Tucson, Arizona: El Tiradito Wishing Shrine

El Tiradito the Wishing Shrine is the only one dedicated to a murdered sinner. Light a candle at El Tiradito and make a wish, your wish will come true if the candle stays lit all night, sez the legend.

[RA: Hold on... aren't we all sinners? El Tiradito figures into a popular bit of local Hispanic folklore: It is either the 19th century location of the unconsecrated grave site or suicide spot of a man who killed himself in despair resulting from a love triangle (there are several variations on this legend, including one where he's chased and killed with an ax). The adobe wall provides niches for offerings and candles. Light a candle at night and if it still burns at dawn then your wish will come true! Or something.]

You can find El Tiradito, the Wishing Shrine, just south of downtown Tucson in a historic neighborhood called Barrio Viejo. El Tiradito means “Castaway” or “Fallen One” and this is the only shrine dedicated to a murdered sinner. There are many stories around the origin of the shrine but each story has a through line of murder, mayhem and betrayal ending with survivors lighting candles at grave sites and promising never to forget or forgive.

That’s probably where the reputation as a wishing shrine began because now the legend has it that if you light a candle at El Tiradito and make a wish, your wish will come true if the candle stays lit all night.

You can buy a candle from La Pilita Museum next door to the shrine. While you are there, take a wander through their little museum and soak up a bit of Barrio Viejo history before you go make a wish. [Kaitlyn Barrett, 05/04/2011]