Texas is full of many frightening urban folk tales. And now, one of those nightmare inducing tales is coming to life at Halloween Horror Nights!

Halloween Horror Nights 2023

Halloween Horror Nights creative director John Mundy recently announced that this years Halloween Horror Nights will include some of the scariest stories our abuelitas would tell us!

Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America

The monsters of Latin America house is coming to Halloween Horror Nights. In recent years, Latin American folklore has had its moment in the center stage that included some of the scariest monsters we in Texas and the Borderland are already a little familiar with; El Cucuy and La Llorona.

But this year, they are introducing three new monsters; El Sibón aka The Whistler, which is inspired by Colombian/Venezuelan tales.

Tlahuelpuchi, derived from Aztec origins, and is a “vampire witch”.

And, last but not least, a folktale that has terrorized Texas for years; La Lechuza, or, The Owl Witch, who disguises her voice to mimic an infant to lure people in.

If you're not familiar with the story, La Lechuza- an owl who is really a witch- lures her prey at night, nestled in a tree where they can't be seen and by whistling or sometimes sounding like a crying infant. If you happen to get out of your house, La Lechuza then swoops down and takes you away. Sometimes La Lechuza will swoop down onto cars driving down deserted roads at night.

Abuelita always said it's never a good sign to see a Lechuza. If you do see one, you are to cuss it out- which sounds weird, but when we did see one hearing Abuelita cuss was kinda funny. That time that we did see a Lechuza, our neighbor came running to our yard, shotgun in hand, ready to shoot La Lechuza from our tree. It flew away before the neighbor could shoot it, but the sound of it's wings flapping always stayed with me.

This year's Halloween Horror Nights definitely sounds like it will scare the bejesus out of you. You can see the entire announcement, as well as find out more about the folk tales below. And if you hear la lechuza's wings, watch out.