If you have ever looked at the water at the bottom of a well, you may have seen little bubbles that emerge to the surface. According to these legends from the Balearic Islands, you have seen proof that Maria Enganxa is there: those bubbles were her breathing.
In Balearic legends, Maria Enganxa (a name that could be translated from Catalan as “Mary Hooks”) is a character who lives inside wells, cisterns and the underground tunnels that connect them. She has a long hook or a hand shaped like a hook that she uses to kidnap children who go near wells when their parents aren’t around. These children are never heard of again.
There are different stories that explain her origin. One says that she used to be a beautiful young girl, but a witch was jealous of her and cursed her to remain underwater.
In Catalonia, legends about Maria Enganxa or Maria Ganxos exists in the Priorat and Segrià areas, where she is said to have been a real woman. She knew how to use medicinal herbs to cure all kinds of illnesses, but she also enjoyed making those who disliked her suffer: she would make cows’ milk go sour, destroyed harvests and dry up the fruit trees. Seeing the situation, she was imprisoned but she escaped jail with her magic. Angry townspeople searched for her everywhere, until they found her in a field, in front of a well. Seeing she was about to be attacked, Maria said she would get revenge, particularly against children, and then jumped inside the well to avoid getting caught.
For generations, the figure of Maria Enganxa has been used to scare children to avoid getting too close to wells without supervision. The reason is that it was not that uncommon for children to have an accident and fall down the well. Other cultures have similar figures of someone inside wells who pulls children down, for example Maria Gancha from Minho (Portugal), the Marabbecca from Sicily, or the story of Banchō Sarayashiki from Japan.
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