Spain Trip #52: Seville: "Oh Susona!" A Ghost Story in Spain's Jewish Quarter

Susona's balcony 

During our trip to Seville, Spain in May, our walking tour took us through the Medieval

Jewish Quarter of the city. It was there we heard a haunting story about a young Jewish girl and her love for a Christian Soldier. Of course, it didn't end well, and well, she's still haunting the area... we experienced it. Her name was Susona, so, of course I had to pun the name to the song "Oh, Suzanna" (for those who are too young to know it). Here's the story and pictures and Rob's Ghostly experience>>>

THE GHOST- During our tour/walk, when we stood in front of the very balcony I (Rob) immediately developed a headache, which is an indication to me that a ghost was present. That was before I heard the story, and then it all made sense. The ghost conveyed feelings of sadness and depression. Read on and you'll see why. 

  

A blog called "Veoapartment.com" tells the story this way:

THE TRAGEDY OF SUSONA - Tucked away in a little square between the Plaza Doña Elvira and Calle Agua (the street alongside the old wall), is the scene of one of Seville’s oldest popular stories, the legend of Susona Ben-Suson. Today, the spot is marked by a tile on the wall bearing a picture of a skull, that marks the place where in times gone by  hung the head of the beautiful  Susona Ben-Suson, a silent witness to the tragedy that she had brought upon herself.

Skull marks the place Susona Ben-Suson's head hung

It was in the year 1480, in the final years of the Jewish community in Seville. By this time, as the newly-emerging kingdom of Spain sought to strengthen itself through enforced conformity to Catholicism, many Jews had already left or converted to Christianity. However, there was suspicion among some Christians that these converts were not true converts. That suspicion led to the creation of the Spanish Inquisition, where people were charged with heresy and religious dissent and murdered for not being Catholic. 

   Don Diego de Susona, a wealthy merchant, was one such convert and alarmed by the threat to his position convened a secret meeting of prominent converts to discuss the possibility of armed insurrection.

His daughter Susona, however, had a Christian boyfriend, a young noble, who she feared would be put in danger by an uprising, and she revealed the plot to him. Her boyfriend promptly reported them to the authorities, and the conspirators were duly arrested and brought before the Inquisition, tried and executed.

Stricken with remorse at the consequences of her action, Susona never again left her house, and when she died she had her head hung up outside the house (where it remained as late as the 18th century) as a testament to her grief.

  

NEXT: CLIMBING TO THE TOP OF THE TOWER OF THE CATHEDRAL OF THE VIRGIN MARY