My name is Karl Wetherson, I’m an EMT in Oklahoma and last month I bought my first house in an auction. I am planning on remodeling, so I started inspecting all the rooms. The house is not in great shape, but it wasn’t until I got to the basement that made me question what truly happened in this house and its previous owner.
As I was cleaning some of the rubble, I discovered a cell phone under a piece of wood.
Nudged between the iPhone and its case there was a note with a password. I charged the iPhone, put in the password, and was able to inspect it. I was hoping to find the owner’s information so I could return it but instead, I found a voice recording that was never sent out. It’s clear this person wanted his story to come out, that’s why I’m sharing this today.
VOICE MEMO RECORDING:
If you hear this message, please be safe and know true evil exists. My name is Gabriel Sandoval I became a father of a little boy two months ago and it has been a dream come true until today. I have been wanting to become a father my entire life but now I’m terrified. Not of how I’m going to raise my baby or what world he will grow up in… I’m terrified because of what I discovered. I live in a rural town in Oklahoma that’s all snowed in, so I have nowhere else to go. I’ve locked myself up in my basement and I’ve called 911 but in case they don’t make it in time, you should know the truth.
I was born in Miami but raised in Argentina until I was 12…. Growing up in Buenos Aires in the ’80s and early ’90s was incredible. I was raised in a struggling middle-class family, so we didn’t get to splurge much but we were lucky to belong to a social country club located in the town of La Reja which is a forty-five-minute drive from Buenos Aires. Like most families who were members, we spent weekends, winter breaks, and summers making lifelong memories there. It was a very special place with a tight-knit community.
Our country club wasn’t fancy at all, it was built in the mid-1930s by hard-working families who had immigrated from Europe. We had some amenities but by the mid 80’s they were in desperate need of renovations, but we didn’t care, we always had a blast.
The Country Club had about 200 active families…. So, there were about 30 kids my age but only Fede and Mati were part of my inner circle. All the kids would meet up after dinner and pull all-nighters. We’d play dumb games, jump into the pool after hours, flirt with girls, hide to smoke some cigs, and tell each other spooky tales.
Parents didn’t care because we were all together and I guess it gave them some alone time as well. Besides, the country club had armed guards at each entrance so nothing could happen to us. On top of that, it was different times, people drove without seatbelts, they never locked their house doors, and everyone was very carefree.
That was until the winter break of 1992 came and changed my life forever.
One foggy night after dinner, Mati, Fede, and I met at our usual spot near the pool.
Fede excitedly said, “My uncle and his friends are doing a séance at his house.
There were about 5 adults who were into the occult world and would practice certain rituals from time to time. Our parents always gossiped at the pool about them, but everyone chalked it off as childish and hokey. Being 12 and curious, we weren’t going to miss the chance to experience it, so we went to Fede’s uncle’s house on the other side of the country club.
We spotted a broken blind on one of the windows, so we hid under the bush. They had candles forming a circle in the living room. In the center of the circle was a semi-naked woman laying on her knees. This was Judith. The other four adults were wearing white robes and walking around her, hitting her forehead with some herbs as they chanted in a different language. Suddenly, Judith choked. Her body started shaking… She heaved twice and then puked what looked like blood, but no one moved.
Silence filled the room.
We freaked out and tried to remain quiet, but a beam of light blinded us. It scared the shit out of us. We turned to the side and found – Jose, the night-shift security guard pointing his flashlight at us. We had been caught. He motioned us to get out of there…
As we walked back defeated, Mati asked Jose, “Do you know what they’re doing in there?”
Jose looked at him deadpan and said, “Protecting her soul from Aña.”
We were more intrigued now. I jumped and said, “What the hell is Aña?”
Jose was originally from Paraguay, not Argentina. He turned to me and responded with a very serious tone. “In my culture, in the Guarani culture, Aña is evil… A demon of sorts.”
Chills ran down the back of our necks…. Mati, Fede, and I were scared shitless.
We reached Jose’s booth, and he offered us some mate (a herbal hot drink).
Fede asked him “Did something happen to Judith? Is that why they’re doing a seance?”
Jose sat down as he said, “Is not a seance… it’s a cleansing. Don’t know the details but I heard she somehow ended up at the abandoned lot a mile down”. He looked straight into our eyes. “Do you know what I’m talking about?” He asked.
We looked at each other terrified and shook our heads. He smiled, took a deep breath and we leaned closer, intrigued… Jose sucked the life out of his mate. I still remember the sound the metal straw made as he stared at us.
He opened his mouth which showcased some missing teeth and said…“There used to be an insane asylum there. About three years ago, a woman who believed she worked for the devil was brought in after she raped and brutally killed a priest. A year later she burned the whole place down and everyone inside the asylum died.”
We were shocked. “Why, why did she burn it down?” I asked.
Jose poured more water into his mate, then lit a cigarette and said,
“Apparently, she got pregnant by the priest and social workers took her baby away since she was mentally unstable. She didn’t like that, so she burned the asylum down. About twenty people died that night.”
Jose finished his mate and cleared his throat, then said, “The craziest part is they tried to build a new house on that lot last year, but the workers mysteriously died. They never built anything there again. It’s been empty since. Some say that’s why we hear screams in the area at night”.
We were now shaken to our core. No one said a word for what seemed like an eternity.
Then, Mati started laughing out of fear and quipped, “It’s all bullshit. We should go check it out.”
Jose grabbed his arm tightly and said “Are you stupid. Aña lives there”.
Mati wasn’t having it, “That’s a lot of crap, nothing’s gonna happen.” He rebutted.
Fede and I looked at each other and shook our heads. “Mati is just being stupid, no one is going anywhere… besides it’s almost 2 am and we have a match tomorrow morning”.
Mati smiled and adamantly said, “You guys are such pussies. It’s just an abandoned lot, that’s all there is”.
Jose stood up and wanted to close the door to his booth. “Guys, I have to prep for the morning shift change at 5 am.”
Mati put his hand on the door and said… “Drive us there at the end of your shift”.
Jose was irritated now… “Have you lost your mind? He angrily said. “I’m not taking you anywhere, besides you can’t leave the country club, you know that.”
But Mati pulled out his wallet, stuck some money on the glass window, and said, “Tomorrow night, you take us there. I’ll pay you.”
Jose motion us to leave him alone. “I’m off tomorrow… go to bed already, you’re starting to piss me off.” He exclaimed.
Mati opened his door… “Pick us up at midnight tomorrow or I’ll tell my dad you tried to touch me, and you’ll get fired.”
Jose shut his door as he cursed at him in Guarani.
Mati knew he had him. He smiled feeling triumphant, but we looked at him and told him straight up… “We’re not fucking going there.”
He put his arms around us and whispered… “I’m going to tell Vanessa, Andrea, and Natalia to join us… It’ll be fun, maybe you fuckers will get some action once and for all”.
We all went our separate ways and as I started walking through the fog toward my house…
The wind picked up and it felt as if someone was screaming in the distance. I tried to ignore it, but the sound got louder and closer to me. I was afraid to look back so I ran towards my house as fast as I could.
The next day we lost our soccer match… Our coach was not happy with us. We played like shit. I could not get what Jose said out of my head. The idea of this demented woman raping and killing a priest was too much for me. Fede, Mati, and I ended up going to the clubhouse to grab something to eat. That’s when we encountered Judith with a different group of friends. They were playing a game of Burako. As we got closer, we noticed Judith was crying. We couldn’t hear what she said but her friends were comforting her.
While having lunch we saw Vanessa, Natalia, and other girls riding their bicycles nearby.
Mati waved at them… they waved back, and he turned to us and said, “I talked to Vanessa earlier, they’re meeting us at midnight.
Fede and I looked at each other truly worried now.
I said, “I’m not leaving the country club at night, no way”.
Fede joined me and told Mati “It’s a dumb idea, Mati. There’s nothing there for us…. Besides, Jose won’t show up at midnight on his day off. We’re not going”.
Mati wasn’t having it, he was stubborn. He smiled and whispered “You two are so stupid. This is just an excuse so we can have fun with the girls. Don’t leave me hanging. I’ll see you later by the entrance.” He got up and left.
I went back home and saw my mom and asked her about Judith. I made the excuse that I saw her crying to see if she knew something.
That’s when she told me… “Judith is pregnant with her first child. She’s probably going through a lot. It’s normal. I cried many times before I had you and your brothers. You have nothing to worry about, she’s going to be fine”.
I didn’t know what to think anymore. I was 12 and knew nothing about pregnant women. Honestly, I was exhausted so I took a long nap… By the time I woke up, it was eleven at night.
I couldn’t believe I slept that much. I took a shower and went straight to the park but to my surprise, Fede, Mati, and the girls were not there. I walked to the entrance and saw Ramon, another night-shift security guard.
“Ramon, have you seen Fede or Mati around?” I asked.
He devoured a dulce de leche alfajor, then responded. “They went to Vanessa’s house to grab some flashlights, but Mati said if I saw you to tell you to wait here.”
I checked my watch, and it was 11:45 now. I was going to go to Vanessa’s, but I felt this was a great opportunity to see how much Ramon knew.
“You live around here, right?” I asked and Ramon nodded. “I was wondering if you heard the story about the evil woman that burned down the insane asylum?”
Ramon raised his eyes and begrudgingly said. “Why do you ask?”
I got closer and pressed him. “I’m wondering if the story is true?”
He sat down and lifted the gate for a Falcon that was coming in. Then, he turned to me and said, “The devil’s lullaby”. “Everyone in town knows about it”.
I got curious. “What’s the devil’s lullaby? Is that what they call it?”
Ramon finished the alfajor and said, “The Paraguayans call it Aña. We call it, the devil’s lullaby.”
Ramon walked around kicking some rocks on the ground and whispered. “Some people say if you go to the abandoned lot, you can hear a woman singing a very weird lullaby. They believe if you hear her lullaby you’ll become possessed”.
I was terrified. I couldn’t find the words… “Have you ever heard it?” I asked.
Ramon chuckled, then responded with confidence, “Of course, not, it’s all made up. Urban legend type of shit.”
I laughed nervously at myself for being so naïve, but my mind was going at 100 miles per hour.
“But she did burn down the asylum, right?” I asked.
Ramon lit a cigarette and looked me in the eyes. “Who knows what really happened, kid? I think someone did it on purpose to collect the insurance and she was the easiest target.”
At that moment, Mati, Fede, and Vanessa came by with some flashlights.
Mati punched my arm and said, “You finally decided to show up! Are you ready?”
“No,” I said. Then, I glanced at Fede hoping for backup. “Are we really doing this?” I asked.
Fede smiled at Vanessa and then looked at me. “Could be fun.”
“I gotta do the rounds, Kids… don’t do anything stupid,” Ramon said as he walked away.
I turned to Vanessa and asked her. “Did they tell you the whole story?”
She nodded then said, “It sounds too fucked up to be real. I want to see if we find anything.
The other girls were too scared.”
At that moment, a pick-up flashed its lights outside the entrance. We turned and saw Jose.
We all ran to his truck… We jumped on the back, and he took off. We didn’t exchange a word.
La Reja was a rural town. A lot of families on the poverty line lived here. It had dirt roads, rundown houses, and abandoned broken-down vehicles. The road was foggy and dimly lit.
The trip was quick, but I remember the wind hitting our faces as we got closer. It made a very particular sound. It felt like someone was whistling or crying.
I looked at Mati, Fede, and Vanessa and it was clear we were all scared, but no one said a word.
Finally, the pick-up stopped. Jose hit the outside of his door with his hand, signaling us to get off.
We jumped out of the pick-up, and he turned to us. “This is as far as I go. The lot is in the corner.”
Mati started walking towards it without saying a word. I looked at Jose and asked, “You’re going to wait for us, right?”
Jose took a deep breath, then said, “I’m going to buy some beers, I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry, I’ll take you all back. Just be careful.”
At that moment, Mati turned to us and screamed… “What the hell are you guys doing, let’s go.”
Vanessa, Fede, and I turned our flashlights on and started walking through the dimly lit dirt road…
There were no houses in the vicinity, just overgrown bushes, and wired fences for an entire block. We could hear our own footsteps as we walked toward the lot. It was clear no one had been here for a long time.
A half-built brick house was standing in the middle of the lot. It was hard to even walk since the shrubbery and dead plants were up to our shoulders.
Vanessa turned to Fede and said, “We should’ve brought a knife.”
Mati reached a door and opened it. I was terrified but walked in right behind him.
Vanessa and Fede came in right after. The wooden floor creaked with every step we took. Beams of light from our flashlights reflected on what would’ve been a living room.
The walls were naked. Paint rolls and cans of paint remained strewn on the ground.
Fede noticed something in the corner, so he rushed over. He kneeled and pointed his flashlight at the wooden floor – “Jesus, guys, look.” He exclaimed a bit perturbed.
We all walked that way and noticed human fingernails stuck to the wooden floor.
Vanessa cringed, disgusted by the sight. “What the fuck, are those real human fingernails?” she asked.
Mati motioned us to follow him. He walked towards what appeared to be a hallway.
As we pointed our flashlights toward the hallway, we heard a man cry nearby.
We gasped and I whispered, “What the fuck? There’s no one around for a whole block.”
Vanessa chimed in. “Maybe, maybe we should leave.”
Mati turned around and looked at us… “It’s in your head. There’s nothing here.”
We took a few steps and a gush of wind hit our faces. Fede pointed his flashlight inside the empty kitchen… There was no door. The house was never finished. “What’s over there?” He asked.
We took a quick look and noticed a burnt structure in the back. Mati said, “Maybe what’s left of the asylum? Let’s check it out.”
Vanessa and Fede looked at each other. Fede said, “There’s a room at the end of the hallway here, we’ll check that out.”
I knew Fede liked Vanessa so wasn’t going to be a third wheel. I said, “Mati, I’ll go with you” and so we went.
As we walked to the burnt structure the wind picked up…. The plants were hitting our faces.
We finally reached the structure. We quickly noticed there was a door in the floor.
“This must be the basement,” I said.
Mati didn’t hesitate, he opened the door, and you could hear people laughing inside.
Mati and I looked at each other, confused. I was petrified.
Mati asked, “Is anybody there?” The wind grew louder, and Mati fell into the basement.
A loud bone-cracking sound echoed as he hit the ground. My eyes widen in terror.
I turn around to see if someone had pushed him when a shadow pushed me down as well…
I luckily grabbed onto the edge of the door, my legs dangling in the air.
I looked up but no one was there.
I screamed “Mati? Mati? Are you okay?” Mati coughed and cringed in pain.
I was able to pull myself out and roll to the side. My heart was beating like crazy.
I quickly poked my head inside the basement and saw Mati on the ground staring at me.
He whispered in pain “Help me! I’m hurt.”
I stretched my arm… “C’mon, Mati, grab my arm!”
Mati was able to get up. “C’mon, pull me up!” Mati exclaimed…
A scream was heard coming from the house. Fede and Vanessa came running out of the house.
Vanessa was screaming “We have to get out of here! We have to leave now!”
I looked at Fede and screamed… “Help me! Help me get Mati out”.
Fede grabbed Mati’s other arm and we pulled him out. Mati was bleeding from his eyelid and covered with dirt and God knows what else. He looked at us, terrified. The burnt door suddenly shut close. We were shaking…. We looked at each other and started running towards the street. I noticed Vanessa had a cassette player with her.
She looked at me “I’ll explain later” she said.
We finally made it to the street, but Jose was not there.
Mati shook his head… “Let’s fucking go, I’m not staying here.”
We were too scared, so we started running on the desolate street back to where we came from. Jose finally tracked us a few blocks down the road. We got inside his truck.
He looked at us with a preoccupied look. “What the hell happened?” He asked. “I went to the house; you guys weren’t there.” We all looked at each other, terrified.
Fede chimed in… “We didn’t want to wait there. Please, take us back.”
We rode in silence. I kept looking at Vanessa who had the cassette player and a few cassettes with her. She looked at me and a tear ran down her face but didn’t say a word. Mati was shaken as if he had seen evil.
We finally got back to the country club; we scurried back in… we were safe.
We looked at each other, and I asked, “Is everyone, okay?” Everyone nodded. “Let’s talk tomorrow then.” We all ran back to our houses.
At 10 AM the next morning I was awakened by a bloodcurdling scream from my mom. I opened my eyes and jumped out of bed in a jolt. I rushed to the living room where I found her in tears. She was in a frantic state. My dad was looking grim too.
I got close to my mom and gave her a big hug, I whispered, “Ma, what’s going on? Why are you crying?”
She caressed my face and said… Judith is dead.
My brain wasn’t ready for that. The news felt like being crushed by a ton of bricks.
“What, when did it happen?” I asked.
She wiped her tears and said, “I don’t know, last night I think, but she’s dead now and her unborn baby is dead as well”. That shook me to my core.
“Why don’t you go find your friends and play for a while,” my dad said. I was numb but nodded and got out of my house soon after.
The country club was in a frenzy… A lot of people were out in a clear state of shock.
Everyone was gossiping about Judith.
I found Vanessa and Fede by the bicycle rack. “Did you hear?” I asked them. They both nodded.
“Do you know how she died?”
Fede looked around… “Apparently, she drowned in her tub late last night. My uncle was hysterical this morning. He believes Aña killed her. My parents told me not to listen to him, but after what we experienced last night, I believe him.”
I was taken aback by this… “That’s crazy. Have you seen Mati?“ I asked. Fede shook his head.
Vanessa got closer to me and whispered. “I have the cassette player in the game room, do you guys want to check it out?”
We all went into the game room…. Once inside, we went to the second floor where the ping pong table was. No one ever came here. In the middle of the room, there was the silver cassette player and three cassettes on the floor. I was scared but also weirdly curious.
“Where the hell did you find it?” I asked.
Vanessa sat down and said, ”Inside a closet. That room was going to be a nursery. I think the cassette player and recordings belonged to the construction workers who died. I played a little bit at the house. You have to listen to this.”
“Is that what made you scream last night?” I asked. She nodded with fear in her eyes.
We all sat down as Mati came running upstairs… “I’ve been looking all over for you guys,” He said.
I looked at him, he seemed frazzled. “Are you okay?” I asked. “I guess you heard about Judith.”
Mati tried to compose himself… He couldn’t sit down.
Fede chimed in. “She drowned but we think Aña might’ve been responsible.“
Mati finally sat down, looked at us with teary eyes, and said with a shaky voice. “Judith didn’t drown, I heard Susy talking with the police. Judith stabbed herself. She opened her stomach up. She was trying to remove her unborn baby before she fell into her tub.”
Vanessa puked. I was shaken. Fede came to help her. They went to the bathroom to clean her up.
I stared at Mati and asked. “Do you think Judith did something to upset Aña?”
Mati seemed concerned and said. “Maybe she was trying to steal her baby, who knows?”
Fede and Vanessa came back, they both seemed frazzled now. Vanessa wipes the floor as Fede paced around the room. “Why did we go there? He asked. “Shit, shit… What if she comes for us?” He was truly worried, truth is, we all were.
I tried to calm him down. Mati stared at Vanessa and pointed at the cassette player.
“I found it in the closet of the house,” Vanessa said then she pressed play.
That’s when we heard construction workers scream for their lives. Their bones were cracking. In the background, a woman was chanting in a different language… (This was the Devil’s lullaby).
That’s when I stopped the tape. I looked at my friends and said, “We shouldn’t listen to this anymore. Ramon said whoever listened to the devil’s lullaby will become possessed by it.”
We were spooked. At that moment I heard my dad screaming my name downstairs.
He yelled, “Gabriel, it’s time to go.” I said goodbye to everyone and left.
That Sunday was the end of our winter break, so we all went back to Buenos Aires.
During the week I couldn’t focus on school. I stopped eating and became more reclusive.
I was truly scared something was going to happen to me. My parents realized something was up, but I couldn’t tell them the truth, so I lied and said it was hard to adjust.
On Wednesday we went to Judith’s funeral and saw Fede since his family was also close to Judith’s. He told me he had horrible nightmares and had gotten hives because of the stress.
The next day, I went to the public library to see if there was information about the insane asylum and after some research, I found a newspaper with an entire article on the woman we called Aña. Everything Jose had told us was true. She had gotten pregnant and burned down the insane asylum once they took her baby away. I found out the woman we called Aña turned out to be an orphan and there were no records on where she was born or her real identity, but she called herself Leonor.
What left me tormented for decades was when I saw the picture of the heinous murder she committed against the priest. What Jose forgot to mention was that she decapitated the priest, sewn the head of a goat to his neck, then nailed him to the cross.
That weekend we didn’t go to our country club. I made an excuse I didn’t feel well so we stayed in. I didn’t call Fede, Mati, or Vanessa but weirdly enough my mom told me on Sunday she had gotten calls from their parents saying they didn’t go to the country club either.
My mom thought we all had caught some strange stomach bug.
On Monday morning the newspaper had a frightening story about a security guard in the town of La reja who was in jail after he killed his family. It was Jose. The scariest part was the article mentioned he had killed his wife and newborn daughter by smashing his truck into the half-built house on that empty lot. When they asked him why he did it, apparently, he said the devil made him do it. The last thing he remembered was putting on a cassette her wife gave her from the back seat. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I was distraught. I was a mess.
Once I composed myself, I called Vanessa and asked her if she had all the cassettes or if it was possible, she might’ve dropped one in Jose’s car that night. She wasn’t sure but told me she left the cassettes and cassette player hidden in the game room. We made a pact to burn them the following weekend.
That same week my parents told me we were going to be moving to the U.S. in two months. It was a huge life-changing event for us. We would be leaving everything we had behind, but the truth was we were struggling financially for a long time and my dad had gotten a great job in New York, so we had to take a chance at a new life. Still, it was a hard pill to swallow.
I loved Argentina but weirdly enough, at that moment, I wanted to be as far away from the country club as possible and New York sounded like the perfect place. I never went back to my country club and although I saw Mati, Fede, and Vanessa at a farewell party they threw for me, we never talked about Aña, the cassettes, or anything regarding that incident ever again.
As I grew older, I became more religious and when I turned eighteen, I wanted to be as close to God as possible, so I moved to Italy. I lived on the outskirts of Vatican City for three years. While I was there, I befriended a Cardinal who was very high in rank at the Vatican.
One night after dinner and some wine, I felt compelled to tell him the story of Aña.
I wanted to see what he thought of it. As soon as I mentioned her name his face turned pale.
He said, “I am very aware of the case.” He drank more wine and whispered, “The Vatican sent a special priest to Argentina to investigate the case and they recognized the woman in question as a fallen angel. The Vatican believes she was sent to earth to bring back Satan, that’s why she raped the priest.”
He finished his drink, got closer, and said, “We have been searching for her daughter since, she holds the power to make the prophecy a reality.”
I was shaken. I didn’t know how to move on. He grabbed my hand and with a worried look on his face said, “The case in Argentina is the most credible and terrifying case I’ve ever come across and you and your friends are very lucky to be alive, if you had listened to her ritual, what some call the devil’s lullaby, you would’ve been in grave danger.
I had many sleepless nights after that encounter. I never saw the cardinal after that.
He probably felt he had said too much. Six months later, I moved back to the states where I finally became a pastor. I thought I was going to be a doctor, but I kept wanting to be closer to God. I worked in churches all over the country…
One night while living in Florida I heard the devastating news that my old friend Mati and his wife had died in a horrible house fire. I always wondered if it was related to Aña but was afraid to reach out to Fede or Vanessa. I tried not to think about it, but it seemed the memories were haunting me.
A year later, my parents passed away from old age, so I decided to make a change in my life.
A friend told me there was a small church in Oklahoma that needed a pastor, so I took a chance. I moved here three years ago and within six months met my wife and got married soon after.
We were trying to have a baby for the longest time, but it wasn’t working. We were devastated. I always wanted kids and had waited till late in life and so did my wife. She would cry at night and that would break my heart. I kept asking God why he couldn’t bless us with a kid after I had given everything up for him. I thought he would listen to my pleas.
Another year passed and I stopped asking for it. That’s when the miracle occurred, and my wife finally became pregnant. We were ecstatic. We were both in our forties and this was a true blessing from the Lord. In January, my baby boy was born. We named him Ezequiel based on the bible.
About a week ago I came home from Church late at night, my wife didn’t hear me come in, but I saw her trying to put Ezequiel to bed, so I went straight to the bedroom to freshen up, didn’t want to interrupt. As I was putting my clothes away, I checked the monitor and saw her rocking him from side to side. I sat on my bed and heard what sounded like a whisper… I glanced at the monitor and saw my wife singing a lullaby to my baby. I smiled at first but soon after I froze.
I had heard that lullaby before. Memories came rushing back…It was the same lullaby we briefly heard on the cassette when I was a kid. I was terrified. I rushed to the baby’s room and interrupted her. She looked at me weirdly…
I took the baby from her hands and said, “Honey, let me put Ezequiel to sleep. Get some rest.”
Ezequiel was crying now, and my wife was not happy, but I didn’t give her a choice. I started rocking and praying under my breath until my wife left the room.
The next morning as we were having breakfast I asked, “Where in the world did you learn that lullaby?”
She said, “My mom would sing it before I went to bed.”
I was confused so I pressed, “Do you know what language the lullaby is in because it doesn’t sound like English.”
She told me, “I have no clue, I learned it over time.”
“Well, I don’t like it,” I said. “Please don’t sing it to Ezequiel anymore. See, while I was at the Vatican someone told me that lullaby was actually a ritual to the devil.”
She laughed and then said. “You’re crazy. We all grew up in the church, we would never sing—”.
I cut her off and begged her. “Please, don’t fight me on this.” She nodded and obliged. “Of course, honey.”
The truth was I didn’t really know her family well. We had a private wedding in Oklahoma and only her mom and grandma came to our ceremony. They had told me they belonged to the cathedral of Holy Moss in Massachusetts which is the biggest church there. I was confused now. How could someone who goes to church sing the devil’s lullaby to her child?
That day I went to church and prayed for my baby’s safety. Later I looked up my wife’s family online. I didn’t see any red flags, but I was still concerned so I called a friend of mine who is a detective. I asked him If he could find information on my wife’s family, to see if they really attended the Holy Moss and any additional background information he could find.
A week went by… my wife and I weren’t on good terms. She didn’t understand why I was acting so weird around her. A huge storm had walloped the city for days and we were all snowed in. I went to shower and took the baby monitor with me because Ezequiel had been sick lately so wanted to be sure he had no trouble sleeping.
Mid-shower I took a gander at the monitor and realized my wife was in his room holding a candle and staring at Ezequiel… She started rocking back and forth by herself chanting the same lullaby again. I let the shower run so she wouldn’t notice I was done. I was going to run into the room and put a stop to it but that’s when I realized I had a missed message on my cellphone from my detective friend. He had sent it to me hours earlier, but I hadn’t seen it.
The text message said: Your wife’s family is from Massachusetts but not from Boston. They are originally from Salem. As far as I could find, they didn’t belong to any church. In fact, as weird as it may sound, it appears they were part of a Satanic cult. Which made me curious, so I dug a little deeper.
I found your wife’s records from the Massachusetts school board but couldn’t find her birth certificate… The reason is, she was not born in Massachusetts. She was adopted. Your wife was born in Argentina. Her biological mother was placed in an insane asylum after committing a heinous crime against a priest.