It’s almost Halloween and weird stories fill the internet, but this one is weirder than most and kind of gross. La Pascualita is believed to be a corpse bride still being used as a mannequin 90 years after the poor woman’s supposed death. Join us as CryptoVille investigates!
La Pascualita is a mannequin of sorts being used today as both a model of wedding gowns as well as a tourist attraction. The story begins 90 years ago in a little Mexican village named Chihuahua where a young woman was preparing to be married. Sadly, she was bitten by a black widow spider and died on her wedding day.
Then not long after, a new mannequin appeared in the wedding dress shop window. People noticed it bore an uncanny resemblance to the recently departed bride, Pascualita Esparza. (See photo left.) They wondered if someone had perfectly preserved the body.
They say in person one is struck by her expressive face, long thick eyelashes, and “glassy-eyed” stare. In fact, her face looks like a mannequin’s face that is heavily made-up. She is also obviously wearing a wig.
But proponents of the corpse bride theory say her hands aren’t perfect, and look a bit worn and “used.” Articles about her even state that she has varicose veins on her legs, which seems odd for one who died so young, and how would anyone really know considering she wears voluminous wedding gowns all the time.
Who Changes Her?
In an article for Ripleys.com, Sonia Burciaga is quoted as saying, “Every time I go near Pascualita my hands break out in a sweat. Her hands are very realistic and she even has varicose veins on her legs. I believe she’s a real person.”
This is the poor woman who has to change the mannequin’s outfits twice a week.
The French Magician
Another legend swirls around the corpse bride, this time featuring a visiting French magician. He saw her in the shop window and was besotted with her. It’s said he visited her window every night, brought her to life, then danced with her all over town. In the morning, he returned her to the shop window.
Who’s the Dummy?
The more I investigated this story, the more unlikely it seemed that this figure is anything more than a shop mannequin. If she had been so perfectly embalmed in 1930, their technique would seem to have surpassed the ancient Egyptians! And would the body, embalmed or not, have endured all those years in the extreme Mexican heat?
Plenty of tourists still visit the shop and investigate the mannequin for themselves. The shop owner certainly doesn’t seem to mind. One reporter asked him to tell the truth about the mannequin and he winked at him/her and said, “Is it true? I really couldn’t say.”
So what do you think about the legend of the corpse bride?
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References
https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/corpse-bride/