The legend of Lady Eruvigi in La Fuente del Pinar in the Yecla countryside

A ghostly figure associated with death, revenge and the full moon

The rural location of La Fuente del Pinar lies around 11 km north of the town of Yecla and is home to a natural spring (from which it takes its name) and the ruins of a Roman villa dating from the 1^st and 2^nd centuries AD.

However, it is also the source of the Legend of Lavy Eruvigi, a ghostly figure who was purported to appear on rainy nights when there was a full moon, and there are actually three versions of the story.

The first version of the legend is that the lady who owned the land, named Eruvigi, wanted to build a children’s hospital in La Fuente del Pinar, but she died one rainy night when there was a full moon. As she had been unable to fulfil her wish or promise, she could still be seen walking her dog along the paths around the area, but only on rainy evenings when there was a full moon.

This was partly due to the relatives of Eruvigi having refused to comply with her wishes and build the hospital, and the lady’s dog would attack those of them who had opposed the project, on some occasions even killing them.

A second variant tells that a Count married Lady Eruvigi, the owner of la Fuente del Pinar, and it was he who refused to build it so that he could keep her fortune when she died. He even shut her in a room with no food and water, but before she passed away she placed a curse on him which would enable her to return on rainy nights with a full moon and eventually kill him in revenge.

The third version of the myth is that Countess Eruvigi suffered from leprosy and during her illness she used to walk around the countryside in disguise, hiding her disfigured features with a sunshade to avoid causing feelings of repulsion among the locals and her acquaintances. However, one day a local shepherd recognized her and she felt obliged to kill him in order to maintain her condition secret.

On the spot of the murder she erected a wooden cross and after she eventually died she could still be seen there at times, wearing a white overshirt and carrying a candle as well as her sunshade. It is said that she was buried in the chapel of the Casa de la Fuente del Pinar.

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