Vaya con Dios

A gringo was hitchhiking his way through Mexico, and stopped in
Chihuahua City to spend the night. He found himself a cheap pension
on the edge of town and negotiated a room for a good price. The
landlady is showing him to his room but when they reach the top of
stairs, she plasters herself against the blank wall across from a door that is padlocked from the outside and motions for her paying guest to do the same. From inside the room an eerie voice cants, “Ocho. Ocho. Ocho. Ocho….”

When they have eased past the door and reach his room a couple of
doors away, the gringo looks puzzled and asks, “What was that all
about?”

The landlady looks sternly at him and shakes a finger. “Senor, you
must promise me you will stay as far away from that door as possible!
Promise?”

The gringo promises, she leaves and he unpacks his meager belongings,
then decides it is time to find himself some dinner. So he heads down
the hall, and as he nears the door, “Ocho. Ocho. Ocho…” reminds
him to stay away. He plasters himself to the far wall and eases his
way to the stairs and goes for dinner wondering what “Ocho” could
possibly mean. When he returns, he repeats the wallpaper impression
and goes to his room.

During the night, he wakens and has to go to the bathroom, but he has
to pass the locked door. Again, he paints himself against the facing
wall and eases past the locked door in both directions as the “Ocho.
Ocho. Ocho…” chant carries on into the night. Once back in bed he
falls asleep, again wondering what “Ocho” means.

The next morning he is packed and dressed and ready to leave. As he
heads down the hall, his curiosity finally gets the better of him. As
he nears the locked door, the now-familiar “Ocho. Ocho. Ocho…“
comes singsong from beyond the door. “I’m gonna have look,” he thinks
to himself.

So he quietly tiptoes up to the door, kneels down and peers through
the keyhole. Suddenly a knitting needle comes flying out of the
keyhole and puts out his eye!

And from beyond the door, the singsong voice chants, “Nueve. Nueve.
Nueve….“