Our favorite part of this year’s Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood is their inclusion of the La Llorona, a legend that may be familiar to anyone who grew up in Southern California.

Spanish legend tells that La Llorona, “The Weeping Woman,” was a beautiful woman who drowned her children to be with the man she loved. But he rejected her, so she drowned herself too. Her ghost is doomed to wander, vainly searching for her children for all of eternity. According to the tale, she will kidnap wandering children or children who misbehave. Some also believe that those who hear the wails of La Llorona are marked for death.

Visitors to Universal Studios throughout October will first run screaming from the Weeping Woman in one of the scare zones near the main entrance. But they’ll have a harder time escaping her during the backlot tour, where she’ll be waiting for them in the middle of the woods.

In the latest of Halloween Horror Night’s “Behind the Screams” videos, creative director John Murdy talks about how they integrated the La Llorona legend into an annual attraction that typically focuses on Hollywood horror movie icons…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XT-X6g9NTI[/youtube]