Conclusion

In my research I found many variations of this legend. Some similar to what I heard growing up and some very different. Seeing how many different versions there are makes me wonder how much truth there is to it.Maybe it is just a story told to children to scare there from misbehaving. But then again I am not one to try and find out for myself. Seeing is believing but I will just leave it a mystery.

Evidence

There are many stories of sightings.Theres is also a woman named misa ramirez that claims to be a desendent from one of  La Llorona's sons. She says that it is very true and she is still cursed she has even written a book about it.one encounter was told by a man that was in search for his lost sister,he goes out to find her and encounters La Llorona. He believes that his sisters disappereance was result of  la llorona. There is also a documented story of a guy that was monitering irragation pumps at night that saw her and watched her go back and for crying "mis hijos" he was terrified. He never returned to work the graveyard shift again.There are many sightings and encounters on the web but who knows unless you have experienced it.

mira ramirez, La Villainais,web
thenakedhero.com/la-llorona-a-wicked-villainess
Jason Buchanan,Curse of the weeping woman,2008,web
http://www.casttv.com/video/lj97p3r/curse-of-the-weeping-woman-j-ok-el-la-llorona-video
Paul Cantu,True Encounter with La Llorona,2000,web
http://www.wirenot.net/X/Stories/Ghost/Ghost_T/Trueencounter.shtml

Stories

The story most commonly heard and also the one I heard growing up is that maria a beautiful young lady marries a handsome guy and has two young children with him. Everything started out fine they were happy but as time went on he became more distant. He showed less and less attention to maria and more to only the children. One day he showed up in town with a beautiful woman by his side in a fancy wagon.At this point maria was so jealous and angry that she took her children to the river that night and threw them into the river and drowned them. shortly after she had regret for what she had done and took her own life. To this day she is said to roam near the waters yelling and crying for her children. In this version she is said to take small children that she sees and never return them in place of her own. In one version of the story a beautiful woman already has children and wants to be with a handsome nobleman.He does not want to be responsible for another mans children so he dismisses her. She wanted so badly to be with him that she drowns her children to rid herself of them. When the nobleman hears of what she had done he was horrified and still had nothing to do with her.This made her realize what she had done,so she went back for them but they were gone. She ended up ddrowning herself and her spirit was condemed to earth for the rest of time. In one particular version that was made into a movie it was said that instead of drowning her children she stabbed them in the heart then throw them into the river. Tat version isnt commonly heard but it is in the movie.

Sources:
Lee, Paul. "La Llorona." Web
http://www.theoutlaws.com/ghosts3.htm
S.E Schlosser "La Llorona ,A new mexico ghost story" Web
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/la_llorona.html
Santistevan, Bernadine "La Llorona" Web
http://www.lallorona.com

Background



The legend of La Llorona originated in mexico.It is said that a beautiful girl named La Malinche was born into a noble aztec family in 1505. She meets Cortes a dashing young ranchero,and has 2 little boys with him. She is said to have killed them out of jealousy of another woman. Some also say that she feared one of the boys would grow and destroy her people. There are different versions of the story and how she kills her children, but in all of them she kills them. She to ends up dying but remains here as a ghost crying and calling out for them.

Sources:
Santistevan, Bernadine "The Cry-La Llorona", 2000-2007,Web
http://www.lallorona.com/1legend.html
Joe Hayes, "La Llorona-A Hispanic Legend", Web
http://www.literacynet.org/lp/hperspectives/llorona.html

Proposal

 La llorona is a hispanic legend past down through generations. I chose to research this because my grandparents and parents told it to me when i was younger and heard about it growing up. initially i was scared and I believed it and didnt want to go near any water at night. I remember I was scared to even go camping because of the lake water. It was said that if u call out her name (La Llorona) near water she will come.  I used to be scared even as i got older it scared me not to much now because I personally have never seen her or heard her. But I think it will be interesting to see what others think and what they have possibly encountered. And also to see the different stories and ways the story is told. The way I heard it was that she was mad and jealous of her children so she took them to the water and watched them drown but after she missed them and felt sad. So she wanted them back and now she walks along the water searching for them forever, and she takes children and never returns them.