Universal Studios turns to folklore to woo Latinos for Halloween

This Halloween season, for the first time, Universal Studios Hollywood introduced a character based on the Latin American myth of La Llorona in its annual Halloween Horror Nights in an effort to connect with Southern California’s sizable Latino population.

The legend of La Llorona has gone through many variations over the years. It is a folktale about a woman who drowned her children after she was abandoned by their father. Tormented by what she has done, the woman’s spirit wanders the earth, crying out for her dead children.

She returned from the dead as La Llorona, Spanish for “the Wailer.”

At Universal Studios Hollywood’s annual Halloween event, the character of La Llorona, a shriveled woman in a veil, joins bloody ghouls, ax murderers, demented clowns and armed freaks who wander the park and jump out at guests who have entered specially designed mazes at night.