By: Biridiana Lopez-Rodriguez
Staff Writer
El Panteon De Belen is a cemetery in Guadalajara, Mexico that was built in 1848. And since it is a very old cemetery, there are many legends that come along with it. One of the legends is of a five-year-old boy named Nachito who died in 1882. He was very loved by his family but was terrified of the dark, so his parents would light candles in his room so he can sleep. But one night, the candles suddenly went out and he sadly suffered from a heart attack due to fear. His parents decided to put him to rest in El Panteon De Belen, but when the grounds keeper would walk around he would see his tomb on top of the ground. They would put him back down on the ground but his tomb would continue to be found back on the surface. This happened for 10 days straight, so the grounds keeper went to his parents and told them what was happening. The parents explained that their son was terrified of the dark so they decided to keep his tomb on the surface and covered it with a stone/cement substance with some small cracks for the light to shine through. Many would leave toys at his tomb, and grounds keepers claim that he plays with them in the afterlife. They come to this conclusion because they see toys left for him in different areas of the cemetery, they see certain toys moving on their own, and even seeing toys that have been left for him on other children’s graves. People also claim to have caught him talking on video asking for them to play with him and if he can have some chocolate. And some have also seen his mischievous nature, on one night tour, people saw a balloon with helium moving at a very low height around the halls of the cemetery building.
And the second well known legend is called El Arbol Del Vampiro (The Tree of the Vampire). In the mid 1800s a man had moved to Guadalajara, Mexico. Many saw him as a very unique person because he was dressed in all black and not in the type of style people wore during the time. He was a very tall, pale, thin person. It was said that he would also only leave his house at night, and never leave during the day. Many people started to speculate he was a vampire with the usual vampire stereotypes. Soon animals would be found dead with all their blood sucked out, and the only thing they all had in common was two small holes found on their necks. As time went on people would be found dead just like the animals, and they came to the conclusion that it was a vampire because they found the same two small holes just like the animals had. The townspeople had a meeting and decided to go after the vampire. They had a wooden stake and were about to kill him he shouted, “You many kill my body, but you will never kill my soul! I will get my revenge!”. They buried him in El Panteon De Belen and a tree began to grow where he was buried. Many say that the tree is a type of seal and when it breaks, the vampire will come back and take his revenge.