My husband was spending time drinking at the bar and didn’t work. One day he saw his buddy Samuel Rios’s skeleton who had died of drink. The skeleton offered him to drink to the best. My husband was so scared with this hallucination that he stopped drinking. I thank the Virgin of San Juan for it happened.

One night I was coming back home from a bar. I decided to take a short cut through the mountain. There I saw the devil goat. I made the sign of the cross and ran away, although I was pretty drunk. I thank the Virgin of the Rosary because I managed to arrive to my house, the monster didn’t slobber all over me and I only got some gray hair with fright.

My son Ramon Campos kept bad company and began to drink. I prayed to the Virgin of Zapopan to bring my son to the right path. August 1950, the Virgin made the miracle, and my son changed for better.

Petronila Rodriguez loved to flirt with her neighbors. But one day one of them got drunk and got in her bedroom. She thanks Saint Martin for saving her and promises to not be such a coquette.

Ricardo Palacios was coming back home after a party and ran into some drunkards. They sprinkled him with gasoline and tried to put him on fire. He thanks Jesus Nazarene because he managed to escape.

We offer this retablo to the Lord of Chalma thanking him for saving us from a shameful and dangerous situation. The week-end had started very cheerful and lively, so the devil in person appeared to us. Thank to the protection of our defender we managed to find our way home quickly and without problems, leaving all the evil behind.

Mr. Felt and Mrs. Bone
Mexico City — February 2008

The night of February 27, 1963, Casimiro Mendoza and his buddy Austerberto went to have few drinks in the tavern of don Venanzio. On their way back to the ranch they ran into the Death riding on horseback. With great fear, they implored the Virgin of San Juan, and she protected them. The Death passed by without approaching to them.

Araceli Lopez and her boyfriend had sex while drunk. Suddenly he slipped in the wrong hole and cause her tremendous pain. She thanks Saint Pancras with this retablo for quick healing because she couldn’t even sit.

The fisherman Sergio Mendes caught two enormous lobsters. He celebrated that with beer and passed out. He woke up with a claw on his balls. He thanks Saint Peter for he was able to save them. He promises not to drink anymore.

Holy Shroud, thank you for your favor. My buddy Valeriano and I were drinking and heard a moan. We turned and saw a ghost of a little girl. We started cursing it and it disappeared.

Romulo Infante
Mexico City, 1953

My friend Pancho and I were drinking aguardiente (“firewater”) and made a bet who would pass the night at the cemetery. I was so drunk, I felt brave, so I agreed to do so. But at the midnight, the ghost of my late buddy Rogaciano Mendez appeared. I was so scared, I immediately sobered up. I thank the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Amador Ramirez
November 2, 1952
San Juan Nuevo, Michoacan

My old man Pancrasio used to drink in the bar with his friends. I was very desperate because he couldn’t stop and I had to pick him up and drag home so he wouldn’t drink anymore. I asked the Lord of the Wonders to help him to quit this bad habit. And with his help my old man amended his ways and started to work better.

Felipa Castrejon
Cuetzalan, Puebla, 1937

Rogelio Mendez and Gloria Lopez got drunk and went to the mountains to have sex. But he was so drunk he climbed up the nopal cactus. He thanks Saint Francis with this retablo for he got cured from the infection that he got after multiple pricks.