Lechuza, a Spanish word for a type of owl, especially the barn owl, is a myth popular throughout northern Mexico and Texas. As the story goes, an old woman shape-shifts into a giant owl, La Lechuza, to take revenge on people who wronged her during her life. Sometimes the owl is variously depicted as black or white and sometimes with the head of the old woman. Exactly what the lechuza does to exact revenge varies widely across tellings of the story, though most reference the lechuza carrying away unsuspecting prey to her lair. She lures her targets, often children or drunk people, out of houses by crying like a baby or by swooping down on cars late at night. Various methods are claimed to protect against the lechuza: tying seven knots in a rope and hanging it by the front door, throwing salt and chili powder into the bird’s face, shooting the bird, or reciting the Magnificat, a Christian prayer to the Virgin Mary. Stories of the lechuza are thought to have been around since the Spanish colonized Mexico. The exact origin of the lechuza legend is unknown, though it is possible that an actual giant owl was the inspiration for the story. Giant birds have been reported in the area, and legends from Native American tribes north of Texas also incorporate giant birds (e.g., thunderbirds). Thanks to the myth, the Spanish word lechuza can also double as a term for a “witch.” As with many other cautionary folk tales and legends, some grandparents and parents tell the lechuza tale to children to keep them in the house at night. The lechuza is also referenced in some Mexican-based popular culture, including song titles. In Greek mythology, either an angry Demeter or Persephone buries Ascalaphus beneath a heavy rock in the Underworld. When Heracles goes to the underworld, he rolls the stone away and releases him from his prison. But then, Demeter or Persephone transform Ascalaphus into a short-eared owl. According to another myth, Persephone changed him into a short-eared owl by sprinkling him with water of the river Phlegethon. Ovid mentions: “So he became the vilest bird; a messenger of grief; the lazy owl; sad omen to mankind.” As an owl, he became the familiar bird of Hades, god of the underworld. Also in Greek mythology, a little owl (Athene noctua) traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, or Minerva, her syncretic incarnation in Roman mythology. Because of such association, the bird—often referred to as the “owl of Athena” or the “owl of Minerva”—has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the Western world.
Appearance List Metamorphoses (8 CE) by Ovid – Strix (vampiric owls) and other bird transformations, Historia de las cosas de Nueva España (1577) by Bernardino de Sahagún – Nahua bird-omens and witches transforming into owls, A Glossary of Greek Birds (1895) by D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson – owls and night-birds in Greek texts incl. omens/witchcraft/the uncanny, El folklore de México (1957) by Vicente T. Mendoza, Folktales of Mexico (1970) by Américo Paredes.
Sample Read The Legend of the Lechuza | Sinister Stories [YT]
Description Lechuza, a Spanish word for a type of owl, especially the barn owl, is a myth popular throughout northern Mexico and Texas. As the story goes, an old woman shape-shifts into a giant owl, La Lechuza, to take revenge on people who wronged her during her life. Sometimes the owl is variously depicted as black or white and sometimes with the head of the old woman. Exactly what the lechuza does to exact revenge varies widely across tellings of the story, though most reference the lechuza carrying away unsuspecting prey to her lair. She lures her targets, often children or drunk people, out of houses by crying like a baby or by swooping down on cars late at night. Various methods are claimed to protect against the lechuza: tying seven knots in a rope and hanging it by the front door, throwing salt and chili powder into the bird’s face, shooting the bird, or reciting the Magnificat, a Christian prayer to the Virgin Mary. Stories of the lechuza are thought to have been around since the Spanish colonized Mexico. The exact origin of the lechuza legend is unknown, though it is possible that an actual giant owl was the inspiration for the story. Giant birds have been reported in the area, and legends from Native American tribes north of Texas also incorporate giant birds (e.g., thunderbirds). Thanks to the myth, the Spanish word lechuza can also double as a term for a “witch.” As with many other cautionary folk tales and legends, some grandparents and parents tell the lechuza tale to children to keep them in the house at night. The lechuza is also referenced in some Mexican-based popular culture, including song titles. In Greek mythology, either an angry Demeter or Persephone buries Ascalaphus beneath a heavy rock in the Underworld. When Heracles goes to the underworld, he rolls the stone away and releases him from his prison. But then, Demeter or Persephone transform Ascalaphus into a short-eared owl. According to another myth, Persephone changed him into a short-eared owl by sprinkling him with water of the river Phlegethon. Ovid mentions: “So he became the vilest bird; a messenger of grief; the lazy owl; sad omen to mankind.” As an owl, he became the familiar bird of Hades, god of the underworld. Also in Greek mythology, a little owl (Athene noctua) traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, or Minerva, her syncretic incarnation in Roman mythology. Because of such association, the bird—often referred to as the “owl of Athena” or the “owl of Minerva”—has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition throughout the Western world.
