Legends of Mazatlan: The Floating Woman of La Estacada

This woman has been observed at midnight when you have the effect of the full moon, which illuminates the estuaries and gives clarity without having to use lamps to work.

Legends of Mazatlan: The Floating Woman of La Estacada
Ghost women. Photo by Thalia Ruiz / Unsplash

Fishing is a distinctive productive activity of Mazatlan, from which thousands of men have managed to obtain sustenance for their families; and it is in this activity where countless stories of ghosts and apparitions are told, which some fishermen have had to witness. One of these legends told by the men of fishing takes place in the area of La Estacada, where some of the old fishermen relate that more than once they have had to watch a woman walk on the waters of the estuaries of the area.

They relate that this woman has been observed at midnight when you have the effect of the full moon, which illuminates the estuaries and gives clarity without having to use lamps to work. Those who have been able to see this spectrum claim that it is a woman who walks on the waters when they are calm, but never touches the water with her feet.

As the woman walks through the estuaries of the fishing site of La Estacada, a slight groan is heard, which causes fear among the fishermen who observe her and who immediately seek to leave the estuary and reach the mainland. They comment that the woman, on leaving the estuaries, enters the homes of neighboring communities such as Celaya, where she seeks to drink water, according to those who have witnessed this mysterious apparition, to then continue on her way and get lost in the bushes that surround those places.

Although this apparition has been going on for dozens of years, no one knows the cause of this woman's presence; the conclusions some fishermen draw are that she lost something in the place when she lived, or that she may have drowned in this place. In the state of Sinaloa and especially in the southern part of the country, the popular imagination has allowed the creation of fantastic stories that today form part of the cultural tradition, and whose diffusion has been nourished by the people themselves.

The municipality of Escuinapa has been the scene of important events in the history of the people of Sinaloa since it has sites that allow real or fantasy stories to come to life in their villages. Although no one knows who she is or why she appears, the woman who floats on the marshes in La Estacada has scared the fishermen of the area, who when they see her prefer to leave the place.