Arizona Oddities

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us

logo

Arizona Oddities

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us
Dose of HistorySouthern Arizona
Home›Dose of History›The Story of Teresa Urrea, Mexican Healer and Miracle Worker

The Story of Teresa Urrea, Mexican Healer and Miracle Worker

By Sam Lowe
August 21, 2014
3941
2

CLIFTON — In one corner of the Clifton Cemetery, an unmarked grave silently braves the blistering sun, surrounded by wrought iron fencing. It houses the remains of Teresa Urrea. She is mostly forgotten today, but in her lifetime she was considered a saint by many and a rabble rouser by others.

Grave site of Teresa Urrea in Clifton. Photo Credit: Sam Lowe

Grave site of Teresa Urrea in Clifton. Photo Credit: Sam Lowe

She was born in Mexico in 1873, the illegitimate daughter of a rancher and a young Yavapai Indian. During her formative years, she was tutored by a woman healer who convinced her she had the power to cure the sick. But she fell ill and went into a catatonic state and was considered dead. But as relatives prepared the funeral, she suddenly sat up in her coffin. She said that as she lay in a coma, the Blessed Virgin instructed her to heal the sick. So she became a miracle worker whose fame spread across Mexico. This bothered Mexican authorities and they ordered out of the country, and she relocated in Clifton.

She then hooked up with a national organization that wanted to use her as a sort of sideshow celebrity but when she found out their purpose, she broke the contact and returned to Clifton, where she died in 1906. Today the sun rises and sets over an unmarked grave that only a few determined come to visit.

To learn more about Teresa Urrea, check out Mysteries and Legends of Arizona: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained, written by me and published by Globe Pequot.

(Visited 1,014 times, 1 visits today)

Related Posts:

  1. Arizona Oddities’ Favorite 10 Posts of 2014
  2. The Story of Sarah Bowman: Yuma’s First Citizen Left a Lasting Impression
  3. Thousands of Mexican Free-Tail Bats Make Phoenix Tunnel Their Summer Home
  4. Old Clifton Jail: A Real Hole-in-the-Wall
  5. Clifton Flood Gate (Almost) Put to the Test
Tagscliftonlegendsreligion

2 comments

  1. Grace Montijo 1 August, 2017 at 07:41 Reply

    Thanks u Teresita Urea is my Great Great Grandmother this is Wonderful

    • Gracie Angel Lares Isbell 6 January, 2018 at 16:50 Reply

      She was my Dad’s Aunt as well. I remember growing up seeing pictures of her and my Aunt when they were much younger ladies. To know know the history of them it’s just amazing !

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Arizona Oddities Archive

Most Popular Posts

  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home
  • How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard
  • What’s With All the Backyard Concrete-Block Fences…
  • Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow…
  • Can You Get a Sunburn Under Water?

This Week Past Years

2018

  • Spherical Building in Yucca a Monument to Failed Real Estate Project

2014

  • Sing High Chop Suey House Named by Mistake

2013

  • George Daves and Petra Edmunds: Tragic Tombstone Love Story May Not Be What It Seems

2012

  • Bromo Seltzer Art in Phoenix
  • Sunny Days Mean No Free Food in Yuma

2011

  • Time Stands Still In Florence
  • Arizona's "Hollywood" Trivia: Can You Pass?

2010

  • Roosevelt Dam Key to Valley Population Boom
  • Uncle Jim: The Last of Arizona's Bonafide Gunfighters

2009

  • A Giant Head Guards Route 66
  • Old Arizona's "Ladies of the Night"
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Find a Famous Writer and Explorer's Mountain Retreat in Greer

    Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 31, 2020
  • thousands of Mexican free tail bats make Phoenix tunnel their summer home

    Thousands of Mexican Free-Tail Bats Make Phoenix Tunnel Their Summer Home

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 17, 2020
  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home

    By Andrea Aker
    January 3, 2011
  • Javelina

    How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard

    By Andrea Aker
    November 23, 2011
  • Phil Motta
    on
    August 27, 2021

    Why Does Downtown Phoenix Seem to Have Two Downtowns?

    I know this post ...
  • Carol
    on
    October 17, 2020

    The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax

    lol ... these "clues" ...

Follow us

© Copyright 2009 – 2020 Aker Ink, LLC :: Arizona Oddities is published by Aker Ink.