Casa Cañitas
Cda. Cañitas 11, Popotla, Miguel Hidalgo, 11400 Ciudad de México, CDMX
Urban legends based on terrifying stories involving the afterlife and other paranormal phenomena are common in a city with such a colorful past as Mexico City. Oral tradition has played an important part in the culture of the locals since the times of the Aztecs. Locals get to hear a fascinating ghoulish story and they try to associate it with real people from the past or real locations that are still standing within the city streets. Such was the case of Casa Cañitas which is located at #51 Cañitas street in the neighborhood/colonia of Popotla. The story goes that in the 1980s a group of people contacted, with the use of an ouija board, the deceased ex-boyfriend of one of the girls that were present. The spirit of the deceased ex-lover possessed the body of the new boyfriend (who was also present at the seance session) and made him convulse and vomit. The people that were present at the seance, which also included 2 boys! also claim that the possessed individual yelled and withered in pain when he came in contact with holy water.
Soon after that, the neighbors of the house started reporting strange phenomena such as apparitions, the appearance of a monk, and the death of 14 (!) people in relation to that house. At one point it became known as the “Most Haunted House in Mexico” by the media and by paranormal aficionados throughout the country. The house was “cleansed” through rituals involving holy water, herbs, and even the participation of a local “witch”; yet shortly after that, the 14 deaths supposedly related to the house started to take place.
The caveat is that the legend of Cañitas was started by Carlos Trejo, a controversial figure in Mexico who is known as an outspoken and flamboyant “ghost hunter”. He claims to be one of the original participants in that original scene that started the whole urban legend, and he’s also “discovered” some bits of additional information over the course of the decades, like the fact that the house was built on a cemetery for monks. He also claims that he survived the ordeal because he had to make a pact with the demonic entity that inhabits the house. Trejo published a book in 1995 about the story, made a movie, and went on to have a “career” in “ghost hunting”. Yet some residents in the city still believe the story to be true, and some have claimed to have witnessed strange paranormal activity in or around the house. You can choose to believe the story or not based on the information that’s available, whatever you choose to believe, at least you now know where it is, in case you want to go and give it a gander.
