The Hair-Covered Hand: Un Gato Negro, A Black Cat

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a big fan of listening to cassettes filled with legends and myths from mexican history, spooky stories about ghosts and spirits one should always look out for. This has been my driven point to listen to podcasts dealing with spine chilling anecdotes, and this podcast was no exception, in this podcast, Juan Ramon Saenz interviews Yolanda Sanchez, a woman that has just witnessed a paranormal encounter caused by seeing a black cat in the streets. 

The podcast starts with Mr. Saenz asking Yolanda about the experience and how did it all go down, she then explains to him that after leaving a party with some cousins, one of her uncles warned her to watch out for a black cat at that time in the night, because seeing one will mean that she was about to encounter with an evil spirit, she of course took it as a joke as her uncle had been drinking, they were at a party after all. After getting home, her cousins stayed outside the house to keep partying, but she went straight to bed and once arriving in her bedroom, she in fact saw a black cat in there, but she paid no attention to it and got into bed, once she was in bed, the cat got on top of the bed by her feet, as she was lying face up she accommodated the pillow under her head to take a look at the cat; once they made eye contact her body froze, she could not make any movement and her face got locked up staring at the cat. This went on for a couple minutes until the cat got off and vanished, after that she could move again but was still in shock. The next morning after telling this experience, she found out that her cousins had witnessed an entity roaming on the rooftop of the house, a woman-like silhouette with no face that disappeared into the dark a couple of minutes later. 

The podcast uses sound effects in the background that keeps you entertained and focused on what the narrator is saying, it captures the intensity of the events that unfolded. Mr. Saenz keeps the story going by asking Yolanda questions about how she felt at the moment and links her experience to those that other people might have had before. For instance, walking around at night, hearing screams and people walking on their rooftops, living close to allegedly murder spots and so on. Mexican culture is big in religion, and people speculate and claim having paranormal encounters. This podcast is both a narration and an interview, and it triggers the listeners memory by talking about something almost everyone in Mexico have heard about. 

All in all, the use of language, music, sound effects and narrative, creates a macabre atmosphere that makes the listener get involved and visualize every single thing described in this podcast. Just like when you read a good book and imagine every scenario as you read along, this podcast made me picture the whole story in my head by just listening. 

Word Count: 521 words