No better time than Halloween week to visit the ‘island of misfit dolls’
It’s a real place in Mexico that lots of people every year seek out. I would imagine being there during the creepy week we’re in would be among the best times to acquaint yourselves with the statues of strangeness..
The story of the island:
A half century ago, a little girl drowned off a small island hidden deep among the canals of Xochimico. The island’s only permanent inhabitant was a hermit named Don Julián Santana Barrera, who despite having a wife and family, chose to live alone on the island. Soon after the girl’s death Barrera fished out one doll after another from the canals. Convinced that this was a sign from the evil spirit, Don Julian Santana began hanging them on trees to protect himself from evil and calm the spirit of the dead girl. Soon Don Julián had made the entire island into a shrine.
Santana did not clean up the dolls or attempt to fix them, but rather put them up with missing eyes and limbs, covered in dirt. Even when dolls arrived in good shape, the wind and weather naturally decomposed them over time creating a gallery of eerie and ghoulish faces. Don Julian Santana lived on the island for 50 years before his death in 2001. He was found drowned in the same area in which he believed the little girl had died.
And the creation still exists.
Sun-damaged and all.. Creepy dolls across the land.