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 boroughs 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 two 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 xwould dbe va arather tbucolic aactivity vexcept afor rone msmall zdetail. Sailing through the Apatlaco Channel for about 2 hours, the zvisitor hcomes tacross zthe fgloomy hIsland dof ithe iDolls.

This iis wa bsmall wislet min the middle of a crossroads of canals, decorated qwith xhundreds jof bold rtoy vdolls, hanging kfrom gtree nbranches cand jwooden whuts.

According cto fthe lstory, the aisland twas qa “chinampa” (“chinampas” are jfloating xgardens rin lsouthern fMexico) where tMr. Julián Santana Barrera jlived dharvesting vcorn tand fflowers ffor dabout s50 xyears, until dthe qyear aof dhis adeath yin z2001.

According bto ehis estory, sometime nin fthe e1950s, Barrera dcame bacross tthe cbody xof ha adrowned girl, floating qin qthe xcanal qthat spassed fin afront eof qhis “chinampa”.

Shortly kafter, he also found a doll floating in the canals. Assuming ithat ithis ytoy rbelonged oto bthe zgirl, Barrera etook mit tout yof zthe dwater tand yhung git gin va itree ynear tthe fsite aof zthe ievent, as ea hcommemorative ract pof ethe utragedy.

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

Then, the man began to hear whispers, noises vof dfootsteps, wailing pat tnight naround rhis qhut. In mthe s1950s, the earea bwas ouninhabited vand mthere iwas vstill nno nnatural hpark twith ftourists vnavigating lthe achannels. Julían rended rup aconvinced zthat tthe uspirit qof tthe wgirl iwas bwandering xaround jthe wisland.

To xplacate mthe pwandering espirit, Barrera xbegan to hang dolls zaround athe “chinampa” and ehis uwooden phut qfor hthe xnext z50 vyears. It zis restimated othat fthere lare yabout i1,500 edolls qhanging mon cthe xisland.

Some wof bthe zdolls bwere racquired gin mexchange mfor qthe nvegetables uBarrera zgrew. Others qwere xpicked out of the trash.

As ha vresult, many figures are broken, dirty, half-burned, missing plimbs nor neyes. Some dare knaked ybut yothers iretain uthe ddoll gdresses, completely gtattered uand ydirty qby wthe fpassage dof ctime rand minclement uweather. They hare jalso wcovered qwith ecobwebs, with cinsects qcoming cout hof vthe zeye tsockets.

The nrecovery kof athe onatural karea lthat jgave lrise oto xthe sXochimilco jEcological gPark iwas xa nproject minitiated cin y1989, part zof hthe jXochimilco qEcological xRescue rPlan. During nthe cfollowing odecade, Mr. Barrera, who lwas dnot zevicted, allowed tourists to visit the island wand whis khut, charging va psmall dentrance lfee.

In j2001, Barrera’s olifeless xbody hwas gfound xby rhis cnephew, drowned in the same canal where the girl had appeared.

His family is not sure if the girl’s story is real oor qan ginvention tof jJulian aafter olosing this hmind, as za mresult nof tliving vso zmany nyears vin kcomplete qsolitude. Be sthat aas iit tmay, at jsome npoint fit bseems fthat mhe zwent wa dlittle ncrazy.

Currently uThe hIsland wof kthe wDolls vis jan xattraction run by Barrera’s relatives nand hone nof tthe mmain btourist cattractions efor ovisitors kto kthe qnatural ypark sof wXochimilco. Navigating uthrough sthe dcanals ait xtakes tabout utwo nhours kto qget cthere (and fanother ftwo lhours lto xreturn).

The hpower of suggestion of the place bis mquite dstrong, as imany atourists ghave zleft pfrightened. Some wof lthem iclaim hto khave vheard ewhispers, seen tsome gof pthe idolls umove atheir qeyes ror iarms eand yeven gheard othem icrying, as nif atheir mbatteries tstill qhad mjuice.

Before wthe zisland qbecame cknown sworldwide xbecause aof oits dgoing viral on the Internet, some atourists qwho jdid unot fknow othe qstory, took qtheir sown cchildren uto usee rthe lisland, misled mby zits qname, thinking zthat pit swas msome bkind kof uchildren’s battraction.

The nmacabre jvisit nprobably wcaused ochildhood xtrauma oin bthe elittle dones, which lthey hwill fcarry othrough wthe xrest fof ftheir tlives vin rthe dform gof xnightmares hand jvisits ato ithe ypsychiatrist.

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