Spooky Pasta: a spectre at my home.

Once upon a time, at a beautiful colonnial city at Central Mexico, there used to be a young engineer who like any other fellow in his twenties, wanted no other thing than to make his way through the world and have some fun with his friends, as any other youngster of his age. His name was Charlie, and the year was 2003.

It was a day like any other, and autumn was covering with leaves every floor: the Day of the Dead passed on barely a week ago.

First, Charlie called his friends to see what was cooking, so to speak. One of his friends was Tony. And while Tony was getting ready, Charlie called him, to see what was going to be the plan for the afternoon. Tony convinced Charlie and another friend called Louis to go to see the wrestling match (Lucha Libre!), for Doctor Wagner and Perro Aguayo Junior were going to attend “Arena Querétaro” that same Saturday night. So, when they were planning on how to get there, Tony said to them: why not? It's going to be an epic night!

Then, the three friends headed towards the bus stop to get the tickets to go and witness a great wrestling match. They were riding in the bus around six o’clock in the afternoon, anxious and eager to see the epic match. Charlie was the most excited, for it was his first wrestling match. One thing about this kid is that he loved typical masks, and the Mexican wrestlers marks were no exception, for as many of you know, Lucha Libre is more than a cultural reference around the world: in many parts of Mexico, is almost like a religion!

Next, they went to the box-office to get the tickets; the match was going to begin at half past seven, and they arrived just in time, at a quarter past seven. Tony was buying the tickets when Charlie decided to do something out of the ordinary (at least for his standards, back then): he bought himself as a souvenir a wrestler (luchador) mask, that one of the most famous Mexican wrestler: El Santo.

After that, they went to take their seats, but Charlie was so fascinated with his new mask that he did something that he didn’t use to do even as a child: wear it during the whole match. Him and his friends were laughing, clowning around and just having a good time. Even Doctor Wagner, the wrestler, when he passed by and saw Charlie wearing the mask, gave him a thumb up and told him, “right on, man!” Charlie was fascinated.

After a while, during the intermission, Charlie did something crazy: he climbed into the ring, wearing the El Santo mask. Everyone was cheering him up, others were just laughing at him, and even asking him to go back to his place and sit down, but he didn’t care: he was happy.

-“What was it like to be at the centre of one of the most celebrated wrestling arenas of the country?“ His friends asked Charlie, and he answered: “It was fantastic!”

After a while, and a fantastic evening, each one of the three friends returned home. The next day, Charlie surprised his mother by wearing the mask; she was astonished, but she wasn’t scared. Actually, later on, she told him that in a strange way, the mask seemed to fit him in quite all right.

Eventually, months went by and December arrived; the time of the traditional “posadas” in Mexico. Charlie and his family used to prepare a traditional Mexican posada, with prayers, the journey with the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, the Bengal lights, the piñatas and the “aguinaldos”, which are little packs with candies and fruits; the Posada was going to take place on December 20^th. Tony and some other of Charlie’s friends attended to the party, and while they were enjoying the party, Tony asked Charlie to put on the mask and to play a little bit, as if they were wrestling. Charlie’s friends were taking pictures with one of the first digital cameras; one of Tony’s friends was taking the pictures, her name was Susan. Everything was going on so well; the friends were having a good night, the Posada finished and they bid each other goodbye and good wishes for the Holidays.

What neither Charlie nor his friends suspected is that there was something odd about one of the pictures, and Susan revealed it to Tony, who later on told Charlie.

-Hey, man! Tony said to Charlie, there’s something weird in one of the pictures!

-What happened? Charlie replied.

-Do you remember the picture Susan took us when we were wrestling, while you were wearing the El Santo mask?

-I do.

-Well, someone else appeared behind where we were wrestling, mate!

-What do you mean? Charlie answered uneasily.

-I mean that there’s some kind of spectre or apparition behind us in the picture, man! And it looks like the man was laughing, and coming out of your head or something!

At first, Charlie didn’t believe him, for it was The Innocents Day (December 28^th) and he thought it was some kind of joke.

-If that’s true, Charlie said to Tony, I want to see the picture.

-All right, man, Tony replied. I’ll show it to you, man. But it’s going to be a bit of a shock, trust me! Sleep well, mate.

Next day, in the evening, Tony arrived to Charlie’s house. Charlie’s sister was also there; actually, she was the first (apart from Tony) to see the picture. But before that, Charlie showed Tony pictures of his father and his grandparents, who passed away some years ago. He did that to make sure that he probably saw either one of them: when Tony said it was neither one of them, Charlie was starting to get a little nervous.

Then, he saw the picture…

And to his surprise, it was no one whom he knew! Not a relative, not anyone else he has ever met!

While Charlie’s mom was arriving to the house, Charlie shouted and called upon her, to ask her to see the picture. Oh, my God! Talk about some goose bumps!

Charlie’s mom revealed him that ever since she saw him wearing the mask, she noticed that it looked exceptionally good on him, as if it was designed especially for him, like customized. Also, his sister told him that since a few weeks back, she felt a strange vibe at the studio, the house’s library, where everything happened.

However, Charlie’s mom told him that there was nothing to be afraid of, that she was going to investigate what to do about it, with a friend of hers, a sort of medium, that could help them. All they needed was a printed copy of the picture, yet they have to wait until Tuesday to see Charlie’s mom’s friend, a woman of extensive knowledge on this sort of paranormal issues.

The day arrived when they had to attend to the appointment with the medium, who revealed them (Charlie went there accompanied by his mother) some startling truths about what transpired that very same night: who the apparition was, and what was he doing, apparently, following Charlie… The spectre stepped into the medium’s body:

-Why are you afraid of me, my boy? The apparition said through the medium. I don’t want to harm you! I was just having fun, like you with your friends! And I noticed you are a good heart boy, strong and wise, like your mother.

Yes, Charlie’s mother was also there, and the spectre also told her some startling revelations that were impossible to know for the medium!

Finally, Charlie and his mother decided to do what the medium asked them to do, so that the soul of the mysterious spectre could finally rest in peace. Charlie’s mother offered a mass for the rest of the mysterious soul that followed, at least for a while, Charlie. As for Charlie, he gave the El Santo mask , which apparently worked as a vortex for the mysterious spectre, who revealed to be none other than Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (yes, El Santo himself!) back with the medium. Charlie never saw his El Santo mask again.

But the memory of what happened during those days will forever haunt me, for up until then, nothing of paranormal nature had happened to me…

Tonatiuh