We wanna tell you a Mexican story about a man named Julian Santana. Julian lived in Xochimilco, which is one of 16 “delegaciones” (boroughs) within the Mexican Federal District (Mexico City).
Now, Xochimilco is interesting, because it has a lot of canals which used to be part of a lake called – you guessed it – Lake Xochimilco. Located next to these canals are small islands called chinampas, also called “floating gardens.” On these chinampas grow crops and flowers. It is said that Julian lived in isolation on one of these “islands”, and one day he heard the cries of three young girls. One girl was drowning. Although he tried to save her, she died.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Julian kept hearing her cries, even after she was gone. Convinced that it was her spirit that was bothering him, he tried to appease her spirit by using talismans – in this case, dolls.
He hung a doll on a tree outside his home. Then he hung up a few more. Before long, there were dolls hanging all over the place. People came by and donated dolls, or they traded them for his vegetables.
Julian died a few years back. But the dolls remain. And today, tourists come by to take a look at La Isla de la Munecas – the island of the dolls.
Xochimilco canals are a popular tourist attraction on the weekends and holidays, when many families rent boats, bringing on food and music.
Sources for this creepy story: Planet Oddity,
