According to the legend, Mr. Emílio, a painter who used to search for work in the parishes of Paredes de Coura, was often visited by witches. Although when he was a young boy he had heard many stories, he never believed they really existed. One day, when he was already a grown man, he painted the house of a farmer. He kept on hearing all sorts of witches’ stories. As a joke, he once said "Be careful because if you leave your clothes out tonight on the line, the witches will hurt you!". The next day, he was surprised and angry to find his pants cut into pieces. From that day on, he never wanted to hear or say the word “witch” again. The fact is that the witches still came to him. One day, during his work break, Mr. Emílio was approached by an old, skinny, ugly and evil lady called Aunt Casimira, who sat next to him against his will. Then a man came with loaded carts pulled by cows. The animals were quite calm, but as soon as the old lady stared at them, they were startled and began to jump out of the cart and ran away, dropping the load they were. The man was very upset and yelled at the old lady, and soon after all the neighbours came running. In the end, somebody told him "Listen, Emílio, it’s her eyes. They say she did the same when she was a young girl!". Mr. Emílio never forgot the episode and never ignored what could happen to anyone who didn’t believe in it.
Location: Paredes de Coura
Location: Paredes de Coura
