The Island of the Dolls, or La Isla de las Muñecas in Spanish, is a small manmade island, or chinampa located within the canals of Xochimilco, in Mexico City, Mexico. The island earned its name for being inhabited by numerous dolls of varying shapes, sizes and states of decay. Due to its eerie, lifeless inhabitants, as well as a tragic legend surrounding its former owner, Don Julián Santana Barrera the island has become synonymous with dark tourism.
In 1519, when conquistador, Hernan Cortés and the Spanish occupied Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), it
was believed that many Aztecs fled to the canals of Xochimilco, and the now named Island of the
Dead was simply a place for women and children to hide. Later, the same waterways were used to hide
Mexican revolutionaries and religious practitioners, some of whom were killed or drowned.
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Sometime during the 1950s, Don Julián Santana Barrera became caretaker of the small island that
housed only a few huts.
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After Barrera's death, his family chose to open the island to the public as a tourist attraction.
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Many visitors to the island claim they hear the dolls whispering or see their eyes move, and the
current caretaker and great nephew of Barrera, Rogelio Sanchez Santana even claims seeing shadows
move beneath the moonlight.
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Since its boom in popularity, many imitation islands have opened in order to cash in on the influx
of tourists.
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Its legend has spread all across the world, with numerous influencers and dark tourists looking to
walk amongst the decaying, mutilated dolls that inhabit La Isla de las Muñecas.
Despite Barrera's claims, no evidence of the girl he tried to rescue exists. It has been theorised
that the story was something Barrera himself concocted as a way to cope with his isolation.
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The Island of the Dolls is approximately one acre in size and is only accessible via trajinera (gondola). Structures on the island include three huts, and a shrine-like museum containing articles from local newspapers that mention Barrera and the island itself.
There are said to be around 4,000 dolls that can be found on the island. The dolls are all from different eras, and in different states of condition; with some heavily decayed; some covered in dirt; and some decapitated, amputated, or both. None of the dolls are named, except for Agustina: Barrera's favourite doll.
According to local folklore, Barrera came across a young girl who had fallen into the water near
the island and either was unable to swim, or she got swepped up in the current.
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Barrera attempted to save the girl as she struggled to stay afloat, but was ultimately
unable to save her. Barrera would erect a white cross in the spot where he watched the young girl
drown.
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Following the incident, Barrera was said to have started seeing shadows moving across the island at
night, and heard the distant wails of a girl crying out for her doll.
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When Barrera revisited the spot where the girl had drowned, he found a doll floating in the water.
He took the doll, and hung it up on one of the islands trees as an offering to the girl's spirit.
Versions of the story differ slightly on what happened next, with one version stating that Barrera
would find new dolls strung up in trees across the island, and another version claiming that more
dolls washed up each day in the same spot the girl had drowned.
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Barrera woke one day to find his crops had all died, which he attributed to the sorrowful spirit of
the drowned girl.
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He believed the dolls housed the spirits of dead girls who were not yet satisfied, and so Barrera
would spend the next 50 years on an obsessive quest to fill the island with as many dolls as he
could find in order to finally appease them. It was said that Barrera would go so far as to root
through trash and trade his own produce in order to attain more dolls to populate the island.
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In 2001, Barrera's nephew joined his uncle to help him on the island. While fishing
in the canal one time, Barrera sang of mermaids calling for him beneath the water. Some versions of
the story say the nephew found Barrera's lifeless body, having suffered a heart attack, others say
he was found floating face down in the same spot of the canal where the young girl was said to have
drowned.
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