And though she caused a stir with sold-out crowds as she toured across Europe and North America, her behind-the-scenes life was marked by sadness and tragedy. Finally, Julia was given a dignified end to her story. The bodies of Pastrana and her son disappeared from the public view. When the German audience saw Pastrana, they considered her show in bad taste and rejected it. While giving birth, doctors had to use forceps to deliver her baby, resulting in several severe lacerations. One doctor, Alexander B. Mott, M.D., certified that she was specifically the result of the mating of a human and an Orang hutan (without explaining how the great Indonesian ape made it to Mexico). Bartra, Roger. Julia Pastrana (1834-1860) was a Mexican woman who suffered from various diseases that affected her physical appearance. In 1860, after giving a birth to a baby boy, Julia and her son both died. Are Iranian schoolgirls being poisoned by toxic gas? Last Thursday Ms. Barbata confirmed the identity of Pastranas body in Oslo before the coffin was sealed. On 14 October 2013 the in-development movie "Velvet" was announced, based on the life and experiences of Julia Pastrana, and from an original screenplay by Celso Garca and Francisco Pay Gonzlez. Longtime author, columnist and speaker Julia Reed has died after a battle with cancer. There are more details of her story in my latest book: Hairy Humanoids from the Wild, Pingback: Original Australians and their connection with Hairy Humanoids Sasquatch Close Encounter Network for Interspecies Communication. Records are blurry, but she was likely born in 1834 . If we consider that Zana and Julia Pastrana were of Sasquatch (or Almas) lineage, knowing how they were mistreated, exploited and kept in slavery, and how they both had offsprings with men, we can hardly as Humans judge the Sasquatch people for taking Human wives, without understanding their longer term vision and greater longevity allowing the to oversee the hybridization process through many of our generations, by maintaining their genetic pool close to ours, enriching both our lineages. Lent essentially pimped his wife out: he subjected Pastrana to full medical examinations by the leading doctors in the towns they toured in. the "Ape Woman", the "Bear Woman", and "The Nondescript". Julia Pastrana, who suffered from a genetic condition that covered her face in hair, performed in circuses as a freak of nature. After 10 years of working . Her mother was convinced that some sort of supernatural force was to blame for her daughters looks, while the local Mexican tribes blamed the naualli shape-shifting werewolves (known in Arizona as skinwalkers) that were said to cause stillbirths and deformities. During her life, Pastranas management arranged to have her examined by doctors and scientists, using their evaluations in advertisements to attract a larger audience. [11] Lent later found another woman with similar features, married her and changed her name from Marie Bartel to Zenora Pastrana, becoming wealthy from her exhibition. He said she had an exceedingly good figure despite being hideous., Hermann Otto, a circus owner, was even more damning in his descriptions of her. Julia Pastrana, as depicted in an engraving. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. These speculations also arose because her face had a gorilla-like appearance, among other body features. Even after her death, her body was exhibited across the world. Similar stories are found elsewhere around the world, namely the well documented case of Zana, captured in Abkhazia. Julia Pastrana . The latter condition was caused by a . The musical supergroup Apparatjik released a single titled "Julia" on March 20, 2020, accompanied by a lyric video. While the full science behind the abnormality that caused her condition continues to be studied, even today, congenital hypertrichosis has a variety of effective treatments, including laser hair removal and hormone treatments. Julia Pastrana (1834-1860) was an indigenous Mexican opera singer. Her ears and nose were unusually large . In 2013, over a century after she left the Sierra Madre Mountains for a career in the United States, Pastrana finally returned home. Though she eventually fell in love and got married, her life was isolated and cut tragically short. At the hospital where Julia gave birth, Lent met a Professor Sokolov of Moscow University. The police later recovered the bodies, but Julias infant was damaged beyond repair. Its worth noting that at the time, orangutans were considered as the wildest, most primitive primates with a dangerous sexuality. The woman professed to love this child dearly, though she disclaimed being its parent. John Lennon's mother Julia died on 15 July 1958. Yale Medical School: Julia Pastrana was born with protruding lips and thick black hair covering her face. Julias mummy was stolen in 1979, but stored at the Oslo Forensic Institute after the body was reported to police but not identified. The remains were consumed by mice. Those who ran sideshows often didnt take the time to listen and record the backstories of their performers. From 1946 John had lived with his Aunt Mimi (Mary Smith) and Uncle George in their house, 'Mendips', at 251 Menlove Avenue, Liverpool, after Julia had handed over care of her son to them. Welcome to Pastranaland. Then, in 1884, he went insane. Her excessive facial hair was caused by hypertrichosis terminalis, and her abnormally large lips were caused by a condition . They appeared in Norway in 1921 and were on display until the 1970s, when an outcry arose over a proposed tour of the USA and they were withdrawn from public view. Wikimedia CommonsThe embalmed body of Julia Pastrana on display. She told them that she had been captured by a party of hostile Indians, who had imprisoned her in the cave, but no human beings could be found nearby. Espinosa had a child with her; she said the child wasnt hers, but she cared for her and loved her. Lent reclaimed the bodies in 1862 and began to tour with them as curiosities. On her way back to her village, she met an American, M. Rates, who convinced her to tour with him. She journeyed from Oslo to Paris, to Mexico City, to Culiacn, and then to . Julia Pastrana was an indigenous woman born in 1834 in Sinaloa, Mexico. [20] Filmmaker Eva Aridjis filmed the burial for her feature documentary "Chuy, The Wolf Man", a portrait of a modern-day Mexican family with congenital hypertrichosis. I know I have been loved for myself." Eventually she was adopted by Governor Snchez in Sinaloa and worked as his maid before leaving his employment in 1854. Su vida era sin duda excepcional, pero la historia que sobrevino a su muerte result serlo ms. From the redundancy of the teeth her mouth projected, and her face had a gorilla-like appearance".[15]. Pastrana had very few friends, and one, a singer from Vienna, lamented the light fog of sadness that trailed her. On 12 February 2013, hundreds of people attended her Catholic funeral, and her remains were buried in a cemetery in Sinaloa de Leyva, a town near her birthplace. [3] Both accounts claim that, at some point, she lived in the home of Pedro Sanchez, the then-governor of Sinaloa, and left the home in 1854. Disposal Julia Pastrana, who was born in 1834, suffered from hypertrichosis which covered her face in hair and had a jutting jaw. Pastrana was advertised as a hybrid between an animal and a human and worked in sideshows and freak shows under the stage names the "Baboon Lady",[8] the "Dog-faced Woman", the "Hairy Woman", the "Ape-faced Woman",[9] Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window). Seriously, the young woman is a remarkable curiosity not so horridly repulsive as the imaginative artists of the posting-bill school have made her but yet sufficiently abnormal to create a feeling of sorrow and sadness, which would be more intense but that the young woman herself seems perfectly happy. Comisin para la Celebracin del Bicentenario de la Independencia y Centenario de la Revolucin. Julia Pastrana After Death Julia's bad fortune did not end with her death. Reed served as a contributing editor for . Julia Pastrana (1834 - 25 March 1860) was a performer and singer during the 19th century. After that, Julia was more discretely exhibited. Let us never see another woman be turned into an object of commerce.. It's a very dignified story," said Sinaloa Governor Mario Lopez. She was 59. Thanks to the efforts of Sinaloa state governor Mario Lpez Valdez, New York-based visual artist Laura Anderson Barbata, and Norwegian authorities, Julia Pastrana was finally repatriated and laid to rest in a town near the place she was said to have been born in Sinaloa. Julia Pastrana: the bearded lady. A special permit was required to gain access to her remains.[1]. Touted as "The Ape Woman," Pastrana was another minor celebrity of the Victorian Age who toured Europe not only throughout her life, but as a mummified specimen after her death in 1860 as well. The Ass Ponys wrote and recorded the song Julia Pastrana about her life on their 1993 album Grim. These examinations were intrusive and inhumane. Sasquatch Close Encounter Network for Interspecies Communication, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, The Mysterious -and Sad- Case of Julia Pastrana, the Ape-Woman Sasquatch Close Encounter Network for Interspecies Communication The Blog of King-Galaxius, Original Australians and their connection with Hairy Humanoids Sasquatch Close Encounter Network for Interspecies Communication, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FkrqZP-K7M, Follow Sasquatch Close Encounter Network for Interspecies Communication on WordPress.com, Proof of Sasquatch Existence, Introduction by Kelly Rainbow Butterfly, Texts by SunBw, Message of Guidance for our times, by SunBw, Now available in Spanish, The Sasquatch Message to Humanity, Book 1, Scott Carpenters newly released footage, shorts, Communicating with our Brothers, by Don from BC. Francis Buckland stated that she was only a deformed Mexican Indian woman. Travis Pastrana and Combover Steve. The corpses finally ended up in Norway, where, in a further twist in 1976, they were stolen, dumped and recovered by the police. The Norwegian police later found her remains in a trash-hauling bin, with an arm dismembered. Cases of bearded women or hairy people have been recorded in a number of instances, yet these cases presenting a single anomaly also occur in such limited number that they can be counted. Like Julia, Marie performed on tour for her husband before he was committed to an asylum in Russia after he began to lose his mind. Pastrana has also been the subject of films, including The Ape Woman (1964); an alternative rock song; and a comic book. In this version, it is said that woman identified only as Mrs. Espinosa was kidnapped by the tribe and held in a cave and took Pastrana with her when she was able to escape. Because of that, it was exposed as an attraction in various shows. Exploitation of Julia after her death . He died shortly afterwards, and Marie sold the bodies. The ambiguity of her early years is likely due to suppression of the truth by the freak show circuit who wanted to make audacious claims about her origins (including that she was a unholy union of man and beast). On 14 October 2013 the in-development movie Velvet was announced, based on the life and experiences of Julia Pastrana. A strange metamorphosis As her health deteriorated, her appearance began to change over time. In 1857, according to the Standard London newspaper, Lent invited members of the press to an elegant lunch for the purpose of seeing Miss Julia Pastrana in a less restrained sphere of friendly intercourse than the public levees afford. When Pastrana became pregnant with their child, Lent sold tickets to the public to watch her giving birth. [19] In February 2013, with the help of Sinaloa state governor Mario Lpez Valdez, New York-based visual artist Laura Anderson Barbata, Norwegian authorities, and others, the body was turned over to the government of Sinaloa and her burial was planned. Julia suffered from a disease known as hypertrichosis, among other conditions. Bess Lovejoy explores her story and how it was only in 2013, 153 years after her passing, that she was finally laid to rest.