La Pascualita
In Chihuahua, Mexico window shopping is anything but ordinary. At the corner of Ocampo and Victoria Streets there is a mannequin in the window. But this mannequin isn’t like any other mannequin you’ve seen before. La Pascualita is a legend in her own right.
La Pascualita can be found in the window of La Popular. In fact, she’s been there nearly 100 years. She first was set up March 25th, 1930. Locals who regularly walked by the store suddenly stopped and could not stop staring. They could not believe how utterly lifelike La Pascualita was. Even more interesting, people also noted her striking resemblance to Pascuala Esparz, the store owner.
If you believe the legend, Esparz had recently lost his daughter. The legends vary - but the most consistent is that she was bitten by a black widow spider the morning of her wedding. Esparz, mad with grief, allegedly embalmed his beloved daughter and put her in a window in the wedding dress she never got to wear.
But, these rumors were not born simply from an uncanny resemblance. If you get close enough to the window, you’ll notice unique features about La Pascualita. For example, you can see varicose veins on her hands and her eyes appear to have an unusually glassy appearance.
When Esparz died in 1967, things became even more unusual. Now, it wasn’t only La Pascualita’s appearance that was drawing attention...but her actions. After Esparz’s death, employees began to say she noticed that the doll had moved or changed positions during the night. At night, when the store is locked and foot traffic slows down it is said that, if you have good enough timing, you may see La Pascualita sweat, cry, and even smile.
As rumors began to rise and La Pascualita became a tourist attraction, the police went to investigate. Since, well, it would be illegal to display a corpse. However, upon inspection, the local police reported they only found wax and plastic.
Thank you Sonia I for this blogstonishing suggestion!
This image comes from Ripleys Believe it or Not