When you think of Spain you may think of its famous food, wine or football teams.
Its a place with a lot of rich culture and reasons to visit - but everything in life
has a dark side to it and Spain is no different.
Just like all the other countries weve done in this series, Spain has some stories that
may scare you away or want to visit even more - depending on what kind of person you are.
Lets find out.
My name is Danny Burke this is the Top 10 Scary Spanish Urban Legends.
Starting off at number 10 we have The Vampire of Barcelona.
Enriqueta Marti was a prostitute who started her own brothel in Graci.
She started her own brothel where she would provide young children for her rich clients.
She would kidnap orphans as young as 14 down to just 3 years old, by wrapping them her
black cape - this led people to refer to her as Enriqueta the vampire.
The police actually discovered the disgusting brothel but the son of an influential person
was there who paid off both the police and Enriqueta to keep quiet.
With her newfound wealth, she purchased apartments around Barcelona to run more brothels.
The children that she felt were not -up to scratch- would simply be murdered.
Their bones were sold as powders, their fats and moisturizing oils and machine grease,
and their blood went into demonic potions.
During the day, she dressed as a beggar to scout for children.
One day, she accidentally kidnapped a child who had a family and was not an orphan.
The family notified the police who discovered the full horrors of what had been going on.
She was jailed without trial and ended up being killed by other prison inmates.
She never showed remorse for her crimes and maintained that it was just business.
Without a trial to refer to, many people doubt certain aspects of the story, which has left
the tale as an urban legend to be passed down over the years …
Next up at number 9 now we have La Chica De La Curva.
This translates to -The girl on the curve- and is perhaps Spains most famous ghost story.
Legend says that in Barcelona there is a dangerous road.
One cold and rainy night many years ago, a man was driving home on the road.
His mind wandered to thoughts of his family and at that moment - he saw her - a girl standing
in the middle of the road.
She was motionless - only the raindrops pouring down her face, soaking her long and dirty
white dress.
The man stopped the car and asked her -Are you OK?
Do you want to get in?
I can take you home- … without a word, the girl got in the car.
The man continued to drive and began to feel uncomfortable in her presence.
He sped up in the hope of making the journey as quick as possible but then - she leant
forward, put a hand on his shoulder and told him to go slower around the next curve as
its especially dangerous.
Confused, the driver asks her how she knows this - she locks eyes with him in the rear
view mirror and calms tells him it was this curve the killed her.
Terrified, the man began to pull the car over - the girl told him that it was her job to
warn people on the road, so that they didnt meet the same fate as hers.
By the time the car had stopped, she had vanished - and the man was left with a story that has
been passed down over the years ...
Next up at number 8 we have The Little Graverobbers.
This story begins with two boys named Juan and Carlos.
They were always up to some kind of mischief to impress their friends, each one trying
to out do the other.
One day, they decided to go over the line in a big way - they wanted to rob a grave.
The boys wanted to show off a real life skeleton to their friends - they hadnt given much thought
to the consequences of this.
They waited until nightfall aand then snuck into a nearby cemetery.
They climbed the wall and waited in the bushes until the coast was clear.
One of them saw a shovel next to a fresh mound - they figured a fresh corpse would be even
crazier than a skeleton and so they got to work.
Some locals heard the noise and came to investigate the sound of the digging.
They thought that the dead were coming back from the dead.
Someone yelled -Over there!- when they saw the two boys who were emerging from the grave
- staggering and covered in dirt.
They attacked the boys and beat them to death.
The next morning, they released what they had done - far from zombies, the locals had
killed Juan and Carlos.
To hide their crime, they burned the bodies and buried them in shallow graves.
Every night since then, the ghosts of the two boys can be heard coming from cemetery
- they are said to rise up and disturb the graves of the people who murdered them.
Sometimes they can be heard screaming -Where are our brains?- … the locals shut their
windows and pray for morning to come …
Coming in at number 7 now we have El Coco.
This is the story of Francisco Ortega, he lived in Spain at the beginning of the 20th
century.
Francisco had tuberculosis and despite asking everyone for help, his condition only worsened.
When he got really desperate - he approached a Curandera for help - a traditional healer.
She told him he would only be cured by drinking the blood of children and rubbing their fat
on his chest.
So - Francisco set out to perform the horrific deed.
He kidnapped Bernardo, a 7 year old boy, and bundled him in a cloth bag.
When he got back to his house, Francisco slit Bernardo and drank his blood.
The demonic ritual saved his life - but doomed him forever - he became El Coco, a monstrous
creature that is said to stalks Spanish streets at night - searching for children to keep
him alive.
El Coco doesnt have a specific appearance and is said to be a shapeshifter, appearing
as whatever terrified you the most - however those that have seen him and lived to tell
the tale, say all they remember is his chilling, skull face ….
Next up at number 6 we have The Blind Maiden.
This is a modern Spanish urban legend which goes a bit like this.
There used to be a website called blind maiden dot com.
It promised visitors the ability to see true, ultimate horror in a which horror movies would
never show them.
It said that their browser would not them go any further until they met some requirments.
1) You must be at home, alone and in the dark 2) you must enter the site at exactly midnight
and 3) it must be a moonless night.
If you satisfy its demands, you may continued.
Your screen will be assaulted by images of girls and boys, flickering quickly before
your eyes.
You wont be able to make much out other than the fear on their face and the fact that their
eyes are missing - all of them.
Then, some text will appear on the screen that reads as follow .. -This website will
take you to a whole new level of horror.
A horror that will use all five of your senses.
You must be careful not to click on anything by accident.
You will be faced with a real experience of absolute horror.
Click the accept button to engage actively in the experience- … at this point, if you
click decline, you will be taken to see gory pictures.
However, if you accept, you have sealed your fate and the ultimate horror will be shown
to you.
A sinister silhouette will walk into your house and then into the room you are in.
On the screen, you will see an image of what looks like the back of you, sat at the computer.
You will freeze as something taps you on the shoulder - you turn and then The Blind Maiden
will kill you with a deathly scream.
Then, she will pluck out your eyes and take a photo of you which will be added to the
gallery of victims on the website.
As this legend spread, the website was taken down - but some believe the curse lives on
…
Moving on to number 5 we have The Alchemists House.
In Barcelona, one of the only remaining original buildings in the citys Jewish Quarter and
has long been known as -The Alchemists House- … named after the infamous man who lived
there.
In the 14th century, there lived there a Jewish alchemist, known for his remedies and potions.
He had a beautiful daughter who fell in love with a Christian boy who she was seeing in
secret.
When she got tired of lying, she asked the boy to ask his father for permission to marry
her.
The boy knew his father wouldnt agree and so he suggested they simply remain lovers
instead - the girl was furious and ended the relationship in a rage.
This sent the boy into a hate for her - a loathing so intense that he vowed to kill
her - if he couldn't have her, noone could.
He visited the alchemists, the girls father, and got a rose laced with poison that would
kill with one sniff.
That night, he went to her window, begging for forgiveness and her hand in marriage.
She accepted and brought the flower to her nose to smell it - at which point she collapsed
to the floor, her body writhing in pain as she died.
When the alchemist found his daughter the next day, he realised what he had done.
He left the house forever - cursing it as he went - so that nobody could ever live there
again.
To this day, the house remains in Barcelona - you can visit it, but nobody has lived there
since …
Next up at number 4 we have Veronica Jaja.
According to the legend, Veronica was once a teenage girl who came from a small Spanish
village.
One night, she was playing a paranormal game with her friends called -The Game of the Scissors
and the Book- … the book was the Bible and along with the scissors, the ritual would
allow them to contact the spirits of the dead.
The ritual came with a very specific set of rules - what to say and how to behave, this
was for their own safety - but Vernoica did not listen - she broke a number of rules and
even taunted the spirits.
All of a sudden, the ribbon they were using snapped and the scissors flew through the
air, stabbing Veronica in the neck.
Her friends fled in terror.
When they came back, they found Veronica lying in a pool of blood on the ground, stab marks
all over her body.
In one hand she was holding the bible and in the other, she was clutching the bloody
scissors embedded in her neck.
In the years since then, people claim that Vernonicas spirit is unable to rest and now
she takes revenge on those who do not respect the dead.
By repeating the game that she played, some believe you can summon Veronica - although
they always warn to not be disrespectful like she was or risk the same fate as hers …
Next up at number 3 we have Pesanta.
This legend comes from Catalan in Spain.
The Pesanta is a huge doglike creature - black and hairy with steel paws - thats right, actual
paws made of steel.
For centuries, people there have said the Pesanta crawls into peoples bedrooms at night,
creeping through the keyhole or under the door.
It moves quickly and sits on their chest, making it difficult or even impossible to
breath.
If you don't wake up, he will slowly creep into your nightmares until you can break free
from his spell.
The steel paws are huge and can easily slash or bash anything that tries to get in the
Pesantas way.
However, the paws have holes in them which make it almost impossible for it to grab anyone
and take them away.
And so, after its night of terror, a Pesenta will return to its home in an abandoned church
or ruin - ready to strike when night comes again …
Moving on to number 2 we have The White Shadow.
On February 10th 1935, Barcelona is said to have experienced Spains first officially recorded
poltergeist attack.
On that night, the local nightwatch guard left his family home for his shift.
Not long after, a faint banging started coming from the walls of the house - slowly getting
louder and louder and louder … the son woke up and switched on the light to investigate.
At that exact moment, a drawer from a dresser shot across the room.
The family screamed for help.
Two members of the local patrol came to help but by the time they arrived, the banging
had become much fainter.
The noise carried on into the morning - so the family left to file a police report.
The police searched the house but found nothing.
The banging started again two night later - so loud that neighbours came to investigate.
Witnesses said a dining room chair fell and rose on its own, that the lights swung violently,
the clock stopped and started again repeatedly, a fork disappeared and reappeared, the windows
were shaking, and stones began to rain down in the courtyard.
When the police came to interview all the witnesses - they found everyone had the same
story, except for the children.
The All of the children said they saw a white shadow moving between the clock and the chairs
- something which none of the adults reported.
In the years since then, many have shared the story of the White Shadow Poltergeist
who can only be seen by children ...
And finally at number 1 we have La Mussara.
In the Prades mountain range in Tarragona, the town of La Mussara was home to a number
of people - until 1959 - thats when the whole town disappeared.
Now all that remains of the village is 8 buildings, the church, and the urban legend of paranormal
activity.
Many people say the disappearance has something to do with the fog.
Even on sunny days it will fall suddenly over the town, leavings visitors disoriented.
Its believed that the mist has a paranormal link the time travel - when it descends, it
leads people to believe they have only been in the town for a few hours, when really days,
weeks, months or even years have passed.
Many visitors also report hearing voices and the sound of approaching horse hooves.
The story says that the fog is the result of a curse that was cast on the village centuries
ago by a which - making it a gateway to another realm.
They say if you jump over a particular stone outside one of the houses, you'll pass into
a parallel dimension known as -La Vila del Sis- inhabited by creatures of the underworld.
If you've ever seen stranger things, La Mussara sounds like a real-life version of that …
OK - I know that was a long one but hopefully there was just more to enjoy!
I think well take a break from Spain for a while and focus on another country for now
- what would you like?
We've done a lot of famous countries now so I'm excited to get into some lesser known
ones now - thanks for watching as always guys, my name is Danny Burke and Ill see you all
in the next video!