Legend of the Living Dead of Valverde

The story told below follows the famous ‘Battle of Coruche’, as the Liberals called it, or ‘Battle of Aguiar da Beira’, as it became known to the Miguelists, which took place on 9 January 1827 and was won by the Liberal forces.

As a result of this violent battle, the skirmishes of Valverde and Barracão followed, culminating in the flight of the Marquis of Chaves, the Miguelist leader, to Spanish lands.

As tradition dictates, the dead had to be buried after the battles. The fighting had taken place in both Valverde and Coruche, so it wasn't clear where to open the graves. As there was no consensus, they decided to open them on the battlefield, so that the bodies of the soldiers killed in battle could finally rest in peace.

There was a lot of hustle and bustle and, in the midst of the confusion and tiredness, many of the wounded ended up being buried as well.

The people of Valverde say that, for a long time, people avoided these fields because, whenever they passed by, they would hear the following lamentations from the soldiers:

‘We forgive those who killed us, but not those who buried us’.