Sep 8, 2020
Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic opens in Mexico City with socialite Noemi Taboada uncharacteristically leaving a party early because of a summons from her father. Noemi isn’t really interested in following other people’s directions. She yearns to strike out on her own, make her own choices, and continue her education: three things her father doesn’t approve of. Thinking her father means to reprimand her for something, she is instead shocked when he shows her a letter from her recently married cousin who lives in a remote area near the town El Triunfo in a manor house called High Place. Catalina’s letter claims that her husband, Virgil Doyle, is poisoning her and won’t let her leave. She also claims to see ghosts coming out of the walls and believes she is losing track of time. Noemi’s father, who was Catalina’s guardian, had driven away a man Catalina had loved in favor of her waiting for a better, richer match. Catalina then married Doyle so quickly that Mr. Taboada could never properly discern the suitor’s social position. Noemi’s father may or may not feel some guilt over being so overbearing to Catalina, but he quickly decides that Catalina is hysterical and needs psychiatric treatment. He wants Noemi to scope out the situation and get Catalina help, if possible. Noemi knows Catalina is trapped between Doyle’s wishes as her husband and Mr. Taboada’s previous control as her guardian. But her father promises Noemi that she can pursue graduate study if she completes the mission. She then begins her journey to the heart of High Place, during which she will learn that Catalina’s letter didn’t even scratch the surface of the depravity and Gothic horrors the house, and the family within it, contain.
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Our social media is @MonsterWrote on Twitter and Instagram. Our email is monsterwrote@gmail.com. This episode was produced and researched by Lisa and Mel. Theme music is “Misconception” by Nicolas Gasparini.