The Ghost Girl of Mexico City International Airport (AICM)

Published By Aaron Perez

8/01/2026

Image Credit: https://skytraxratings.com/airports/mexico-city-international-airport-rating

    Mexico City International Airport—long known as Benito Juárez and now officially AICM—is one of Latin America’s busiest hubs. Amid the constant roar of jet engines, the rush of travelers, and the fluorescent glare of terminals, a quieter, stranger story has circulated for years among security staff, maintenance workers, and night-shift employees: the legend of the niña fantasma, or ghost girl.

The Legend

    According to accounts shared by airport personnel, the apparition is a young girl, roughly 5 to 8 years old. She is often described carrying a ball (sometimes specified as red), with her shoelaces untied. In some versions she approaches workers and politely asks them to tie her laces. In others she is simply seen playing or wandering. She appears most frequently in restricted zones, especially the “cementerio de aviones” (cemetery of planes)—the area where decommissioned aircraft and spare parts are stored. Sightings have also been reported on platforms, in departure lounges, near bathrooms, and even on security monitors.

    Workers say the girl can look remarkably ordinary at first—long dark hair, a simple dress or school-like uniform, eyes that seem alive under the lights—until she vanishes, levitates, or proves impossible to locate when guards are dispatched to the spot where cameras showed her. Some employees treat the presence almost casually, joking that “it’s the girl” or even suggesting someone leave her candy. Others find the encounters unsettling.

    Photographs and short videos have circulated online for years. One widely shared image supposedly shows a figure looking out the window of an abandoned plane in the aircraft cemetery. Another claims to capture her near Gate 7 or in Victorian-style clothing (a white smock or nightgown and hat). English-language outlets picked up the story around Halloween 2015, describing a “Victorian child” haunting the terminal. Skeptics have long noted that the images are blurry, possibly digital artifacts, reflections, or deliberate edits; no official confirmation from airport authorities or independent experts exists.

Possible Origins and the 1979 Tragedy

    Many local tellings link the ghost girl—and other reported apparitions at the airport—to a real disaster: Western Airlines Flight 2605 on October 31, 1979. The McDonnell Douglas DC-10, nicknamed the “Night Owl,” was flying from Los Angeles to Mexico City in dense fog. The crew attempted to land on a runway closed for maintenance (23L), struck construction equipment, and crashed. Seventy-two people on board and one person on the ground died; it remains Mexico City’s deadliest aviation accident.

    Some paranormal investigators and storytellers suggest the girl’s spirit (or other restless souls from the crash) remains tied to the airfield. One podcast explicitly connects the legend to a child lost in that catastrophe. Other reported ghosts at AICM include a disoriented passenger wandering corridors and the spirit of a flight attendant who died by suicide in crew rest facilities. These stories form a broader folklore of the airport as a liminal space where tragedy and constant movement leave residual energies.

English and Spanish Sources

    The tale appears in both languages, though it is more deeply rooted in Spanish-language Mexican media and oral tradition among airport workers:

• Spanish sources: Detailed write-ups appear on sites such as ViveUSA (“Las niñas fantasma del aeropuerto de la Ciudad de México”), Azteca Jalisco, El Pensante, Capital México, and Peru.com. YouTube channels and podcasts (including employee testimonies and investigations by figures such as David Rojas “El Fantasmólogo”) repeatedly feature the niña de la pelota or niña del cementerio de aviones. Recent episodes of programs like Sociedad Oculta also reference the AICM legend alongside other aviation hauntings.
• English sources: Coverage is thinner and often secondary. The Daily Mail and The Mirror ran pieces in 2015 highlighting the “Victorian child” photos and staff claims. These largely restate the Mexican reports without new independent verification.

    Note that some recent viral “ghost girl” videos circulating under the AICM or AIFA (Felipe Ángeles) label have been identified as older footage from other locations (for example, Monterrey) or possible fabrications. The classic AICM legend remains distinct from these later internet phenomena.

Folklore in a Modern Setting

    Airports are natural settings for ghost stories. They are places of arrival and departure, of heightened emotion, of lives interrupted by sudden tragedy. The restricted, often lonely spaces of the aircraft cemetery and overnight platforms amplify the sense of the uncanny. Whether the sightings are misidentifications, optical tricks under artificial light, collective storytelling that grows with each retelling, or something genuinely unexplained, the niña fantasma has become part of AICM’s unofficial lore.

    No authority has authenticated the photographs or videos. No formal paranormal investigation has produced conclusive evidence. Yet the accounts persist among people who work the night shifts and know the quieter corners of one of the world’s major airports. In a city already rich with legends—from La Llorona to the ghosts of the Metro—the girl with the ball and the untied laces continues her quiet rounds, at least in the stories told after the last flight of the night has departed.

    If you pass through AICM, especially in the early hours near the older sections or restricted zones, the staff might smile and tell you the same thing they tell each other: keep an eye out for the little girl asking for help with her shoes.

Sources:

“Las niñas fantasma del aeropuerto de la Ciudad de México.” ViveUSA, 30 Oct. 2015, updated 7 Feb. 2023, www.viveusa.mx/destinos/las-ninas-fantasma-del-aeropuerto-de-la-ciudad-de-mexico/.

London, Bianca. “Spooky Footage Shows the ‘Ghost’ of Victorian Child Roaming through an Airport and Even Looking out the Window of an Abandoned Plane… but Is It All Trickery?” Daily Mail, 3 Nov. 2015, www.dailymail.co.uk/lifestyle/article-3301570/Spooky-footage-shows-ghost-Victorian-child-roaming-airport-looking-window-abandoned-plane-trickery.html.

“Los fantasmas del aeropuerto de la Ciudad de México.” El Pensante, 25 Mar. 2018, elpensante.com/los-fantasmas-del-aeropuerto-de-la-ciudad-de-mexico/.

“México: La leyenda de la niña fantasma del aeropuerto.” Peru.com, 9 June 2015, peru.com/mundo/mexico/mexico-leyenda-nina-fantasma-aeropuerto-noticia-364880/.

Ríos, Emiliano. “‘La niña fantasma del Aeropuerto de Ciudad de México’: Las historias paranormales más impactantes en aviones.” Azteca Jalisco, 25 Oct. 2025, www.aztecajalisco.com/tendenciayviral/nina-fantasma-aeropuerto-ciudad-mexico-historias-paranormales-aviones.

Sobot, Rita. “Pictured: ‘Ghost’ of Small Child Dressed in Victorian Clothing Caught on Camera at Airport.” The Mirror, 2 Nov. 2015, www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/pictured-ghost-small-child-dressed-6754109.

“Western Airlines Flight 2605.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Airlines_Flight_2605. Accessed 29 July 2026.