Silvia’s Halloween Tale from Galicia

This could be a true story, why not?

A few years ago, I visited my father´s parents in November, just when Halloween started. If you have ever visited Galicia, you know that witches (known as meigas in their local language) are common and significant. Many people believe in them and so legends abound. Celtic culture left a very important inheritance.

One I recall from when I was a little girl. My grandma was preparing dinner, my parents were at the smokestack, my cousins and I were playing in our room, and my uncle was chopping wood. Unexpectedly, we could hear a very loud noise coming from the forest; a strong night wind blew. In a hurry, all of us ran directly outdoors and we could see something like a huge light storm, and scared, we saw that my uncle had disappeared. However, his steps led up to the forest, so we ran till the beginning of the trees but we could not see anything except little shadows throw the shrubs. Just in that moment my parents told my cousin and me “please, get inside the house” and then, since that moment, we would not see him again till next morning. They were looking for my uncle all night long, but they did not manage to find him.

Next day, all my family were very concerned and anxious, so the police went to my house and told us that lots of similarly mysterious events had happened last night. When the police were talking with us, and they were asking many questions, my uncle appeared like a phantom, he was looking tired, dirty, with scratches in his legs and he did not remember anything about what happened.

Since that they day, he has never been the same. Was it a witch thing? It could have been, perhaps.  What I know for sure is that was the most frightening experience of my life.

Silvia P Advanced Level I- Mondays (Puerto del Rosario).