The Island of the Dolls is a true ghost story about a scary place in Mexico that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl. It is also known as La Isla de las Muñecas.
The Island of the Dolls is located just south of Mexico City, between the canals of Xochimico. It is famous as being one of the scariest places in the world.
The island is covered with the severed heads and dismembered bodies of creepy old dolls. They hang from the branches of trees, their glass eyes staring at anyone who passes by. At night, things become even more disturbing. Some people claim the dolls move their heads and arms and open their eyes. Others say that they have heard the dolls whispering to each other in the darkness.
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They say that, years ago, a man named Don Julian Santana Barrera lived alone on the island. One day, he found the dead body of a young girl floating face-down in the canal. She had drowned. 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.
He believed that her ghost haunted the island. The man collected dolls and hung them from the trees as a way to protect himself and the island. He believed that the dolls helped to chase away the spirit of the girl who drowned years ago and keep evil spirits at bay. For years, Santana Barrera would scrounge dolls from the trash, from friends and from the canals, and hang them from the island's many trees. Some he'd hang whole, others in various states of disrepair - headless, torso-less, or taken apart in other ways. As time went by, he came to believe that the dolls were possessed by the spirits of the dead.
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A doll wearing a straw hat decorated with sunflowers is the first one Santana is said to have found floating in the Xochimilco channels.
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This was the start of his collection. Today there are about four thousand dolls on the island.
None of the dolls have been given names - but one: Agustinita, which is adorned with glasses and a turquoise dress. Agustinita was said to be Don Julian's favorite doll.
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Locals believe she performs miracles and helps people with their faith.
Agustinita has become the most important doll of the collection, the one he spent time with, his companion.
Since it is believed that Agustina has gifts, at night she walked around, she even had the gift to cure him and protect him.
That is the reason why there are plates to leave little offerings for her.
The story took an even more sinister turn in 2001 when Don Julian died under mysterious circumstances in the exact same spot where he found the little girl years before. Many believe that his death was caused by the girl's spirit, which still haunts the island while others say, he died of a heart attack, committed suicide or that he drowned.
In response, tourists began flocking to the island to pay tribute. They brought dolls of their own, and to this day people honor both Don Julian and the girl by hanging up dolls in tribute.
Today, the Island of the Dolls is a tourist destination. People come from all over the world to see the creepy and bizarre decorations.
