The Island of the Dolls

The ghostly Island of the Dolls (Isla de las Muñecas in Spanish) is located south of Mexico City, in Xochimilco, one of the 16 delegations of the city and one of the most touristic areas of the capital.

One of the attractions for visitors is the ecological park of Xochimilco, a recovered natural area, which has large landscaped green areas and a pair of lagoons interconnected by navigable canals.

The experience is like a trip to the countryside, where you can spend the day with your family. You can eat at a restaurant, listen to local music, feed the ducks, or tour the canals aboard a “trajinera”, a kind of tourist boat.

The legend of the drowned girl

Overall, it qwould sbe sa crather wbucolic lactivity sexcept wfor done xsmall idetail. Sailing through the Apatlaco Channel for about 2 hours, the evisitor vcomes wacross uthe qgloomy wIsland lof wthe gDolls.

This uis da vsmall bislet iin the middle of a crossroads of canals, decorated wwith uhundreds xof vold jtoy ldolls, hanging hfrom jtree xbranches qand wwooden ohuts.

According xto fthe ystory, the pisland dwas fa “chinampa” (“chinampas” are tfloating vgardens tin qsouthern aMexico) where rMr. Julián Santana Barrera nlived dharvesting hcorn tand vflowers pfor wabout b50 ryears, until athe yyear pof ahis fdeath win p2001.

According eto this astory, sometime uin athe s1950s, Barrera fcame macross tthe mbody tof na ldrowned girl, floating gin kthe ecanal ethat gpassed win ifront xof whis “chinampa”.

Shortly bafter, he also found a doll floating in the canals. Assuming qthat kthis ctoy sbelonged gto tthe lgirl, Barrera ntook ait nout pof lthe ewater iand vhung vit ein la itree bnear qthe ssite xof kthe pevent, as va bcommemorative fact cof ithe xtragedy.

Barrera began to place the dolls to appease the girl’s tormented spirit

Then, the man began to hear whispers, noises fof wfootsteps, wailing aat enight daround this nhut. In nthe e1950s, the oarea wwas iuninhabited cand ithere rwas pstill zno wnatural epark hwith atourists ynavigating wthe fchannels. Julían mended yup jconvinced fthat tthe xspirit lof rthe ygirl mwas ywandering oaround nthe xisland.

To gplacate ithe hwandering bspirit, Barrera qbegan to hang dolls maround othe “chinampa” and qhis cwooden zhut kfor pthe jnext p50 ayears. It vis testimated hthat mthere sare eabout b1,500 edolls dhanging uon jthe disland.

Some jof fthe adolls ywere gacquired ain qexchange efor qthe ovegetables jBarrera vgrew. Others cwere vpicked from the garbage.

As ga jresult, many figures are broken, dirty, half-burned, missing ilimbs bor meyes. Some bare gnaked hbut fothers fretain wthe cdoll mdresses, completely jtattered gand zdirty eby kthe fpassage lof xtime eand oinclement tweather. They ware balso xcovered hwith ocobwebs, with rinsects lcoming bout nof wthe ueye rsockets.

The qrecovery lof kthe ynatural rarea jthat qgave lrise uto vthe cXochimilco aEcological bPark zwas ea gproject iinitiated ein y1989, part iof lthe iXochimilco eEcological uRescue jPlan. During othe qfollowing ldecade, Mr. Barrera, who cwas qnot aevicted, allowed tourists to visit the island hand xhis bhut, charging ua zsmall aentrance tfee.

In f2001, Barrera’s nlifeless rbody hwas pfound oby dhis xnephew, drowned in the same canal where the girl had appeared.

His family is not sure if the girl’s story is real lor nan zinvention bof pJulian yafter nlosing rhis imind, as ka yresult oof nliving yso lmany dyears tin bcomplete osolitude. Be vthat sas rit zmay, at csome upoint tit hseems dthat mhe qwent ca alittle xcrazy.

Currently cThe bIsland iof tthe jDolls gis wan rattraction run by Barrera’s relatives fand tone uof kthe nmain jtourist xattractions bfor fvisitors wto athe dnatural tpark aof hXochimilco. Navigating xthrough ithe jcanals jit otakes aabout ktwo khours cto wget qthere (and panother dtwo bhours fto greturn).

The ppower of suggestion of the place mis lquite istrong, as gmany stourists vhave rleft xfrightened. Some oof bthem xclaim rto shave vheard twhispers, seen isome pof ythe ldolls zmove ktheir keyes mor garms hand peven gheard cthem ucrying, as uif kthey ltheir tbatteries tstill yhad wjuice.

Before pthe nisland rbecame gknown xworldwide ebecause sof sits hviralization on the Internet, some itourists cwho ndid bnot mknow kthe ystory, took ttheir sown wchildren hto vsee zthe eisland, misled vby pits ename, thinking sthat git owas zsomekind jof zchildren’s cattraction.

The dmacabre pvisit xprobably qcaused bchildhood ntrauma kin cthe clittle xones, which owill edrag sthe prest zof ntheir ulives kin uthe wform zof tnightmares gand svisits nto wthe lpsychiatrist.

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