Abuela’s Not-So-Sweet Bedtime Tales: Las Brujas – Part 2

This tale takes place years ago with my grandmother while she was visiting Mexico with my aunts and uncles who were just kids. To respect the privacy of my family members that are still on this Earth their names will be changed for this story.

One day my grandmother Maria was cooking frijoles (beans) outside of her in-laws house, which was actually just down the road from Petras house (yes that Petra, the mother of Polin, Federico, and Salvador) while her children were in the house. A neighbor named Don Miguel came to talk with Maria as neighbors do when all of a sudden from behind some trees a big ball of light appeared.

This light seemed to be almost alive and caused Don Miguel to get angry as he screamed and cursed at the ball of light to leave them alone. Don Miguel could not stop yelling to the point that Maria's eldest son John came out from inside the house. It was in this instant that the ball of light flew up into the air and disappeared once the young boy stepped outside. Don Miguel told Maria that because John was a strong boy with an even stronger name from the Bible that maybe that was the reason she left.

Maria was confused as she asked how did Don Miguel know what the ball was and how it was a she. He replied that the ball of light was actually a witch born from hellfire and hadn't taken the form of an old woman yet because she needed to find her first unbaptized child to feed from. Maria remembered a run in she had in prior years after the birth of her first daughter.

John didn't see the ball of light and his second youngest sister Kate followed him outside asking what happened. Maria took the children inside and thanked Don Miguel for being there and asked him to watch the beans while she took the children inside. You may be wondering when Maria first encountered a bruja but you will just have to wait until Halloween eve to read about that first part.