In this episode, we take a closer look at one of Mexico’s strangest haunted places: the Island of the Dolls.
South of Mexico City, amidst the canals of Sochi Meal Ko, is a small island. For years, the island’s sole inhabitant was a man named Don Julian Santana Barrera.
One awful day, Don Julian came across the body of a small girl floating in the canal. As you might expect, he was deeply affected by the girl’s death. A short time after finding the girl, he discovered a doll floating near where the girl died. Don Julian hung the doll from a tree on his island in honor of the little girl. But then something very strange began to happen.
Some say that Don Julian believed that the doll he hung in the tree became possessed by the little girl’s spirit. The doll would move on its own and even make noise. You’d think that this would make a person get rid of the doll, but not Don Julian. Instead, he started collecting more dolls and hang them all over his island.
Don Julian became obsessed with his dolls, and he believed that each doll he hung would be filled with the spirit of a dead child. Was he just a crazy old man haunted by the memory of a drowned little girl? Or was the haunting real?
As if this story wasn’t creepy enough already, Don Julian’s end added another bizarre chapter. After decades of hanging his dolls, his body was found… floating in the canal in the same spot as that little girl he found all those years ago.
Locals say that Don Julian’s spirit has joined the others that possess the dolls on the island. Today, the island has become a tourist attraction. The dolls are still there, and tourists often bring more with them. Visitors to the island also tell tales of dolls whose eyes follow them as they explore. They say that decaying plastic heads, arms and legs move on their own. And they hear voices from all around them when the dolls are their only companions.
These strange happenings might be imagined, they might be made up. The only way to know for sure is to take a trip to Don Julian’s island, meet his dolls, and see for yourself.