Donceles 66 Cultural Center

House of the Hanged?

Donceles 66 is one of those blood-red, tezontle clad buildings that today’s city residents assume has just been there forever. Once the home to the Mexican Academy of Language, they’ve since moved to Iztaccíhuatl # 10, in the Colonia Florida far away in the city’s south. What they’ve left behind is a legendary building on a legendary street.

The mansion that today houses numerous booksellers, a restaurant and cafe, and well-used art galleries, meeting rooms and more, was actually finished in 1756. It’s been the site of numerous hauntings, legends, tales, and rumours, pretty much ever since.

The House of the Hanged and other Legends

In 2019, a writer with Chilango Magazine documented some of the many disturbing aspects of the building’s history. The house of the hanged name apparently stems from the ghosts which appeared to hang from the balconies. This was according to workers at the Jus publishing house, still in the building. Those ghosts weren’t alone though. A woman has been spotted walking a child ghost.

Even more disturbing, construction workers in the building reported that one of their number was paralyzed after spotting a ghost. He was nearly driven to commit suicide in the central fountain of the courtyard, before recovering his sanity.

The Chilango story goes on to quote horror writer Bernardo Esquinca who notes that the house is cursed. Apparently, a calabash gourd is hidden in one of the columns of the building. When some healing witches were summoned to the building to sort things out, even they left in distress. It’s that powerful.

Nevertheless, visitors to the site are welcome. There’s a well-liked pizza restaurant, in addition to the art gallery and many other amenities open to the public. Overall, the building is welcoming and a curious example of a stately home from its period.