A reader, Terry, forwarded an archive of fascinating stories written by him over the years. The following post details a few particulars regarding his Great-grandmother Lucy:
"When Great-grandmother Lucy was around 14 years old, bandits raided her family's small plantation in Mexico. They slaughtered everyone except her and a sister. They were separated and she was taken to their boss's hideout deep in the desert. The leader was an old woman who ran the bandits. The mysterious old woman needed a student to pass her knowledge. Why HER? We may never know.
For years she was trained in the ancient and dark arts of the supernatural until the day the old woman died. Lucy was 18 and left for Texas with the male leader of the bandits (the old woman's son). They made their home in the west and northwest regions of Texas. There she gave birth to her first son who is my Grandfather. There, she practiced and improved her skills."
THE SWORD FROM THE BEYOND
"My Great-grandmother was given a sword by the old witch that was said to belong to a fallen god or something close to it. It was extremely deadly and was wrapped in a special cloth to hide its aura. Witches and the supernatural sought after its power for countless years. She was 18 and left for Texas with the male leader of the bandits. The sword was one of many relics she brought with her to Texas. The sword was like a spirit amplifier and drained a large part of your life force every time it was used. So one must already have unusually high spirit energy to use it. It could harm the intangible and unseen. It was used to cut a tornado in half and to save several homes. But it caused a bad drought that year as she predicted.
The use of the sword drew an evil presence to the town. One night, the house was attacked by a fire-like entity. The entity's light shined on the entire neighborhood like the light of the morning dawn. Around twenty people or so saw this entity. It smelled like sulfur and was circling the house that she lived in. Then, it jumped onto the roof and called her name. She came out and drew out the sword from its cloth. It demanded the sword and she refused. It charged her. She quickly swung the sword and cut it in half. Its body disappeared into the wind as ash. She became very weak and asked for the oldest grandchild, my Uncle. The sword was shattered and its shards hidden through Texas and the nearby states."
BATTLE IN THE GRAVEYARD
"It was the middle of the night and Lucy was marching around in the house. She was very angry and then decided to leave, mentioning to someone she left. She said that she was going to the graveyard and not to follow. My Uncle, my Mother, and a couple of my Aunts waited several hours, then decided to follow her anyway. My Uncle had the only vehicle and drove to the cemetery which was several miles away.
They parked the truck and crawled through the cemetery. Sounds of women yelling were echoing through it. The gang followed the source of the noise. There were two groups of women. One of the women, which was Lucy, and a local witch versus a large group of women in black. Great-grandmother and the leader of the women were yelling in foreign tongues. Suddenly, the woman leader coughed up a long fork tongue and started chanting a spell. Lucy quickly raised her hand and gestured a breaking motion. The woman's neck broke and fell dead. One of the stunned observers made a sound. Lucy turned and looked at them. They all got up and ran to the truck and sped off. The pedal was hitting the floor. They were almost home when they saw a blue lightning-type flash speed pass them. “What the hell was that?” crossed their minds. They made it home to find Lucy was waiting for them. She scolded them for following her to the confrontation. They never did that again. No one knows how many battles she had with other witches and practitioners. It was widely known that Lucy had many rare artifacts that were deeply desired by negative forces. They constantly tried to obtain them when an opportunity arose."
THE GIANT BIRD
"It was a time when Great-grandmother was very ill and could not travel. So, her Grandchildren drove her wherever she needed to go. One day during one of these trips they experienced a strange attack.
It was in broad daylight when someone noticed a huge bird in the distance. That was one big vulture they thought until they got much closer. Suddenly, it spread its wings, which spanned the width of the road, and the body was as tall as a man. It seemed to them that they encountered a “Thunderbird,” but it wasn't because the bird was wearing jewelry. They stopped the car, along with other vehicles on the other side of the bird. They approached their car and started to talk in Spanish. The words “Where are the books?” and “Give me the books!” were heard. Other people who were coming to see why the traffic was being held up saw and heard the bird. They all fled in fear, including the local police. This distraction gave my Aunt time to grab one of Great Grandmother's mystery bottles and throw it at the bird. It splashed on the bird's face and it started to smoke. The bird started to scream and flew away."
THE PUPPET MASTER?
"Before the time that Lucy's health took a turn for the worst, she had many contacts in scientific and medical communities through "Dr. Pearl" and his employers. Representatives from several pharmaceutical companies were known to visit Lucy at home. What was discussed and/or exchanged was never known. There were many accounts of Lucy healing people with infections and maladies that baffled the local doctors. Yet, she dealt with Dr Pearl in his eugenic experiments that killed dozens, if not hundreds, of women and children. It was strange that the research Dr. Pearl had accumulated vanished after his murder. Lucy kept quiet about her dealings with him. She once stated, “Everyone who is alive today and tomorrow owes me their lives.” Was she a benefit to the human race or her test subjects? Did she actually influence the world in some manner?"
LUCY'S POWERS
"Lucy had several different abilities that were seen or known to the family and Dr. Pearl. Telekinesis was the backbone of her natural skills. She could teleport small items through walls and land them in front of her. She uses it to fight and kill her enemies. The flight was the second most used skill. She would use this to travel from place to place without anybody noticing. She couldn't drive or have someone drive her to locations quickly when called on. Some of the family witnessed her in action.
My Great-grandfather was hardly home and came back from time to time to give her money. He gave her large sums of money that would last months or even years at a time. He was a well-skilled bandit and traveled all over the U.S. and Mexico. He became extremely wealthy. The law finally caught up to him and he was killed. That is what she said. Yet, only a small portion of the money was ever recovered. He hid it very well and he always “disposed” of his gang after every heist.
Lucy raised Grandfather by herself. I don't know if she had a great hatred for his father or was just too busy, but she never taught her son to read or write. Yet, my Grandfather was a hard worker and never gave up throughout his life. When he was a young man, he fell in love with a half Irish/Apache woman at a flea market. It was love at first sight. She was not happy at all. She didn't want that bloodline to mingle with hers, but he still married her.
Lucy wanted to punish them both and took years to plan. It was never known how it was done, but it worked. My grandmother became paralyzed and couldn't talk or move very well. She stayed like this till her death. The last moment before she died, she whispered to Lucy “I forgive you.” Right after that, Lucy fell ill with crippling pain. Her health too began to fail. Decades later, she was only able to move her eyes. I witnessed this myself before she died."
NOTE: I want to thank Terry for forwarding this information. Lon
Brujerias: Stories of Witchcraft and the Supernatural in the American Southwest and Beyond (Grover E. Murray Studies in the American Southwest)
Curanderismo: Mexican American Folk Healing (de Vries Lectures in Economics)
Mexican Spiritualism, Spells & Rituals
Medicine Women, Curanderas, and Women Doctors
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