#TurismoMacabro: Basílica de Guadalupe

By: Casandra Vicario. Image: www.explorandomexico.com.mx

Located at the foot of Cerro del Tepeyac, where many claim the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared, in the Gustavo A. Madero borough. The Basílica de Guadalupe is one of the most visited sites in the world, receiving 20 million pilgrims every year.

This magnificent place was designed as we know it today (don't deny it, we've all visited it) by the architects José Luis Benlliure, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Alejandro Schoenhofer, Fray Gabriel Sánchez de Mora, and Javier García Lascuraín.

Like any good place, it also has its legends and ghost stories that invite us to visit it—maybe, with a bit of luck, you'll run into one of these characters, or a brand-new one, since new restless souls appear every day.

One of the Basílica's recurring apparitions is the phantom bell tower: before the Basílica became what we know today, a friar used to call the faithful to mass with the bell. His devotion was so strong that even when it rained hard, he would climb up to summon the faithful. One terribly cold day, the man, already elderly, fell ill with pneumonia and died. But the bells haven't stopped ringing since.

Many people who visit the Basílica frequently are already used to sharing the space with the ghost of a woman who leaves the temple every day, carrying a lit candle in her hands that never goes out, rain or shine. She doesn't speak to anyone, doesn't look at anyone—she just walks away from the place and then disappears.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that in 1921 there was an attack at the site in which two people died; they can be seen sitting on one of the benches in the main atrium.

Without a doubt, the Basílica de Guadalupe is a place worth visiting—and did I mention it has a beautiful cemetery?