Cumbres de Majalca
By Aaron Perez
Legend by Roberto Britto, fist published in Mexico Unexplained
Published 6/23/2025, Legend originally published on Mexico Unexplained on 3/20/2022
The State of Chihuahua is an area that has multiple environments in its borders, not unlike New Mexico in the north. In the western part of the state about 50-60 miles from the capital, there is a forest and national park area called Majalca, which is the setting for a legend of a black box. I first heard this legend as a child but decided to revisit it and share it with my audience. I am going to post a translated version written by Roberto Britto, author of the website Mexico Unexplained below and give a brief summary. To summarize it quicky, it is said that five young men would wander the road from the area to the capital but one night they found a black box. One of the group members, Fernando, opened the box and to their horror, found a mummified woman covered in precious jewels. Being a prankster, Fernando decides to take a ring on the corpse’s hand, ripping it off and getting sprayed with green liquids as a result. A black car then stops as a lady soon offers to take Fernando to the hospital, which the group agrees. Along the way, Fernando asks the woman what happened to her hand, to which she responded that it was ripped off by him. Fernando was soon found dead not far from where he was picked up, cause of death was heart attack. The full story, originally written by Roberto Britto and published on his website Mexico Unexplained, goes as follows:
"On a weekend some years back, 5 young people were off on an adventure to Cumbres de Majalca National Park, some 55 miles northeast of Chihuahua City. The mother of one of the boys on the trip cautioned them because she was familiar with the area and knew that many strange things happened around Majalca. Young people, as they are, laughed off the woman’s warnings and loaded the car for an exciting weekend in the wilderness.
On one of the back roads near the national park their car got a flat tire. They pulled the car off to the side of the road to put on the spare. One of the members of this group, Luis, wandered off a little and rested near a small rock outcrop. Between some of the stones he saw a glint of something. It looked like something metallic was behind the pile of rocks. He called the others over to his location and started to remove the rocks. The group beheld a large shiny black box about 5 feet long. When they took the lid off the box, they were shocked at what they saw: a mummified corpse full of jewels, with a large gold ring on the right hand. The group was terrified, and all were scared to the point of feeling nauseous except for Luis, the one who stumbled upon this site initially. Luis thought himself brave and decided to take the ring off the mummy’s hand. He used too much force and tore the entire hand from the corpse of the mummy. A reddish-green liquid spurt out and splashed on Luis. This scared the group even more. Luis then started to turn pale and had trouble breathing.
The road they were on was not well traveled, but they soon flagged down a woman in a small car for help. There was only room in the car for one passenger, so they asked the woman if she could take Luis to a hospital in Chihuahua City while they finished up fixing their own car. Luis got into the car, and he felt relieved that he would soon have the medical attention he needed. A few minutes into the ride, he noticed something unusual about the female driver: She was missing a hand. Luis was a curious fellow and tried to be as polite as possible when he asked the woman what happened to her hand. The woman looked at Luis with a cold stare and yelled, “YOU took it from me!” Later that day on highway 45, Luis’s body was found on the side of the road and the coroner’s office in Chihuahua City ruled that the cause of Luis’ death was heart attack."
If you want to read more creepy tales from Chihuahua, Mexico, I recommend visiting Roberto Britto's own website, which can be found here.
Sources:
Bitto, Robert. “Chihuahua Myths and Legends – Mexico Unexplained.” Mexico Unexplained, 20 March 2022, https://mexicounexplained.com/chihuahua-myths-and-legends/. Accessed 23 June 2025.
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