Mexico's Island of the Dolls

One chinampa (man made island for agricultural purposes) in the south of Mexico City (in the Xochimilco section) hold a dark tale and appear morbidly fascinating. Old, dirty dolls hang raggedly from trees scattered from bank to bank, hung there long ago by a man named Don Julián Santana. One day, Julián heard the cries of a woman drowning near his chinampa, and although he tried to save her, she perished. Although she had died, he continued hearing her wails each night, and so he begun to hang the talismans to ward off dead woman's spirit. As he continued to do so, he became a Xochimilco legend, and people brought him dolls from across the country.