I would appreciate anyone who can shed some light on "Lechusa"...
It is mostly sighted in Mexico and Texas.

I've searched the Intenet and found "Urban Legends" and several sites
totally in Spanish, which does ME no good at all.

I've had dozens of inquires and emails on my site, but cannot answer
the questions being asked.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Help.... ?

Thank You!
Nancy

It sounds very mythical Nancy, but I have never heard of it before.
I hope someone can find more info, as I'd also be interested in hearing about
it.

Ok then here are some links:

Link 1

Link 2

Perhaps some reports of the phenomenon are down to the Barn Owl.
This is an almost world-wide species, and in Britain a more-or-less colourless variation sometimes occurs - perhaps this variant occurs in the Americas too.

Anyone unfamiliar with this variant might view a white Barn Owl as something spectral and un-natural - especially since the bird is completely silent in flight (so that it can hear the rustlings of its prey, it is generally believed, rather than so the prey cannot hear it coming.).

This is copied from the second link from the bottom of the first paragraph:

What could the possible reasons be for reports of large unidentified birds, whether Lechusa, Mothman, the 'Big Bird' or the giant bird reported from Alaska.

I guess such a sighting has to fall within one of several possibilities:

a delusion; a hoax; a hologram or other technical illusion, some kind of 'chimera' or un-natural creature produced by (say) genetic tinkering by 'runaway science'; a known bird seen under conditions which distort the observer's perspective; an undiscovered creature native to this planet; a creature natural to some other plane/planet/time/existence/dimension/etc. which can in certain conditions manifest here or be observed from here; an unimaginable 'thing' which fits none of the above categories.

If potential observers would be prepared ahead of time, and ready to whittle away at the possibilities in a process of elimination if a sighting occured, we could get closer. For instance, taking care not to contaminate the visual evidence by discussion before making a report, noting whether the target seems to interact with its environment, does it react to human input (arm-waving, shouting or banging), is there an associated sound, smell, etc.

Anyway, once forewarned, it should be possible for an intelligent person to overcome natural shock quickly enough to obtain useful observer evidence.
Unless, that is, we enjoy mysteries so much we want to preserve this as such by simply watching aghast with blank mind.

Just my own opinion, of course.

I agree, the reports of large unidentified birds, generally stems down to the fact that they are just that, unidentified.

After all there are new species being discovered all the time, some of them quite large, and the only way which we will eer know for sure is if people go looking for them.

I guess no convincing photographs have been taken of the phenomenon so far?
To get a perspective on mass sightings, like the one you describe, I look to mass (or at least multiple-observer) sightings of other phenomena, say the 'Fatima' visions or other religious visions.
For reference, I know of insufficient reliable evidence to satisfy my own mind one way or the other - for or against the reality of such sightings.

With the best known of the mass religious visions there is some variation in what was actually reported by observers. Also, the interpretations of the key witnesses, of what they actually saw and heard, were modified over time. Features later appeared that were not originally reported. In at least one case information given by the apparition proved wrong (that WWI had ended - this in 1917).

I have mentioned before elsewhere, that for me a key factor in all inexplicable sightings has to be the human brain. Because it cannot altogether be trusted. It may cause an observer to see something that is not there. I have had an experience like this myself, and if I had turned away instead of investigating further I would never have realised my mistake.

The brain already manipulates everything we see anyway because it receives the 'picture' from the eyes upside-down (the pin-hole camera principle). The brain inverts the scene of its own volition (supposedly it 'learns' to do this within a short time of birth).

I have a suspicion (as have some other commentators) that it is not beyond the bounds of possibility for the brain, that is to say, the mind, to impose an image of it's own making on the field of view. That is, sometimes operate as a projector, instead of a camera.

We may think ourselves technologically sophisticated (as did the Victorians and the Romans before them, of course) but it seems likely there are some big upsets yet to come in our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the universe and all that moves and has being within it. I hope I am around to witness some of these staggering revelations.

Recent apparently successful experiments in slowing or speeding up light, and the strange way elemental particles are seen to behave as though still in contact with a former 'mating particle', a case of actions affecting the one, seeming to affect the other, even though separated by great distance, could be milestones on the road to understanding the currently 'impossible' strangeness of ghosts, UFOs, timeslips and other psi effects and unexplained phenomena.

Nancy, EVERYONE is out of their depth when considering this stuff.

Re emotion - in experiencing the inexplicable, I agree the emotions must be a factor - the aspects fear and puzzlement must surely be present, and the tendency to translate a happening into something more palatable - typically something closer to the familiar. Observers may report seeing what their CONCEPTION of the Loch Ness monster looks like, (small head on a long neck, 4 paddle-like limbs, etc. for instance) whereas others on the SAME BOAT clearly identify the same object as a floating tree witha protruding branch. Expectation, therefore, seems to be a factor.

In an unfamiliar experience there is bound to be some feedback from the observer into what is observed, and this will manifest in 'contamination' of the observation. It is a wonder to me eyewitness evidence is still given so much credibility in court cases.
The brain doesn't like the inexplicable and we are not sure how far it will go in remedying the situation. One common result of this reluctance to face 'unacceptable' experiences is for the memory to be banished from easy recollection to the back of the brain afterwards. It has never been properly rsolved how reliable hypnotic regression sessions are either. Perhaps it depends on the subject under hypnosis because some obscure information thus obtained is later confirmed (briefly glimpsed car license plate numbers, for instance, in police cases) other information has proved utter nonsense.

The smartest people on the planet have theories for why people see what they see, and we still don't know. Some explanations, especially from out-and-out sceptics, are often so divorced from the reported 'facts' that the only possible intent of the sceptic can be to confuse, obscure and discredit, certainly the search for truth play no part.
Many 'explanations' can easily be shot full of holes by even an amateur. Usually, there ARE no concrete facts, as with almost all psi and anomalous creature sightings. 'Scientists' are no more likely to have the full picture than anyone else, but that doesn't mean they miss a chance to put in their fourpenny worth. Scientists are typically closeted in their own particular expertise and look for explanations within it - temperature inversions, brain chemistry imbalance, piezoelectric effects generated by geologic forces, unusual cloud formations, tricks of the light, mass hysteria, drug-induced hallucination, etc. - you've heard them all, and more probably. Suggestions, but certainly not convincing explanations. I'm surprised anyone even bothers to report anomalous experiences anymore - perhaps the majority don't - I know people who won't even discuss their dreams.

If some mischievous godlike entity wanted to drive humanity crazy, I think creating ghosts, lake monsters, UFOs, synchronicities and stuff like that, would be a very good start.

Hello people. I am new to this forum.

I have a little info. given to me by my mother and grandmother about the Lechusa.
It is about 5 - 6ft. tall with a wingspan of 12 - 15ft. ft. All white or all black with the face of an old woman. They either cry out like a newborn baby or a cackling laugh.

I never believed in it because I've neer seen it before. But from what my grandmother tells me is that the Lechusa is the Bruja(witch) or her servant. The Bruja will find a woman who just recently given birth, and in the middle of the night have it turn to a Lechusa and do her bidding. It can be either of the two.
I'm still sorta skeptic, but my brother Ray and my best friend Marc told me their story while walking home from another friends home. We live in Texas and we have alotta wooded areas. They remember walking together around 3:00 am. They were walking through the neighborhood to get to our house when my brother heard a bird or something flap down to the edge of the road. my friend Marc heard and saw it too. It wasn't all white. It was too dark and too far to see it clearly, but right then they both new what it was. They described only that it was a huge vulture-like bird but it was too big to be a vulture or an owl. They can also remember the horiible laugh it let out as it flew off into the sky. They knew that it was a Lechusa.

You can catch one if you know the correct prayers.(la novena)
You must have a rope, cord, or string that has been blessed.
Say the prayer and tie a knot.
Repeat the prayer and tie another knot.
Continue the process until you're done. Then you will find the Lechusa in human form tied to a post or the tree it was perched upon.

I don't know what to believe. But my mother says they do exist. She says her grandmother; my great grandma actually caught one and let it go.

Hopefully this little story and Info. helped you understand what the Lechusa really is.

so yesterday on a full moon at 3:00 my brother went in to my room "MAnda Manda wake up i gotta show you something!" fustrated and angery because he woke me up i said "what do you want""Come here real quick" so i get up and follow him "manda there was this big ass bird right there" and he pointed his index finger to the rocks that seperate our yard from the neghbors "what " i said so were standing at the edge of the drive way we look across the street and see this big black bird at least up to my brother mid stomach and me brother pretty tell with out saying any thing i ran inside as fast as i could running on rocks and everything and i have very sensitive feet.(i actualy have a bruse on my foot from yesterday) i ran in my room and went under my balanket and did not get up i layed there quietly 4 about ten minutes afraid to lift the covers off my head and fearing the LECHUSA will be right there at me window. i dont scare esaily i can say yesterday was the scariest day of my life.my brother had called his friend and he drove over they walked in my room "manda right that thing was big" my brother asked to make his friend belive that we really saw it. Relived because some one was in my room and i wasent by my self i said "hell yeah" "man yall r lying" my brothers friend mike said. we went to the front yard together and they whent to our neghbor across the street where we say it . slowly and carefully they walked in to the backyard. i waited on the porch. they came back and we went in side mike checked his myspace and then left we watched him go out side and drive away down the street. me and david my brother walked back inside and went to the computer room but because i had just woked up i had to go to the restroom like i always do but i was too scared so my brother took me and i fell like a baby saying this becausei 15 and was scared to use the restroom because i was remembering stories told to me by my tias and tios and there friends and cousins.we went to go sit down inthe living room and watched tv my brother went to sleep and while i was dosing off i hear a faint "tap tap tap tap" at the window i was thinking itwas a dram beacuse i was half asleep i cosed my eyes really tight i watched tv for about an hour nd finally got thr courage to go to mt room i turned off thr tv and tossed the remote to my brother in case he woke up. the remote landed on his leg and he woke up. where are u going heasked to sleep he said okay just make sure the lechuse dosent get you! i ran and layed back on the couch i slept on the couch with no blanket i was freezing . well it was weired becausei u usually here stories from ranchs and not realy from the city ! well thats me story im glad i got to share it with yall


-manda

Here is what I found.

http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/156Lechuza.htm
http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/crossroa..._la_lechusa.pdf
http://www.urbanchillers.com/chillerday/ch...?date=16/8/2004
http://www.cafepress.com/eyetooth7.22190436 <---Lechusa sweatshirt

Yeah but remember with stories, it's like Chinese Whispers. I mean look at the "fisherman's story" Starts off "I caught a fish this big", then "I caught a fish THIS big", then I caught a fish THIS big" and so on til it's a 12 footer that nearly drags you to your death. I thin kthe barn owl, or even out of place snowy owl would be good candidates. Owls tend to have a wide range of calls anyhoo, and are not restricted to hooting. Of course, that's just my two pennies worth

RKD

I live in Chile and Lechusa is just Owl in spanish....

There is an Algonquian legend about a Owl Witch. The Lenape, Shawnee and Nanticoke call them Gu'ku sak. Now the Kickapoo, the Absentee Lenape and Absentee Shawnee went to Mexico to fight for the Mexican Army as mercenaries in their revolution against the Von Habsburg (Holy Roman) Empire ( i.e. Cinco de Mayo) and there is still a large community there . They might of brought this legend with them. Also many Texas tribes that are extinct and of unknown origin. A Algonquian tribe could of resided there and passed on the legend to the Spanish or the Triple Alliance (Aztec).
Just some thoughts......

Lapiche

Hey!, I don't exagurate my fish! I did catch a nice 40 inch steelhead although