La Isla de las Muñecas ( The Island of the Dolls)

Deteriorated dolls in La Isla de las Muñecas, Mexico City.

The Island of the dolls is, located in the channels of Xochimilco south of the center of Mexico City, very close to the Estadio Azteca football stadium, . Dolls of various styles and colors are found throughout the island, originally placed by the former owner of the island, Julián Santana Barrera. He believed that dolls helped to chase away the spirit of a girl who drowned years ago. He died in 2001 of a heart attack. Sources say he was close to the same spot where the girl drowned.

The Island of the Dolls, originally owned by Don Julián Santana Barrera, is full of dolls hanging from trees and buildings covered with cobwebs and insects. The place was named in the 1950s when the dolls started randomly appearing on the island. Santana was a neighbor of the Barrio de la Asunción, where he used to go , until he began preaching the Bible due to superstitions which led to him being expelled from the sector.

According to a legend, a young girl drowned entangled among the lilies of the canal and her body was found on the banks of the Santampa chinampas. Santana claimed to have heard the girl crying out "I want my doll" and terrified, hung up the doll he found near the girl's body.

Alone on the island , Barrera took the doll and hung it up from a tree in order to appease the spirit of the dead girl . However , in his eyes one doll wasn't enough , Santana Barrera would scrounge dolls from the trash and from the canals and hang them from the Island's many tress. some dolls he hung up whole , others i various states of despair - headless, torso - less and torn apart in other ways .

Many people including don Julian's family do not believe that he ever found that girl . They believed he was making her up . One thing however was clear , whether or not he was making it up ,he devoted the next 50 years of his life to that girl .And the creepiest part is that he died in the same spot he claimed he had seen the girl . 

In addition to hundreds of dolls, the island also contains a small museum with articles from local newspapers about both the island and the previous owner. There is a store and three rooms, one of which seems to have been used as a bedroom. 

In this room you can see the first doll that Santana collected as well as Agustinita, his favorite doll. Some of the visitors place offerings around the dolls in exchange for miracles and blessings and some others change their clothes and maintain it as a form of worship.

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