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La Lechuza, translated from Spanish, means “female barn owl.” In Chicano and Mexican folklore, the term takes on a more sinister meaning. Stories of La Lechuza describe a winged, owl-like creature, larger than life and veritably evil in nature. Most often associated with a woman, accounts of her legendary attacks and hauntings have been passed down throughout the Southwest since at least colonial times, spreading fears of witchery and demonic activity.
Legends of the owl were well known in northern Mexico long before the region was incorporated into the United States. Indian tribes of the Americas have always understood an owl’s appearance to have spiritual meaning and prophetic implications. Owls have served as messengers foreboding both good and evil. However, owls have also served as heralds of death throughout history. The ancient Tsistsista (precursors to the Cheyenne nation) regard owls as having been born from the darker side of existence, having come into being from the abuse of divine powers.
Stories vary of how La Lechuza came to be, but the most common ones all suggest she was a healer who turned to the darker forms of magic and became a bruja (witch). A common oral tradition tells of disappearances occurring in a village where some of the missing were infants. The people of the town feared the woman they accused of being a witch, and soon she was put to death. Some storytellers say shortly after her death a large black owl began appearing, sometimes preceded by a strange fireball at night stalking and seizing the men who killed her. Both storytellers and witnesses of La Lechuza note the extraordinary size and human characteristics of the bird. Said to have a wingspan of the breadth of a large eagle, peculiarly webbed feet, a human-shaped head, and a grotesque if not monstrous face resembling that of a woman, she is part witch, part bird, and wholly fiendish. A powerful shape-shifter, she transforms into the owl to pursue her victims or carry them away with particular strategies consistent in nearly all accounts. Her appearance sometimes serves as a warning of imminent death for a family member.
As her infamy traveled north with migrant workers and refugees from the Mexican Revolution in the early 1920s, the appearance of a Big White Bird became a dreaded occurrence to men who were either smokers of marijuana or unfaithful husbands. There are many accounts of the Big White Bird that, much like La Lechuza, would appear on a branch outside the window of the guilty party, its eyes black, hypnotic chasms, terrorizing men sometimes to the point of insanity.
By the mid-twentieth century, versions of La Lechuza describe her as flying beside people’s vehicles on a lonely stretch of road. She might hit the tops of the vehicle, causing the driver to swerve or run off the road. Once the vehicle comes to a halt, she is said to land in front of the headlights. Standing four or even five feet in height, her ghastly appearance strikes fear into her prey. Those versed in magic or brujeria (witchery) explain how she can only be overcome by tying a rope into seven knots. With each pull of a knot, La Lechuza screams in the voice of a woman, as if she is being tied up. Some say it is necessary to sprinkle a circle of salt around her so that she cannot escape.
One of the more gruesome stories comes from a man who recalls an attack on his family by La Lechuza. From the cab of his father’s pickup, he watched his stepmother, who was also a witch, get out of the car and confront the feathered creature, demanding to know who sent her. As the stepmother knotted the rope, she cursed the bird loudly. She then pulled out a gun from under her skirt and handed it to the boy’s father. The child covered his face as he describes hearing La Lechuza beg for mercy and then the sound of the gun. The parents tied the bird up and threw it into the back of the truck. However, when they arrived at their destination and went to unload the corpse, it had disappeared. The next day the body of an old woman was found at her house, killed from a gunshot wound. According to the witness, witches will challenge other witches by shape-shifting into La Lechuza.
On the Pine Ridge Reservation, a similar creature is said to lurk in the draws of nearby villages. Referred to as the hinhan ska (snowy owl) in Lakota, it is usually encountered by someone who is alone late at night. Sitting in the low branches of a tree, it is a white, bird-like creature that speaks in low inaudible murmurs. Those familiar with the entity warn that to catch sight of it is to see one’s imminent death. There are those who say the only way to survive an encounter is to avoid eye contact. Discrepancies of the white bird vary from tribe to tribe and even within different districts of the reservation. The relationship of such Lechuza beings to local lore and the experiences that occur with its appearance shape the legends.
Contemporary eyewitnesses from regions as far north as the Dakotas to as far south as Mexico have begun to tell of strange whistling sounds that emanate from the darkness at night. They are said to rise and fall and at times are joined in a chorus of horrifying screeches that move in the night. Children are hurried into the safety of their homes as the whistles draw near. If anyone is witness to the source of the sounds that are said to come from the darkness, it is La Lechuza, the Big White Bird, or the hinhan ska that continue to haunt the rural communities of people who know of the dangers that lie in the darkness.
Sheila Ann Rocha
See also Casos, Historias, and Tallas; El Muerto; Snallygaster; Tlahuelpuchi; Wendigo; Women in Folklore
Further Reading
Anaya, Rudolfo A. 1972. Bless Me, Ultima. Berkeley, CA: Tonatiuh Press.
Apple, Garfield. 2012. Interview with the author. April.
“Owls in Witchcraft: The Mexican Lechuza and the Tik-tik, Wak-wak or Aswang of the Philippines.” 2013. Traditional Witchcraft and Occultism website. https://traditionalwitchcraftandoccultism.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/owls-in-witchcraft-the-mexican-lechuza-and-the-tik-tik-wak-wak-or-aswang-of-the-philippines/. Accessed November 5, 2015.
Perales, Alonso. 2008. Brujas, Lechuzas y Espantos / Witches, Owls and Spooks. Houston: Pinata Books.
Tobacco, Joni. 2012 and 2015. Interview with the author.
Valerio, Michael Angel. 1998. Interview with the author. March.