Veruela and the supernatural origins of Bécquer

Curiously, the period of stay of the Bécquer brothers, Gustavo and Valeriano, in the Veruela monastery, occurred in the years between 1863 and 1865: precisely, those that determined one of the milestones that would change the historical drift of North America and by default, of the world, as was the Civil War between the states of the Union and the Confederacy. Although, by then, one of the greatest writers of fantasy and horror literature of all time, Edgar Allan Poe, had already died for some time, anyone would say, however, that his spirit had taken over the young man's fertile imagination. Gustavo, at that time, a correspondent in the newspaper 'El Contemporáneo', to pick up the gauntlet of some stories, in this case, based on the most surprising aspects of traditional folklore, which, years after the author died, would appear, with all their merit, among the most admired works of universal Literature.

It was at that time, moreover, when the world was shaken by the terrible death tolls with which the two armies bled each other in places like Shilloh, Bull Run or Gettysburg, while Mark Twain continued to offer the world the wonderful adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fynn, when the Bécquer brothers, protected by the circumstances of the terrible illness that plagued Gustavo, arrived at this enigmatic monastery of Veruela, located, like a metaphorical exorcism, on the edge of a supernatural environment marked by the presence of one of the most mysterious and legendary mountains, not only in Aragon, but also in the entire Spanish Peninsula, such as Moncayo, bringing out of the dust of History, all kinds of unique legends, protected by the shadow of some tombs and some unique ornamentations, in whose suggestive chiaroscuro, one day rested the mortal remains of notable abbots, such as López Marco or exponents of the royalty of Aragon, such as the infante Alfonso, son of King Jaime I, to the point of being able to speculate that Veruela, independently from neighboring Soria, constituted, with the attraction of its ancient mystery, the supernatural origin of that favorite son of Seville, who, for the world, was Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.

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