The Terrifying True Story That Inspired 'Veronica' Is Even Scarier Than The Movie
Veronica, a 2017 Spanish film about a girl who uses an Ouija board and becomes possessed, captured the attention of horror fans everywhere. Veronica is one of the few horror movies based on true stories that’s actually based on true events. The basis of the film is the Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro mystery. In 1990, Estefanía was a regular teenage girl living in a suburb of Madrid. She performed a séance and allegedly became possessed by a demon who tormented her for months.
What happened to Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro is a matter of much speculation. Her family and the local police definitely believe this teenage girl’s passing is one of the few Ouija board horror stories where someone actually managed to conjure something from the other side. Read on to find out about the true events that inspired the movie that horror fans are calling one of the scariest movies on Netflix.
Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro's Occult Interests Turned Deadly
The teen who inspired the events of the 2017 horror film Veronica was actually 15-year-old Estefanía Gutiérrez Lázaro from Vallecas, a suburb in southern Madrid. Estefanía was allegedly into the occult, although according to her parents, no more than any regular high school teenager. They believed she was just playing around with spooky stuff and didn't think something like an Ouija board could cause the damage it later seemed to.
In 1990, Estefanía brought an Ouija board to school, changing the course of her life forever.
A Nun Tried To Stop The Girl's Séance
Estefanía's parents claim the séance occurred at their daughter's high school. She allegedly wanted to reach her friend's ex-boyfriend, who had passed away after being involved in a motorcycle accident. Friends watched the process, but then a nun stopped the séance. The nun damaged the board, which some speculate caused a paranormal disruption.
The nun was too late, however, to stop the possession that allegedly occurred right after.
She Suffered From Hallucinations
Estefanía's parents claim that after she performed the séance, she began to hallucinate. According to the family, Estefanía said that she saw dark figures walking through the house. She described the mysterious beings as "evil," maintaining that they plagued her all night. Then the teen began to have seizures.
The seizures became full-on manic fits where she would bark at her siblings, but no one knew what to do. Her parents took her to multiple doctors and specialists but no one could figure out what was wrong with her. She reportedly didn't have a mental problem, but it was obvious to professionals that Estefanía wasn't well.
It Took A Year For Police To Get Involved
The story of Estefanía's haunting was nothing like what happened in Veronica. While the police arrive after a crazed 911 call in the film, it took over a year before the actual police became involved in the real case. Estefanía's family didn't reach out until after the girl's passing in 1991. When the family brought the police to the apartment in Vallecas, the authorities discovered a series of spooky happenings.
When the police investigated, they claimed they heard a loud banging noise coming from an unoccupied area in the home. After that, they reported how a “perfectly closed armoire” became opened “in a sudden and totally unnatural way.”
Estefanía Passed About 6 Months After The Ouija Board Incident
In the film Veronica, the girl passes away under extreme circumstances in three days, but Estefanía's passing took over six months. After more than half a year of suffering from seizures and hallucinations, Estefanía's life ended in August of 1991. Reportedly, she passed while at the hospital and not at home like the fictional character Veronica.
Estefanía's parents don't know what happened to her, but they believe that her death had to do with the supernatural. They've never said that they explicitly believe a demon was released, but they think her passing was caused by something evil.
The House Was Still Haunted After Estefanía Passed
After Estefanía's passing, the hauntings continued to torment her family for over a year. The Gutiérrez parents claimed that after their daughter died, they didn't go a day without dark, ominous figures stomping through their home and slamming doors. They described how their appliances turned on and off without warning, and how inanimate objects would leap from shelves and move without interference.
Members of the Gutiérrez family also maintained how they could hear someone whispering to them in the middle of the night, and at times, hear Estefanía shrieking.
