mexico – סלומה

Sun and the moon.
Huichol beadwork. Mexico.

Deep in the Mexican jungle, lies an underwater cave called the Angelita Cenote.
The pool is 200 feet deep and even contains a separate river that runs
along the bottom on the underwater cave. This is due to the different
levels of salinity in the water, causing denser water to sink to the
bottom.

The story of Pascualita, the mannequin.
Pascualita or Little Pascuala is a bridal mannequin that has “lived” in a store window in Chihuahua, Mexico for the past 75 years. That is quite a long time for a bridal gown shop to retain a mannequin, but then the dummy has a rather strange history behind it. According to an urban legend, La Pascualita isn’t a dummy at all, but the perfectly preserved corpse of the previous owner’s daughter.

La Pascualita was first installed in the store window on March 25^th, 1930, dressed in a spring-seasonal bridal gown. The effect was instantaneous. People simply could not tear their sight away from this new mannequin, with the wide-set glass eyes, real hair and blushing skin tone. Soon, they realized that the mannequin closely resembled the shop’s owner at the time, Pascuala Esparza. It didn’t take long for them to come to the conclusion that the dummy was in fact the embalmed body of her daughter, who had died recently on her wedding day after being bitten by a Black Widow spider. The daughter’s name has been lost over time, and ‘La Pascualita’ stuck through the years.

Of course, the speculated presence of a corpse must naturally be accompanied by supernatural happenings as well. Several odd incidents have been reported around the dummy, none of which have been confirmed, of course. It is said that a love-sick French magician would arrive at night and magically bring it to life, taking her out to town. A few others believe that her gaze shifts and follows them around the store. At night, she is also believed to shift positions in the window. These tales are pretty scary, perhaps most of all to the shop workers who have to see Pascualita every single day. The ones to leave the shop last are definitely not a happy lot. The dummy’s outfits are changed twice a week behind closed curtains. Sonia Burciaga, a shop worker says, “Every time I go near Pascualita my hands break out in a sweat. Her hands are very realistic and she even has varicose veins on her legs. I believe she’s a real person.” Now, an account like that coming from a person who has actually changed the mannequin’s clothes seems very believable. Could Pascualita really be a 75-year-old corpse?

Tree Stairs, Las Pozas, Mexico.

Quetzal perched outside its nest cavity in the cloud forest of El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas, México (Photograph by Thomas D. Mangelsen, 2011).

‘La Pascualita’, who first appeared in the window of a bridal boutique in Chihuahua, Mexico, in March of 1930, has become the subject of some spooky urban legends. These are all attributed to the striking realism of the figure, and the rumor that she isn’t just a mannequin: she’s supposedly the embalmed daughter of the former shopkeeper. Ever since she was first placed in the display window, many people have felt disturbed over the details on the figure, like her fingernails and facial features, and some noticed a similarity to the shop owner, Pascuala Esparza. She became known as ‘La Pascualita’, and despite published statements from the store owner’s family denying her origin, the name stuck. People have said that the figure will change positions at night, and many are creeped out by her gaze, which is said to be piercing and almost ‘alive’. Some of the current employees of the store refuse to change the clothes on the dummy, and many say that their hands break out into a sweat whenever they get near her. ”Her hands are very realistic and she even has varicose veins on her legs. I believe she’s a real person,” one employee was quoted as saying. Whether she is real or not, the display window that La Pascualita resides behind has become a popular place for Dia de Los Muertos altars and she has become a bit of a famous oddity with recent attentions devoted by Mexican celebrities.

In Chihuahua, Mexico, local rumor has it that this mannequin, known as “Pascualita,” is actually an embalmed body. According to legend, a lady named Pascuala Esparza owned a wedding boutique in the city, making dresses for soon-to-be brides. Her own daughter, Pascualita, was engaged to be married, so Pascuala set about to make her a special dress. Everything was planned when, on the day of the wedding, tragedy struck. Supposedly, Pascualita was bitten by a poisonous insect and later died. Distressed by the death of her daughter, Pascuala set out to immortalize her. She embalmed the body, dressed it in her wedding gown, and propped it up in the window of her boutique, for all to see.

Today, Pascualita remains standing in the window of “La Popular” in downtown Chihuahua. Although commonly regarded to as a myth, the details in the mannequin (especially in the hands) keep onlookers wondering.