The Ghosts of the Metro

During the Day of the Dead celebrations. This year, I was in Mexico City for a couple of events, and like I do in many places that I visited, I started looking for stories. And yes, there were typical ones about the dark streets of the city, stories of ghosts in the streets, but none were as creepy as the underground stories. Quite literally underground. And let me tell you, Mexico City has a strange relationship with the ground it's built on. It was a Spanish that built what we know now as Mexico City over the ruins of the Aztid capital of Denuchittlan back in the fifteen hundreds. The city itself is built on layers upon layers of sand and clay, some up to one hundred yards deep that used to be a lake. Important areas like the Great Temple or Templo Major, which was discovered in nineteen seventy eight, is also there. But there are also some more recent findings. Archeologists have found skulls traces of the old city literally underground. Obviously this is an enormous topic, but today I like to tell you about today's strange stories with some of the legends of those that nowadays live and travel through that city on a daily basis. Legends and strange encounters in the tunnels underground where there's trains and shops and guards. And I also want to tell you about things that those who walk on the surface may never become aware of. That they're walking above a city of ghosts. My name is Edwin, and here it's a dark nag. The crowds were large, with about a month before the huge celebration in the city. Remembering when the country declared its independence, Mexico City was already a huge metropolitan area, with buses and underground on metro stations connecting everybody even closer than they already were. Two of the citizens among the crowd heading south toward the underground metro tunnels were an eight year old girl named Rosarito Sanchez Sierra and her mother. They zigzag through the crowd along line one of the public transportation system, heading toward the Harden Balbuena neighborhood, where Rosarito's mother worked as a kitchen helper. They knew what to expect. While down at the Tacubaya station, the crowds people bumping into each other as the train was approaching The mother took two steps forward before looking down next to her at grabbed Rosarrito's hand, but to her surprise, the little girl was gone. Desperately, she searched, running up and down the platform, begging people to help her find her lost little girl. The train had left by this point, and only those who were waiting for the next we're staring at this mad woman searching frantically for something. Her mother was able to get some help in the search, but in the end was forced to call the police to make something that no parents should ever have, to make, a missing child's report. Her mother was devastated, friends and family, fearing a kidnapping, but hoping that the scared little girl would have found her way out of the train station and had started walking home. She knew the way home, after all. But there was nothing, no updates, no news. But then, on September seventh of nineteen seventy two, the newspaper called Capital published a peculiar story that grabbed the attention of everybody in It was an official statement, and here it is translated from its original Spanish quote. Discovering what was behind the cases of mutilated bodies was difficult. We never imagined that it was about a little girl. At first, we all thought that they had been dogs based on the type of injuries that the three victims that were found during those two weeks filled with terror. If they wouldn't have brought along three witnesses that a little girl had killed a homeless man to later eat part of his guts and leg, he would have never believed the story. In a later publication of that same newspaper, there was a more detailed report. The victim reported by the judicial police, showed signs of mutilation and complete dismemberment of their left ankle, consistent with a young girl. Rosadio Sanchez Sierra that calmly explained what had happened. She was trapped on the inside of the metro and after several hours, found herself hiding in the inside of one of the tunnels. The story continues to say, upon finding a homeless man who had likely gone into one of the tunnels to spend the night, she noticed that he was injured and likely dead from a fall. She saw rats eating part of his body, and with her growing hunger, she saw a foot that was barely attached to his body and started eating it. She was captured on the morning of September twenty second, not far from the entrance of the Takubaya station, she was spotted after hitting the body of another homeless person with the rock, desperately trying to rip apart his leg Rosarito was not taken to jail, but did spend some time at the Mexican Institute of Psychiatric Investigation, where she showed good behavior, though there was one point where they suspected her of the death of one of the nurses, but no proof was ever discovered. Dosarito died in the hospital bed in twenty ten, and the case was completely forgotten by the citizens of Mexico City. From what I found about this story, it was originally published on Rabista Insolente, and despite the level of detail that's in it, I could not verify this story based on the tools that I had available to me at the time. The story also mentions that there's an actual record to it, and it's supposedly registered on the Public Records Office with case number zero seven DASH two zero seven nine zero and if you're curious, I mean, you can try to look it up. Still, when I was told this story, be it true or just an urban legend. Chills ran down my back immediately, and so the conversations with taxi drivers and booksellers from a and one of the main parks around the downtown area continued. I kept digging into stories of the unexplained memories, those that get lost when people stop talking about them, until the father of a bookseller approached me and mentioned more tales of ghosts from the metro station. One of the busiest stations in Mexico City is called Pantie Glen, and that's where the connections to lines one, five, nine, and the letter are. The trains operate between five and midnight, and that's when the maintenance workers get to work on the station to prepare it for the following day. There was one particular worker, a woman who would help with ticketing and the occasional sweeping tasks that are involved with such a huge operation, who was there one night. Now, people who are going from one line of the station to another, let's go through long hallways and staircases to get to their new trains. So that area would regularly staff several employees, but not at this time. It was almost closing time at midnight at the station, and there were hardly any other people there. Her and her co worker were finishing up their closing tasks. The guard that would help with the closing operations was also there, talking with them as they were picking up their things, and just when they were about to close, the guard's radio went off through the static and alert went out to police hold the last train since a young boy had been spotted along line five, they needed help with the search before they closed. It wasn't particularly uncommon to see children along the station without their parents. Sadly, some of these children had grown up in the streets alone and finding themselves selling pens or a gum in order to purchase a meal before going back to their hiding spots to get some rest. The guard started walking toward the rails and began scanning the area. It was then when two women heard another radio transmission another guard had spotted a child running around line number nine. Confused, one of them clarified that he thought it must have been a different child because the two lines are too far from each other for the child to have made it from one to the other so fast. It was then when a third guard announced over the radio that he had spotted a young boy with darker skin, black hair and with no shoes, running across another line, the one that they called Line A. The two co workers that had all this time been hanging out at the ticketing booth were looking at each other, smiling, being entertained as the officers chased around a child around the station. However, their smiles were soon eraised from their faces when they found out that the child was spotted running along the rails and into the tunnels to later vanish. There were two other workers in the maintenance area inside of the tunnel, and neither of them had seen them, and it isn't uncommon. The boy of fontit Land Station has been spotted by many commuters, even during the day. Reports of people worried after seeing a child run into the train tracks and run into the tunnels, where a child rushing past them on the stairs and brushing up against their elbows, but when they turn to see what it was, they don't see them anymore. Guards like in our previous story, have reported following around the small shadow of a child as it rushes through the hallways and stairs of the underground station. Those who have seen him say that he wears a white shirt, red shorts and no shoes, and it's multiple reports about this strange thing that the operators, ticket agents, and guards are the ones that are usually seeing him late at night, way after the trains have stopped running. It's the last train of the night and you can finally relax. You made it on time. The watch on your wrist reassures you that the last train is about to arrive. You look around the empty station along line one, the pink one, and then begin to feel a strange sensation that you're being watched. You shake it off. It's a long day, after all, and it gets there and you hop in. The lights are flickering as a train begins to move, and you cross your arms prepare for the last fifteen minutes of your journey home. Then that feeling washes over you once again, and you can't hold the urge to turn around. It looks like you're not alone. On the train car behind yours, you spot a woman by herself. Based on the way she's standing, you can't tell if she's looking away or toward you. Her dress is long, but that's about all you can see, and you try to look away, but you begin to experience an odd sensation once again, this time you're stuck looking toward her. It's hard to tell at first, since her legs aren't moving, but she's actually getting closer, and that's when you can see more details. Her hair is tangled, her dress is worn down, and her empty facial expression shows you that she's either very tired or dead. It almost seems like a joke, but you can't tell. She's smiling comically, and she gets closer and closer to you. She's on your car now and she's floating towards you. While others claim to have seen this woman wearing a nice dress and jewelry, what all the sightings have in common is that they say that this woman has all the signs that she's dead, sunk in eyes, pale skin, and it always looks like she's searching for something. Even though this woman has not yet been caught on camera, those who have seen her have made tiktoks and reels describing their encounters and reactions immediately after seeing her and this strange entity that roams underground, Who could she be? One of the most frightening stories in the underground metro tunnels of Mexico City is that of Line five, right at the airport station. It's the story of a little girl. I'll tell you all about it next. The streets were particularly empty that evening, and after having a tough time finding a taxi, Mary Belle decided to head down towards the station to take a train back home. It was late and there were barely any other people walking around, and as soon as she got to the station, though she was completely alone, a little girl of about seven or eight years old with a dress like the kind you see to ldren use as uniforms for school, began to walk up. To her surprise, Marabel looked around to see if maybe she could find her parents. There was no one else around. The little girl approaches her and points down to her shoes, which were untied, almost as if she was asking her for help. Marabella knelt down to help her out while asking where her parents were, but upon not getting an answer, she looked up towards the little girl and only saw a dark, bloodied neck without a head. In another encounter, a young man going back home late one night after spending his evening studying in college spots this same little girl. Curious to see a young girl by herself at an empty metro station, he approaches her and happens to notice that she's carrying a ball under her arm. She tosses it to him, but when it reaches his hands, he feels a little girl's hair pressed against his palms. When he takes a closer look at the ball, he realizes that the thing was not a ball after all, but rather her head. Stories like these with people who swear that their encounters are true still sound a bit far away from reality. But here's a thing. Professionals workers who routinely work underground in the tunnels or on the surface of the metro stations have said to have had encounters with this little girl along that same station when they're performing maintenance. And let's say it's their own personal encounters. I mean, that's one thing, right, it's more valid. But a lot of these times reports come in from scared passengers, people that they're supposed to be helping out as part of their jobs. So how do they deal with that? You know, some of them have heard enough stories to start believing that this is true. The little girl from the airport station exists. Like with other legends out there, it has its own set of skeptics and those who believe that there are psychological reasons that are making citizens believe that the encounters are completely made up as a type of collective idea where the simple thought that there might be a ghost where they're waiting in the dark might actually make them come true. Plus, another explanation is that such a mundane task like commuting can't really put our minds to work in order to give attention to those things that may not actually be there. One thing that can't be overlooked is about the names. When I first saw these, I was like, well, how can a station's name be so haunting? For example, there's one station called Barranca del Muerto or Cliff of the Dead. In that station, just like other places under the city, sad cries have been heard coming from various directions, screams from the actual tracks, or voices who ask something. Once you turn around, but there's no one there, And as it turns out, this station has a lot of activity. It doesn't surprise me all that much. Honestly, through a simple surge, I was able to find that this station is said to be closed to or in a mass grave that was made during the Mexican Revolution era. Believers say that energies that remain have a lot to do with the haunting voices that are coming from the tracks. There's also a station called Pantheones really meaning gravesites or cemeteries, and this is another where visitors have claimed to have seen a little girl sitting on the steps as here exiting the metro. Could she be a lost soul who has died in the underground, or is perhaps excited to see visitors, you know, visitors that are alive. In an interview done by a YouTube channel called pluemas Atomicas, they interviewed a man named Ricardo Jerrefer who has a lot of family that has worked in the metro. There he tells about a terrifying tale. Around nineteen eighty five on line three towards Universidad Dash Indios Verdes, on the station called Portredo, an engineer with the last name Platanov was working doing routine maintenance, but he failed to tell others that he was going to be stepping down onto the tracks. The train was arriving and the engineer was not able to escape. He was run over by the train, his body completely torn apart. According to the story, the engineer was lost for several hours until they were able to find his remains and his ID. After his death, several new employees have spoken with him. According to Ricardo, new employees lost in their new jobs have encountered the engineer's entity and then he gives them advice on what to do. Once he leaves and they're approached by other employees and get asked who they were talking to, they explain who they have seen. That's when they begin to describe the engineer, the one that has been giving them advice and helping them out as they start out with their new jobs. But once they're told that they're the only ones in the station, there's no other engineer there. Most employ loyees have said to have panic attacks, their mind obviously confused about what they have seen that wasn't actually there, and they have said to require therapy to overcome the trauma of such an encounter than to be able to return to their jobs. In fact, a Metro inspector named Maudi Nadis has told the story for a major city publication about just this, except with a little bit more detail. He was just starting out at a position at the Metro back in nineteen ninety one. Back then, people used to talk a lot about this engineer who had been killed on the train tracks, which in more detail and according to Maudi, did in fact work in line three that day. He had been assigned to work at the Portrero station to wait for a train and to take it in for for Paris, which is when he disappeared. He was supposed to announce that he would be in the tracks, but instead he vanished until his remains were found. It was then when Maudi recalled that strange occurrences started. Train conductors were calling in to report that they would see a person walking between the tracks and they would frantically call for the operators to cut off the power to aid with the braking system. Any repair man had been hired by this time and once again assigned to the Portredo station to aid with a certain repair. It didn't take long for him to encounter another man on the tracks. Upon seeing him, he realized that he was also wearing a uniform, and they started talking to each other like normal, and that's when the stranger introduced himself as his last name being Platanov. When he heard this, of course, the employee was already familiar with the story of the death of the engineer, so he found it to be a distasteful joke. On the stranger's end, he abruptly said ad bye and went back to the maintenance area. Once he explained his encounter to his boss, he was confused. He looked him in the eye and said, where was he? That's impossible. The one else was supposed to be down there with you. Plus the man's description was spot on, but still the boss needed to take the necessary precautions to double check that there was no other person in the tracks because they could pose the safety hazard. Upon hearing the news, the new employee passed out on the spot and had to be hospitalized. An even stranger part of this story is that the new employee would claim to see the engineer's ghost at the door of his hospital room. In fact, they say that those were some of his last words until one day he just died of fear. They say that the sudden, unexplained apparitions of the engineer calmed down after honoring their deaths with flowers along the station. And from there I discovered a ton of other stories from tales of vampires of strange disappearances that are supposedly a part of a conspiracy of those who take victims for their certanic rituals, and even sightings of a rat about the size of a dog among the underground parts of the Metro. Could these be true? And if you don't believe, then would you be willing to take a ride along the underground tunnels? For me, the trip ended with a nice book with a collection of urban legends. Along with those that strangers graciously shared with me. There was lots more to explore during my short stay, with tales of apparitions among the many old theaters, strange lights on top of certain hills, lots of ghosts who are said to room the streets. But we'll save those for another time. For now, it's important to take a moment to look back on the land where you walk. Routine has a way of making us forget that we weren't always here and we won't always be here, that even the ashes of those that came before us may have helped grow the trees in your backyard. For Mexico City, it's different, though. Discoveries of artifacts and the remains of the city are found by maintenance workers and construction projects all the time, and maybe it's during those times when you go underground just to get to another place when the spirits of the past meet the ones from the present, because they say that the Metro has been witnessed to crime, suicides, and accidents, despite the way that the stories get told as scary legends and encounters to be afraid of, and yeah they're creepy, but let's not forget that ghost, just like our thoughts, get left behind and sometimes they make their way back as memories. This episode of Dark Memory was written and produced by me Edwin Kowarubias. Thanks to the storytellers and those with their story ideas in Mexico City, and also your messages that I get via email. Don't forget to tap follow on your app to stay up to date, and also thanks for all the stars and reviews. If you have an idea for me, please let me know. I also want to be visiting some of these places in the future. Thank you very much for listening. See you sooner.