In 2017, Spanish director Paco Plaza released his chilling film Verónica which made headlines for its terrifying realism and a plot inspired by true events in Madrid in the early 1990s.
What many don’t realize is that, even with its cinematic liberties, the film is actually based on an officially documented case investigated by Spanish police, known as the "Estefania Gutierrez Lazaro mystery" or the Vallecas case The Vallecas Case, considered one of the most disturbing examples of demonic possession in modern history.
A Dangerous Attempt to Speak With the Dead
Estefania Gutierrez Lazaro was a typical fifteen-year-old living in Vallecas, a suburb south of Madrid. She loved music, enjoyed reading, and, like many teenagers, was drawn to the unknown.
But in the spring of 1990, she and her school friends decided to experiment with a Ouija board to contact the spirit of another girl's friend who had died in a motorcycle accident. Estefania never imagined this session would open a door that could never be closed.
The Nun Who Interrupted Too Late
During the session at school, a supervising nun burst in, furious at the girls for messing with things they didn’t understand. She smashed the wooden board, but those present swore they saw an eerie white smoke rising from the broken pieces, which Estefania accidentally inhaled.
From that moment, everything changed.
Moving Shadows, Hallucinations, and Nighttime Screams
Days later, Estefania began suffering strange episodes and vivid hallucinations. She told her parents she saw faceless black figures roaming the house and heard voices whispering her name. Doctors were unable to diagnose her—every test showed no neurological or psychological illness. As months passed, the fits and screaming grew worse; she would even bite and bark at her siblings during these episodes, as if something else had taken control.
A Mysterious Death and the Beginning of Real Terror
In August 1991, after six months of torment, Estefania died suddenly in the hospital during one of her attacks. The official cause was a sudden respiratory failure. Her family rejected this, convinced an evil force was behind her death. But the nightmare didn’t end there. Within days, the unexplained horrors began to spread through their home.
The Vallecas House: A Haunting That Lingered After Death
Estefania's parents later recounted that their home became the center of increasingly bizarre activity doors slammed open and shut on their own, appliances turned on without warning, photos fell off the walls, and a photo of Estefania even burst into flames before their eyes with no apparent cause. Worst of all, her mother reported feeling physical pressure on her while she slept, as if something was sitting on her, and invisible hands grabbing her legs and dragging her from the bed.
Spanish Police Witness the Paranormal
With nowhere else to turn, the parents called the police in 1992. When officers entered the apartment, their official report described highly unusual phenomena typical of poltergeist activity :
- Loud knocking sounds coming from an empty room.
- A locked wardrobe suddenly swinging open.
- A wall-mounted crucifix spinning on its own until it shattered.
- Mysterious brown stains spreading across furniture right before their eyes.
This police report, complete with official stamps, is what made the case the first officially documented paranormal incident in modern Spanish history.
Shadows on the Move and Torn Pictures
As these events persisted, the family noticed Estefania’s posters on the walls had been scratched as though by animal claws, and it seemed like someone—or something—still haunted the room.
Everyone in the house would speak of "apparitions" wandering the hallways—exactly as Estefania had described seeing before she died.
Moving Out Ended the Haunting
In the end, the Gutiérrez family had no choice but to leave the apartment for good. As soon as they moved out, all the strange occurrences stopped, as if whatever haunted the place was tied to the walls, not to them.
Since then, there have been no further reports from the building, but the story continues to be told in every Spanish home that loves true horror tales.
From True Story to Screen
When director Paco Plaza decided to adapt the story into a film, he wasn’t interested in a documentary approach. Instead, he wanted to capture the sense of shared horror that gripped Spain after the incident. At the Toronto International Film Festival, Plaza explained:
"In Spain, everyone knows this story, it’s the only time a police officer has officially witnessed supernatural events and recorded them in an official, stamped government report."
The film isn’t just an adaptation; it’s a chilling national legend, embodying the thin line between belief in the supernatural and a mysterious reality that defies explanation.
A Legend That Still Lives On
More than thirty years later, Spaniards still remember Estefanía as "the girl who dared to open the gateway." Whether she was the victim of evil forces or an unexplained psychological case, her story remains a warning that curiosity about the unknown can have irreversible consequences.
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