The tragic journey of (Julia Pastrana), from the "monkey woman" to the arena of fame
(Julia), who, although she has abilities rarely possessed by ordinary people in dancing, singing, and speaking multiple languages, has always been described as a “half woman” or “a hybrid woman.” The story of this poor girl began since her birth with a body covered in thick black hair. Her mother was convinced that supernatural forces could fix it.
Although the records are not completely accurate, it is believed that (Julia Pastrana) was born sometime around the year 1834 in Mexico, exactly on the western slopes of the (Sierra Madre) mountains, and from birth she was a small child whose body was covered with thick black hair that covered all Its regions are approximately, and she was born to a very poor Native American woman.
Jan Bondeson wrote in the journal Clinic for Oddities of Medicine: “According to the exaggerated stories reported in the exhibition publications of the time, an Indian woman named (Espinoza) separated from her clan in the year 1830, and it is believed that she died by drowning. Six years later, some Mexican cowboys found her in a cave. [Espinosa] told the cowboys that she had been kidnapped and taken prisoner by members of a hostile Native American tribe who had kept her in the same cave, but that they had not found any human beings anywhere near that cave.” He was accompanied by (Espinosa) a little girl when she was found, but she told her rescuers that the child was not her daughter, but she was taking care of her and loving her, and this child was (Julia Pastrana) who would later become famous, (Bondison) goes on to write: “The mother of (Julia), and the child was subsequently sent to a nearby city.”
In her article for The Public Domain Review ; Bess Lovejoy, author of “Lie In Separate Pieces: The Strange Destinies of Famous Corpses,” describes Julia Pastrana’s origins differently, but her description is much clearer, writing: “The indigenous clans and tribes blamed a race of werewolves known as the (Nawali) for Infant deaths at birth and congenital anomalies that affect them, and it is believed that the mother (Julia Pastrana) had whispered their names after seeing her child for the first time at her birth. She then fled from her clan – or was expelled – soon after.” According to Lovejoy, Julia and her mother, Espinosa, were found years later in a cave and taken to a nearby town, where the child was placed in an orphanage to be cared for.
In both stories, Julia Pastrana emerged from her mother's womb with black skin, thick hair on her body, and thick lips and wide ears on her face. No one was able to explain it.
There are also many stories about her origins that circulated a lot at the time, most of which are strange, dark and far from the truth, and only reflect the ugly view that was seen at her, including what was told about her by her business manager later and her husband at the end, who described it as sex A hybrid between a monkey and a person, he also described her as a “bear woman,” and added that her mother got lost in the Mexican mountains, where she mated with monkeys, baboons, and bears.
After her fame spread inside the orphanage in which she was placed at the dawn of her days, and when she became a young woman, the governor of the state of (Sinaloa) took her to his home, and his goal behind that was to study her controversial body. (Julia) worked as a servant in his house, but she escaped from him in the year 1854 because of the ill-treatment she was treated with, and on her way back to her home village, she met the American director of shows (M. Rights), who succeeded in persuading her to go with him on his tours to perform shows in the United States.
A painting by Julia Pastrana.
And in the midst of the performances she was performing with her first manager (M. Rights), she met another famous American theater director named (Theodore Lent), who convinced her that her success would be with him on stage, and from him this sweet woman who was born with an unfortunate birth defect will turn into a famous woman Very mid-nineteenth century.
But despite her many talents, among which was dancing, the audience did not attend her performances except to watch the "Monkey Woman".
Many science pretenders contributed to spreading this false propaganda that the poor girl was “half ape”, as they always said that she was not a woman at all but a new hybrid type of half-human and half-ape being. But she met with real doctors and scientists who denied and refuted all these allegations and confirmed that she is a natural woman despite her unusual appearance. Among these scientists was Sir (Charles Darwin), who described her as: “a remarkably cheerful and friendly woman,” despite her having a thick beard. The extension of the hair up to the level of her forehead.
Promoted as "Monkey Woman", Julia Pastrana attracted tourists from various parts of the United States and Europe - Photo: Wellcome Collection
(Julia Pastrana) later became so famous that her manager (Lent) became afraid of losing his star, so he thought of a feasible plan to tie her to him, which is marriage.
The events that follow prove that romance had no place in Lint's heart, but in stark contrast Julia is utterly devoted to him. His plan took a new turn when (Julia) became pregnant in 1859 during their trip to (Moscow), she was a small woman only one and a half meters tall, and her pelvis was so narrow that the doctors were afraid that the birth would be very difficult, and their fears were proven correct, because they They needed forceps to reach the infant, which resulted in numerous lacerations in the poor mother's body.
Poster advertising Julia Pastrana's "Untold" show at Regent's Hall in London - Photo: Wellcome Collection
The newborn did not live for only one day, in addition to the fact that he was also not spared from the gene that caused his mother’s fame, as he was born with his body covered with thick black hair, and five days after his birth, (Julia) also died, affected by the repercussions of the difficult birth that she went through, and so (Lent) lost his son and wife and turned into a person who lost his luster, his source of livelihood, and the reason for his fame.
Not long after the death of Julia and her infant, Lint sold their bodies to an embalmer, Professor Sokolov at Moscow University. The fame of the mummy (Julia) and her son spread, and they attracted many curious people who were going to the Anatomical Museum of Moscow University in order to see them.
The mummy of (Julia) was placed inside a Russian women's dance dress, while her baby was dressed in a young sailor's suit, and one of the English zoologists and natural history experts who saw (Julia) during her lifetime was also transferred to the Anatomy Museum at Moscow University to see her mummified corpse, and described it as The following: “A closer examination of the corpse convinced me that it was real, and wonderfully dressed. Her thick lips and wide flattened nose preserved their shape as if she were completely alive, and the appearance of her beard and the light hair that covered her face did not change and remained the same.”
Soon the popularity of Julia Pastrana's corpse and her infant convinced her ex-husband (Lint) of the need to retrieve them, which he did. For the next ten years, he would take the body of his dead wife and son on entertainment shows throughout Europe, as he had been accompanied during That's his new wife (Mary Bartel), who changed her name to (Zenora Pastrana)!
Re-creation of the body (Julia Pastrana) by George Wick based on her mummified corpse - Photo: Wellcome Collection
Lint eventually retired and retired from the show business and bought a museum of wax art in St. Petersburg, where he displayed the bodies of his wife, Julia, and his son, who had made him a generous sum of money, but he finally went crazy in 1884. Bondeson wrote about him: “(Lint) began dancing in the streets, tearing up bank notes and stock bonds that he had earned from the shows that his ex-wife (Julia Pastrana) was performing, and he was throwing them into the (Neva) River,” after which he was transferred to a mental institution Then, his modern wife organized entertaining shows and exhibitions in which the bodies of his wife and son were displayed.
In the year 1889, (Zenora Pastrana) - wife (Lint) - granted the two famous mummies to a German man named (GB Gassner), who showed them in circus performances, various exhibitions, as well as to anthropologists when they visited him.
This was Julia Pastrana's destiny for the next century: the subject of entertainment shows that attracted the curious around the world, then her name disappeared for a time, during which her mummified corpse was stored next to that of her infant.
Then they were found again and ended up in Sweden, and in 1973 Sweden passed a law criminalizing the display of human corpses for recreational purposes, and Julia and her infant found their way again to the basements of the buildings where they were stored again.
Lovejoy writes: “Three years after that law was passed, teenagers broke into the building where the body of (Julia Pastrana) and her infant were being kept and cut off her arm, thinking it was just a big doll. The police units later recovered the two bodies, but the infant’s body was so damaged that it was impossible to patch or repair it, and therefore it was completely disposed of.”
In the year 1990, Julia's body was rediscovered again, and after widespread controversy, it was displayed again at the Institute (Basic Medical Sciences) at the University of (Oslo) in Sweden, then in 2005, art student (Laura Anderson Barbara) began at the University of Oslo. (Oslo) A petition aimed at burying Julia's body, and after the intervention of the Mexican government, (Julia) finally found her way to her hometown, where she was buried in 2013 near her place of birth in the state of (Sinaloa de Leyva), away from prying eyes.
Source : websites