#TurismoMacabro: The Island of the Dolls

By: Casandra Vicario

Once upon a time, there was a young woman who drowned in one of the canals of Xochimilco, and every night her ghost would linger near the house of Don Julián Santa. He, greatly worried because the spirit wanted to take him with her, began collecting dolls from the trash or wherever he could find them and placed them all over his chinampa to scare the spirit away. And that is, without a doubt, the story of how one of the most eerie and macabre places in Mexico came to be: the Island of the Dolls.

Those who wish to experience this intense adventure must navigate the canals of Xochimilco for about 2 hours until they reach the promised land, where, very close to the shore, they will see a cross — that is the spot where the young woman drowned — and afterward they can enjoy the grim spectacle offered by the dolls, all broken, dirty, missing eyes, burned, covered in cobwebs, and so on.

It's said that Don Julián stopped leaving his house and would talk to the dolls all the time, crediting them with the power to perform miracles. However, one afternoon, his relatives recount, he went to the very spot where the young woman had died nearly 60 years earlier, suffered a heart attack, and died.

Those who live nearby say the dolls have a life of their own — they move their heads, open and close their eyes, and even shriek and talk as if they had brand-new batteries, even though many of them are far too old.

It's also said that if someone is foolish enough to try to take one or damages it, a terrible curse will fall upon them and they will soon get a very unpleasant surprise — so if you ever go, behave yourselves and don't steal anything.