, and then tied a wet handkerchief around her eyes. Unlike Lucia, she wanted to preserve her eyes. And then, she took a deep breath, and plunged her face into the coals.
At first the pain was horrific, she felt as every cell in her face burnt and then slowly started to melt from the bone. After just a few moments though, everything went numb, and all she could feel was wetness on her neck. Either from sweat, or from the flesh dripping down.
That night, when Don Martin snuck up to her balcony to see her, he peered in through her window and saw Beatrice, dressed completely in white, wearing a white veil, sitting in a chair turned away from the window.
He crept in, but she didn’t move a muscle, or even turn around to greet him. Slowly, he walked in front of her, and could see her bright, big eyes shining through the veil, but not much else. He reached for her veil and pulled it back, almost fainting at what he saw.
Beatrice had her big bright eyes, and not much else. Her eyelids had been burned off, and the flesh had completely melted off her face, leaving exposed muscle and bone. Her lips were gone and just a permanently toothy grin was exposed.
Don Martin covered his face, not believing at first that it was Beatrice.
Do you still love me? Was all she could get out.
Don Martin knelt beside her chair, taking her hand in his. Beatrice, how could you have done this to yourself, he thought. But he knew she did this because she loved him so much. Yes, he replied.
The two lived happily ever after, Don Martin and the Burned Woman, or La Quemada as she became known.
Legend has it that some nights, you can still see two bright eyes shine out in the dark on the street. But if you get too close, you may smell something burning, or even catch a glimpse of the rest of the woman's charred and melted face looking back at you, wondering if you care about the woman or just her appearance.
Fade out music.
For our next story, I want to take you just 5km north, to the Roma neighborhood, known for it’s boutiques and artisanal coffee shops. There, in this quaint, even hipster parts of the city, lies one of the most haunted houses in all of Mexico.
After a quick break
If you were to stand on one of the busiest corners in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico city, you may notice how red it is. Red mulch lies in flowerbeds in the Juan Rulfo park, circling a beautiful bubbling fountain. Red tents line the streets, under which food vendors cook on grill tops out in the open. Reaching into their red Coca-Cola fridges to get drinks for customers waiting for their food in the heat.
This intersection is vibrant and alive, which is in theme with most of Mexico city. But if you were walking the sidewalks, you’d notice a house that sits on the corner, set a little bit back from the buzz of the street. It’s a towering three story home with an iron second floor balcony and large arched windows. It should blend right in with the other beautiful spanish style homes that surround it, but it’s level of decay makes it stand out.
The home looks dead and abandoned, a shocking contrast to the street where it sits. If you were to try and ask one of the vendors about this home, they may cast you a look. They’ve heard about this home. Everyone in the neighborhood has heard about this home, but no one is brave enough to go inside.
Even the squatters that have tried to take over the house have all left after one night. It’s too haunted, they say.
See this home, known as the Black House or sometimes as Casa Mondragon has been abandoned for almost 100 years, and holds some of Mexico city's darkest history.
The house was originally built sometime in the late 1800’s as a private residence, but by the 1930’s it needed to be used for something else. A typhoid epidemic was spreading throughout Mexico city and makeshift hospitals were popping up all over as people were falling ill. It was decided that the house would act as one of those temporary hospitals. It had plenty of rooms and lots of natural light, it was perfect.
Typhoid is typically spread through contamination, typically from one person who has typhoid not washing their hands. Symptoms include fever, abdominal cramping, and other symptoms that can mimic food poisoning, only Typhoid is fatal in 10% of untreated cases.
And it can be hard to find the source of a typhoid spread, and therefore, it can feel like some otherworldly force is behind the spread. For instance, in the early 1970’s, 10,000 people came down with an antibiotic resistant strain of Typhoid across mexico. And while a source was never officially discovered, some scientists believed it was from a contaminated batch of soft drinks.
In the 1930’s while the spread was happening, some religious zealots thought that the spread may be coming from a demonic source, they insisted that the sick were paying for their sins, whatever those may be. The spread was from satan and needed to be stopped by any means necessary.
As the story goes, one chilly night, as doctors were finishing their rounds and helping patients get to sleep, a hooded figured appeared from the dark. Slowly and methodically, they secured chains and locks around all of the first floor exits. Then, they set the whole thing ablaze. In their mind the fire was purifying their town, the screams coming from inside were from the devil realizing he had been beat. By morning, everyone inside, patients and doctors alive, had perished.
But the bones of the establishment survived the fire, and the Black House was able to be reconstructed and was later bought by a wealthy man named Madragon. He moved in with his wife and three children.
Within a month after moving in, the family was found dead in the home. Their cause of death has remained a mystery to this day.
The home has remained abandoned ever since, now belonging to the government. Though the rest of the neighborhood grows and morphs around it, the house is stuck in a moment in time, on the heels of two great tragedies. It’s slowly decaying with the memories of it’s past locked inside.
Those that have entered the home have all said the same thing, they hear screams coming from nowhere, and can feel invisible hands pushing them towards the exits. Whatever is in the house appears to not want anyone else there.
As for the street vendors, they set up near the Black House because it’s a good location, lots of foot traffic, but they never get too close. One man tried to use the house as a storage unit for his cart, but could hardly make it through the front door before he felt like something didn’t want him in there. Others say that they can feel an icy cold draft coming from the house, no matter how hot it is outside.
You may pass this house if you wanted to catch a dark part of Mexico City’s history and the ghost stories associated with it. But if you kept driving past this house, and went about 30 minutes to the Northeast of the City, you’d find an even darker piece of the city.
Music- Darkly Curious piano, a little more eerie/ ominous
Taking up an entire block of the busy streets of the city’s Federal District stands a formidable stone complex. From the city street, it looks like an old, two story castle, or a wall that was once used to keep enemies out.
An aerial view paints a much different and darker picture - it reveals a large circular dome in the center of the complex with seven different wings of various lengths connecting the dome to four, large stone walls that we can see from the street. It looks more like a prison than a castle, and that’s because it used to be one.
Known as The Black Palace of Lecumberri for its darkened stone - the result of water absorption from a drainage canal that surrounded the perimeter during construction, this building was built in 1900 under dictator Porfirio Diaz’ regime to house Mexico’s worst criminals - traitors. It could house up to 800 male prisoners, 180 women and 400 children, and contained workshops, a nursery and medical facilities. The large circular dome in the middle was a surveillance tower, where guards could keep a watchful eye over inmates 24/7
Palacio de Lecumberri was opened on September 29, 1900, and the newspaper El Tiempo proclaimed the prison was to be a “redemptive” building. But the next 76 years of its operation were far from redemptive. It quickly garnered a reputation as the most inhumane prison in the country. It was a place where officials could keep those accused of trying to overthrow the government, communistas, and members of the Partido de los Pobres, party of the poor. Although a specific death count over the prison’s operation has not been widely recorded, many instances of torture, murder and death were reported behind the ashen walls. Sometimes it was at Lecumberri, and sometimes it was carried out at another detention center, and then inmates were transferred to Lecumberri right afterwards.
Music- eerie ambience
Types of torture included being strapped to a board blindfolded while officers shouted questions, trying to get prisoners to name names. Inmates would be hit all over their body by police, until they discovered the parts that hurt the worst and could focus in on those. The types of torture used were designed to be more painful the longer they went on. If the beatings didn’t work, they’d hold inmates heads underwater. And if that didn’t break them, then electrocution was used. Multiple methods were tried until it was discovered what was most unbearable to a prisoner, and then that method was dialed in on.
One prisoner remembered being hung up by his wrists. Guards shouted questions at him. Who is conspiring against the government? Which of your friends are communists? When he refused to answer, one of his arms was released so he was just hanging by his left arm. He was left like that for days. It felt like his arm was going to just rip off of his body.
A man named Jose Garza Maltos was imprisoned in 1973 for conspiracy and possession of a pistol which he said he didn’t own. He survived, barely.
In an interview with The Telegraph by Oliver Poole in 2002, Maltos recounts how he was brutally beaten with sticks on his first day, then locked in a filthy bathroom for two weeks. In the following weeks, he was tortured.
“They’d wrap me in a cloth like a mummy, tie me to a plank and dunk me in a tub of water until I’d almost drown”, he recounts.
Doctors were usually around to make sure that those being tortured didn’t die, but that didn’t always work. Maltos was lucky, many prisoners did drown during the torture.
And perhaps it’s due to decades of executions, torture and accidental deaths, but Lecumberri is known as one of the most haunted places in Mexico City. There are countless reports of paranormal activity, from staff and visitors alike. In 1976, the prison was decommissioned and turned into a national archive. And some who have visited have reported supernatural occurrences. We’ll get into those, after a short break
BREAK 3
Music- eerie ambience
One Friday night at the archives of Lecumberri, a janitor named Juan was doing his daily cleaning rounds, walking the empty cell blocks as the sound of his footsteps bounced off the tall walls (SFX- echoey footsteps). He had heard reports of ghosts but nothing unusual ever happened to him, so the solitude and the late hour and all of the dark history didn’t bother him.
But on this night, as he was walking alone, he heard a loud sigh (SFX Sigh) . He whipped around and saw a man wearing a gray uniform standing at reception. The man introduced himself as Jacinto (ha-seen-toe) and asked if Juan had seen his wife, to which Juan responded, “Who are you and how did you get in here?” Jacinto just frowned, “She didn’t come again, did she?”
His Interest piqued, despite the strange man here long after visiting hours, Juan asked, “Who didn’t come?”
Amelia, Jacinto explained, was his wife.
Juan turned to see if there was anyone else around, but when he looked back, Jacinto was gone
Music- Darkly Curious piano, bright and slightly ominous
Other staffers have heard the mumblings of a man late at night. the voice always says, “Again, Amelia didn’t come.” No one can ever tell where these whispers come from, they surely aren’t from a person who stayed in the archives after hours for some late night reading.
It is said this disembodied voice belongs to a former inmate named Don Jacinto.
The encounter stuck with Juan, and he realized that the gray suit was how prisoners dressed in the 1940s. So he started to look into the archives, and sure enough, he found something. Jacinto’s file.
Jacinto was imprisoned for taking responsibility for a crime he didn't commit. His wife and best best friend had murdered the owner of the place where Jacinto worked, and because of his love for his wife, he took the heat. In prison, he waited every Friday for her to come see him during visitation hours, but she never came. He took his own life by hanging himself from the second floor of cell block four.
Another reported apparition is that of Charro Negro, a man in elegant black clothing that is followed by screams and chilling cries.
Also often cited as a hotspot for activity is the South Tower in which some of the worst offenders were kept, in brutal conditions with little protection from the cold. Somenight, people say they can hear cries of despair emanating from the tower.
Music- Darkly Curious piano, bright and slightly ominous
Maltos, the man who survived torture in the early 70’s became an anthropology professor after his release. In 2002 he was able to look upon the 135 files that harbored these incriminating secrets at the National Archives, now stored in the very same building he had been imprisoned and tortured all those years ago.
It revealed 99 extrajudicial killings and more than 2,141 cases of torture - most taking place in the Black Palace. Unsurprising, then, that so many tormented souls seem to remain inside
CONCLUSION
Music- Darkly Curious piano, bright and slightly ominous
If you ever visit Mexico city, or if you’re one of our many listeners who live there, you can visit Lecumberri. A write up I read about it says that the archive is more inspiring than its dark history may imply, and I am begging one of you to let me know if that’s true. I hope for its own sake that it is.
I often think back to my old roommate and the seven spirits she invited into our home. Remember how I said our other roommates all ran into their rooms and didn’t greet the spirits? Well, I’m not kidding but the next week their shared bathroom majorly flooded, causing serious damage to the whole building. The bidet just dislodged from the wall entirely. Was it the ghosts angry they weren’t welcomed? Or was it the 100 year old plumbing? Who is to say, but if your roommate ever tells you seven ghosts from mexico are being mailed to your home, you better be at the door to greet them, just in case.
Music- Insomniacs Dream
This has been heart starts pounding. Written and produced by me, Kaelyn Moore. Heart Starts pounding is also produced by Matt Brown. Sound design and mix by peach tree sound. Special thanks to Travis Dunlap, Grayson Jernigan, the team at WME and Ben Jaffe. And a special shout out to our new patrons, you will be thanked in the monthly newsletter.
Have a heart pounding story or a case request? Check out heart starts pounding.com. Until next time you better stay curious…