Dead Dolls

The beautiful Isla de las Munecas  (the Island of Dolls) began was a memorial for small girl who drowned off the tiny island in the canals of Xochimilco over 50 years ago. The canal system and island is about 17 miles south of Mexico City, Mexico.  The island was apparently inhabited by a hermit named Don Julian Santana Barrera, who shortly after the girls death began finding dolls in the canals.   He feared finding the dolls was a bad spirit and believed hanging them on the trees would protect him.  He then began searching for dolls in the canals and hanged them on trees and wires between the trees, as well as keeping rescued dolls in his private cabin  Eventually,  word spread about his unique island of dolls and tourists began paying a small fee to take photographs.  Oddly enough,  he too drowned in 2001, much like the little girl whose ghost he attempted to keep at bay.  Sad and strange story.  Sad and strange memorial to the two souls who lost their lives in the canal.