Well, you live in New Mexico long enough, eventually you will see La Llorona.
Short version of the legend: she's a ghost or a zombie or something in that unnatural vein, a weeping woman. Her reason for weeping is that she murdered her children -- traditionally said by drowning them in a river, and so she is frequently sighted around rivers.
October 31st, 2021, I saw her! In broad daylight. Maybe it was just a crying lady by the river, but strictly that's all her name means. Here it goes:
I was out for a walk downtown in Santa Fe, going along the river. It was around one in the afternoon. In the area up near Canyon Road I was walking on a dirt trail directly beside the river, down in the ditch. (The Santa Fe River never has much water in it, it's more like a ditch with a little trickle going through.) As I am walking, I start to hear the sound of a woman sobbing and wailing very very loudly.
I think this can be one of two things:
- someone pulling a Halloween prank, where they're dressed like La Llorona and waiting to jump out and scare passersby.
- hobos having an altercation where one is crying.
Either way I decided to move up to the sidewalk, but I kept my eyes on the ditch/river area. I'm walking along and can hear the crying getting louder and louder, so I'm getting closer to it.
And eventually, I did see across the river, curled up in some bushes, a weeping woman.
And like most genuine sightings of La Llorona, that's about all there is to it.