A reflection on the origin of The Valley of Howls.

When a story begins outside the imagination

Some stories don’t begin with an idea.

They begin with something real.

An article.
A fragment of history.
A name that refuses to disappear.

In this case, it was a story I came across by chance.

A documented account.
A woman.
Wolves.
Fear shaped into belief.

The figure of a lobera—someone said to command wolves—was not just folklore.
It was something people once believed enough to fear.

That was the beginning.

Not the plot…
but the possibility.

What if something like that had left traces?
What if the fear was not entirely imagined?
What if the past had not fully disappeared?

The Valley of Howls was born there.

Not from invention,
but from a question that refused to stay quiet.