29 June 2014

WELCOME TO DOLL ISLAND (if you dare): Secret shrine to little girl who drowned more than 50 years ago has become a creepy tourist attraction






Welcome to doll island (if you dare): Secret shrine to little girl who drowned more than 50 years ago has become a creepy tourist attraction


Doll parts suspended from trees and strung up across ramshackle buildings have become a sinister attraction as tourists flock to a shrine created by a Mexican artist for a little girl who drowned. 

Isla de la Munecas, the Island of Dolls, is a macabre memorial that first caught the public's imagination when it was discovered by council workers as they cleaned a canal south of Mexico City. 

Reclusive artist Julian Santana Barrera had been creating his creepy masterpiece for more than 50 years after finding a doll floating in the canal just days after a little girl's body had been fished out of the water. 

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Children's toys, weathered and in various states of disrepair, are strung up across a floating garden in Mexico
Children's toys, weathered and in various states of disrepair, are strung up across a floating garden in Mexico


A doll in a grubby outfit sits half submerged in the canal where a little girl drowned. The artist who created the collection later died in the same stretch of water
A doll in a grubby outfit sits half submerged in the canal where a little girl drowned. 
The artist who created the collection later died in the same stretch of water


Local legend says that an artist created the doll shrine in memory to a young girl who drowned nearby
Local legend says that an artist created the doll shrine in memory to a young girl who drowned nearby


Local legend states that the artist became convinced that the girl's spirit was trapped inside the doll, so he strung the toy up on his floating garden. He later became convinced she was haunting him, so added to the collection to appease the spirit.

Over the years, visitors would bring the artist other dolls to keep the girl's spirit company. Before long his garden was filled with hundreds of plastic dolls in varying states of disrepair. 

    Locals claim that the dolls have been heard whispering to one another as their plastic bodies sway in the trees they have been attached to. 

    Although Barrera was said to have kept to himself, the artist was welcoming to visitors who were curious about his collection. 

    In a sinister twist of fate, Barrera died in 2001 after falling into the same stretch of water where the young child had drowned several decades before. 


    The sinister-looking shrine attracts plenty of visitors to the island near Mexico City
    The sinister-looking shrine attracts plenty of visitors to the island near Mexico City


    Layers of dirt and cobwebs have built up on the toys over the decades
    Layers of dirt and cobwebs have built up on the toys over the decades


    The artist's cabin was also filled with dolls that had been nailed to the wooden walls
    The artist's cabin was also filled with dolls that had been nailed to the wooden walls


    The Isla de la Munecas, or Island of Dolls, has become a macabre tourist attraction
    The Isla de la Munecas, or Island of Dolls, has become a macabre tourist attraction






    A muddle of dolls are piled up around the roots of a tree on the floating garden
    A muddle of dolls are piled up around the roots of a tree on the floating garden


    The artist is said to have believed that the first doll he found was possessed with the little girl's spirit
    The artist is said to have believed that the first doll he found was possessed with the little girl's spirit


    The reclusive artist added to his collection over 50 years, stringing up toys that he found or were given to him by strangers
    The reclusive artist added to his collection over 50 years, stringing up toys that he found or were given to him by strangers


    The artist allegedly created the creepy collection to try to appease the spirit of the drowned girl
    The artist allegedly created the creepy collection to try to appease the spirit of the drowned girl


    The collection has an array of doll types, from Barbies to eyeless plastic babies
    The collection has an array of doll types, from Barbies to eyeless plastic babies


    Locals claim that the dolls can be heard whispering to each other in the trees
    Locals claim that the dolls can be heard whispering to each other in the trees


    Dolls have been strung from fences, trees and buildings around the floating garden
    Dolls have been strung from fences, trees and buildings around the floating garden


    Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2672911/Welcome-doll-island-Artist-creates-creepy-shrine-little-girl-drowned-dies-canal-body-50-years-later.html#ixzz35xrWRaO4 



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