Short Stuff: La Lechuza - The Witch Owl | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and there's Jerry. sitting in for Dave and this is Stuff. You Should Know. >> That's right. We're beginning our. spookiest. month of October. >> Yes. And I'm psyched. >> I am too. We love our Halloweeny. content. And uh we're going to talk to. you a little bit today about a uh kind. of one of those just fun urban legend. stories that seems to be um.

geographically specific in that it's. around you know maybe Texas, New Mexico. border towns mainly of the Laachusa the. owl witch. >> Yeah. But I think that's where its. origin was is along the border of Texas. and Mexico. Uh, but I saw also it's. spread chuck to places like Argentina. and Cuba. They have their own versions. But, um, Lachuza is a I think somewhere. around a 7 foot owl with the face of a.

woman, a 15 foot wingspan, and a bad attitude. >> Yeah. And this is one of those things. where um, you know, because it's lore. and legend, it's going to differ from. place to place depending on who's. telling the story. Uh, by the way, we. should thank uh House of Works and uh. All That's Interesting Austin Harvey. from there. And I found a fun article in. Texas Standard from Sarah Ash and Raul. Alonszo that helped out with this. But. uh yeah, this is one of those um sort of.

legends where uh and there's a lot of. different versions. We're going to go. over a few of those. One is that La Luza. will make um like sounds like a baby is. crying um hoping that someone will go. like try and find this baby and all of a. sudden be snatchable by the talons and. they would be snatched up and returned. to the owl's nest ostensibly. >> That's so creepy. >> Yeah. >> Can you imagine a 7 foot owl woman with. a 15 foot wingspan mimicking a baby's. cries? >> No. It's pretty terrifying. >> I don't like that. Um, also some of the.

other stuff that's said about her is. that um, if you see her near your house, it means it's it's she she's pretending. that something bad is about to happen to. somebody in your house. Maybe a piece of. furniture in your house. I don't know. >> Yeah. Uh, if I think sometimes if you. dream about Lauza, a family member uh, will die soon. Uh and it seems like most. of the tellings uh it is is a woman who. was once a or an owl woman who was once.

a human woman and something bad happened. to her. Some act of cruelty um usually. something by a bad man uh happened or. maybe maybe happened to her child and it. turned her into a vengeful beast. Um, sometimes Luchusa is more of a witch's. familiar like the uh like you know. Dracula's or a vampire's familiar and I. think in that case the the as a witch's. familiar they would abduct kids um for. the witch. >> right she's also been accused of being. an emissary of Satan himself.

>> Satan. >> That's right. And um one of the things. you said is that she uh she's often. described as being vengeful. >> because of something that happened in. her past or her kid. Usually that's. chocked up to either her child was. killed for a crime they didn't commit. and so now she's stealing other people's. kids in return. >> Mhm. >> Or that her child was killed by a drunk. man. >> Yeah. And that's actually one group that.

she seems to target in modern tellings. are drunk dudes stumbling out of bars. and walking home alone at night and then. 15 foot wingspan comes out of nowhere. and the talons just sink into their head. and carry them off by their scalp. And. if they're lucky, their scalp will rip. off of their head and they'll fall to. the ground and die on impact. And if. they're unlucky, they'll be carried by. their scalp all the way back to La Chu's. layer and bad things are going to happen. to them there. >> That's right. Uh, if you want to kill a. Lauzusa, good luck, buddy. Um, because.

apparently you cannot hurt a Latusa with. bullets. Um, I think if you try to kill. one with a gun or something like that, uh, you're going to get killed like. pretty soon afterward, for sure. >> Right. Yeah. And I guess in the Laach. choosa facto off um there's that whole. idea that this is a woman owl woman who. is actually some sort of spirit or. familiar or something like that um means. that there is an actual person involved.

in this elsewhere often a member of the. community secretly um praying on the. rest of the community as Lauza and that. when Laachusa is out doing her thing um. that person is unconscious back home in. some room um until she comes back and. reinhabits their body. >> Um so either they're possessed by her or. they're using her uh or their special. ability to enact vengeance and terrorize. a community. And there's actually.

supposedly I looked all over for I. couldn't find it, but there's supposedly. some sort of incantation or prayer or. something that a community can use that. will reveal the person who is actually. Lauza. >> and then ostensibly they get their scalp. taken. >> Uh, all right. Shall we come back after. this? >> Yes. >> All right. We'll be right back with more. on La Chooa. [Music].

Okay, Chuck. Um, and we've been using uh. the name Lauza without explaining to. non-speakers that Lchusa is actually the. word for owl. >> Yeah. >> Which makes a lot of sense.

>> Sure. >> Um, and this was we said that this whole. thing kind of came from the Texas Mexico. border. U, that seems to be the origin. of it. And they think essentially that. this is just like any other bit of. folklore that it's it was used to um. explain unbearable things like the. disappearance of children. >> or probably more likely it was used to. keep kids on the straight and narrow. >> like fairy tales were in, you know, Western Europe. Same thing. If you're.

out messing around and, you know, spray. painting somebody's. brick wall or something like that, Lu is. going to come out of nowhere and snatch. you up, so you better be good kind of. thing. >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh, and you know, as. far as where these things come from, I. remember, God, many, many years ago, we. did one in Urban Legends. >> and it's always. pretty much impossible to trace back. like the the true origin. Um, with this. one, there are people who who think this.

might have come from pre-Colombian Meso. America, uh, when the indigenous peoples. had, um, very close relationships and. bonds with animals. Uh, but when the. Spaniards came along to Meso America, um, they brought, of course, Christian, you know, Catholic Christian beliefs. with them and condemned the rest as as. paganism, of course. Yeah, I thought. this was really interesting because a. lot of the gods in Mesoamerican cultures. were animal human hybrids, right? So, an. owl woman. >> may have been some ancient or Eldrich.

deity. >> and was in no way, shape or form evil. But the Spaniards came along as. Christians and went to that Christian. playbook and basically said, "Your gods. are now Christianity's demons. So, stop. worshiping them." And that is a great. explanation for where something like. Lechusa came from. >> Yeah, for sure. It's also popped up over. the years in like various pop culture uh. ways. I'm surprised there hasn't been. like a pretty cool Lauza like movie or.

character in a movie or TV show. You. know, they'd be truly frightening. >> Have you seen the movie based on. Laorana? >> Uh I don't think I saw that. >> Uh that was um that was kind of scary. that it was the Latino urban legend and. it was okay. >> All right. Well, maybe I'll check it. out. You You have good horror. recommendations. >> Okay. I take that back then because I. don't want to ruin my I don't want to. ruin my streak. Yeah. >> Uh I mentioned pop culture. I think um. Lauza was a was an enemy in an issue of.

a comic book called uh Rempago and that. was created by Margarita Garza. Uh so. that was one. What else? It was music. too, right? Yeah, in there. Yeah, there's a song called El Parjo gigante. de Robe which is um by a group called. Los Kemp's de Raul Ruiz and um the Drobe. is actually um talking about a specific. town called Robestown or Robstown, Texas.

along the borders near Corpus Christi. and um there was a a outbreak of. sightings of La Chusa in 1975 and 76 and. like it was a big deal. Like this whole. town was like like credible people are. like I saw Lauza with my own eyes. >> and it turned out that there was a group. of teens from town who had created a. pretty convincing um La La Luza like. dummy like a life-sized one.

>> and was just you know running it around. town scaring the be Jesus out of people. So that's where that that uh that. inspired that song as far as I can tell. You know, I wish I knew somebody who was. a good sort of model maker, creature. maker because we've been getting more. into the Halloween front yard. decorations. >> Uhhuh. >> And and like to be a little outside the. box and not just whatever you get at. Party City. >> or uh No, not Party City. What is it? We. did a whole episode on it last year. >> Oh. Um. >> Spirit Halloween. Although I mean their. their stuff is really good. I'm not.

knocking it. >> Have you been to Home Depot lately, dude? They've gone off the chain. >> Oh, really? >> Oh, yeah. They have like 10 12 foot tall. scary monsters now. It's crazy. Like. their Halloween thing, but it's the same. issue that that you don't want, which is. >> your neighbor's somebody two day two two. doors down is going to have the same. thing. >> Yeah. I would love a a custom sort of I. think a Loch it would be truly scary and. it has kind of a fun story behind it. I. like stuff that has like a legend behind.

it. So, hey, if anyone out there wants. to just, you know, make me one, I'll. just say my address on the show and you. can just drop it off in the front yard. >> Good plan. >> Yeah. There was one other thing, too, and I kind of touched on it that Latus. survived into modern day and that the. most modern interpretations tend to kind. of drill into um the the kind of gender. norm or flip-flop gender norms. >> Yeah. that the the fable or the urban. legend actually kind of gets into, which.

is there's a vengeful woman. >> who is big enough and powerful enough. and angry enough to punish bad men. >> Yeah. >> And that not just men who stumble home. drunk uh from the bar are targeted, but. men who are known to like abuse their. wives or children are her favorite like. prey now. So, it's interesting how she. um kind of evolved into a bit of like an. avenger for women and children. >> I I like that version. >> Yeah. Hats off, Leila Chuza. >> That's right. We're good guys. Don't.

come after us. >> That is true, Chuck. That is true. Uh. anything else? >> I got nothing else. >> Okay. Well, then uh short stuff is out. >> Stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows. [Music].