Palacio de Linares — the Raimundita recordings

OVERVIEW

The Palace of Linares stands on the Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid and was declared a national historic-artistic monument in 1976. It is the seat of the Casa de América. It was built for José de Murga, Marquis of Linares, and his wife Raimunda de Osorio.

HISTORY

The legend attached to the house says that José and Raimunda discovered, after marrying, that they were half-brother and half-sister, that a daughter was born of the marriage, and that to hide the scandal the child was killed and walled up inside the palace. In May 1990 Carmen Sánchez de Castro, describing herself as a psychologist and parapsychologist, said she had recorded psicofonías inside the building — a woman's voice saying 'I had a daughter… Raimunda… who never said mother to me' and a child's voice crying 'Mamá, I don't have a mamá!' Radio stations across Spain played the tapes and the case became a national phenomenon, with crowds gathering outside the palace.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

**vetted = false**, and this one is not a close call. The investigator Germán de Argumosa established that the voices on the recordings were those of an actress and that the tapes had been made in Sánchez de Castro's own house. Álvaro Martín, in El Palacio Maldito, showed from the record that the marquises never had children at all — which removes the child the whole story turns on. The palace is real, magnificent and open to the public; the haunting was manufactured, and the entry exists to say so, because the tapes are still circulated as genuine.

VISITING

Casa de América runs exhibitions, talks and guided visits to the palace. Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid.