La Casa de las Muertes

Irati Rúa Ariztegi

In the Bordadores Street, in the Spanish city of Salamanca, there is a building which has an enigmatic and dark name: La Casa de las Muertes or, literally, the House of the Deaths.
According to the legend, Doña María la Brava, an important figure of the 15th century history of Salamanca, ordered that two Manzano brothers were beheaded after a familiar quarrel. The bodies of these unfortunate brothers were found in this house, fact that would explain its name.
However, there are other legends originated in the 19th century which attribute this uncommon name to the murder of a priest in this building.
The last explanation, the most logical and simple one, reminds that, in Salamanca, “muerte” meant «skull» as well as «death».
The reason why these skulls were originally cut in the façade of La Casa de las Muertes, however, is still a mystery and these four little pieces of stone that fascinate tourists nowadays were, in the past, a bad omen which people carefully tried to avoid.