El Tiradito
by Jane St. Clair
El Tiradito is a wishing place. It is where those who have loved and lost ask for help in mending their broken hearts. It is a place for anyone who still loves someone now lost to them … someone who has left them alone, either physically or emotionally, or someone torn from them through a darkness like addiction.
The legend of El Tiradito promises that if you make your wish and light a candle in this spot, your wish will come true … but only if your candle burns for one whole day.
The Story of El Tiradito
One hundred forty years ago, when the West was wild and lawless, a teenaged boy named Juan Oliveras married the daughter of a wealthy sheep rancher. An evil curse on his life began to come true when Juan fell in love with his mother-in-law. His father-in-law caught them together in the family’s mansion in Tucson, went crazy with hatred, and killed Juan. Then he fled to Sonora, Mexico, but he too was murdered – this time by Apache. The two widows left behind took their own lives.
Our story does not end there. The good people of Tucson’s Barrio had to do something to lessen their shock and grief. They called Juan Oliveras by a new name –“El Tiradito–” which means, “Little Castaway,” the one who is shunned and put aside. They built this wishing place so no one would ever forget this tragedy of Shakespearean proportions that affected them all so deeply.
El Tiradito Today
For all this time –over 100 years– the women of the Barrio have maintained El Tiradito’s little grotto. They moved and rebuilt it twice in its long history. Today it’s in an unlikely spot: downtown Tucson, next to office buildings and the convention center.
In 1971 builders of the the Butterfield Expressway planned to destroy El Tiradito. The women saved it by putting it on the Register of National Historic Places. They take care of it to this day.
El Tiradito can be ghostly and creepy if you approach it with the wrong energy. You need an open heart that understands the power of forgiveness. To those who believe this spot is primitive and superstitious, I say that you need more magic in your lives. To those who have been in love, you already know fools give you reasons, but wise men never try.
Jane’s short story, “Secrets of Mama Kardashian,” is now available from Wising Up Press in the This book is about Americans who cross class boundaries through immigration, education, marriage, and other means, and how it feels to leave the familiar behind you. To buy a copy of this wonderful book, go to the bookstore at Wising Up Press.
“Mute,” Jane’s short story about a hospice clown who gets confused after she witnesses a murder, is live online in the 97th issue of Image — see Mute by Jane St. Clair. Also, “Disneyland Death,” a story by Jane St. Clair is online in the Spring 2018 PDF issue of Medical Literary Messenger from Virginia Commonwealth University.