Legends are literary compositions that narrate imaginary events, whose base can have historical data, fantastic characters, supernatural phenomena, among other elements. Therefore, legends involve values, evoke emotions, interpret experiences, denounce or justify actions, explain natural phenomena and are, above all, resistant to change: they are transmitted from generation to generation mainly through the spoken word.

In addition to the rich symbolic content, useful for understanding the idiosyncrasies of a particular culture, legends have significant potential for shared entertainment. In this article we will specifically look at 10 of the most popular Spanish legends .

The 10 most popular Spanish legends

There are numerous legends about the 19 autonomous communities that are part of Spain. Some of them are the product of love and disaffection stories, others help to explain apparently supernatural phenomena, and others date back to ancient times such as the Middle Ages .

It is precisely their mystical and symbolic content that has allowed these stories to endure over time. Below are 10 of the most representative legends from different Spanish towns.

1. The lovers of Teruel

In the east of Spain, in the community of Aragon, is the city of Teruel. One of the most representative churches of this town was reformed in the 16th century. During its remodelling, two mummified bodies were found, accompanied by a document that describes, in the words of Judge Domingo de Celada, the following: the bodies belonged to Isabel Segura and Juan Diego de Marcilla, whose love affair had been prevented by their families .

The condition for being together was that Diego de Marcilla would get rich, so he decided to go away to make money and later return for Isabel. In the course of this, Isabel’s father found her another husband, whom she married the same year that Diego de Marcilla returned.

The impact of the latter was so great that he dropped dead when he found out. At the funeral, Elizabeth gave him one last kiss, as a sign of guilt and reconciliation. In doing so, she fell dead on Juan Diego’s body. To their surprise, the relatives decided to bury them together as a symbol of a late approval of their love.

2. The Mosque of Cordoba

In the city of Cordoba, in the region of Andalusia, it is said that a young Christian bought flowers from his girlfriend, a beautiful young woman of Muslim origin. When he asked her to marry him, she also accepted to convert to Christianity, but her intention was prevented by some soldiers who killed her the same day she was to be baptized.

As a punishment, these soldiers chained the young man to the pillars of a mosque . While chained, the young man shaped a small cross with his nail, which can still be seen today in the marble of the column where he spent the rest of his days.

3. The island of San Borondón or San Brandán

Legend has it that the Canarian archipelago, located off the northwest coast of Africa, has an island that constantly appears and disappears. This island owes its name to Saint Brandan de Clonfert, better known as Saint Borondon, an Irishman who crossed the Atlantic Ocean for evangelical purposes.

Upon arrival on the island, he quickly defines it as an earthly paradise. But it turned out that other navigators could hardly locate it. It was an island that some people claimed to have visited, while others, when following the same directions, could not reach their destination. Later the mysterious disappearance of the island was attributed to the thick fog that covers the region ; this is why it is known to this day as “the lost island” “the enchanted island” “the hidden island”, among others.

4. The ravine of Badajoz

On the island of Tenerife, in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, there is a ravine known as the Barranco de Chamoco, or Barranco de Badajoz. It is a large canyon that, according to legend, has witnessed the presence of aliens, or angelic beings. There is even talk of satanic rituals and paranormal phenomena to which some studies have been devoted.

This comes from different lights and figures whose origin could not be explained by the neighbours. It has also been attributed some disappearances ; so much so that, some specialists in paranormal phenomena, have attributed to the Barranco de Badajoz activity similar to that attributed to the popular American Bermuda Triangle.

5. The cross of the devil of Cuenca

In the city of Cuenca, located in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, there lived a young man so seductive that he managed to conquer any woman who proposed to him. His gifts were questioned by the arrival of a foreign woman named Diana, who was attractive to men and women alike .

Near the date of All Saints, the young man received a letter from Diana where she quoted him in the Ermita de Cuenca. As soon as he began his physical approach to her, Diana became a terrifying figure who laughed out loud and resembled the devil himself.

Fearful, the young man ran to a cross outside the shrine and embraced it tightly. The devil chased him and immediately threw himself towards the young man, managing to leave a mark on the cross that can still be seen today. This is one of the most disturbing Spanish legends.

6. The Witches of Zugarramurdi

There are different versions of this popular legend. They all refer to witches and wizards who lived in the municipality of Zugarramurdi, in the province of Navarre. They gathered to worship a goddess of the earth who existed in different caves and meadows in the area.

Furthermore, legend has it that they praised the protective spirits that made women possessors of various supernatural powers. This spirit was called Akerbeltz, which means “goat” in Basque. For the same reason, the meetings in these caves were called Akelarre, which means “goat’s meadow”.

7. The Curse of Ochate

In the city of Burgos there is an unpopulated town called Ochate, which today is known by many as a cursed town. Legend has it that this town is the site of numerous paranormal events after having experienced three tragedies .

The first was the smallpox epidemic of 1860, where only 12 people managed to survive in the same locality. Years later, the population recovered, but soon fell prey to a deadly typhoid epidemic. Finally, and after having recovered again, a cholera epidemic ended up killing the last inhabitants. What gave rise to the legend of the Ochate curse is that, coincidentally, none of the neighboring towns and villages had experienced these same tragedies.

8. The faces of Bélmez

From the 1970s onwards, pigmentations began to appear on the walls and floor of a house located in Bélmez de la Moraleda, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, province of Jaén. These pigmentations took the form of faces, bodies and human skeletons .

Despite attempts by the inhabitants to cover them with cement and other materials, these pigmentations continue to appear today. Legend has it that these apparitions correspond to the bodies buried in the medieval Arab cemetery found in the subsoil of the house, approximately 3 metres deep. Thus, the faces of Bélmez have not only become an important Spanish legend, but also a topic of conversation among mystery lovers .

9. Lake Banyoles

In the province of Girona, located in Catalonia, there is a lake called Estany de Banyoles, which is the largest in the entire community and one of the largest in Spain. Just as in Loch Ness, legend has it that in Banyoles there is a monster in the shape of a dragon (it has thick skin, spikes, wings, tusks, big legs). There have been several attempts to find and kill it, from Charlemagne to an emperor with the help of the French minister St. Emeterius .

Likewise, the neighbors said that this dragon is responsible for the disappearance of livestock, floods and earthquakes. In more recent times, this monster has been blamed for the disappearance of tourists and even airplanes.

10. The Castle of Malmuerta

In the city of Cordoba, a region of Andalusia, there is a castle with a high tower called “Torre de la Malmuerta”. It is said that in the 15th century, an aristocratic man fell in love with a beautiful young woman, who could have been his granddaughter .

Interested in the man too, the woman accepts his proposal of marriage. But she was a woman highly coveted by other men, many of them younger than the aristocrat. This aroused in the future husband an obsessive jealousy that finally led him to end the life of his beloved.

The judges determined that the young woman had been “malmuerta”, a victim of the unjust acts of her husband, who was sentenced to sell all his property and to erect a tower called “torre de la malmuerta” in the house where he had committed the crime, in honor of the woman and as a sign of repentance.